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Smoked Cheddar Cheese Grits Souffle

October 19, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

smoked cheddar grits souffle
This is my favorite grits recipe. And we Girls Raised In The South love our grits.
Great as a breakfast food or brunch dish, it also works as a main vegetarian course for supper with a basic green salad. Add grilled shrimp or ribs with a side of collard greens and your husband will propose to you again. 
A perfect side with your Thanksgiving turkey. 
Very versatile, this is the most requested dish in my house any season of the year loved by my vegetarian daughter and carnivore son/husband.
Ingredients:
Serves 8
1 1/2 cups quick grits (the five minute grits)
1 pound of smoked cheddar cheese, grated (Tillamook is my favorite)
3/4 cups butter 
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Worcestershire Sauce (to taste)
Cayenne Pepper (to taste)
•   Grate the cheese. This is the hardest part. I can never find smoked cheddar cheese already grated. And it must be smoked. And it must be grated so that it will melt smoothly.
•   Preheat the oven to 350F. 
•   Cook grits according to directions on box. (3 to 1 ratio works for me. 3 times the water as dry grits.)
•   Once the grits are done, stir in the butter. You can eat it now, but then you won’t be able to say you made a soufflé. Every southern girl wants to make a soufflé.
•   Temper your eggs. This means, pour a tiny bit of the egg mixture into the hot grits mixture whisking like crazy. Then pour a bit more. And so on until all the egg mixture is incorporated. If you pour all the eggs in at once, you will have scrambled eggs on top of your grits. If this happens, you may as well throw on a strip of bacon and call it a breakfast bowl like some odd dish at a fast food restaurant. Or start over.
•    Add cheese and stir. If you eat them now you will have cheesy grits – yum. Of course at this stage there are raw eggs inside. Some frown on this, but raw cookie dough (with raw eggs) has never killed me, so I say at least have a few bites. Plus you’re gonna want to lick the spoon. Like chocolate cake batter. 
•   Add the dry mustard, Worcestershire and cayenne to taste. I like it spicy, but a little goes a long way.
•   Pour into a shallow 2-quart baking dish. No need to grease because there is so much butter in the mixture. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until it sets.
You can add other ingredients to it such as chopped peppers, onions or a different type of cheese. But why? Everyone will rave about this. It’s that good. 
Recipe adapted from A Texas Hill Country Cookbook

talya

Give your farmhands (that is, your children) cold cereal for breakfast and see how many rows they hoe. Make them a pot of grits and butter, and they’ll hoe till dinner and be glad to do it. – Janis Owens, The Cracker Kitchen

This is Day 5 (last day!) of BLOGtober Fest with Arkansas Women Bloggers. Theme (Foodie Friday) Favorite Fall Recipes…

Lunch with Laura Bush

August 13, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

As an aspiring, suffering (not really), full-time (I wish) writer, I don’t often go out to lunch. Instead I dine at home with Lucy and Annabelle who troll for handouts beneath the kitchen chair. Friday I was meeting a friend for lunch at La Duni. One of my FaVoRiTe Dallas restaurants. Yay!
La Duni’s parking lot is teeny – valet only. As I pulled my $35/per day Flintstone rental car into the lot it was already filled with typical Dallas fancy schmancy vehicles. Valet Man did a double take, likely thinking I intended to turn into the nail salon next door.
Waiting for Valet Man, I spotted a lady walking toward the restaurant from Crate and Barrel’s parking lot across the street. I too considered parking in that lot for free but I am a rule follower. That lot is for ‘retail customers only’. I would hate to have my clown car towed away to Wilmer-Hutchins or some such place.

The lady looked familiar and was dressed smartly in a cotton boucle two piece pastel colored suit. Gold accessories. Perfectly coiffed short hair. Very first lady-like. Laura Bush-like. Stepping lightly across the parking lot in front of my rental, she smiled pleasantly in my direction.

