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Some of the most memorable wedding food we’ve ever featured was at Haley and Dylan’s Charleston wedding–my husband still thinks their bacon bar sounds like the best thing ever, and I’m sure he’s not the only one! When we found out that Haley is a culinary school alum, and her parents authored a cookbook, we knew we had to get inside the Kelly family kitchen. They cooked up a Southern favorite, tomato pie, while Catherine Ann Photography captured it, and if you’re as anxious to try it as I am, you’re in luck–Haley generously shared their top ten recipes with us (including a few of their originals, which you can download here!).

By day: Haley is a wedding planner with A Charleston Bride; Dylan is in medical device sales at Boston Scientific.

How they met: We met our freshman year in college! Our school (Presbyterian College) was really small, so you pretty much knew everyone. We instantly clicked as friends and it quickly grew into a relationship!
Their wedding: Absolutely magical! Our wedding was full of personal details, which was really important to us–we used family recipes for some of the food, a Presbyterian College flag flew high on the Lowndes Grove porch, and our bacon bar was Dylan’s pride and joy (and people are still talking about it!). It was full of color and really spoke to our personalities.

Who does the meal planning? Me, for sure!
Who does the cooking? Me–but Dylan is the best sous chef :) We have a great balance of I cook, he cleans.

Their favorite meal-related memory: The one meal that immediately comes to mind was at State Bird Provisions while on our honeymoon in San Francisco. We got the best seats in the house–watching the chefs cook from the bar. It is the most amazing restaurant–the servers come around with carts or trays with food on mini plates and information on the price of the dish. My husband and I love great wine and/or cocktails with dinner, but we didn’t even order a drink, the food was so amazing! We sat and enjoyed every bite and I don’t think we turned down a single dish!

Haley and Dylan’s ten favorite recipes:

1. Scallops and Grits: We created this dish together and first made it for my parents when they were in town visiting. We have been trying to successfully sear scallops for over a year now, and finally found the key: dry the scallops on a towel, season with only salt and pepper, put grapeseed oil in a pan on low heat, and let it heat up slowly. Then, depending on the thickness, sear the scallop for about three minutes on each side.
2. Panko-Crusted Tuna: Anything my cousin–in-law cooks is phenomenal, but our favorite is her panko-crusted tuna. This is perfect to cook when having friends over, because it’s super easy, but looks impressive!
3. B for d (breakfast for dinner, or bacon for Dylan, as we recently named it): This is our Thursday staple–just as our groceries are running out for the week, we will have bacon, eggs, and grits for dinner! Dylan likes it when his eggs are cooked in half a tablespoon of bacon renderings. This dinner is super laid back, but we love it!
4. Tomato Pie: A summer favorite! We love using fresh heirloom tomatoes from the local farmer’s market.
5. Cauliflower mashed potatoes: Dylan used to not eat many veggies, so I found ways to trick him into eating some of my favorites! For this recipe, I boil one head of cauliflower and then purée it with two tablespoons of Cabot Greek Yogurt (a must-have in our house–it’s the best!), a handful of cheddar cheese, a dash of garlic and hot sauce, and some salt and pepper.
6. Fish or shrimp tacos: Dylan and I go to a local fish market every Sunday and pick out fish for the week! At least once a month, we use it for fish or shrimp tacos. We either sear the fish or pan-fry it in panko, and then serve it with a sauce made of greek yogurt mixed with crushed red pepper, lemon juice, and sriracha.
7. Chicken and Dumplings: This is my mother’s recipe, and we love to make it when we are at my parents’ home. My mom has a special touch that I am still trying to learn!
8. Portabella burgers: These are AMAZING for dinner and perfect leftovers for lunch! I usually omit the broccoli.
9. Curried Cauliflower Soup: Can you tell we love cauliflower? This dish is perfect when it is a little cold out, and it is especially great with a little crumbled blue cheese on top!
10. Macaroni and Cheese: Literally every party we are invited to, our friends ask us to make this dish.

Thanks so much for sharing, Haley and Dylan!

