We had pot roast Sunday nights. It had to be a weekend night, because Mama was a teacher, and a roast wouldn’t get done until time for supper on a school night. Saturday night was steak-and-martini night for the ‘rental units,’ as we lovingly referred to our parents. The kids ate Vienna sausages and noodles with butter and Parmesan cheese from a can. I loved it. So anyway, that left Sunday night for pot roast.

It’s hard to pick one favorite thing about pot roast. I even liked the onions. They got really soft — you could almost see through them. Mama peeled the carrots, but left them long. I liked them when one part had been stuck up out of the broth. That part got really sweet and chewy — almost crisp — while the part of the carrot that cooked in the broth was soft and beefy tasting from the jus it had absorbed. The same thing happened to the potatoes — little waxy ones that mama peeled, so the outsides got crusty and brown.

The beef itself I saw little of. Daddy doled it out, morsel by succulent morsel, so tender and moist, it almost melted in your mouth. Poor Daddy, as head of a household of four women, he rightly believed that he deserved the Lord’s portion of protein.

I didn’t mind. My favorite part was actually the gravy. I called it juice. Mama didn’t thicken it, so it was really like a broth. Here’s the best part: the store-bought loaf of sliced white bread stacked high like the leaning tower in the middle of our knotty pine kitchen table. That’s what sopped up the juice like a delicious floppy sponge. That was before we learned that stacked white bread was considered white trash, and Mama moved on to popovers and even Yorkshire pudding, but the white bread was OK by me.

“Put some meat on that little girl’s bones, she’s bound to blow away,” that’s what Mama was told about me when I was little. Sunday night pot roast and that stack of white bread did the trick.

Pot Roast

Serves 4 - 6

3 lb. chuck roast
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup red wine
1 to 2 quarts beef stock
3 onions, peeled and quartered
4 or so small way potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 medium carrots, peeled (sliced lengthwise if really fat)

Preheat oven to 325. Rinse the pot roast and pat dry. Mix the flour with the salt and pepper. Dredge the roast in the flour mixture on both sides.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven and brown the roast on both sides. Remove the roast and add the wine, then 1 quart of the stock. Add the roast back in, along with the vegetables. Bring the liquid to a simmer, cover and place in the oven. Cook for 3 hours. Remove the lid and cook one hour more. Taste for seasoning before serving.

Every year, millions visit the Great Smoky Mountains and Dollywood. But no trip to East Tennessee is complete until you’ve seen the neighboring “big city” of Knoxville. In the spring, the lush foliage turns bright green and virtually every tree is in bloom. In fact, Knoxville is well-known for its Dogwood Arts Festival, held this year on April 4-23. The climate is said to be perfect for flowering dogwood trees, and they’re in peak bloom during the festival. Drive the numerous “dogwood trails” throughout the town and see nature show off: Spectacular blooming dogwood, redbud, crabapple and cherry trees line the roads, and gardens burst with tulips, daffodils, pansies and other colorful flowers. The festival also includes art demonstrations and exhibits, bluegrass music with local and regional performers, arts and crafts markets, and plenty of other activities for adults and kids.

All that marveling at nature can make you hungry, so don’t forget a stop at Litton’s Market and Restaurant. Established in 1946, Litton’s is known for its big burgers served on homemade buns, but also offers steaks, seafood and a variety of meat-and-three “blue plate” specials featuring meat loaf or fried chicken. Whatever you do, don’t skip dessert: Litton’s boasts a variety of homemade cheesecakes, layer cakes, pies, cookies and brownies that are simply not to be missed. Personal favorites include the Italian cream cake, red velvet cake and caramel brownies.

While you’re in town, check out World’s Fair Park, the site of the 1982 World’s Fair. It’s now home to the Knoxville Museum of Art, The Candy Factory, a playground called Fort Kid, and the fair’s iconic Sunsphere. History buffs might enjoy James White Fort, Confederate Memorial Hall, Armstrong-Lockett house or Blount Mansion. It may not be a hip metropolis, but you might be surprised at what you’ll find in good ol’ Rocky Top.

