Dairy Free

We came up with this salad, inspired by traditional burger fixin’s, to eat alongside cheeseburger casserole. It’s a match made in heaven. Try it with Turkey and Black Bean Burgers with Corny Salsa (page 44) or our Grilled Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Sub Sandwich (page 84).

Individual packets of taco seasoning are so convenient, but not if you have to make a special trip to the store to buy one. Here’s an easy recipe you can make at home. Triple up the ingredients, if you like, so you have some extra to keep in your pantry.

Our Aunt Peggy doesn’t serve a meal without this delicious salad. She sometimes makes a variation with banana peppers or bell peppers added in. It’s such a simple, healthy side, and all you need to get dirty is your cutting board and one bowl. Its fresh garden flavor is a terrific complement to the spicy rice or just about any main course in the book, but we especially love it with Honey Mustard Baked Chicken (page 33) and any kind of pork chop (pages 22, 23 and 24).

This is the seasoning mix we use on practically everything at The Lady & Sons. Make it up to keep in your pantry so you can add a dash of Deen to any recipe that needs a little somethin’ more.

We always know the holidays are just around the corner when Mama breaks out her ambrosia balls. Our version features marmalade, wafer cookies, and coconut all balled up. Plus, our snowballs are no-bake, so you can fix these festive treats fast and invite the kids to help.

This is an easy-to-assemble pie that really takes us back to our childhoods. Blackberries grow wild all over Georgia, and coming from a family of great pie bakers, we were always motivated to pick them.

Bobby’s dream is to retire to a beach in the Caribbean and sell frozen chocolate-covered bananas on a stick (see A Bit More, Y’all). He’d be open from noon to one, just long enough to eat lunch and read the paper. The hoped-for sales for each day would be six bananas. Seeing how this dream is not coming true any time soon, he’ll just have to settle for these island-inspired delights. We roll them in coconut for that tropical taste, and since they’re mostly fruit, they’re a pretty healthy dessert or snack. For an extra-special treat, roll them in the crushed candy or cookie topping of your choice.

Jack could eat fruit all day long, especially berries. He is enamored with different colors and shapes, so to set them off, we love to make him these sweet, jiggly salads. We serve them at playdates with his friends Lex, Brady, and Colin (they’re triplets, y’all) and make a game of digging up the fruit in the Jell-O (yup, with their hands—it’s messy!).

The nutty crunch of these fish sticks harkens back to that cafeteria offering in name only. So fun and easy to eat, they’re a great way to introduce younger generations to eating fish. We got Jack to eat fish by adding pecans to it. Catfish is a real staple here in the South, but if it’s not readily available in your area, try using flounder or cod.

When we were kids, we would go on camping trips and eat beanie-wienies out of the pull-top can and pretend to be cowboys. We thought that was just the best thing in the world to eat. When your kids try these, they will, too. Nowadays it’s easy to find healthier versions of traditional hot dogs (nitrate-free or turkey, chicken, or soy dogs) and lower-sodium baked beans in most supermarkets. Try a few different varieties and see which ones your kids like most.

Finger food is a great way to get kids eating real food. These little strips of beef are juicy and tender, with a crunchy panko bread crumb crust—delicious served with the slightly sweet orange dip. Just add a colorful vegetable (carrot sticks, broccoli spears, cherry tomatoes, or bell peppers), and you’ve got a great kid’s meal.

The sweet and spicy dressing on this simple salad is a real winner (and one of Brooke’s favorites). You can buy canned chipotle chiles in the Mexican section of most supermarkets. They add the smokiness we usually get from bacon to this healthy spinach salad.

Just about everything Mama makes involves sour cream or mayonnaise. Well, guacamole, with its rich, creamy taste, is like the Mexican version, and it goes great with a chicken and rice salad. This is another Bag Lady cult favorite. People still talk about it—the combination is a real keeper.

Orzo, a type of pasta shaped like flat grains of rice, is perfect for use in salads because it holds its shape and texture so beautifully. For this heart-healthy meal in a bowl, Jamie was inspired to use Italian flavors like fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives, plus Brooke’s all-time favorite salad ingredient, pine nuts.

Back in the days of The Bag Lady, when Mama was making bag lunches and we were delivering them, she would always make a chicken salad. For the fall and holiday season she would add walnuts and mandarin oranges to make a colorful, festive lunch with a delicious nutty-sweet appeal. This is Jamie’s version. It’s a hearty, packed-with-protein meal that looks as good as it tastes.

This full and satisfying meal is Jamie’s dream salad—heavy on the sausage and spuds. What’s not to love?

Jamie is always in search of good Asian food, which is one of his favorites. We must have had this salad somewhere along the way, because it found its way into Jamie’s kitchen recently. With lime, soy sauce, cucumbers, peanuts, and rice noodles (which you can find in the Asian foods aisle of most supermarkets), it’s a whole new set of tastes that will no doubt appeal to anyone looking for something new to try. It’s also a perfect place to park your leftover steak.

We owe enormous thanks to our slow cooker for making it possible to turn our absolute favorite weekend treat, barbecued pork, into a four-ingredient recipe we can throw together for a weeknight. We love to make sandwiches with the soft, flavorful shredded pork on hamburger buns, and serve them with some Lemony Coleslaw with Raisins (page 116), on top or alongside.

Cooking chicken with mushrooms gives you such a nice intense and meaty-tasting broth. Along with meltingly soft bell peppers and onions, this throw-it-all-in-the-pot stew has wonderful Italian flavor. We love it over buttered noodles.

Mama’s main squeeze Michael Groover’s famous pinto beans inspired this simple, savory recipe. We use a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce to create a real rich broth around the soft, silky beans.