The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook by Sherryl Woods Page A

milk
    Â¼ cup butter
    2 teaspoons salt
    2 cups grits
    1 cup whipping cream
    6 ounces (1½ cups) grated smoked Gouda cheese
    Tabasco sauce to taste
    In a large saucepan, combine milk, butter and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
    Whisk in grits. Continue to whisk 1 minute more. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until grits are tender and liquid has been absorbed. Whisk or stir often to discourage lumps and prevent sticking.
    Add whipping cream, and stir to blend.
    Stir in cheese, and blend well. Season to taste with Tabasco sauce and additional salt, if needed.
    SERVES 8–10

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    Smoky Pork-Filled Tamales
    Roasted Corn & Mixed Bean Salsa

MAMA CRUZ’S RECIPE FILE
    When Helen, Maddie and I decided to open The Corner Spa, not a one of us knew a thing about proper exercise or working out. Oh, we’d take a jab at jogging from time to time or lifting an occasional weight over at Dexter’s gym, but we were far from being experts. Truth be told, we weren’t all that enthusiastic about exercise. That’s when we decided we’d better hire personal trainer Elliott Cruz as an independent contractor to run the fitness side of our business.
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    I’d like to tell you we made that decision based solely on his résumé, which was rock-solid, but it was his equally rock-solid abs that really won us over. That man could be the poster boy for fitness! I swear, half the women who joined the spa did so just so they could watch him giving lessons. Even our seniors take a weekly jazzercise class just to ogle him and make the sort of smart remarks that make him blush. I’m not kidding! They’ll tell you that themselves. Helen’s mother, Flo Decatur, is the leader of this outrageous pack.
    Still, it was mostly a business relationship (honest!) until Elliott started romancing Karen Ames, a struggling single mom who worked for me at Sullivan’s. Then we all discovered the man could cook, and everything he’d learned in the kitchen, he’d learned from his mamacita, Maria Cruz.
    As I understand it, Mama Cruz has always kept a tightfisted grip on her recipe secrets, using them as leverage to guarantee that all her children and their families show up every week for Sunday dinner. Karen says her mother-in-law has always sworn she’d take her blend of peppers and spices for her incredible mole sauce to the grave with her just to be sure they come visit the cemetery in the hope she’ll communicate it from the great beyond. Somehow, though, Karen managed to wrestle it away from her to include here. Just wait till you taste Mama Cruz’s enchilada casserole with classic mole sauce.
    Elliott’s the one who forked over the seafood paella recipe, a meal that makes good use of all the fresh Lowcountry seafood we have available around here. Add a salad and a nice white wine, and you have the makings for a fabulous party!
    Since she’s been married to a man who definitely likes a little spice in his life and in his food, Karen’s taken to doing her own experimenting here in the Sullivan’s kitchen, stealing a page right out of Mama Cruz’s book. Her jalapeño mac and cheese has become a local favorite…and it’s been quite a boon for our beverage sales, too! First Elliott and now his wife can’t seem to go anywhere without generating plenty of heat.
    Though I’m all about Southern cooking with a twist at Sullivan’s, personally there’s nothing I’d like better than having more ethnic specialties available right here in Serenity. When I was growing up, pizza and spaghetti were about as exotic as we got. A Chinese take-out place opened a few years ago. Now that I’ve sampled a few of Mama Cruz’s specialties, I’m thinking there ought to be an authentic Mexican restaurant here in town. Maybe Karen and I need to talk. I wouldn’t mind an exciting new business opportunity. Try these recipes, and see what you