Lighten up, y'all Review and Giveaway

Healthy. Southern. Food.

My boyfriend and I are both primarily Southerners so when this book came up, I knew it might be hit or miss because, honestly, Southern food seems to neeeeed the fattening, crazy ingredients. Thankfully, it was such a hit that we ate everything before I could grab pics!  This was also my first time cooking eggplant and everyone loved it.

Lighten up, y'all is a perfect book for Southerners who need to make their Southern recipes a bit healthier. Some can't be changed, I know, but some can and this book definitely proves it for me! Or if you just want to try some new, different, healthy recipes.

We made Eggplant Asian Stir fry and Peach Basil chicken. So good. We all devoured it and my son even requested the chicken as leftovers the next day (this rarely, if ever happens with anything but pasta for him).

The recipes were easy I felt like she knew what I was thinking while trying to prepare some of this. Especially the eggplant. I have literally, never purchased an eggplant before. I had no idea what in the world to do with this odd colored fruit/vegetable. Thankfully, Virginia explained it all perfectly so I couldn't screw it up. We all ate it and thought of ways to incorporate it into other meals. It would seriously be perfect in my chicken fried rice dish.

My 12 year old also went through the book and bookmarked a ton of recipes he wants to try. Some are very different and I love that he's interested in these. The pictures are also perfect (I mean, look at that dish in the pic?)

Also, I received two copies of the book; one to keep and one to give away. So what is your favorite Southern recipe? I'll randomly draw a winner from here, or instagram, and twitter.