A little reminder: we’d love to hear from you! Our hope is to feature REAL couples in the South – not just folks who write blogs (though we love them, too!), but also your inspiring friend, super talented cousin, or neighbor with the cutest house – the kind of person everyone would love to “e-meet.” We are also really hoping to feature some apartment dwellers! If that sounds like you or someone you know, take a peek at our Southern Newlywed submission page and shoot us an email!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
8 Comments
  1. avatar Julie reply

    This was a great article. The recipes are yummy because I have tasted Haley’s chicken and dumplings and her cauliflower mashed potatoes (they are so good and I am a carboholic). The macaroni and cheese is delightful. I am going to follow this blog. It is authentic. Julie

  2. avatar Sherry Colarusso reply

    Love the shared recipes!! I’ll be trying some of these for sure.

  3. avatar Julie reply

    I can tell you these recipes rock. I have eaten most of them. This was a great article.

  4. avatar Heather reply

    These recipes sound so good! Can’t wait to try some soon in our newlywed kitchen too!

  5. avatar amanda reply

    so great…keep cooking

  6. avatar Steve Hein reply

    I’ve had fried green tomatoes and eggplant but never Tomato Pie! Very neat, So happy to see the man of the house helping out. Having given up red meat years ago anything with a veggie base is enticing. Portabella or mushroom burgers is on my to do list.Thanks!

  7. avatar Steve Hein reply

    So nice to see the man of the house in the kitchen. I’ve had fried green tomatoes but never Tomato pie-sounds enticing. Portabella burgers is on my to cook list!

  8. avatar Bethel Lemke reply

    Loved reading about Dylan and Haley
    Great couple. Will try the receipes.

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Southern food is a huge passion of ours at Southern Weddings–we love learning about it, cooking it, eating it, and even designing photo shoots inspired by it (remember the biscuit shoots in V4 and V6 and the pie shoot in V5?). The thing we love most about it, though? The community it creates–around a dining room table, or any time Southerners anywhere in the world bond over a shared love for shrimp and grits or hummingbird cake. Most recently, our love for Southern food led us to Elena, who started her blog, Biscuits and Such, when she was hunting for her grandmother’s country-style steak recipe, and couldn’t find an online source for Southern food that resonated with her. Hundreds of recipes and three cookbooks later, we’re thrilled that she has filled that void herself, and gave us a peek into the kitchen she shares with her husband, Dan. Just like any good Southern kitchen, Elena’s blog makes me want to sit a spell and stay awhile…especially if I can get a taste of one of those fried chicken biscuits!

By day: Dan is a web developer for a company based in San Francisco, and he works from our home in Wilmington. I teach Montessori preschool, which means that I spend my days with the most insightful, hilarious, crazy people you can imagine. In 2008, I started a Southern food blog, Biscuits and Such, which has taken me on an amazing journey that has included three cookbooks and some of the most incredible experiences and opportunities.

How they met: We met at the Maryland Institute College of Art. We were in a two-year curatorial studies course together and became great friends. After a few years, we took the leap and started dating, and we haven’t looked back since.

Their wedding: We were married in Beaufort, North Carolina in late September 2009. It rained like crazy, I wore a seersucker dress, and it was totally perfect. We were young and fresh out of art school, so we did everything ourselves, from letterpressing the invitations to DJ-ing the reception on our laptop. The biggest compliment we received was that it felt like us. It was a great day.

The meal planning: Meal planning is collaborative. We try to follow the seasons with our meals, which means that we have different go-to recipes during different times of the year. Each week, we’ll both suggest a few things that we’re hankering for, and we’ll build the menu from there, drawing inspiration from what is available at the farmer’s market and grocery store.

The cooking: I do most of the cooking, though Dan is no slouch in the kitchen. We work together when we host people, and he is an amazing sous chef. Lately, he’s also been experimenting with charcuterie, which is something I completely support!

Their favorite meal-related memory: We’ve eaten a lot of great meals together! Usually, we eat pretty simply when it’s just the two of us and pull out all the stops for guests. Recently, we decided to treat ourselves and made a really extravagant dinner in: sous vide steak, buttery smashed potatoes, wilted arugula, and creme brûlée. It was so nice to refocus our culinary energy on each other–it’s a good reminder of what is important!

