Meet Dorothy

 
Our featured member this week is a Southern belle, through and through. She says that she’s almost always barefooted in the kitchen because of her Southern upbringing, where little girls in beautiful hand-sewn dresses walked around in bare feet. Everyone, say hello to barefootbelle!

Barefootbelle is Dorothy Bradshaw, born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. She loves to cook, and started her blog, Belle of the Kitchen, in order to share that love with others. And of course, her recipe box has quite a number of good old Southern favorites in it.

Clockwise from top left: Montgomery Mint Tea, Roasted Peanuts, Sour Cream Biscuits, Buttermilk Sweet Potato Pie, Pimento Cheese, and Cornbread For Your Chili.

 
 
 
After four years of marriage, Dorothy and her husband set out for the Northeast to become full-time seminary students for three years. She confesses that the move to Pennsylvania was a bit drastic for two born and bred Southerners. She lists “fast speech, a sense of patriotic history, several feet of snow, street parking in several feet of snow, and trying to buy groceries and bring them home through several feet of snow” among the things characteristic of “the true depths of Yankee living” that they’ve experienced since their move. Also in this list: new and exotic (to her) ingredients, and geniune, real people. She says that the Northeast is not quite as harsh as many Southerners think, and that the people are kind and honest.

The food, she admits, is an adventure. The adventure of being out of her comfort zone has allowed her to expand her horizons and try new and different ingredients. So although her freezer and pantry are stocked with a number of Southern goods (like stone ground grits, Alabama pecans, and her mom’s fig preserves), see if you can pick out a few of the “new ingredients” in some of her wonderful main course and soup recipes below.

Clockwise from top left: Chicken Corn Soup, Quick Curry Chicken, Bow Tie Pasta with Oven Dried Tomatoes, Asparagus, and Boursin, French Spring Soup, and Vegetable Fajitas.

 
 
 
She’s quite the baker too, be it yeast dough or quick breads. You can see definitely see the Southern influence in her Bourbon Pumpkin Pecan Bread, but she also has that Herbes de Provence Bread that’s more southern France than southern U.S.

Clockwise from top left: Bourbon Pumpkin Pecan Bread, Wheat Pizza Crust, Honey Oatmeal Bread, Cherry Almond Bread, and Herbes de Provence Bread.

 
 
 
Of course, her recipe box is also filled with more than a few great dessert items. Desserts and sweets are quite universal, aren’t they? Looking at the great dishes below, I don’t think South or North or East or West or even from which continent it hails. I’m just thinking plate, and fork or spoon, or maybe just something to use to wipe my fingers and face after stuffing myself with any of these.

Clockwise from top left: Carrot Cake, Chocolate Chunk Cherry Cookies, Black Russian Cake, Orange Rolls, Peanut-Peanut Butter Cookies, and those tantalizing Lemon Triangles.

 
 
 
Dorothy also says that she just can’t get enough of good, fresh seafood, and that she makes a mean homemade mustard that she thinks makes a ham sandwich or a good burger phenomenal. More bits of trivia? Her quick snack of choice is stove top kettle corn, and she panics when she realizes she’s out of butter. Her favorite kitchen tool is her Peppermate pepper mill, which she loves so much that when her first one was lost in their move, she bought another one.

I could go on some more about this lovely lady, but why don’t we just let her tell us more about herself and get right into the interview portion of this post?

 
 
Q: What do you enjoy most about cooking?
A: First of all, I love cooking because it is a relaxing, enjoyable and creative outlet. There are so many possibilities in the kitchen, and it is a great way to relax after a day of intense studying! Second, and more importantly, I love cooking for people! My husband was a youth minister before we started this northern adventure, and I found that the best place for me to support him was to cook for the youth group, on ski trips and retreats, for banquets and special events, and in our home. Cooking for others is a way to serve and love them, often from behind the scenes. I love that.

 
Q: Any favorite chefs or food celebrities? Who inspires you?
A: I love everything that my mom puts on the table. I don’t think she’s made a bad dish in her life. I don’t watch cooking programs, but I love to sit down and read good cookbooks, especially those that are like sitting down with an old friend who tells a good story or gives good kitchen guidance, like Frank Stitt, The Lee Bros., and Ina Garten.

 
Q: What is your go-to dish or meal?
A: Definitely Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken—I could make it in my sleep!

 
Q: Do you have a most memorable kitchen flop ever?
A: As soon as we were finished with school last semester, we drove around 10 hours to my sister-in-law’s house in Knoxville. She was hosting a baby shower, but had some tie-ups at work and a family emergency, and asked me to help out in preparation. Long story short, after a day of driving and then half a day of visiting with family, I made myself at home in her kitchen and started making my “famous” cheese straws, among other things. I used the cookie press to squeeze them out onto a baking sheet, and promptly realized that the baking sheet would not fit correctly into the oven. Well, call it Christmas vacation delirium, but I decided to try using them anyway, with the baking sheet tilted in the oven to fit. No more than two minutes later, I checked on them and they had all slid to one side on one side of the pan (surprise, surprise!). So, I pulled them out, and tried to mix the hot dough back into the rest of the unbaked dough (should have known better, but again, vacation delirium). The hot cheese and butter mixture melted the rest of the dough, and all was lost. Although this wasn’t that big of a deal, I think my exhaustion by that point blew everything out of proportion. By the time my sister-in-law came home late that night, I was in a tearful, determined, cheese-straw-making frenzy (with all new ingredients)! The second batch (on the correct-sized baking sheet) came out perfectly.

 
Q: What, besides post-road-trip cheese straws in someone else’s kitchen, gives you the most trouble?
A: I make a mean BBQ sauce, but I have yet to really love my own pulled pork BBQ from a Boston Butt. My dad’s is amazing. Mine? Always so so.

 
Q: Is there a food item that you always make at home and never buy at the store anymore?
A: I began making homemade yogurt using an electric skillet when I was in Alabama. My parents sent their old (as in 1970s) yogurt maker up here with me, and now I only buy yogurt when I need a starter.

 
Q: Give us one of your favorite kitchen tips that you wish you’d always known.
A: I started keeping a food calendar a couple of years ago. Not only is it a great resource for keeping your family well-balanced and well-fed and incorporating new meals and tastes into your repertoire, it is also a great money- and food-saving resource! We rarely have to run to the grocery for last-minute items because we have the whole week of groceries planned out in advance, and we rarely “waste” uneaten or spoiled food, because we plan for leftovers.

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Thanks for indulging us and answering all our questions, Dorothy!

 
For more recipes from our darling barefootbelle, take a look at her recipe box. (And if you head there on an empty stomach, don’t say I didn’t warn you.) Then visit her blog, Belle of the Kitchen, to read about her old family recipes, or her husband’s verdict on new ones. She’ll even share her kitchen failures, which I think makes this Southern charmer even more endearing.