Southern Pimento Cheese

For our Masters Sunday meal yesterday, I came up with a menu of my favorite southern foods to cook, plus a few new items on the list. One of the new foods was this pimento cheese dip. I'm not a big fan of pimento cheese but it is so popular in the south. At the Masters, they serve pimento cheese sandwiches for $1.50 each, one of the most popular concessions. (the photo is compliments of Southern Cooking.)

The sandwiches are wrapped in green paper so they will blend in with the greens in case they end up blowing in the wind. I could not take any photos when we were there in 2010 because they don't allow cameras or cell phones on the premises. Such a shame. In fact, you can't even take in a purse unless it's a very small size. There are so many rules about Augusta National, period. It was a very educational experience, to say the least. We went with my sister, Barbara and her husband, Jim. Bruce and Jim play golf together whenever they can. Jim plays more than Bruce because he's retired and poor working Bruce has limited time on his hands. But going to the Masters was a dream-come-true in 2010. We also spent time in Savanah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina and it was one of our best vacations ever. And the food was amazing! I love southern food. Ever since that trip, we have gotten together on Master's weekend and cooked southern food in honor of the Masters. This year, I decided to try something with pimentos since the sandwiches just never sounded appealing to me. (I opted for the egg salad sandwich when we were there which I love.) This recipe worked well for an appetizer and this dip/spread was delicious. For the main dish, I made buttermilk fried chicken. It was the first time I made fried chicken and it wasn't that easy. And it wasn't pretty to look at, sort of looked burned, but it actually tasted wonderful.

I need to practice this a little more before I blog about it because I think it's one of those things that takes practice. Ever since I saw the movie, The Help, I've wanted to make fried chicken the way they did. They made it look so easy. I used an iron skillet (enamel coated for easier cleaning), I soaked it in buttermilk overnight as a brine

I shook the pieces in a bag of flour to get them all nice and coated

I used Crisco for frying

but it was hard to control the temperature and get them to an internal temperature of 165 degrees without looking burnt. That's what I need to practice.

But they tasted great! They were really crispy on the outside and moist on the inside and I'd say the dish was a success; they just looked a little well done.

I also cooked some black eye-peas

and cheese grits

both from Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse Cookbook that I bought after visiting Savanah and eating at Mrs. Wilkes Dinning Room , a must-do experience when in town. It's the ultimate southern cooking eating experience. Barbara also brought two more recipes from the same cookbook; orange gelatin salad

and succotash. Delicious, both of them.

I made my usual cheddar, jalapeno, and chive biscuits and for dessert, our favorite pineapple upside-down cake.

This was definitely a dinner of favorites. It doesn't get much better than this on Masters Sunday.

Southern Pimento Cheese Dip or Spread

2 cups shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 (4 ounce) jar diced pimento, drained

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the Cheddar cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic powder, cayenne-pepper, onion powder, minced jalapeno, and pimento into the large bowl of a mixer.

2. Beat at medium speed, with paddle until thoroughly combined.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve as a dip or spread. Can be used for grilled pimento cheese sandwiches or spread on celery or crackers.

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Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

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