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For students at Lindale High School in Lindale, Texas, it’s pretty cool knowing country star Miranda Lambert is an alumna. What’s even cooler? Being invited to perform on stage with the artist in Dallas, Texas. Such was the case for some hardworking choir students at Lindale High School for Lambert’s tour stop in Dallas this past Saturday. As Tyler, Texas’ KLTV recently reported, Lambert invited her alma mater’s choir members to join her on-stage during her Wildcard tour supporting the eponymous album....

Country music legend Loretta Lynn is being honored with a new mural celebrating her incredible six decades in the music industry. The mural at Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, features four images of the songstress at various points throughout her career, including the Grammy-winner as she appears on the cover of her latest album, Still Woman Enough. It took two artists—Stephen Sloan of Nashville, Tennessee, and Brittany Johnson of Austin, Texas—one week to bring the 60-foot work to life....

Each set comes with a bunny-shaped pan and six ounces of buttermilk pancake mix, along with directions for making pancakes and using the pan—pro tip: read the directions unless you want burnt pancakes. Unfortunately for Peeps-enthusiasts, the pancakes are not flavored like marshmallows, but we hear buttermilk pancakes pair really well with a garnish of a Peeps marshmallow bunny or two. We also hear this set would fit wonderfully inside of a celebratory Easter Basket gift....

As for our carts, we’re definitely picking up the Ceaco Thomas Kinkade The Disney Collection Mickey and Minnie Sweetheart Cove Jigsaw Puzzle, 750 Pieces ($14). Then, we’re adding this beyond adorable Disney Frozen 2 Follow-Me Friend Olaf stuffed animal with a snowflake controller to make Olaf a super entertainer complete with moves, phrases, and musical accompaniment ($36.88). In this shopping spree, we’ve also thrown in the Disney Minnie Mouse Bowdazzling Dress Up Trunk Set, which includes 21 fashion accessories for Minnie Mouse fans sizes 4-to-6 to have a ball with while playing dress up ($29....

When it comes to the staple dishes of Thanksgiving and Christmas, there are those that don’t allow for shortcuts. Turkeys must be brined and browned properly lest they taste like cardboard. Cornbread dressing really should start from scratch. And cranberry sauce worth its real estate on the table starts with fresh ingredients instead of a can. But then there are mashed potatoes. While in the past we may have thought the best bowls of them first began by peeling a metric ton of spuds over a kitchen sink until one resembled the exhausted, unenthused figures of Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Potato Eaters,” we now know better....

Whether you’re catching that flight to your ultimate dream vacation or you’re heading home to visit family, air travel can be an exciting and also stressful experience. While there’s no way to control if your flight gets delayed or if the airline loses your baggage, we can share tips to make your flight as enjoyable as possible for you and those around you. Southern Living talked with etiquette expert Sydney Dunn of Sydney Dunn Etiquette, who shared her best tips for travelers preparing for take off....

In 2023, we’re trying to be more like Nicolas Houssini. The Uber driver from Blacksburg, Virginia, was one of seven $100,000 winners in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle. And while most people would keep the entirety of the prize for themselves and their families, Houssini, who says he loved assisting everyday people in their daily lives, has more altruistic plans for his lottery windfall. As he claimed his prize earlier this month, Houssini reportedly told lottery officials that he hopes to use at least part of it to help feed homeless people in the community....

Yes, there’s a difference, and it’s not just in the spelling. You’ll find these two spicy powders in various dishes across the culinary spectrum, and we love the kick that they bring to all sorts of dishes. So what’s the difference? Chile Powder vs. Chili Powder Pure ground dried chile peppers make chile powder. Usually, chile powder has no additives. On the other hand, chili powder is a blend of chile peppers and other spices, including cumin, peppercorn, oregano, and salt....

Firstly, sausage balls. Need I say more? If you’ve ever had a proper Southern breakfast, it should come as no surprise that it could easily outperform the dishes and casseroles that make up the typical Christmas lunch. We have the pleasure of seeing most of those as Thanksgiving, anyway. A Southern breakfast can be a truly extraordinary thing, and the biggest holiday of the year calls for bringing out the very best of Southern breakfast recipes....

