Meet Stacey, Our Recipe Developer

Where It All Started

I’m a New Orleans girl through and through, though these days I call the suburbs of Dallas home. Growing up in Louisiana, I was blessed to learn from some amazing cooks. My grandfather would come back from the Gulf with nets filled with fresh shrimp, and those summer evenings filled with crawfish boils? Pure magic. But it was really in my grandmother’s kitchen where the real learning happened, watching her work her way around that stove like a true expert.

When it comes to cooking, I am entirely self-taught. My best teachers were my grandmother and mom, who showed me that great Southern cooking isn’t just about following recipes. It’s about putting love into every dish you make. Forty years later, I’m still at it.

How I Cook

Here’s the thing about my cooking philosophy. I’m all about starting with the good stuff. Organic produce when I can get it, extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil, grass-fed dairy, and never (and I mean never) farm-raised seafood. Local is always better when it’s available.

I also cook seed oil free, which means you won’t find canola, soybean, corn, or vegetable oil in my kitchen. And I don’t deep fry a thing. Everything I make is baked, grilled, roasted, or done on the stovetop, and I’ve never once felt like I was missing out.

My favorite dishes are the classics, like jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice. But if I had to pick just one signature dish, it’d be my Shrimp Scampi. It’s elegant enough for special occasions but approachable enough that you won’t stress about making it.

The secret to delicious Southern cooking? It’s all in the foundation. A proper roux and homemade stock are the building blocks that turn simple ingredients into something absolutely delicious.

How I Test My Recipes

Every recipe on this site gets made at least three times before it goes up. Once to work it out, once to write down real measurements, and once to follow my own instructions the way you would at home. My grandmother cooked with “a little of this,” and bless her, that’s not how I’m going to teach you!

If a cook time or a yield is written on this site, I’ve hit it in my own kitchen with my own oven.

My Garden is My Happy Place

While I love to cook, I truly enjoy everything about my backyard garden. There’s nothing like stepping outside your back door and picking fresh tomatoes or snipping herbs for dinner. My father inspired this love of gardening, and Dallas gave me a growing season long enough to really use it.

I’ve also gotten good at canning and dehydrating so that we can enjoy summer’s best all year long. Because, let’s be honest, there’s just something special about opening a jar of your own canned tomatoes in the middle of January!

Life at Home

These days, I share my Dallas home with my wonderful husband, Bryan, and our two Maltese rescue brothers, Bentley and Cooper. When I’m not in the kitchen or tending to my garden, you’ll find me canning the season’s harvest, spending time with my daughters, or planning our next travel adventure.

I’m working hard to pass down all those traditional recipes and techniques I learned growing up. These family treasures are too good not to share with the next generation.

What The Southern Spoonful is All About

My biggest hope for our corner of the internet is to show y’all that you can make real, whole food without giving up one bit of flavor. Southern cooking has been around forever for a reason. It’s not trendy, it’s just really good.

Whether you’re just starting your cooking journey or you’ve been at it for years, I want you to feel comfortable here. Most of all, I want you to feel Southern, like you’re sitting at my kitchen table, chatting over a cup of coffee while something delicious simmers on the stove.

That’s what Southern cooking is about. Bringing people together, one spoonful at a time.

Come browse the recipe index, read more about the two of us, or say hey to my daughter Courtney.