Welcome to our family kitchen.
Where love is the main ingredient and every meal is made with care.
This collection represents generations of cooking wisdom passed down through voices that encouraged, guided, and nurtured us all. These aren’t just recipes. These are the meals, memories, and moments that built our family.
THE STORY
If you ever asked Savannah for a recipe, you probably didn’t get the full thing.
She’d give you pieces. A little of this. A little of that.
And always the same answer:
“I don’t measure, I just cook.”
For years, that was her way of keeping family recipes in the family.
But her children and grandchildren had other plans.
One by one, the calls started coming in.
Someone called about the cornbread.
Someone else about the mac and cheese.
Another about the turkey wings.
Through patience, persistence, and a whole lot of listening, those conversations turned into something more.
This cookbook is the result of those calls capturing not just the ingredients and steps, but Savannah’s authentic voice and the family wisdom behind every dish.
This story didn’t start in one kitchen.
It started with Herbert & Thelma; the roots.
Savannah carried it forward, nurturing it into a lifetime of meals and memories.
Every limb represents her children.
Every branch represents her grandchildren.
And this cookbook exists because those branches reached back asking, calling, recording, and preserving what could have been lost.
These recipes are more than food.
They are legacy.
They are love.
They are family…shared from root to branch, generation to generation.
The 8th of 12 children, Savannah learned to cook early and grew up in a home where food was always abundant—enough for the house and always enough to share.
She loves nothing more than watching people enjoy her food. If she’s around, you’ll hear it:
“Are you cooking?”
“I sure would like some of that!”
For years, she held her recipes close—always saying:
“I don’t measure, I just cook.”
But what once stayed in the family is now being shared.
Because some traditions are too meaningful to keep to yourself.
In Savannah’s house, what most people call Sunday Dinner can happen any day of the week.
Good food and family time don’t wait for the weekend.
They happen whenever the heart calls for it.
When you hear:
“What’s that I smell?”
you know it’s time to gather around the table.
But you also know:
“Stay out the kitchen til I’m done cooking.”
“Don’t lift them lids off my pots!”
Think of each meal as a complete experience.
Choose a main dish, add at least two sides, and finish with a dessert.
Mix and match to create your own family table:
Turkey Wings with Collard Greens and Cornbread
Fried Chicken with Mac and Cheese and Green Beans
The combinations are endless—just like the love that goes into each dish.