Delta Burke describes herself as a “world-class shopper.” Best known for her role as former beauty queen Suzanne Sugarbaker on the long-running sitcom Designing Women, Delta admits that acquiring things, all kinds of things, is one of her guiltiest pleasures. “I have collections of antique quilts, vintage lockets, stiletto-heeled shoes, wide-brimmed hats, old fabrics, Victorian jewelry — even antique clothing patterns,” she wrote in her 1998 memoir, Delta Style. “It’s a habit I’m working to curtail.”

But while “curtailing” didn’t prove easy, few knew how dangerous Delta’s habit had become before this past February, when news broke that the 51-year-old star had checked herself into a psychiatric clinic for help with severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and hoarding. “Have you seen those shows where they don’t find the body for days? And they go in to clean up, and it’s stacks of newspapers up to the ceiling?” Delta said in a candid interview with TMZ. “That’s hoarding, and I hate it.”

The Emmy-nominated actress also admitted that her weakness for shopping sprees on eBay and QVC had led her to fill 27 storage units in her adopted hometown of New Orleans. “It rules my life,” Delta confessed. “I don’t understand why I do it and I hate living like that, and all it does is make [my] depression worse.”

Read the full story.

If there’s one thing Danielle Peck loves more than singing, it’s her family. That’s one reason she became the spokesperson for Nashville’s Safe Haven homeless shelter.

“Safe Haven is one of only two homeless shelters in Tennessee that takes in the whole family as a unit,” she says. “Because I’m such a big family person, it made sense to get involved with a place that helps whole families together. I just fell in love with the whole place. They do so much — they keep the kids in school, [they have] budgeting and skill classes for the parents, and they get parents that are out of work back into work. And the success rate is like 84 percent of all the families they take in. That’s incredible!”

On March 24, the “Findin’ a Good Man” singer headlined the second annual Danielle Peck and Friends Benefit Concert for Safe Haven at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Performers include Keith Anderson, Eric Church, Bucky Covington and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.

“We’re raising awareness and making money for [Safe Haven] to continue doing what they do, because it’s not a government-funded place,” says Peck. “Anybody who’s ever had to go through hard times, whether it’s a natural disaster or too many medical bills or the loss of a job, their family can find themselves in a position where they lose their homes. It’s a terrible thing to happen to anybody, but there’s a place that tries to help out, and that’s Safe Haven.”

Peck is so sold on the shelter, she volunteers there as often as possible throughout the year. “Anything I can ever do for them, any holiday, any festival, they’ve got my number, they can count me in!”

Her latest album is titled Mockingbird, but Allison Moorer also has another bird in mind these days: her line of hand-embroidered shirts called 1 Turtle Dove.

“In this day and age, everything is so impersonal and mass-produced, and I’m always trying to find ways around that culture,” she says. “I also wanted to do something for my female fans, something that was a real piece of me and that embraced a ‘feminine art’ — embroidery.”

Moorer herself embroidered the shirts, which she sells on her Web site, with whimsical images of birds in a variety of colors. “There are only hand-embroidered T-shirts for sale, but no two are alike,” she says. “I came up with the designs organically. I would pick out a shirt and then decide what it needed. Inspiration came from everywhere — my front porch in Tennessee, bird drawings, my father-in-law, who was very knowledgeable about birds.”

While shopping in New York City, Moorer caught and set free a dove that had flown into a shop she was in. “As I left, I looked over to make sure the bird had flown away,” she recalls. “I spotted a sign for a shop called Camp and went in. I was wearing a top I had made, and the woman in the shop asked me where I got it. One thing led to another, and I got several handmade pieces of clothing into Camp and sold them. My clothing line was born. If it hadn’t been for the dove, I never would’ve noticed Camp, so I thought I would pay tribute to her.”

Moorer says embroidering is a respite from the rigors of life as a musician. “I like embroidering because it settles my mind,” she says. “It quiets me, and I get all sorts of things figured out. Plus I get the satisfaction of having made something pretty — and that’s always good for an artist.”

