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Here at Southern Living, we absolutely adore layer cakes—especially when they’re decorated to look like a blooming rose. Would you believe us if we told you that this stunning design is achievable in your home kitchen? Yes, that’s right: using only a piping bag, you can execute this beautiful floral design at home—no special equipment required. Our Test Kitchen Professionals are breaking the whole process down, helping you build the layer cake of your garden party dreams....

In this episode of Biscuits & Jam, award-winning fiddle player Jenee Fleenor talks with Sid Evans about her dad’s chili recipe, touring with Blake Shelton, and how she’s paved the way for female musicians as the first-ever woman to be named CMA’s Musician of the Year. Get to Know Jenee Fleenor Jenee Fleenor grew up in northwest Arkansas, where her obsession with the fiddle led to her performing with musicians generations older than her....

Oh, Lord, will someone please help me? My big head is trapped in my computer, and I cannot pry it out. I’ve been a prisoner in the land of Zoom for about nine months now. Not a day goes by that I don’t squeeze and flatten my face into the tiny screen and send it, through the magic of the worldwide interweb, to some poor fool in Tuscaloosa or Chicago or Mars....

If there’s ever been a year to be extra grateful for our pets, it’s been this one. Amidst the long months of social distancing and staying at home amidst the coronavirus pandemic, spending extra quality time with our four-legged friends has been a bright spot. Long walks with our dogs, couch cuddles with our cats, chatting with our parrots, dressing up our bunny for Halloween…the highlights reel of recent memories with our beloved pets goes on and on....

If you’ve ever considered growing your own food at home, now’s a great time to start. Spring is just around the corner, and as soon as the last frost of the season has been replaced by warmer weather, you can expect vegetable seeds to thrive. One way to quickly get started on your own vegetable garden? Grab a pack of Open Seed Vault’s Survival Garden heirloom seeds. With this seed pack, you can plant 32 varieties of vegetables, from tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and green beans to lettuce, onions, okra, pumpkins, and more....

These days, we’re all about nurturing our low-maintenance houseplant collection (heck, we’ve even recently gotten into the practice of naming our houseplants). And what’s one of the easiest plants to care for? Succulents. Available in many varieties, these easy to maintain plants look wonderful on the porch or on a windowsill, and are affordable to boot. Bottom line: When it comes to being a lazy plant parent, you really can’t do much better than the drought-tolerant succulent....

Calling all fans of Dirty Jobs! Discovery and Mike Rowe have a brand-new offering and you won’t want to miss it. The beloved television host and former Baltimore Opera baritone turns history on its head in Six Degrees with Mike Rowe, a new nonfiction series currently streaming on Discovery +. Before you bemoan that you don’t have that yet or refuse to get another streaming service, hear us out. Watch one episode and we bet you will be hooked and agree it’s well worth the $4....

A historic west Texas ranch is providing more than inspiration for Taylor Sheridan’s highly anticipated Yellowstone spin-off series 6666—it’s rumored that it’s being filmed there too. 6666 Ranch, or Four Sixes Ranch, was founded by Samuel “Burk” Burnett back in 1870 when he purchased 100 heads of cattle and gave them the now-famous 6666 brand. Burnett went on to become one of the most influential and successful cattlemen in Texas history....

Get in on all the latest fashion trends at seriously stellar prices just in time for the holiday shopping season! How? It may be hard to imagine, but Black Friday is officially here. And that means you can score on tons of home decor, kitchen cookware, and fashion deals—up to 69 percent off. Best Black Friday Dress Deals Anrabess Turtleneck Oversized Sweater Dress, Starting at $42.99 (orig. $56.99) Longyuan Long-Sleeved T-Shirt Swing Dress, Starting at $31....

From Mackinac Island to the Outer Banks and every American vacation destination in between, if there are tourists, there is also fudge. For more than a century, tourism and fudge shops have gone together like peas and carrots. So, is there something about travel that makes us crave a decadent amalgamation of sugar, butter, and milk? Well… sort of. “Fudge is an impulse thing,” Sally Lowe of San Francisco’s Fudge House explained to Robert Reid in a piece for National Geographic....

