One of the greatest memories I have from growing up is the fact that my mom made sure we all had breakfast and dinner as a family. There was no one person in front of the television while another was in their bedroom...we all set the table, washed our hands and sat down to a home cooked meal prepared by her. She did not play. We sat around the table, talking about what was coming up for the day and at dinner, we talked about how our day was. Now that I am older and I can reflect, it was truly magical.

With Valentine's Day upon us, it got me to thinking about the fancy dinner's my mom would have for us on the day of love. Dinner was complete with her best china given to her by her mom and we each had a stuffed animal and chocolates at our place setting. Of course, my dad had the best gifts. He and my mom exchanged jewelry and other tokens of their love in between lots of kisses on the mouth (to our kiddy disgust) and hugs. Dinner was the end all be all but breakfast....oh breakfast. It was so good. The start of our day...we all sat down to a fully cooked breakfast. Toast or biscuits, sausage, bacon, eggs, oatmeal or grits and ....grapefruit on holidays and special occasions.





One of my dad's favorite breakfasts started with broiled grapefruit. Now that I am older, I do not think I have even seen or heard of anyone else serving or eating this for breakfast. But he did...and that meant, we did too.

The tartness of the grapefruit paired with a sprinkling of sugar was just so good when warmed up.

This one memory makes me feel so good. It reminds me of the times at the kitchen table with my mom, dad and sisters, laughing, being mad at times, but always feeling loved.

These photos are not my own, but you can best believe I will be heading to the grocery store and grabbing a few grapefruit to broil this Sunday. Not to just serve my kids a bit of goodness, but to show them they are loved and share with them some of the love I got as a child.


 Happy Valentine's Day, all.




Find the recipe by clicking the links under the above photos of the grapefruits.

Just in time for Halloween, make these sweet and fluffy biscuits for the family. My kids just can't get enough of them.

Check out my recipe on Living Locurto.

When I was in college and after I became a newlywed, I never cooked greens. Not 'real' greens. I cheated and always bought the ones in the can. Then one Thanksgiving one of my friends brought over a plate of collard greens that her dad had made. I was instantly in love and from that moment on, canned greens that would not do.

Collard greens are my favorite. When cooked right, the pot liquour is amazing and you can 'sop' it up with a nice slice of cornbread.

How to Cook Collard Greens

You will need:
1 bunch for every  two people
Chicken Bouillon (1 per bunch)
1 Fresh Jalapeno (optional)
1 smoked turkey leg


In the kitchen sink, wash your leaves well. They are usually dirty so, make sure you rub them to get grit off.  After you have them clean, remove the large stem from the center and end. You only want the leafy part. Cut the leaf part into bite sized pieces.



Fill your pot with water, mix in your bouillon cube and slice in the optional pepper. My kids and I love a bit of spice, so we leave the seeds in. This is completely optional. Add in your smoked turkey leg and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and cook for two hours until the greens are very tender.

For the breakfast sandwich I made my homemade biscuits which can be found here and my homemade fried chicken you can find here. I cooked an egg seasoned with salt and pepper and placed it on top.



Paired with the collards and the biscuits, the chicken and egg are amazing together. We even drizzled a little honey on ours.