If you’ve never heard the term “meat and three,” you probably don’t spend a lot of time in the South. For the uninitiated, the label refers to a down-home restaurant that serves what some call “soul food” — a Southern-style meat dish with a choice of three vegetables. Typical choices include fried chicken, country fried steak, turnip greens, mashed potatoes and cornbread. Of course, you need to save room for homemade dessert.

One of the most delightful meat-and-threes is Miller’s Grocery, located about 30 minutes south of Nashville, in the tiny whistle-stop town of Christiana. For 75 years, Miller’s was an actual grocery store. In 1995, the building was restored and converted to a café, but it retained the look of a country store — and its original name, a tribute to longtime owner Stanley Miller. Antiques and collectibles line the walls. The worn wooden floors creak and the mismatched flea-market chairs squeak. Ah, now that’s ambience.

Smiling servers attend tables covered with checkered tablecloths, delivering heaping plates of catfish with hush puppies, fried pork chops, chicken and dressing, meatloaf, fried okra, pinto beans, coleslaw, and yes, even frog legs (a Miller’s specialty). Yet, the desserts may be the stars of the Miller’s menu. The cakes are moist and mouth-watering. Red velvet and caramel are my personal favorites, but Snickers cake is a real crowd-pleaser. And where else besides your family reunion can you get Mississippi Mud Cake? Other Southern classics like pecan pie, apple cobbler and banana pudding are just as irresistible.

For the full Miller’s experience, come in on Friday or Saturday night, when your meal is accompanied by live bluegrass, folk, country and Americana music. But make reservations — the room fills up fast. Same goes for the popular Sunday buffet, when you can sample several of Miller’s most popular dishes.

The first time I visited Miami, about a dozen years ago, I tracked down a famous Cuban restaurant called Versailles. I wasn’t a coffee drinker at the time, but somehow I was persuaded to try a cortadito, which is a small cup of espresso with milk and sugar. Pow!

I felt the same rush a few weeks ago in South Beach in Miami after a few cortaditos at David’s Cafe. These cute little cups will bring you back to life after a wild weekend. My hungry friends and I sampled the menu, but the runaway winner for lunch was the Cuban pork. The cafeteria next door is open 24/7, and so is the coffee window. All kinds of famous people have stopped into this family-owned eatery, judging by the wall of glossy 8×10’s.

We waddled down to the beach to ogle the super-fit joggers and rollerbladers, before we turned to admire the stylish Art Deco hotels. On the way to the outdoor market on Lincoln Street, we paused at Nexxt Café for oversized banana bread pudding, digging in as the pretty people sauntered by. I couldn’t believe how many adults were toting dogs, the way New Yorkers carry around their lattes. I wanted to window shop but I was too busy sidestepping terriers. A glamorous young woman was literally dragging her dog, and she scoffed at me when I pointed it out to her. At many of the outdoor restaurants, the pups had their own seats!

I don’t consider myself trendy, but chilling out in Miami Beach isn’t a bad way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. On the way back to the airport for a late flight, I returned to Versailles for a box of flaky pastries – some with cheese, others with guava. Still recovering from the hearty lunch, I was able to resist eating the whole box. But if you had given me another cortadito, it would have been gone in one gulp.

Everyone commits kitchen crimes. They will be forgiven as long as you stay in a sunny mood — and capitalize on learning a lesson from your mistakes, assures Paula Deen, the owner of two restaurants, author of seven books and host of two cooking shows on the Food Network. “Everyone who’s ever been hired in my kitchen has had something to teach me,” says Paula. For instance: “My staff taught me years ago how good sour cream can be in macaroni and cheese.”

For years, Paula used to fuss if family members didn’t cube potatoes to the exact size she wanted or slice vegetables as she thought best. Eventually, it dawned on her that persnickety perfectionism was a turnoff: Family dinners should be a source of positive feelings that cement the bonds of love, not referendums on each member’s ability to anticipate the chef’s exacting specifications.

