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If you’re anything like us, you always keep a jar of vegetable shortening in your pantry. Our Grandmas taught us that shortening is a stand-by in quite a few Southern recipes—particularly our baked goods. It’s the secret ingredient that makes our pie crust extra-flaky and our dinner rolls ultra-tender. Shortening has been a pantry staple for decades for a reason. But let’s imagine a world in which, by some series of unfortunate events, you find yourself without a trusty jar of shortening....

Whether served on a roll or atop a bed of lettuce, shrimp salad is an essential dish in the South, especially in the summer, when the heat puts us in the mood for light, cool dishes. Usually made with mayonnaise, celery, and a generous sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning, Southern-style shrimp salad needs no improvement. But that doesn’t mean you can’t tinker with the formula a bit. And sometimes when you tinker, you end up with an entirely new recipe that rivals the original....

Sure, it’s a convenient way to keep things tidy when you’re baking up a storm, but it turns out that putting eggshells back in the carton with the rest of your uncracked eggs is a big food safety no-no. The reason? Cross-contamination. When it comes to handling eggshells in the kitchen, there are some precautions to take. But did you know there are some good uses for those used eggshells? Here’s how to keep everything clean and some better uses for your empty shells....

Comfort foods are a must year-round. Especially in the cooler months, there’s nothing better than a homemade meal that warms the stomach and soul. However, classic comfort foods can be tedious to make. Dishes like golden-brown hand pies are worth the effort, but if the process can be made easier—we’re all here for it. The Prepworks Multifunctional Dough Press Set from Progressive International cuts down on time spent forming pies and comes with three different-sized presses for only $10....

When most restaurants get ready to renovate, their old materials and furniture book a one-way ticket to the dump. But that’s hardly the case for the oldest restaurant in Mobile, Alabama. When The Dew Drop Inn decided to do a little refresh earlier this year, longtime customers couldn’t wait to get their hands on a piece of history. The craze rivaled that of a new Air Jordan release, and every last one of the iconic 1950s-era orange tabletops were sold—for a $50 donation to the local animal shelter because that’s just the type of place the Dew Drop is....

Dolly Parton doesn’t sport long, crimson nails just for looks. In a pinch, her impressive talons also double as a musical instrument. Parton has perfected the art of clacking her fake nails together to create a beat. In fact, her acrylics were so essential to writing “9 to 5” that they even got a musical credit on the track. “It makes like, a percussive sound,” the Grammy-winner said while demonstrating the technique during a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show....

We could all use a little extra holiday cheer this year. More glitter and gold, the better. Or so says e-commerce furniture and décor giant, Wayfair. Recently, the brand announced that over the last three months searches on their site for gold- or champagne-toned Christmas trees outpaced other colors and styles, thrusting these shimmering hues into the spotlight for one of this year’s hottest Christmas trees trends. “The color gold is believed to lift spirits and inspire optimism....

I’m naturally skeptical of new kitchen gadgets. Years of living in small spaces has turned me into something of a minimalist. (My clothing closet is another story…) I’m especially suspicious of single-use gadgets. If I’m adding a new gizmo or appliance to my kitchen arsenal, it has to pull its weight and serve many purposes. And preferably not take up too much storage space. Which is why it is very strange that I am attached to my slow cooker’ a large, single-use gadget....

You know fall has arrived (even if the outside temps don’t always agree) when you walk into your grocery store and see pumpkins and gourds piled up at the produce stand. The appearance of farm fresh apples, sweet potatoes, and even the pungent smell of cinnamon brooms, are all harbingers that your favorite baking season has arrived. Your family loves everything pumpkin, from pumpkin bread to pumpkin cobbler, so your mission at the store on this particular day is to purchase as many cans of pumpkin as your friendly grocer will allow....

Some days you just really want a BBQ egg roll. Or maybe a frosted sugar cookie donut, cheeseburger casserole, or buffalo chicken enchiladas. What can we say? We’re a sucker for a dish that mashes up one food we love with another food we love to make a brand-new culinary experience. While pumpkin pie cake and nacho casserole sound delicious, turns out it’s not just the tempting flavors that makes mashups so fun to eat....

