Jambalaya Grits

I don't know where my mom found this recipe. I just know that it's amazing. She started making this probably sometime when I was in high school, so even though it's not one of those "childhood favorite" kind of foods, it's still one of my ultimate comfort foods.

If you haven't gathered this by now, I love grits. Growing up in the south will do that to you. If you don't like grits, it's probably because you've only ever had the bland kind they serve with breakfast at restaurants. Grits need lots of salt and lots of love to make them delicious. Jambalaya grits are special because they get even more love. They get chicken. And sausage. And ham. And mozzarella cheese. Oh my. I always make this as a dinner, but I suppose it would be just as delicious as a breakfast or brunch item. Be warned though; this recipe does make a decent bit of food, so make sure you're hungry--you'll want to eat all of it. I promise.

Mellow Cheese Grits

Having grown up in the South, I love grits. I can eat them for any meal. They can be the whole meal. They can be a side dish. It really doesn't matter. One of my absolute favorite breakfasts/lunches/light dinners is a big bowl of grits and a tall glass of sweet tea with plenty of ice. The only thing better than grits is cheese grits.

Shrimp & Grits

One of my goals in life is to find the absolute perfect shrimp and grits recipe. Everyone makes it a little differently, so it's hard for me to even say if I've ever had perfect shrimp and grits at a restaurant. I think the perfect recipe, for me, has super creamy cheese grits, some sort of creamy, non-tomato-based sauce (though it can have tomatoes in it), and obnoxiously large shrimp. The non-tomato-based sauce is what disqualifies a lot of recipes and restaurant dishes from contention because that's apparently pretty common, but it still just isn't what I prefer. I would have to say that probably the closest I've had to perfection is the shrimp and grits at the Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge in Louisville, KY. (We went for Justin's birthday last year, and everything is made with bourbon and was, of course, amazing.)

This recipe, however, is nothing like that one. Sorry. Like I said, I'm on a quest to find the perfect recipe--I didn't say I'd found it already. This recipe has two good things going for it though. 1) It's ridiculously simple. 2) It contains life's greatest gift, bacon, which I think means I need to add another requirement to my perfect recipe quest. Must. Have. Bacon. I'm not talking about just any bacon here either. Justin and I found the most ridiculously awesome bacon ever. It's called steak bacon. The slices were as thick as my pinky finger. It was almost $6 for a 20 oz package containing just 6 slices, but it was so worth it. You can make it with regular bacon if you prefer, but it just won't be the same. Steak bacon will change your life if you let it.