“You gotta keep it fun in the kitchen!” exclaims Paula. The more fun the kitchen, the more likely it is that you will be able to inveigle someone else into chopping onions. (Michael and Paula share dishes, but also have a housekeeper.) “People don’t mind being in a place that’s fun! I can be so particular about the way I want things, but I’m really tryin’ to do better on that,” Paula confesses. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat and my way is not the only way.”

Read the full story.

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember commercials for the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which challenged kids to “run, jump, pull-up, sit-up and throw a softball” in the President’s Physical Fitness test.

Due to the nation’s growing obesity rate and the effect that’s having on the public health, now the President’s Council is expanding its efforts to promote fitness. Adults as well as kids will be able to take the National President’s Challenge. The program encourages all Americans to be active for 30 minutes a day, five days a week — a routine that would go a long way toward improving our national fitness level. There are separate programs for kids, teens, adults and seniors and you can register through April 3.

Adults may enter one of two categories: The “active lifestyle” program is for those who are not regular exercisers. For eight weeks, track your progress online as you work up to the 30-minutes-five-days minimum. If you reach that goal for six of the eight weeks, you’ll get a Presidential Active Lifestyle Award. You don’t have to join a gym to participate: The Challenge lists nearly 100 activities that count toward the award — everything from walking to fishing to juggling.

The Presidential Champions category is for those who already exercise the minimum amount. You accumulate points according to the intensity of your exercise (running counts more than playing darts). If you’re a hard-core gym rat, there’s an “advanced” level that requires you to accumulate twice as many points to get awards. As for the awards, the points you get determine whether you get a gold, silver or bronze medal. And if you actually want a medal, you can buy it on the Web site.

Legendary artist Emmylou Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year, a recognition she richly deserves for her long and lauded career in country music. But these days low-key Harris is more interested in her other calling: “Animals…that’s what I want to devote my life to now,” she told the Humane Society recently.

Harris operates an animal rescue/fostering organization, Bonaparte’s Retreat, which saves “unadoptable” dogs from the Nashville Humane Association and dogs who have run out of time at Metro Nashville Animal Control. “We don’t take puppies, we take the big black dogs and yellow dogs that to some people might seem ordinary—but those of us who know dogs know there’s no such thing as an ordinary dog,” says Harris.

Harris explains the origins Bonaparte’s Retreat, which is named not only for a famous folk tune but also her favorite canine companion. “I had this dog named Bonaparte that I adopted in ‘92,” she says. “He became my road dog — he went everywhere with me. When I lost him in 2002, I felt I’d lost my best friend, and I didn’t think I’d get another dog. But I started thinking that maybe I could foster some dogs. That way I wouldn’t be getting another dog, I’d be helping dogs, to honor the memory of my pal.”

Harris started slowly, taking in a few dogs in three dog-runs in her backyard. She now has several volunteers and works with other rescue organizations to find homes for abandoned dogs, no matter how long it takes. “We’ve had dogs for as long as a year and a half,” she says. “Sometimes there are problems with shyness. We have a dog now that has some fear aggression because he’s been hit so much. He’s coming around with a lot of training and love and regimentation. You just have to commit that however long it takes, we will find the right home.

“I would say we’ve had around three dozen dogs,” she continues. “We can’t do a lot, but we have a real good partnership with Happy Tails [rescue organization], which allows us to be kind of official, and we’re very committed to Nashville Humane and all the other wonderful organizations.

“The main thing on our agenda is to try and get mandatory spaying and neutering to cut down drastically the number of all these dogs and cats. Until we do that, it’s just going to be an endless tragedy. In 2006 there were nearly 11,000 dogs and cats euthanized, most of them just because nobody adopted them. Perfectly healthy, perfectly wonderful pets, and all they needed was a chance.

“We just encourage people, spay and neuter your pets,” she emphasizes. “And if you’re looking for a pet, please go to the shelters first. And I always feel dogs and cats are happier when they have a companion, so one is not enough!”