Entries Coming In for HottyToddy.com Recipe Contest

Contestant Courtney Murphree, left and Mike Ririe enjoy the Grove at a recent Ole Miss home game. / Photo Courtesy of Courtney Murphree

Enter your family favorite for a chance to be featured online

Entries for the HottyToddy.com Recipe Contest are coming in as the first home game in The Grove approaches on September 7.

Who will be the first lucky tailgate cook to see his or her favorite family Grove recipe featured in a post on hottytoddy.com? Not to mention being published in a follow-up cookbook to benefit YAC and the Meek School of Journalism at Ole Miss?

Already, the weekly contest set to run for seven, home-game weekends this fall is drawing measured responses from cooks out there in the HottyToddy Nation. Jan Martin was one of the first veteran Grove cooks to enter the contest, sharing her specialty Black Eye Pea Casserole, while Mary Dean Starnes submitted her mother Roberta Hefley’s recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Along with detailed recipes for Hamball, Hotty Toddy Caviar, Health On The Border (a salad) and Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts, Grove foodie and Ole Miss alum Courtney Murphree (’12) captured the essence of the Grove/Tailgate experience in one of her multiple entries.

Photo Courtesy of My Michelle’s Catering

“Setting up a tent in The Grove in Oxford is not just about drinking and partying,” she wrote. “Groving is a sport on its own. Friday night is for preparation while others are partying, I know from experience what women before my time have sacrificed so they can see a happy group on game day.”

Contest Judge Michelle Rounsaville, founder and owner of Oxford’s My Michelle’s Catering, welcomes entries in any food category and, she adds, “Contestants may submit multiple entries. Of course taste and flavor are important, but I would also like to see those recipes that tell a story or symbolize tradition,” Rounsaville said. “Lots of food showcased in the Grove have been passed down for many generations, and that’s definitely the food I would like to sample and the story I would like to hear through the food. In addition, creativity is also important. Anyone can make rotel and throw some tortillas chips out. I want to see a unique spin on tailgating food. The kind that the Grove is known for.”

To enter the contest, click on the “Send Us Your Tailgate Recipes” thumbnail on the right side of the HottyToddy.com home page or click here. –– Michael Harrelson, editor, HottyToddy.com

Email Michael Harrelson at michael.harrelson@hottytoddy.com