WAIT! It WAS Laura Bush!!!

OMG! I bet she stopped for an asparagus salad after checking on the progress of George’s museum a couple of blocks down Central Expressway!!! We would become instant friends. She would join my book club. I was certain.
Flinging my keys at Valet Man, I raced toward Laura, falling in line behind her sensible bone-colored pumps.

Valet Man: You want a car wash while you eat? (He yelled as I walked away.)
Me: No. This is not my car. It’s just a rental. Hail damage repair, you know. (He didn’t know or care but I hoped Laura heard…)

I was escorted to a booth providing a perfect profile view of Laura. I nonchalantly watched. I was cool. She looked lovely. Extremely put together on a 100 degree day. Was she wearing panty hose?! (This pastel suit and matching bone pump look is one of the many reasons I could never be First Lady. Or Second or Third or President or Vice Anything.)
She seemed a bit uncomfortable. The panty hose? Or because of me? As she turned and smiled, her gaze directed at me, I expected Laura to do a well-practiced parade wave. And then I realized she wasn’t Laura Bush at all...

But she should have been. She lives nearby, and I’m sure she loves La Duni. I was disappointed on many, many levels.

Still waiting for my friend, I decided to explain my stalker behavior. 
Me: Excuse me, I saw you walking in and thought for sure you were Laura Bush!
Fake Laura: Oh that is too funny. 
Me: You look a lot like her. Are you Laura Bush? (I was still not completely convinced…)
Fake Laura: hahaha. You just made my day.  Do you think Laura Bush would really park at Crate and Barrel and sneak over to avoid the valet fee? 
Me: Well, I thought about that and yes. Yes I do. Laura seems practical. Plus there is more room over there for the Secret Service vehicles.
Fake Laura: (laugh laugh laugh) Are you going to Tweet or something about this? 
Me: Yes, probably. (How did she know?)
My friend walked in about this time, saving me from being detained by the Men in Black.
Friend: Oh you’ve run into a friend here?
Me: No, we just met. It’s Laura Bush.
Fake Laura: (just smiling)
She could have been.
talya
Musical Pairings:

Call Me Maybe – Barack Obama

George and I are complete opposites – I’m quiet, he’s talkative, I’m introverted, he’s extroverted, I can pronounce “nuclear” – Laura Bush

Sugar Sugar!

August 7, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

This past weekend, in a weak moment I shall blame on the blazing temperature which is affecting my judgment,  I bought a party size bag of peanut M&Ms. ThereWasNoParty. I don’t typically eat that much candy or chocolate. Sometimes a girl just needs a fix. 
My craving would have easily been satiated with a regular, one-serving, sane-person-sized bag of M&Ms, but NEVER would I EVER buy a small sized bag. That would be buying junk food obviously meant to be inhaled by yours truly. 

Instead I opted for the Route 44 bag large enough to feed a class of 3rd graders after recess. It comes with the possibility of sharing with a crowd, the suggestion of a party. A hint of fun times to come. Yippee. 

In a crystal bowl, the M&Ms become art on the piano like a vase of flowers. A pop of color. Visitors can partake as if the M&Ms are fancy hors d’oeuvres, like a bowl of Spanish nuts for impromptu guests who stop by. ThereAreNoGuests.

Jeff, our builder, did stop by the other night to discuss our hail damaged roof. He ate two M&Ms from the bowl. I felt like such the hostess:))  Melissa, our neighbor, stopped by to ask if we wanted to sign a petition. We were so wrapped up in Season Two of Mad Men I totally forgot to offer her any ‘dessert’! Bad hostess:((
Of course, I am the only one eating them. I’m the only one here. John is at work or out of town. The dogs can’t eat chocolate. 

Why on earth did I buy those M&Ms? Of course there was a full moon last weekend….

talya

Sugar Sugar – The Archies

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. Erma Bombeck

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 26, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 5, 2025

Novels:

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