Courtney, the Dallas food blogger and host who founded The Southern Spoonful with her mother. She has long wavy blonde hair and wears a light green dress, standing outdoors in front of green trees and foliage.

Hey, ya’ll!

Meet Courtney, Our Founder and Host

Hey there, I’m Courtney, a Dallas food blogger and host! I’m a New Orleans native with a deep appreciation for exceptional Southern cuisine and the art of gracious entertaining. Growing up in Louisiana taught me that the finest moments in life happen when beautiful food brings people together around the table.

How This All Started

I have always enjoyed creativity, but my passion for storytelling and content creation really took off during my time at Baylor University, where I studied marketing. I still work a full-time marketing job today, which means this blog gets built on nights and weekends!

Teaming Up with Mom

In 2021, I convinced my mom, Stacey, to join me in this crazy adventure, and The Southern Spoonful was born! We’re that delightful duo you see around here. She brought decades of southern cooking wisdom that had been passed down through our family, and I brought my marketing background and everything that happens away from the stove.

We share this blog right down the middle. Mom develops and tests the food, and I handle the travel and hosting side of things.

The Real Reason We Started

Honestly? People wouldn’t stop asking for our recipes! Every time we’d have friends and family over or bring a dish somewhere, we’d get the same response: “You HAVE to give me this recipe!” These were dishes that we have always known and loved, the kind of food that brings people together. So we thought, why not share them with everyone?

What We’re All About

We use simple, real ingredients to help the everyday home cook elevate their everyday. That’s our thing. No fancy techniques or hard-to-find ingredients, and no seed oils either. We cook with butter, olive oil, and avocado oil, we skip canola, soybean, corn, and vegetable oil, and we don’t deep fry anything.

Our Specialties:

  • Family recipes made with ingredients we can name
  • Easy weeknight dinners, because we’re all juggling a million things
  • Entertaining made simple, Southern hospitality without the stress
  • Stories behind the recipes, because every dish has a history worth sharing

Hosting is My Favorite Part

If Mom’s specialty is the pot, mine is the table around it. I’m the one planning the menu backwards from the moment guests walk in, and I care more than is probably reasonable about whether the lamps are the right height!

That’s where our hosting posts come from. Mahjong nights, dinner parties, holiday tables, all of them real gatherings we’ve thrown right here in Dallas, written up with the menu, the timeline, and an honest note about what I’d do differently next time.

The Travel Side

The other half of what I write here is travel. Banff with my mom, weekends closer to home, and trips we plan almost entirely around where we want to eat. Then I come home and try to make it again in my own kitchen.

I also shoot and produce our recipe videos, which means I’ve watched my mother make gumbo more times than any person reasonably should. Every photo on this site is ours, taken in our own kitchens.

Life Beyond the Kitchen

When I’m Not Cooking

Between the full-time job and the blog (the eternal food blogger balancing act!), when I do have free time you’ll find me:

  • Baking sourdough, because there’s something so satisfying about that process
  • Needlepointing, my favorite way to unwind after a busy day
  • Playing mahjong, since game nights with friends are the best
  • Hosting, which is just who I am. I love building meaningful connections around the dinner table
  • Spending time with my pets, a rescue Labrador Retriever named Diesel and a rescue cat named Eloise

Working With Me

I’m based in Dallas, Texas, and I work with a small number of brands each year on recipe videos, hosting content, and travel. That includes food and kitchen brands, and just as often the home, lifestyle, and apparel brands that show up in our hosting posts. The linens, the glassware, the lamps, and what I’m wearing while I pour the wine.

The rule is simple: it has to be something I’d already have in my kitchen, on my table, in my home, or in my closet. If you’re a brand looking for a Dallas food blogger or host, our contact page is the best way to reach me.

Let’s Cook Together

Ready to try some of our favorite family recipes? Browse through our collection and see what sparks joy for you. From comfort food to show-stopping entertaining dishes, there’s something here for every occasion and every skill level.

Stay in Touch

Have questions about a recipe? Want to share what you made? I absolutely love hearing from y’all and seeing how our recipes turn out in your kitchens. You can also read more about the two of us.

Ready to dish up something southern? Let’s get cooking!