A recent cold snap is threatening the lives of some of the Outer Banks’ most vulnerable residents. The National Park Service reports that more than 100 cold-stunned turtles have washed up on North Carolina’s Outer Banks since Tuesday. On Tuesday, “roughly 95 green and Kemp’s ridley cold-stunned sea turtles washed ashore on the sound side of Hatteras Island,” Cape Hatteras National Seashore wrote on Facebook Wednesday. On Wednesday, biological technicians and volunteers rescued 18 more cold-stunned turtles....

It’s no secret that air travel is a headache. From packing and airport security to increasingly cramped cabins, for a majority of Americans, the friendly skies are anything but. A Ford poll conducted by OnePoll found that most people are happy to add hours to their travel time if it meant avoiding the airport, Fox News reports. In fact, when choosing between planes, trains, and automobiles, Americans prefer traveling by plane least....

So you invited 50 people to your cookout, and only 15 came. Sorry to hear that! And now you have a potato salad problem on your hands. According to StillTasty.com, prepared potato salad—whether homemade or store-bought, dressed with vinegar and oil or mayonnaise—will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to five days if stored properly. But by day three of your own personal all-you-can-eat potato salad buffet, we guarantee you’re not going to want to even look at another potato for the foreseeable future....

The CMA Awards will open with a star-studded tribute to Loretta Lynn tonight. Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and Reba McEntire will kick off the night with a musical performance honoring Lynn’s pioneering six-decade career. Lynn, who died last month at the age of 90, was inducted into more music Halls of Fame than any female recording artist in history. She was also the first woman to be named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year in 1972....

We’re always game to try a carb-conscious trade when whipping up our weeknight dinners, especially as balmy summer nights roll around and carb-packed pasta casserole isn’t as appealing. From zucchini “noodles” to bell pepper “nacho chips,” it’s pretty amazing what you can hack from your farmers’ market haul; and cauliflower comes out on top when we’re talking versatility. You can mash it like potatoes and stir-fry it like rice, or toss it like gnocchi and bake it like pizza crust....

If birthdays require the best cakes (and they do), Dolly Parton deserves the biggest and most delicious cake there is. The singer-songwriter and philanthropist turned 77 today, and though she’s busy recording her rock-and-roll album this week, we hope she takes a moment to enjoy a bit of cake. Just like she did as a child, when her mama made her and her 11 brothers and sisters a special treat on their birthdays: chocolate cake....

Calling all Dolly Parton fans! This Parton-themed RV, brimming with memorabilia inspired by the Smoky Mountain Songbird, has got us itching for a socially distanced getaway, especially ideal for those in the area antsing for a change of scenery. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, we became familiar with this unique Airbnb camper thanks to Knoxville’s WATE-TV, which introduced us to this darling vacation rental in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains....

Do you love baking and eating Christmas cookies? Are your creations the highlight of the holiday season for your family and friends? If so, we just might have found your dream job. Reynolds wants to sweeten up a tough year for one cookie enthusiast by offering them the ultimate gig: getting paid to bake (and eat!) cookies. This opportunity will pay one baker $5,000 to be the Reynolds Kitchens Cookie Connoisseur....

Whatever you think of when you think of Texas, chances are your assumptions will be upended when you arrive in El Paso. Located at the very western part of the state in the Chihuahuan Desert, El Paso shares borders (and cultural influences) with New Mexico and Mexico. It is rugged and mountainous, striking at sunset on Scenic Drive overlooking Ciudad Juárez. It’s a place filled with delicious cuisine, handcrafted cowboy boots, exciting hometown baseball games, and enriching public art....

Grab your pinot and your pajamas, Hallmark Channel has the wine lover’s perfect rom-com. There is a vineyard, a quaint small town, a handsome widower, and a beautiful, but somewhat harsh food and wine critic who gets amnesia in the first ten minutes. The Perfect Pairing stars Nazneen Contractor as the very focused, brutally honest food critic Christina and Brennan Elliot as a single father and a winemaker, Michael. Christina who goes by her initials professionally so she can remain anonymous, heads out of the city to a wine festival....