Eggs are plentiful this time of year, perfect time to make Deviled Eggs! And believe me darlin’ you’re gonna want to Shut de Door and keep de’ devils all to yourself! Start with six fresh hard boiled eggs. To make them easier to peel, once they’ve bubbled 3-4 minutes drain and plunge into a big bowl of cold water with ice to chill. Peel the eggs, slice in half and carefully remove the yolks into a bowl. If you have one, put the white yolkless halves on a plate made especially for stuffed eggs- the one pictured is my grandmother’s. Mash the egg yolks. Add a good mayonnaise- check the label! Homemade Mayo has oil, egg yolks and lemon juice. Find a commercial brand with at least those 3 ingredients. One of my favorites is Winn Dixie’s generic label. Add 2-3 tablespoons to mashed egg yolks until a good consistency, more if necessary, then add 1-2 teaspoons of yellow mustard, please don’t make this mix into a paste!
Now for the fun part! I usually add a little more Mayonnaise than necessary, which gives me an excuse to crush up some Saltine Crackers, add some Red Hot Sauce and a pinch of Red Cayenne Pepper! The crackers firms up the mixture so that no piping is necessary and the flavor, oh Honey…Shut de Door! Sprinkle liberally with Red Paprika. Add all the ‘Red’ you can to ’em! Enjoy with fried chicken, a plate of barbecue, with baked ham and roasted turkey….actually stuffed eggs are a great accompaniment to most Southern meals! Southern cooks know all about these Devils!
Let me tell you a little story I always think of when I make deviled eggs! A Farmer had a Son who had never been Uptown, he was gettin’ to be a big strapping boy, so the farmer told him to get in the truck and they’d go Uptown. The Farmer showed the boy the sights, saying- ‘Son, there’s the Library where they keep all the books for learnin’ and there’s the Bank where all the Rich Folks keep their Money, and over there is the big Courthouse where the Menfolk sit outside under the Big Oak Tree and solve the problems of the whole world…’
About that time- a Woman in a Tight Red Dress with blondined hair, Red Lipstick and Red High Heels with a swing to her hips walked by – whew lordie…that boy’s eyes bugged out of his head- He said to his dad…‘What’s that?’ The old Farmer said, ‘Well Son, that’s the Devil, you’re gonna want to stay away from Devils like that. And don’t go tellin’ your momma you even saw one- Just look over at all those fine menfolk at the Courthouse, think about that Library and the book learnin’ and all that money in the big fine Bank!’
On the way home, the two didn’t say too much…about halfway home the Farmer asked, ‘What was your favorite thing Uptown, Son?’ The boy thought a minute and said, ‘Well Pa, I liked that Devil!’
Oh me and I like those Devilled Eggs dressed up with Red Hot Sauce, Cayenne Pepper and Paprika! I’m just gonna Shut de Door now and have a few…
Love y’all Camellia
Alabama has thrived on cornbread for generations, all of us, not just some of us. We all love it, eat it- crave it, need it. I learned the cornbread rules at an early age from my grandmother. I have her iron skillet and it still makes the best cornbread, though I do love corn muffins too!
And oh my! corn sticks! I have an iron corn stick pan too! But the rules never change. You are the first to know my grandmother’s rules. Use your own cornbread recipe, with one exception…which we will cover first.
Chicken and Dumplings
Because my birthday is close to Easter, when I was a little girl, my mother was going to make me a birthday cake; she bought a 2 piece metal cake pan molded like a sheep. 
