
About
Welcome to Butter My Grits. My name is Amanda “Mandy” Mae Brown Laningham, and I am 44 years young. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Education and a Master’s degree in Information Technology. I am a full time computer nerd, but my secret passion is cooking. I have four beautiful children, an amazing husband and am also the lucky stepmom to his four children. Born in Fort Benning, Georgia, I grew up as an “Army Brat” all over the world. I have enjoyed phenomenal cuisines and laid eyes on history that not many people get to experience in a lifetime. As much as I appreciate my childhood experience, Georgia will always be my home. I spent summers and every holiday at my grandma’s house in south Georgia.
Being Georgia Born and Georgia Bred, I have an intense love of Georgia Bulldog Football. My Dad, would watch or listen to the Dawg game no matter where we were living at the time. He would scream and yell at the TV and do happy dances when they scored. Let me be real….Georgia Football flows thru my veins. As an adult, I inherited the same ability to scream, yell and do happy dances when watching Georgia Football because of my Dad. I think the best and most special times my Dad and I have ever had included Georgia Bulldog Football. I can assure you that on Saturday’s in the Fall I am Hollering “Go Dawgs” and doing my happy dance.
I watched my Mom cook growing up and LET ME TELL YOU she is one helluva cook! I can’t even begin to describe the deliciousness my Mom whips up every meal. I owe my Mom for many things, but the best education I ever received was watching and learning from her in the kitchen. Thus, I consider myself a home grown chef. Well, “chef” is probably a strong term, but I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. I feel an immense pride making people happy and satisfied with my dishes. My husband gets to endure all of these creations and he even tells me when they are not so glorious. I do not have one specific cuisine that I prepare, as I love all cuisines. Every time I prepare a dish, I make it my own. Food is like life, full of twists and turns, good, bad and ugly.
Most of my dishes consist of me putting ingredients together, sans measurements. When I began to write down recipes, I realized this was a problem. I have had to learn to measure. Well, not measure…I can measure. I have never had to write down exactly how much of an ingredient I use in a dish. I just eyeball it. But APPARENTLY, when you share recipes, measurements are important. So, measuring for specific amounts has become routine. It was ugly at first, but I think I have the hang of it now.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy!
Mandy