Break bread with the ones that matter on a regular basis. Your family- your peeps, your tribe, your YaYas – will always take a meal to the next level. We gratefully do it every Monday, the night my chef-extraordinaire brother-in-law, Jeff, is off!
Check out James Clear author of bestseller Atomic Habits to get and keep your life on track!
Robin and Mindy are registered dietitians, friends and partners in their new adventure, A Lagniappe Lifestyle, an outgrowth of their dietetics education program, Lagniappe Wellness. Together they combine their professional expertise with the fun side of food and nutrition. A Lagniappe Lifestyle explores weekend fresh markets, recipes, fun cooking tools and gadgets, beautiful kitchens, and family meals and food traditions, including sweet treats and refreshing drinks. We dish our thoughts with monthly book reviews and share our personal favorite social media accounts that we follow for inspiration.
Robin and Mindy at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon
Robin has been a Registered Dietitian and educator for over 20 years. She has worked both clinically and as a college professor throughout her career. As the Founder and Executive Director of Lagniappe Wellness she lives out her passion for mentoring aspiring dietitians and seeks avenues for those inspired to take their education, health and wellness to the next level. Robin loves all things “kitchen” and enjoys southern cooking, gardening, and tooling around her beach town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She is determined to master homemade bread making!
Robin’s family
Mindy is a Registered Dietitian with a clinical background and has been with Lagniappe Wellness since day one. As Assistant Program Director, Mindy takes great pride in mentoring future registered dietitians. She strives to keep interns engaged through creative, out of the box experiences that help interns make positive connections in their knowledge, classroom and professional relationships. Mindy’s love of food and cooking shines through her creative recipes and gorgeous food photography. She is the mom of two boys and enjoys spending time outdoors and cooking with her family. Mindy lives for Michigan summer produce season!
Mindy’s family
Southerners LOVE celebrating life and while most places wrap up holiday celebrations on New Year’s Day, in the south, we charge full steam ahead into carnival season. Homes are decorated and Christmas trees stay up, getting converted to spectacular green, gold and purple masterpieces. It also means parties, parades, beads and king cake, especially king cake…at home, at work, in grocery stores, gas stations, and of course, bakeries. Carnival season in the south is not the time for restraint or calorie counting and it all comes to an end next week on Ash Wednesday.
King cake is a traditional sweet treat associated with Mardi Gras enjoyed by southerners (and thanks to mail order, for southern ex pats!) It appears in homes and store shelves from the Epiphany (January 6) until Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.
The cake is named after the biblical Three Kings who visited the baby Jesus on the Epiphany. It is circular or oval in shape to represent the circular route taken by the wise men to confuse King Herod and avoid disclosing the location of the baby Jesus.
King cakes are made of a sweet dough and typically decorated with icing in the traditional Mardi Gras colors: purple, green, and gold, symbolizing justice, faith, and power, respectively. They may be filled with cinnamon, cream cheese, fruit, or other fillings. A new personal favorite of mine is pecan praline, which was brought to a parade pregame at my house last week from Paul’s Pastry Shop.
A small plastic baby, representing the baby Jesus, is often hidden inside the cake before baking (though safety concerns have led to bakeries leaving the baby out for the buyer to hide in the cake.) Whoever finds the baby in their slice is blessed with good luck and is expected buy the next cake. And though people are always happy to bring king cakes to events, no one really wants to get stuck with the baby!
Most king cake aficionados have their favorite spot to grab one. Along the Gulf Coast a favorite grocery store based in New Orleans has a great following. Read more about how Rouse’s gets them ready year round and ships them anywhere… and not just for Mardi Gras!
A Mississippi Gulf Coast fave that my sister religiously sent me every year on Fat Tuesday while we lived In Buffalo is Sweet Stuff Cake Boutique. They make a flavor for all tastes!
Don’t have a large crowd? No problem! Southern Girl Cookies makes individual sized cakes and cookies.
The South also loves their donuts, so of course our local favorite, Ocean Spring’s The Tatonut Donut Shop, gets in on the fun.
Fat Tuesday is one week away so now is the time to enjoy this cherished Mardi Gras treat with no guilt. Check out this map to find one near you but if you want to try your own, here is an authentic recipe from @girlraisedinthesouth.
Here are some of my favorite peeps enjoying a lagniappe lifestyle at the Oceans Springs day parade. Happy Mardi Gras, Y’all! Laissez le bon temps rouler!
