Fruit

This is an easy-to-assemble pie that really takes us back to our childhoods. Blackberries grow wild all over Georgia, and coming from a family of great pie bakers, we were always motivated to pick them.

Warm, boozy cherries over ice cream is a classic dessert, and it’s so easy to do. We like ours over chocolate ice cream (but when Bobby doesn’t quite have the energy to make this, you know he’s always got Cherry Garcia in the freezer).

This simple dessert comes together fast, but with layers of pudding, bananas, whipped cream, raspberry jam, and brownies, it’s over-the-top fabulous-tasting.

Bobby’s dream is to retire to a beach in the Caribbean and sell frozen chocolate-covered bananas on a stick (see A Bit More, Y’all). He’d be open from noon to one, just long enough to eat lunch and read the paper. The hoped-for sales for each day would be six bananas. Seeing how this dream is not coming true any time soon, he’ll just have to settle for these island-inspired delights. We roll them in coconut for that tropical taste, and since they’re mostly fruit, they’re a pretty healthy dessert or snack. For an extra-special treat, roll them in the crushed candy or cookie topping of your choice.

Jack could eat fruit all day long, especially berries. He is enamored with different colors and shapes, so to set them off, we love to make him these sweet, jiggly salads. We serve them at playdates with his friends Lex, Brady, and Colin (they’re triplets, y’all) and make a game of digging up the fruit in the Jell-O (yup, with their hands—it’s messy!).

Unless you’re Jamie Deen, you probably need to have a kid around to make yourself one of these melty, divine sandwiches. Add banana instead of jam and you’ve got yourself Elvis’s favorite sandwich.

Back in the days of The Bag Lady, when Mama was making bag lunches and we were delivering them, she would always make a chicken salad. For the fall and holiday season she would add walnuts and mandarin oranges to make a colorful, festive lunch with a delicious nutty-sweet appeal. This is Jamie’s version. It’s a hearty, packed-with-protein meal that looks as good as it tastes.

Jamie’s a fan of shrimp scampi, but Jack is not. Turns out they can both agree on this chicken version.

We took Mama’s classic pineapple rings off the ham and put them on our grilled chicken breasts. This sweet-and-sour, quick-cooking dish is a real crowd-pleaser. Pineapple slices coated in brown sugar and Bourbon turn sweet and caramelized on the grill, and a salad dressing marinade makes the chicken tangy, moist, and tender. Perfect with a nice green spinach salad.

A lemony butter sauce infuses these shrimp with a flavor that is perky and decadent all at once. You’ll be tempted to serve it over all your seafood dishes. But look out! You may find yourself talking in a Georgia drawl by the end of the meal. Serve this dish with white rice or Easy Almond Rice Pilaf (page 47) for a no-fuss fancy meal.

This recipe was born in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee where, as kids, we went camping with our parents. We caught fresh trout, and Mama cooked them right up on the grill in foil packs. It was the best-tasting fish we’d ever had. If we’re making this over a campfire, we serve it on its own. At home, it goes well with green beans.

When it’s so cold that even Bobby won’t cook out on the grill, we turn to this recipe. Broiling tuna (one of Bobby’s favorite fish) is a perfect way to sear the outside while keeping it nice and rare inside, and the superfast salsa is full of bright, spicy flavor. We started making our own salsas a few years ago and haven’t looked back.

Salmon is something so healthy that we just had to put mayonnaise on it. The lemon mayo gives it a great zesty flavor and oomph—it keeps the fish moist, too. Our lettuce and cucumber salad is a perfect match for this light dish.

We can get behind any recipe with peanut butter in it! This savory dish, with just a hint of fiery red pepper flakes, is a nod to our favorite Thai take-out dish from Kao Thai in Savannah. Best of all, it’s based on ingredients you probably already have in the house.

Baking chicken on top of zucchini is a great way to get your green vegetables in. The zucchini absorbs all the chicken and herb flavors in the pan and winds up tasting a whole lot better than any vegetable really should. We love to bake chicken pieces with a slice of lemon on top because the lemon browns right along with the chicken skin and adds a nice zesty flavor.

We do so many pork chops at home and at The Lady & Sons these days because they’re fast—you can make as many as you need—and they’re a good change from red meat or chicken. This recipe is a really nice way to enjoy them. Orange marmalade gives them a sweetness that’s perfect for adding a little zest to your meal.

When I thought about writing a cookbook, I didn’t want to create one like many of the ones I saw on the market already—books that had a bunch of made-up barbecue recipes for things like grilled peaches. Then I realized that I actually do grill peaches in the summertime when I want a little something sweet for dessert! You can read other people’s versions, but mine is the best. Tip: Make these when you’re already smoking something in the smoker, so it’s already hot and you can just lay them in there; don’t make it hard for yourself. If you are using wooden skewers, they must be soaked in water for at least 12 hours before using. If you have stainless steel or other metal skewers, soaking is not a concern.

I’m known for barbecue, not for baking. But there are times when I’m called on to produce a dessert, and I’ll tell you right now that there’s nothing easier to make than this apple crunch. It’s like apple pie without the hassle; you don’t even have to make a crust. If you’re really feeling desperate and in a big hurry, you can top the apples with half of the batter of a boxed cake mix; it’s good that way, too.

My granny always made this punch. She practically raised me; we lived with her until my daddy bought us a house and moved us out when I was still a little boy. My grandmother was a hardworking Southern woman, always cooking and cleaning her house. This is her recipe for as refreshing and fragrant a summer drink as you can imagine—a really intensely flavored version of sweet tea, if you will. It’s a family favorite to this day. (It doesn’t call for Crown Royal, and I don’t even mind.) One thing, though: My granny’s last name wasn’t Jenkins, and she never did tell me who this recipe is originally named after; that’s a mystery for the ages, I guess.

For some people in the South, dessert doesn’t count unless it’s one thing and one thing only: this one.