Last weekend we had friends for dinner and I served these grits as one of the sides. Our friend graciously and cautiously put just a little on his plate to be kind and said, "I'll just take a little, I'm not really a grits man." Well, three helpings later and a to go box for lunch the next day and I had a convert who discovered he did in fact like grits. He just never had them cooked like I made them. Over the years we've served dinner to many LDS/Mormon missionaries and they've been from all over the world. It isn't unusual for us to get a call saying, "Hey, can you make your grits? We've got a new guy who says he's tried grits and he doesn't like them."
So, this recipe is dedicated to all of you who just think you don't like grits. Really, just try them!
Time
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1.5 cups Quick cook grits (this is key- not instant, not regular, they need to be quick cook)
1.5 sticks butter (Did I say this was a low cal dish? I think not)
1 lb Velveeta Mexican cheese (I prefer the hot when I can find it, but mild works too)
1 pkg Bacon bits (the ones in the plastic pouches, I prefer the Oscar Meyer bacon bits)
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Seasoning salt
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp hot sauce (I often add a lot more because we like the heat. Add more to your taste)
3 eggs, beaten
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Stir in grits, and reduce heat to low. Cover, and cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Mix in the butter, cheese, seasoning salt, kosher salt, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.
4. Continue cooking for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, add in bacon bits.
5. Remove from heat, and fold in the eggs, add to 9 x 13 baking dish
6. Bake 30 mins in the preheated oven, or until the top is lightly browned.
Tips
* When you add the grits to the boiling water, do so slowly and while whisking the grits in the pan. This will prevent the grits from clumping as you stir them in.
* To keep the eggs from scrambling when you add them to the grits, mix a little of the grits with the beaten eggs to slowly bring up their temperature (tempering). Once you have incorporated some of the grits, you can go ahead and add the rest of the grits. I go ahead and do all of this in my baking dish to prevent me from having to wash one more dish.
Friday, September 5, 2008
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10 comments:
Mmmm... my mom would love this recipe. I should make it for her.... or at least give her the recipe!
I'll definitely give this one a try. I've tried grits every which way and never liked them, but the kids eat them at day care. Jon has never had grits!
Oh yeah, in case you saw a 100 hits on your GIMP page, it was me! I've been playing around with GIMP in the last week or so and keep going back to your site to do some comparisons.
MMM I want to make these, you know I'm a southern girl too and I love some grits! Especially with CHEESE!
OMG! Yummm.. I saw this on my blogroll and my mouth started to water. LOL! I love anything cheesey and spicy :)
I have never had or made grits. Should I try?
Sounds yummy. I am keeping this recipe on file.
I've never had grits, but I've always wanted to try them. Since I've liked everything you've posted so far, I think I'll have to give them a try. What do you recommend serving them with?
Jen, yes, give the grits a try!
Joanna, we served the grits with babyback ribs. They go great with any kind of BBQ dish, pork, or any seafood dish (especially salmon or shimp). Shrimp and grits is a very popular dish in some parts of the south. I am also thinking of trying it by adding a pound of hot ground, browned breakfast sausage into the grits before baking and serving it as a brunch item. But I think I would have to play with reducing the salt content quite a bit since the sausage is usually already pretty salty.
Laura, give these grits a try. If you don't like these, you'll never love a grit, period. This is a good introduction to grits if Jon has never had them. Bailey even loves them! Lol about the GIMP page! I'll have to go see if you've posted any pictures yet (I've been terribly behind on my blog and reading everyone else's blogs lately. My job has been taking way too many hours of me).
Kimberly, Cacey, Kaycee, Susan: If you guys like grits you should really enjoy this dish!
OH THIS SOUNDS FAAAABULOUS!! Bookmarking this one. I'll let you know when I try it!
Great blog you have here! Found it through SITS! That is a fun site!
~melody~
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