Ms. Bonita's Pies

When I was a little girl, we used to visit my mother's family in North Carolina in the summer.

If you've ever been to North Carolina, you know it's beautiful. The air is fresh and there is greenery and life all around.

Okay, so there's the tobacco farms where people worked their fingers to the bones for the companies that made the cigarettes that killed so many. And the poultry plants where people used to work for less than minimum wage. But forget about that for a minute - ;0

I'm talking about the North Carolina where my grandmother sat on the porch of her one-story wooden house and watched us play in the yard, under the pecan tree. And it wasn't called a "Pe-KAHN," tree. They pronounced it "Pe-CAN" tree.

Well, those days are long gone. Grandma is gone, the house is barely standing and long vacant. The "kids" now have kids and grandkids of their own. But, the one thing that remains is the old Pe-CAN tree in the front of what's left of the yard.

Heck, instead of forty acres and a mule, I'd settle for half an acre and a Pe-CAN tree.

If you can't get to North Carolina, or if you don't have your very own pecan tree. Here's something almost as good.

Ms. Bonita's Pecan Pies.

These pies conjure up all those images and memories for me. They can do it for you too. And, for those of you who don't like nuts or are allergic to them, there are fruit pies, sweet potato pies and buttery pound cakes.

Stay tuned for more info in the "not-so-distant" future.

Now, this is what I call "Soul Food."