Do you see those green flecks of goodness in the photo above? Celery may be your chicken salad’s best friend, but there’s good reason you should delay adding the fibrous veggie until right before you’re ready to dig in. “Once it’s cut, this veggie releases liquid, which may cause your [chicken salad] to turn into a watery mess,” explains the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen staff. “To prevent this, mix in the celery right before you serve....

When asked about what’s unique about designing the sets for the series, Groom spoke of some of the difficulties he faced when creating the show’s magnificent backdrops. “I think this period—the ’50s and early ’60s—is filled with a lot of traps, and people can fall into them. This period was just as layered as it is today, but often you don’t see it on screens. Everything is sort of ‘of the moment,’ with the diners and things like that....

Baking soda is one of the most useful items in a Southern kitchen. It comes in handy whether you’re whipping up a Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake, dyeing Easter eggs, concocting an egg substitute, cleaning burnt rice out of a pan, or making a science class volcano. Honestly, is there anything baking soda can’t do? Baking soda is extremely absorbent, which is why it’s a great for soaking up oil and grease. It also acts as deodorizer, perfect for sprinkling on stinky gym shoes and freshening up refridgerators alike....

As barbecue restaurants go, 4 Rivers Smokehouse is something of an upstart. The business is just over a decade old, and its offerings cut across regional styles and challenge traditional boundaries. It’s growing fast too. Founded in 2009 in Winter Park, 4 Rivers has now expanded to 13 locations in Florida, with plans for more. Founder John Rivers made his way to the pits via an unusual route. After retiring as the president of a billion-dollar company, he started smoking meats as a hobby....

Southerners love a bargain, and often, retailers like Sam’s Club and Costco are the key to saving a few bucks. When buying in bulk, however, you have to be careful that what you’re buying is actually a good deal for the quantity and quality. These are the items Southern Living editors are always sure to snap up when they make a trip to Sam’s Club. Tires Who knew? If you’re a Sam’s Club member, you probably did!...

I’m particular about one aspect of my banana bread: It must include cream cheese in the ingredient list. I’ve found through testing and tasting countless banana bread recipes over the years that my favorites of the bunch always call for a block of cream cheese. Whether they demand cinnamon, brown sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chips (gasp!) or any combination of the aforementioned is inconsequential as far as I’m concerned. What I’m really after is that one little mention of a gray paper-wrapped block that gives everything from casseroles to quick breads that creamy, dreamy texture that’s always on my list of culinary must-haves....

Originally published on annmashburn.com We have had a lot going on here. Like many others, our business is upside-down, and – conscious of the illness sweeping through the country, knowing how much worse I could have it – I have not felt it appropriate to be SELLING in quite the same way. The tone of my usual “You Need This” posts feels misplaced because no one really NEEDS anything right now… except N95 face masks....

Tired of repurchasing pots of mums year after year? Even if you treat them as perennials and plant them in your garden, mums can feel quite samey come fall. There’s a reason every garden store has piles of mums for purchase during the autumn months, and it’s because everyone and their sister buys pots of the yellow, orange, and red blooms for their porches and entryways. If you’d like to try something new and branch out into the broader world of fall flowers, check out fall-blooming asters, a fresh alternative to mums....

Is your house in need of a “demo day?” Well, you’re in luck! Chip and Joanna Gaines’ HGTV hit Fixer Upper is getting a reboot on their forthcoming television network, and the Waco wunderkinds are officially casting for Season 6. The Fixer Upper reboot will be coming to the couple’s new Magnolia Network in 2021. In the meantime, Chip and Jo have put out a casting call for current homeowners in and around Waco, Texas, who are looking for a one-of-a-kind home renovation....

I love a traditional layout, you know, the kind with separate living and dining rooms, a kitchen that is both highly functional and set apart from the main living space, perhaps with an adjoining pass-through pantry and wet bar (what a dream). At the stage of life my husband and I currently find ourselves in though, an open floor plan is the perfect fit for our family. It allows me to cook dinner while keeping an eye on the kids....

Tough as a mule, big as imagination, pretty as a summer dress, eternal as the sky. Those words describe crinums–also called hot country lilies. Forever, it seems, Southerners have cultivated, swapped, and rhapsodized about these bulbs, according them nearly legendary status. Yet, today, few people know anything about them. Greg Grant wants to change that. This East Texas horticulturist recalls the first crinums he ever saw as a boy–classic milk-and-wine lilies characterized by drooping, perfumy white flowers striped with pink....