by Dawn Newbolt of Summerville

Riccio is my Great Grandmother’s last name. I chose this recipe because it’s a favorite family recipe dating back to the early 1900’s.

Sunday dinner was a tradition at the Riccio house, where our large Italian family of 15-20 would enjoy Grandmother Riccio’s Stuffed Shells.

After her passing, the tradition was handed down to my grandmother, my mother, and now me. This is a great authentic Italian dish for good conversation and football. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

By: Margaret Pitts

     My eight year old son Walker recently went on a field trip to Bee City (www.beecity.net).  His science class is studying pollination and the different parts of a flower.  Needless to say, he had a blast!  In addition to the bee hives, they have a petting zoo with llamas, lemurs, monkeys, miniature horses, etc.  The best part of the excursion, was the big plastic bear full of honey that he brought home.  He promptly asked if he could try it, and so he opened up the squeeze top and squeezed a little into his mouth.  I am so sad that I didn’t have my camera with me because his face was priceless.  His eyes opened wide and he said, “That is not at all what I thought it would taste like!!!” I was shocked that he had never tried honey before. How had I let this happen? Honey is not something that I keep around- I don’t put it in tea or on toast. I love honey, but I just never use it. Well that is all about to change. Now that I have my big honey bear sitting on the counter, I was thinking about all of the different recipes that call for honey- from breakfasts to appetizers to sauces, to main dishes and desserts not to even mention cocktails! So, here are a whole bunch of honey recipes broken down by category. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

by B. Lover of Wadamalaw Island

Nothing beats lovin’ like some fried chicken. As the summer months approach, this is a great dish for any BBQ. You can purchase local honey at Savannah Bee Company on King Street downtown or at any of our local Farmers Markets. I recommend getting the chicken from ACE Basin Organics. Buy local. This recipe is easy and delicious and promises to be “finger licking good”.

With the cooler weather upon us and pigskin weekends here, this Sweet Potato Maple Bacon Bisque is the perfect comfort food to watch your favorite team score. This is a family favorite that we enjoy every Halloween.

When I think of fall, I think pumpkins. Therefore, it was a not difficult choice to make when I decided to submit a dessert recipe for the autumn edition of Eat This! Charleston. Pumpkin rolls are quick and easy to make and the end result is delicious! Pumpkin rolls have been a tradition of our families to make since I was a child, I can remember making these with my grandmother, but we have been using this recipe for the last 20 years.

I wanted to recreate a traditional Charleston staple dish like she crab soup and give it a new forum. In the South we all love and eat cornbread and when there is some left over, spoonbread is made. Like any Southern home, nothing ever goes to waste and so the food from the day before becomes the treats for tomorrow. Spoonbread is something I always looked forward to at my grandmother’s house. These practices cultivated my passion and imagination for creative thinking with food.

When I turned five, my mom asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday. Without skipping a beat, I exclaimed, “Strawberry Shortcake!” It was after all my favorite cake, and I was oblivious to the impracticality of such a request (it was December in 1978). Finding strawberries in December back then was nearly impossible, not to mention ridiculously expensive. However, on my birthday, a strawberry shortcake appeared before me as if by magic. And it was. It may have been the best strawberry shortcake ever made.

A few weeks ago, I asked my mom over for Easter lunch knowing that she’d ask me what she could bring. My response, of course, was “Strawberry Shortcake.” I offered to provide the strawberries because on top of loving to eat strawberry shortcake, I also loved picking strawberries as a child. So, my husband, five-year-old daughter and I visited one of the local u-pick strawberry fields. In return, I again had a delicious dessert for the memory books. Admittedly, there have been a few tweaks to the recipe over the years, but to me, it’s still magic.