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If we Southerners are going to rest on our laurels of being famously hospitable, we owe it to our guests to be ready to jump into the role of hostess at a moment’s notice. Whether you’ve been hosting friends and family for decades or are in charge of your first big gathering this year, making sure you have the right tools and products to confidently entertain is crucial. All you should have to worry about is what food you’re going to make (and with so many great recipes readily available, even that shouldn’t be too hard)....

Remember as a kid the white blooms of clover dotting the lawn in spring like edelweiss in an alpine meadow? How you took off your shoes to run barefoot across the grass, until you accidentally stepped on a honeybee pollinating a flower, and YEEEOOOWWW!! Yeah, well, that was one reason people turned their backs on clover. A bigger reason, though, was chemical companies bombarding TV, newspapers, and magazines with ads extolling the virtues of the perfectly manicured lawns containing nothing but grass blades....

Why retinol? Well, this star ingredient is one of skincare’s most popular antiaging fighters, and it’s no surprise why. Retinol holds a laundry list of benefits, including keeping acne at bay and diminishing fine lines, wrinkles, and sunspots. The vitamin A derivative is one of the most effective over-the-counter ingredients to combat aging skin and acne. BUY IT: $13.99; amazon.com But how did retinol become a top ingredient when it comes to treating fine lines and wrinkles?...

Blake Shelton paid tribute to the six high school girls killed in a car accident that took place near his farm in rural Tishomingo, Oklahoma, this week. The tragedy struck close to home, both physically and metaphorically, for the country star, who lost his own brother in a car accident in 1990. “In the wake of yesterday’s unthinkable crash in our small town of Tishomingo, we as a community have all been in shock and broken-hearted,” Shelton said in a statement shared with People, a Southern Living sister publication....

As the coronavirus crisis wears on, it can feel harder and harder to find the silver lining amid our socially distanced, isolated new normal. Caroline Eubanks, freelance writer and author of This Is My South: The Essential Travel Guide to the Southern States, who moved to Marietta, Georgia, this spring as the pandemic continued to unfurl across our country found one. Well, thousands actually—books. Lots and lots of free books, thanks to Little Free Library outposts all around her Atlanta suburb....

Krispy Kreme —er, make that Krispy Skreme—is getting in the spooky spirit. The doughnut chain has announced a new line of Halloween-themed doughnuts and they are boo-tiful. Fans of spooky season treats have a new reason to swing past the local outpost to pick up a spook-tacular treat. So what’s in this creepy collection? There’s a Spooky Spider Doughnut dipped in chocolate icing and topped with cookie pieces, an icing spider web, and a spider sugar piece....

Beloved for their bright blooms and long flowering season, geraniums (a.k.a. pelargoniums) are popular plants for Southern gardens. Often grown as annuals in hanging baskets, container gardens, and bed borders, they are relatively low maintenance and easy to care for. However, there are a few things gardeners can do to keep these plants growing and thriving. Read on for the mistakes you should strive to avoid when tending geraniums. Giving Too Little (or Too Much) Water While geraniums can be drought tolerant, they grow best with moderate to regular water....

In 1972 at only 13-years-old, Tanya Tucker catapulted into the spotlight with “Delta Dawn,” and she hasn’t stopped amazing us since. This October 16, Tucker debuts her latest live album Live From the Troubadour and she takes the amazing factor to heights previously unseen. To boot, a portion of the proceeds from the concert album—recorded on October 16, 2019 at the famed West Hollywood music club, The Troubadour— will help benefit the venue, during a time of tremendous struggle for the live music industry amidst the coronavirus pandemic....

A world without lasagna would be a sad one indeed. Classic lasagna. Extra easy lasagna. We’ll take it just about any way you can bake it up. (And then throw in these 17 lasagna recipes you’ll never grow tired of for good measure.) As lasagna connoisseurs, however, there comes a time in every noodlers’ career when they realize they’ve got some refining to do on their technique. Sometimes, in comes in the form of your nephew lamenting the spinach-to-cheese ratio in your maybe a-little-bit-too-healthy rendition of mama’s classic lasagna....

