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If you had asked me why I chose to make this recipe for the first time, I would’ve said: “Because it sounds like the most Southern, Christmasy cookie ever…that doesn’t require more steps than ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ and twice as many ingredients.” And it still rings true. Shortbread is a classic Christmas recipe. This one dresses up for the holiday occasion by adding cranberries for a dose of holiday cheer, pecans to give a traditional Southern touch, and chocolate drizzle to seal it all with signature everything-is-better-with-chocolate flair....

When our nation is in crisis, the U.S. Army has always lead the way in serving and protecting us. The coronavirus pandemic poses a very unique threat and as such we have seen a different kind of hero step up to be frontline warriors: doctors, nurses, and hospital workers. But the Army is still answering the call of duty in many different capacities. One way they are doing this is through the work of the U....

Now here’s something you don’t see every day! The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) recently shared footage of a supremely rare white bald eagle. The now-viral video, taken by college student Justin Briley, shows a leucistic eagle sitting in a tree in an unspecified location. “Oklahoma seems to be a great place to spend the winter—especially if you’re an eagle,” the agency wrote on Facebook. “This white bald eagle was spotted by Justin Briley who kindly shared this footage with ODWC biologists....

There are a lot of things that we love about modern times—TikTok, Netflix, and Hallmark Christmas movies, for starters. But while we are out here living our best technology-assisted lives, occasionally it is worth remembering that some modern conveniences aren’t always better than old-fashioned options. For proof of that, you don’t need to look much farther than the laundry room. While washers and dryers are some of the greatest inventions ever, they aren’t always the best choice....

Do you remember the day you learned to write in cursive? Of course you do. It was a revolutionary day, a day that opened your eyes to the possibilities of handwriting, to the beauties of flowing script. It was the day you learned that block type isn’t the only way to go. It was the beginning of everything. Ok, perhaps not the beginning of everything, but it was an important day nevertheless....

When it comes to your hair, there are a million and one ways to describe it: Thick, fine, coarse, stick-straight, flat, wiry … you get the picture. For a long time, though, I thought that some of the vocabulary surrounding hair was repetitive. Take fine hair and thin hair, for instance. As a fine-haired gal myself, I’ve often used the words “thin” and “fine” interchangeably whenever I was discussing my hair woes with my mama or friends....

Frank Lloyd Wright, the best-known American architect of the twentieth century, enjoyed a 70-year career in which his designs emerged across the American landscape as new standards in style. Born in Wisconsin in 1867 and closely associated with the work he did in Chicago—as well as the exemplary designs of Pennsylvania’s Fallingwater and other notable residences—Wright’s work soon reached across the country as couples commissioned him to design their homes. The structures he imagined became exemplary expressions of his architectural ideals, and a portion of those homes can be found in the Southern states....

The kitchen is often the hardest-working room in the house, not to mention its the heart of the home. This means it requires the most care and attention when it comes to cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing. We’ve asked the team at GoCleanCo., a wildly popular Instagram account and cleaning education site to break down how often to clean each surface in our cook space and how to do so properly to ensure a safe, sparkling kitchen....

It’s been an exciting time for Hoda Kotb. Last year, the TODAY show anchor adopted her second daughter, Hope Catherine, and became engaged to her boyfriend of six years, Joel Schiffman. Now, it appears the TV personality is showing no signs of slowing things down in the new decade—and that may mean another baby. On a recent appearance on The Ellen Show, Kotb spoke candidly to Ellen DeGeneres about potentially growing her family and plans for her wedding....

This is a cry for help. You’d think somebody who grew up with Suzy Homemaker could handle a broom, but the housekeeping gene appears to have skipped me. Please tell me I am not alone—that I am, in fact, part of some great Southern sisterhood. You can’t blame Mama. Heaven knows she tried. As a child, I had a toy kitchen sink with plastic dishes to wash; I had toy mops, brooms, and even a vacuum cleaner and washing machine....

Why do we spend so much time searching for healthy and organic makeup only to remove it with toxic ingredients? To that I say . . . no more. It’s time to start creating your very own DIY makeup remover at home. You read that right, folks! You can safely remove your foundation, lipstick, and mascara for a fraction of the price. And get this: You’ll need only three ingredients that are most likely already in your home....