I was a scared-y cat with a weak stomach, so I wasn’t sure if I could actually eat a sheep shaped cake. My older sister was a born prophet- she said ‘that cake’s gonna look like a dog’. Baking commenced, the batter began to rise with the sheep’s ears getting singed in the cake tins. I was in a state! When the cakes came out of the oven, my sister said again …’that cake’s gonna look like a dog’… Mother told us to stop worrying- by the time the white icing was swirled on the sheep cake, and shredded dyed green coconut grass was put around the cake it would look just like an Easter Lamb. I looked at the burnt ears and watched as she trimmed its ears- I cringed looking at it! I thought it hurt the sheep~ surely that sheep could feel it’s ears being trimmed. It didn’t help that my sister, the miniature prophetess kept sayin’ the cake looked like a dog! The sheep cake fell over more than once… and just when Mother got the white icing ready to swirl on… the head fell off of the sheep/dog cake! Cryin’ commenced, wailin’really… ‘Y’all get outside and play while I work on this cake!’ We went outside ~ my sister, the pint sized prophet with the shiny brown hair that curled in all the right places, was running and playing while I, the cowlicked black haired, green eyed scaredy cat was sniffing and trying to get hold of myself. Mother finally let us come back inside… and guess what? the sheep cake did not look like a dog! It looked like a big ol’ white fluffy Easter Egg with green coconut and jelly beans surrounding it! How was I ever going to eat a headless sheep disguised as a Prehistoric Chicken Egg! And where were the candles going to be? Dried out, days later -the cake was dumped in trash….the cake pan went in the cabinets and was never used again. Decades later, all grown up~ I was collecting, of all things ~ sheep! I asked Mother if she still had the Sheep Mold…and I am not lyin’, Mother had given that sheep mold to a lady whose husband’s nickname was Jellybean! They had a yard sale at Jellybean’s house, the cake pan sold ~ who knows where it went? Mother felt bad about it…she found another one for me. I never made a sheep shaped cake! The trauma of the ‘sheep/dog/egg’ put a stop to that~ it was put on display with the other sheep at Christmas and Easter …until this year. Ok, y’all know where this is goin’ don’t you? With fear and trepidation, the project was undertaken to see if a sheep cake could actually be baked… 
Four days…I worked on this cake! A dense cake must be the answer~ a brownie mix was stirred up; sure enough the ears began to burn, I pulled cake out of the oven, carefully scooped some mix from the stomach of the sheep to the ears. Oh gag and oh lord, finally that cake was baked…slightly burned ears but hey, that could be trimmed off…umhmm. I chilled the cakes. I made a thick chocolate filling. I decided no fluffy white icing for sheep wool. I would not use store bought ‘eyes’ either, who wants a sheep with a ‘surprised look’, right? The day before Easter, I melted semi-sweet chocolate. I grated milk chocolate to look like ‘wool’. After I poured the chocolate and set it up as a trial run, I thought ~ this thing looks just like a dog ! Well let me tell you right now sister, I was not going to dye any coconut to surround it! I had already tried and failed to make sugared violets! Oops I’m tellin’ on myself! I was nauseated from eating nearly a whole bag of jelly beans to calm my nerves! My sister~ who rarely uses her gift of prophecy now -told me it would be ‘cute’~ she seems to have switched to the gift of selective lying. I knew different but I kept going … a crack formed on the back of the neck! Oh no, please don’t let that dog head fall off! In the refrigerator the cake went…good, the cake firmed up! more chocolate was poured, more chillin’ ~ I was sort of horrified that there was now a good $20 worth of chocolate in a cake that wouldn’t be fit to eat! Out of the mold, the cake looked just like a Dog! the shaved chocolate was sprinkled around…I was sure it would fall over if anybody looked at it crooked! I surrounded it with Cadbury Chocolate mini-eggs…took a ‘beauty shot’ or 20 maybe…over and over the thought…this thing looks like a dog! She was right! I texted her a photo and told her it looked like a dog and further that cake was so hard it would take a chainsaw to cut it! We got so tickled! For some reason in the midst of laughing I decided to just accept the idea of an Easter Dog! The moral of this story is –
the special traditions which include eggs- particularly at Easter. Since the early 1600’s eggs were mentioned in connection with the Paschal Vigil which is called Holy Saturday, a religious ceremony commemorating the time when Christ lay in the tomb. The hard shell of the egg represented the stone of the tomb and the inward parts the symbol of rebirth, when a bird hatches from the hard eggshell with new life. The empty egg shell therefore represented the Resurrection; the empty eggshell is a reminder to Christians that Christ rose from the grave and that those who believe can experience life eternal. Easter Eggs or Paschal Eggs as they are often referred to in some cultures were given with a greeting ‘Christ has Risen’, the eggs were joyful gifts of these enduring beliefs in the Christian faith. And while they were not written about until the 1600’s historians believe that the custom of giving Easter Eggs dates back to Christians living in Mesopotamia, who stained the eggs red to symbolize the shed blood of Christ. Some cultures, particularly in Eastern Europe decorated eggs in elaborate ways, each color being symbolic of their faith. White for purity, Red for the Blood of Christ, Green for eternal life and Yellow or gold symbolic of Christ the King. (these colors vary in significance). Out of these traditions came the Easter Egg Roll or Easter Egg Hunts when the eggs were used to celebrate Christ’s Triumphant exit from the tomb. I love history and hope I have gotten this right, it was an interesting study for sure. I was never very good at dyeing Easter Eggs so this mix of naturally occurring colored eggs, the brown and white eggs are common and I bought the pale blue and aqua eggs from a friend who raises Aracana chickens whose eggs range from pale blue to deep olive green. All together they are so pretty! I really couldn’t decide which pictures to share so here are a few more…
‘No one has greater Love than to lay down His Life…for His friends…you are My friends…love one another as I have loved you…by this shall all men know that you are Mine…My Body is broken for you…’
Camellia's Cottage 