Elena and Dan’s ten favorite recipes:

1. Chicken Biscuits: This is one of my favorite foods, and lately, I’ve been making them with jalapeño honey and dill pickle slices. They hit the spot!
2. Fresh Pasta: We made fresh pasta with friends recently and were so blown away by how easy and delicious it was. I don’t think we can go back!
3. Shrimp and Grits: Everyone has their own take on this classic Southern Lowcountry recipe. I like mine with slow-roasted tomatoes, bacon, and just a little bit of brown sugar.
4. Pulled Pork Tacos: My students will tell you in a heartbeat that my favorite food is tacos, and pulled pork tacos are up there on my list of all-time favorite meals.
5. Pimento Cheese Squash Blossoms: I am itching for spring to come for so many reasons, not least of which, I am ready to fry up another big batch of pimento cheese squash blossoms!
6. Ginger Syrup: I cannot get enough ginger lately, and ginger syrup is a great way to add a splash of flavor to sparkling water or a cocktail.
7. Eastern North Carolina Barbecue: One of the things that North Carolina is known for is our tangy, vinegar-based barbecue. I myself am partial to the Eastern NC treatment: apple cider vinegar, red pepper, and salt.
8. Burnt Orange Salty Caramel Sauce: I want to pour this burnt orange caramel sauce all over everything.
9. Cherry Mountain Pie: Every year growing up, my grandma would make me a mountain pie, which is pretty much a dump cobbler, for my birthday. It was one thing that made my birthday special, and every year I still celebrate with a mountain pie on my birthday.
10. Recipes from Not Without Salt: Not Without Salt and her series “Dating My Husband” has been one of my favorites over the past few years. Her book is gorgeous, and I’m excited to keep cooking from it!

Thank you so much for sharing, Elena! Follow along with her and Dan on Biscuits and Such, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and check out her cookbooks here!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
4 Comments
  1. avatar amy reply

    Nothing better than cooking with each other, lots of fun Loved your photos and your smiles

  2. avatar biscuits and such | Lovely Internet 3.13.15 reply

    […] Dan and I are on the Southern Weddings blog today! I married a pretty cool […]

  3. avatar pam (Sidewalk Shoes) reply

    Thanks for liking my ginger syrup!

  4. avatar Lauren reply

    Love the chicken biscuits. Thanks for sharing a little bit about yourselves!

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Hospitality is well-celebrated across the South, and few people I know exemplify this better than Camille Styles, of CamilleStyles.com and Camille Styles Entertaining, and her husband, Adam. It’s easy to feel at home from the moment you walk through the doors of their gorgeous Austin house (which also happens to have the most amazing back porch, as seen in the pictures below). I interned for Camille during my senior year of college, and one thing that always struck me about her and Adam is how much fun they always seem to have together! They truly act like best friends, and even though they’re both incredibly busy as business owners and parents, they always found time for dinners and date nights–something y’all know we believe in fiercely. I am so delighted that Camille is sharing their top ten favorite recipes in Southern Newlywed today, complete with beautiful photos by Buff Strickland–enjoy!

By day: Camille runs the lifestyle site, Camille Styles, and is the author of Camille Styles Entertaining; Adam is the founder and CEO of SpaceCraft, a software platform for small business websites.
How they met: We met at work! I planned the events for Adam’s former marketing agency–we were both in relationships when we met, so we were just friends at first. Later on, when we both found ourselves single, Adam asked me to meet him for a drink one evening after work. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Their wedding: When we got engaged, I owned my own event planning company and had been on the planning side of lots of weddings. If there was one rule I knew I wanted to stick to with my own, it was “Keep it simple!” We invited 70 of our closest family and friends to a Sunday morning ceremony and elegant brunch reception, and by late that afternoon, we were on a flight to our honeymoon in Italy! It was a little untraditional, but for us, it was just perfect.