Watermelon might be the unsung hero of the summer, so versatile and crowd-pleasing the Southern fruit is. From our most popular watermelon margaritas to the quintessential marinated watermelon salad to our watermelon chiffon pie destined to be a cookout centerpiece, watermelon recipes are sure to make any day feel brighter, fresher, and more delicious—which is why it’s always smart to have a fully cubed watermelon on hand in the fridge, should an inkling for a juicy treat hit....

Tater tots make the world go round. Okay, maybe not exactly, but they are the ultimate side dish for a classic Southern cook out, casual family BBQ, or annual church potluck. The tiny, bite-size treats are perfectly golden and crispy on the outside and warm and flavorful on the inside. In fact, many folks prefer the small potato bites to fries or onion rings. You heard it here first. So, what’s the secret to enjoying amazingly delicious tator tots every time the craving hits?...

Sure, it looks better than plastic, but that’s not the only thing to love about having wood in the kitchen. Wooden cutting boards and utensils—particularly those made from pine and oak—also have natural antibacterial properties that can help stop the growth of bacteria. Though their ability to limit the spread of germs means wood products are safer to use over a longer period than their plastic counterparts, they don’t last forever....

Mystery solved! In the summer of 2021, an employee at North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island set up a trail camera after noticing that the crab pots at the aquarium’s educational dock kept turning up empty. The footage he captured revealed that a family of mischievous river otters had been looting the pots of blue crabs in the dead of night. “The mystery of the empty crab pot is solved!” the aquarium wrote alongside a Facebook video (below) of the cute thieves in action....

Boxwoods are supposed to be green all year, so it’s no wonder that people get upset when boxwoods turn brown. Why is this awful thing happening? As always, Grumpy knows. The Two Main Culprits The probable cause of brown boxwoods is one of two soil-borne diseases—Phytophthora root rot or English boxwood decline. The first soil-borne disease attacks the American boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), English boxwood (B. sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’), and littleleaf boxwood (B....

It’s the holiday season at last! The temperatures are slowly but surely dropping, the festive decorations are multiplying by the day, and right around the corner are Christmas and… Jewish Christmas? Let’s pause. Though often lumped together as winter holidays, Christmas and Hanukkah are dissimilar in both their religious and cultural significance, and they actually have a pretty complicated relationship. First, while Christmas is a given massive cultural significance in America, this is not the case for Hanukkah....

As we remain hunkered down at home during this coronavirus crisis, our entire world has come indoors. Our homes have become offices, classrooms, and our neighborhood gym. It’s easy for the days to run together and that can lead to feeling a bit scattered and maybe also bring on a case of the doldrums. But, for some, a schedule helps, and we aren’t just talking about daily chores or work tasks....

Stop for a moment and think. How many rolls of paper towels do you think you go through in one week? Between spills, quick countertop wipe downs, and, especially if you have kids, a second round of spills, we’d bet your grocery store basket typically includes a 12-pack or two of paper towels on a regular basis. What if there was a way to keep your kitchen clean without the waste and added weekly Costco expense?...

If you attend a potluck and no one touched the dessert table, don’t worry, all those glorious cakes don’t need to go to waste. Gather up the leftovers and recycle them into a Louisiana favorite, a Russian cake. Now, Russian cake is not related to Russian tea cakes (also delicious!) but is instead a sort of trifle, hence its other name, Creole trifle. The cake is delightfully made up of scraps of other cakes, pressed into a pan, and soaked in a combination of juice and wine or rum....

There are few shows we are more excited for a new season’s debut of than Netflix’s The Crown. The first three seasons have delighted and stumped us, frightened and shocked us. Now, the fourth season of the hit show—which has racked up Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards, to name a few—is shaping up to be one of the most fascinating yet as it documents the stories of Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others, from the late 1970s up until about 1990....