Food bloggers get taste of Southern fare

Five prominent food bloggers are in Andalusia this week cooking up a holiday meal with Sister Schubert – also known as Patricia “Sister” Barnes – and learning special entertaining touches and tips.

The bloggers are in residence at Hickory Ridge Lodge, and in addition to cooking with “Sister,” they’ll also enjoy a Southern breakfast with “Miss Brenda,” Hickory Ridge co-owner Brenda Gantt.

“It’s just going to be a country, down-home breakfast,” she said. The menu includes biscuits, tomato gravy, streak of lean, Conecuh sausage, creamy grits with mushroom sauce, homemade pear preserves, local honey and local cane syrup.

The visiting bloggers include:

• Christy Jordan of Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate. Jordan is a wife, a mother, and lifelong resident of North Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in home economics.

• Sommer Collier of A Spicy Perspective . Collier is a wife, mom and travel enthusiast. As a tribute to her upcoming host, she recently featured Pumpkin Spice Latte Yeast Rolls, described as “soft pillowy yeast rolls topped with pumpkin spice latte butter and pepitas for festive crunchy-sweet topped rolls your whole family will enjoy.” She used Sister Schubert’s soft dinner rolls as a base.

• Chris Nease of Celebrations at Home  is an editor and food stylist.

“I’ve got some fun news to share today,” Nease blogged recently. “ I mentioned earlier that I’ve got a project up my sleeve, and it’s the fact that I’m working with Sister Schubert’s frozen breads for the holidays. Not only that, but I’m heading down to Alabama next week to spend a couple of days with Sister herself, and four other bloggers. We’re going to be cooking in her kitchen together and talking about holiday entertaining. How cool is that!”

• Tracy, author of The Kitchen is My Playground, blogs from Lexington, N.C.

“Oh you guys, I’m so excited!,” she blogged this past weekend. “Not only is it the time of year when I get to enjoy one of my favorite Thanksgiving treats ~ Turkey and Stuffing Sliders Sandwiches with Sister Schubert’s Parker House Style Rolls … next week I’m going to meet Sister Schubert herself!”

• Paula, author of Call me PMc, is a self-described “a blogger, a baker, a runner, a writer, a recipe developer, & a cookie dough eater” who writes from Tupelo, Miss.

“I guess it’s only fitting that I’ll be making my first personal appearance for this blog at a Sister Schubert’s event later this month,” she blogged. “Sister Schubert’s has been in my life a long time. When I was little, I thought Sister Schubert’s rolls were a dessert. I’d eat one after another of these pillowy soft and buttery rolls leaving everything else on my plate. Of course, I drown them in butter!”

PMc shared a recipe her mother created to make cinnamon pull-apart bread from Sister Schubert’s Parker House rolls.

“I realize that Sister Schubert’s make cinnamon rolls now,” she wrote. “But, this is an old family favorite and there’s just something about the foods I enjoyed when I was little that warms my heart.”