Maybe you love making your bed. Maybe you loathe it. Either way, like most things in life, with a bit of effort, you can likely improve your technique. Below, we tapped experts—house cleaning gurus, interior designers, and bedding company founders—on their best tips for making your bed. Grab your pillows, start your engines, and read on. 1. Use The Rolling Method When Stuffing Your Duvet This is a true game-changer. “Traditional duvet covers, which often have the zipper at the bottom, can be tricky to change....

Like fresh tomatoes and corn, cucumbers are synonymous with summer in the South. They add crunch to crisp salads and sandwiches, are crudités platter allstars, delicious in chilled soups, and might be at their best when plucked, biting with brine, from a Ball jar. Cucumbers are one of the easiest and most prolific vegetables to cultivate at home and one of the more affordable to buy at the market. Kelly Smith Trimble, Knoxville-based master gardener and author of Vegetable Gardening Wisdom and the forthcoming The Creative Vegetable Gardener, shares her sage advice for keeping cucumbers fresh, no matter where you procure them or how you plan to use them....

As most Americans remain confined to their homes during the novel coronavirus pandemic, a slew of famous chefs and culinary personalities have taken to the Internet to give fans a glimpse into their kitchens. Joanna Gaines shared the recipe for her family-favorite French silk pie, Ree Drummond taught us how to make a five-minute chocolate mug cake, and Southern Living’s very own Ivy Odom has given us the go-ahead to enjoy pasta for breakfast with her recipe for breakfast carbonara....

Got a box of macaroni in your pantry? Of course you do. Put it to good use in these four classic recipes. Macaroni Salad Now that spring is officially here, picnics and cookouts are back in season. And that means tasty and totable side dishes like macaroni salad. There are endless ways to turn a box of macaroni into a pasta salad—pick two to three vegetables, your favorite dressing try creamy ranch dressing, pesto, or a simple vinaigrette), and add cooked, cooled macaroni....

Shopping for mascara is overwhelming to say the least. There are hundreds of brands, formulas, brush sizes and shapes, price ranges, and vendors to consider. Even against luxury price tags, drugstore go-to Maybelline is the Number 1 selling mascara brand in the U.S. Here’s why. First of all, Maybelline has dozens of mascara formulas for every last need your lashes could have. Who hasn’t owned several iconic pink and green tubes of Maybelline Great Lash?...

Say what you want about the big clucking turkey or the spread of creamy casserole sides, but Thanksgiving in the South is really about the cornbread dressing. The glorious mixture of cornbread crumbles, turkey stock, and whatever else your family recipe card calls for—pecans, sausage, or sage—all baked until warm and golden brown in the oven is nothing short of a holiday hero. But in my family, the good stuff comes later, when my grandmother transforms her leftover Thanksgiving dressing into crispy, moist, irresistible cornbread dressing patties....

The holidays are coming and as you prepare to greet that season you may be thinking about all the baking that traditionally comes with it. That may mean visions of jam-filled stars, cornflake wreaths, gingersnaps, or dozens of other Christmas cookies dancing through your head. But if you don’t have the time or energy to put together a cookie spread worthy of Buckingham Palace, that doesn’t mean you can’t have cookies....

Right about now amidst an ongoing pandemic, many of us wish we had a sprawling ranch in the middle of nowhere, with plenty of fresh air and room to roam. Ree Drummond’s ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, pretty much fits the bill perfectly, if you ask us. Now, in a new blog post on ThePioneerWoman.com, Drummond has shared more about the grounds’ “peaceful pond,” which is “one of [her] favorite spots on the ranch....

What started out as a mission to support food insecure families, during what seemed would be a temporary school shut down earlier this spring, has turned into something much larger than founder Jennifer Barnes could have imagined. Barnes recalled waking up worried in the middle of the night, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing that many children rely on school lunches, Barnes was concerned about how families in Sandy Springs, a suburb of Atlanta, would fare as this crisis evolved....