Being a Southern girl (Cuba is pretty far South you know), I love grits in all forms. Whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, if grits are on the menu, you can be sure I’ll ask for them.

Now, I know many of you either don’t like or haven’t tried grits, but seriously try this recipe! You’ll love it and you can change it up by changing up the amount of milk/half-and-half/water and the kind of cheese you’re using.

So here goes with today’s #FoodieFriday Recipe.

Creamy Cheese Grits

4 cups whole milk (you can change this up to be 2 cups milk, 2 cups water; 2 cups half-and-half, 2 cups water, etc.)
1 cup coarse ground grits (not instant)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 oz grated cheddar cheese (for some spiciness use Montery Pepper Jack cheese)

Warm the milk and add the grits, salt and butter. Gradually bring to a low boil, stirring all the time. Stir until smooth and creamy and the grits are soft – about 20-30 minutes. Add the cheese and stir again until the cheese is incorporated and creamy.

That’s it! Pretty simple and you can serve it with eggs for breakfast. If you cool it and place it in a baking dish, you can slice and grill it to serve as a side dish to dinner.

I love food and I love to cook food. I guess I should also say that I love to eat food. LOL!

I’m a foodie without a doubt. When I can, I try to shop locally which is not always easy with my schedule. Luckily, there is a green market on Wednesdays in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and my office is right across the street from the Grand Central Market.

Before the revitalization of this area, the place where the Market is now located was nothing but a dark, dreary, dirty and dangerous-looking service alley.

Now it’s a beautiful market where you can pick up all kinds of things if you need to prepare a meal, grab a snack or lunch, or just meander to see what’s interesting.

This morning I picked up a danish at Zaro’s, but there’s also Zabar’s right nearby.

Zaro’s is across from Ceriello’s and I’ve got some wonderful red peppers and mushrooms at home, so I bought a lovely cheese and parsley sausage ring to grill and have with the veggies. Here’s what the Ceriello’s meat counter looks like!

If I needed some mozzarella, or maybe a burrata, to go with that sausage and peppers, I’d pop over to Murray’s. Cheese is one of my downfalls!

There are lots of other fabulous locations in the market and if you’re in the area, definitely drop by and see it as well as the other sights in another for my fav places, Grand Central Terminal.

Whew, we have a lot going on today. First, a recipe for a traditional Italian Easter Egg Bread. We never had these as kids, but learned about them from my hubby’s Italian family. His grandma used to make these every Easter and I’ve made them on several Easters. You can either make a big braided version to use as a centerpiece before eating or make individual ones to place at your guest’s place settings!

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter in 1-inch pieces (room temperature)
1/2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2/3 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons sugar
1 packet dry yeast
Dyed Easter Eggs

Glaze

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk
colored sprinkles

Directions

Warm the milk, transfer to a bowl and add a tablespoon of the sugar and then the yeast. The milk should be just warm and not too hot or it will kill the yeast. When the yeast is foamy, whisk in the eggs.

Place the rest of the sugar salt and flour in a stand mixer. Add the milk and mix. Then add the pieces of butter one at a time about a minute apart until incorporated into the dough. Then need the dough for another 4 or 5 minutes until it is nice and silky.

Grease another bowl and place the dough there to rise. Lightly grease the top of the dough and cover with plastic. Let rise until doubled.

Then knead the dough and cut into three equal strips. Braid the dough and join the ends to form a circle. Once you have that, nestle the hard boiled eggs into the braids.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the glaze and drizzle it over the bread once cool. Add the sprinkles to the bread and voila! You’ve got a beautiful Italian Easter Egg bread!

You can see some pictures of Easter Egg Breads by clicking here!

Freebie E-book!

I’ve got a free download of Now and Always for you at Kobo!

If you need the book for your Kindle, please e-mail Amazon and ask them to match the price!

Giveaways!

Wow, I’ve got giveaways galore going on for you at Facebook. I know some of you don’t do Facebook, so here’s what we’ll do. If you leave a comment on this blog post and leave the name of the hero and heroine in Vampire Reborn, I’ll include you in the list of people that entered when I choose winners using random.org.

I have chefs in both THE PERFECT MIX and TORI GOT LUCKY and even TO CATCH HER MAN, my upcoming release in the Dangerous Dozen Boxed Set. Come to think of it, there have been quite a number of stories with chefs, like FURY CALLS and MORE THAN A MISSION.

Why so many chefs? Well, food is so sensual. The smell, feel and taste of it. The sharing of it! Plus foods hold so many memories and also our culture. If you think about it, as long as you keep your foods, you keep your culture. I know I’ve had more than one time where I’ve told stories to my daughter about our family and our traditions as we cooked together.

Today’s Foodie Friday recipe is almost too simple to call a recipe. Really, I’m serious. Plus, it’s a comfort food for me. My mom used to make this dish all the time and it always came out tasty.

So here goes with my mom’s recipe for Roasted Orange Chicken.

Ingredients

One chicken (or cornish hens if you wish). Chicken can be either a frying chicken or oven stuffer.
3 cups orange juice. Fresh or frozen.
1 small onion cut in four
1 larger onion sliced
1 cup carrots sliced
10 or so small potatoes
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Clean your chicken and place it breast side up in a baking greased dish. Place the carrots, potatoes and sliced onions all around it. Stuff it with the small quartered onion.

Pour the orange juice over the chicken. Salt, pepper and oregano.

Place in a 350 degree oven until cooked. You should baste the bird with the orange juice every half an hour or so.

Voila! That’s it? Could it get any easier> For a bit of brightness as you serve, you may want to drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar glaze over it and the veggies. Just a little.

Make sure you have a nice loaf of bread or rice for all that luscious orange-flavored sauce you’ll have!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! See you on Monday!