Who does the meal planning? We both love food, and it’s not uncommon for us to talk about what we’re going to have for dinner while we’re still sitting around the breakfast table! Adam throws out ideas, and I’m usually the one who gets our plan organized, makes a massive grocery list, and tackles the shopping for the week.
Who does the cooking? I cook on most nights of the week, but my favorite thing for us to do together is to turn on music, open a bottle of wine, and make a meal together in the kitchen. For me, it’s the most romantic “date night” there is! Usually, we’ll make something Italian, like grilled pizza or Adam’s signature caprese pasta dish that he used to woo me with when we first started dating.
What’s your favorite meal-related memory? A few summers ago, Adam and I took a trip to Greece, and one day, we took a sailboat ride around to some different islands. In the afternoon, our boat captain pulled out a loaf of crusty bread and big chunks of salty feta made fresh on the island, then started slicing tomatoes and cucumbers he’d plucked from his garden that morning. He spread it all out on a wood chopping board and added a bowl of mixed Greek olives and liberal sprinkles of sea salt. To this day, I’ll never forget the way those olives tasted like the saltiness of the sea, and the cherry tomatoes like sunshine; that simple meal will forever define the taste of Santorini in my mind.

Camille and Adam’s ten favorite recipes:

1. Dutch Baby Pancakes: When Adam and I first started dating, he had a couple of “signature” dishes he would make when he wanted to pull out all the stops for an at-home date night. This Dutch Baby is still one of our very favorite brunch dishes; we serve it with fresh berries, lemon wedges, and lots of powdered sugar.
2. Tuna Tartare with Avocado & Radish: Many of our favorite recipes to make at home are inspired by great dishes we’ve had in restaurants, this tuna tartare included. It couldn’t be simpler, but makes any night feel like a special occasion.
3. Kale Caesar Salad: Adam has a major thing for caesar salad, and I like to make ours a little healthier by using dark, leafy kale. It’s the perfect starter for a pizza or pasta night!
4. Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries: Finally, sweet potato fries that are baked in the oven and are actually super crispy! It took us years to perfect this recipe, and now it’s on weekly rotation at our house, usually served with chicken piccata, grilled salmon, or BLTs.
5. Shaking Beef: I was so excited to nab the recipe from The Slanted Door, one of our favorite San Francisco spots. It’s simple enough to make for just the two of us, though I love placing a big family-style platter of this dish in the center of the table for a summertime dinner party.
6. Asian Sesame Chicken Salad: A Chinese chicken salad is one of those things that if I spot it on a restaurant menu, I’ll probably order it, and this is our super healthy, super yummy take on it. It’s one of our most frequently-made weeknight meals, and we always devour every last crunchy bite.
7. Bucatini all’Amatriciana: This delicious pasta reminds us of some of the versions that we sampled on our honeymoon in Italy. Lucky for us, there’s a shop down the street from our house that makes bucatini (similar to spaghetti, but with a hole running through the center so it catches every last bit of sauce!). We pick up a batch of the fresh pasta on our way home from work and toss together an authentic Italian feast.
8. Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup: We eat tons of Mexican food at our house (we live in Austin, after all!), and this is our favorite unexpected take on tortilla soup: a super spicy broth made with toasted spices, adobo sauce, and black beans.
9. Dark Chocolate Orange Soufflés with White Chocolate Chunk Whipped Cream: If you were to ask Adam the way to a man’s heart, he’d probably answer “chocolate soufflés!” This one takes a bit of time, but on nights when I want to turn up the romance, it’s a decadent recipe that always does the trick.
10. Sparkling Citrus Punch: We love to invite friends over and entertain, and lately, we’ve been mixing up big bowls of boozy punch. There’s something about it that instantly gives off a “let’s get this party started!” vibe the second guests walk in the door, and most importantly, it saves us from playing bartender all night, since guests can serve themselves. This bubbly citrus concoction is our current favorite.

Thank you so much for sharing, Camille! Follow along with her on CamilleStyles.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and be sure to pick up a copy of her gorgeous new book, Camille Styles Entertaining for lots more food and entertaining inspiration!

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Our hope is to feature real couples in the South – your inspiring friend, super talented cousin, or neighbor with the cutest house – the kind of person everyone would love to “e-meet.” If that sounds like you or someone you know, take a peek at our Southern Newlywed submission page and shoot us an email!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
2 Comments
  1. avatar Lindsay Jensen reply

    I love Camille Styles! Her book is amazing and I find myself going back to it often. Thanks for the great post-I can’t wait to try some of these recipes!

  2. avatar Emily reply

    These all sound incredible! Bookmarking the sweet potato fries and Asian sesame chicken salad to start :)

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

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