If you’re anything like me, you have a standing monthly appointment with your dog’s groomer. In a matter of hours, she washes his coat (with organic shampoo, of course), brushes his teeth, and clips his nails—he emerges from the groomer donning a new bandana and smelling fresh and clean. While I can wash my dog at home, this monthly check-up is absolutely worth it; groomers have all the right tools, know how to handle dogs under distress, and do the important, yet unsavory work of cleaning a dog’s ears and expressing his anal glands....

Can you freeze potatoes? Yes, and with good results. One rule of thumb to keep in mind: raw potatoes don’t freeze well because they contain so much moisture. Fully cooked potatoes (other than casseroles, soups, and other dishes made with rich and creamy ingredients like cheese and heavy cream) don’t reheat well either. If you want to freeze potatoes, you will need to partially cook them before flash freezing. Home Fries...

Late August and September are not my favorite times in the garden. Some flowers are dead, some soon will be, while many remainders hardly try. But one plant hasn’t given up. It’s a time-honored perennial whose graceful blossoms have adorned Southern gardens for generations—ginger lily. The ginger lily (Hedychium coronarium) isn’t a true lily but a rhizomatous member of the ginger family. Some folks know it as butterfly ginger because when its pure white blooms open fully, the spreading petals remind you of a butterfly’s wings....

All cakes should taste good, but holiday cakes need to look good too. It’s the time of year when we often use cakes as centerpieces or focal points on the dessert table. There are few things more vexing to bakers who’ve just lovingly made a cake than to have it stick to the pan, leaving ragged corners, if not big hunks missing. This is most likely to happen when we use a Bundt pan or other baking pan with an intricate design, even if the pan is labelled as non-stick....

There are times when you have to accept your home’s flaws and work around them. “But,” says homeowner and architect Robert Thompson, “sometimes you should just move them.” That’s exactly what Robert and wife Ashley did in their house. They opened their minds to new possibilities and didn’t let the past determine the future. Interior MovesWhen the Thompsons decided to remodel their kitchen, Robert first tried to work with the existing one that was located at the front of the home....

If you’re entertaining for the holidays, there might be a problem with your go-to recipes. As perfect as they might be for your own family, there’s a good chance they won’t provide enough food for your guests. This is where scaling comes into play. It’s the simple act of modifying your recipe to make sure it serves the right amount of people. Jennifer Earnest of Chef’s Garden Catering & Events and Jen & Jamey’s Virtual Cooking Classes in Jacksonville, Florida deals with scaling every day....

Sad news, y’all. Just Born, the Pennsylvania-based candy manufacturer that makes Peeps, announced on Tuesday that it is temporarily suspending production due to the “rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation.” The third-generation family-owned business is reported to have halted production on the beloved Easter candy this morning. The suspension is slated to last until at least April 7, Just Born shared in a press release. “We will take this opportunity to further clean and sanitize our production facilities, offices, and corporate headquarters,” the brand explained....

We love stocking our refrigerators with fresh fruits and veggies, but we’re painfully aware that much of the produce we buy starts to wilt the minute we get it home. By the end of the week, even the freshest foods aren’t looking their best. Finding an effective way to store fresh produce is a challenge so many households face, so we took to the internet to find a solution. In the process, we happened upon a product that promises to extend the life of produce in your refrigerator, and that product is the Bluapple Produce Freshness Saver Balls....

Princess Beatrice’s socially distanced wedding last week was unlike any royal wedding we’ve seen before. Despite the unique challenges of getting hitched during a global pandemic, the lovebirds still managed to incorporate a number of meaningful traditions into their nontraditional day. From her borrowed gown to her heirloom tiara, Beatrice’s ensemble included numerous nods to her beloved grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. And like many royal brides before her, her bouquet contained a symbolic sprig of myrtle....

Last week, Ree Drummond delighted her fans with the news that she had welcomed a fifth child into her family. In a blog post titled “Bonus Kid,” the 51-year-old Food Network star revealed that her foster son Jamar made her a mom of five more than a year and a half ago. Drummond writes about Jamar’s role in her family in her new book of essays, Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere....

There is no feeling quite like slipping into a bed made up with brand new sheets. Whether it’s the fact that no one else has slept in them or that they’re a little luxury just for you, there’s something very inviting about new sheets. Picking out new sheets is fun, especially when you try to pick out the softest ones on the shelves or challenge yourself to look beyond the thread count....