Make-It-Yourself Monday: Easy Cheesy Grits

In my family of five sisters, there are lots of personalities (at least two for each of us) and numerous opinions about anything and everything.  There’s not much that we all agree on.

However….

For as long as I can remember, we have all loved Primos.

(Don’t you dare ask me, “What’s Primos?”….okay, ask if you must, I’ll tell you.)  Primos Cafe began in Jackson in 1929, and all my life trips to Jackson were incomplete without a box filled with gingerbread men, fudge squares and butter cookies to bring home.  I used to love to go into the old Primos on rainy days and eat vegetable soup with crackers.  And if you haven’t had their fried chicken, well…all I can say is I’m sorry and you should.

But….

It was only recently that I discovered something most people have always known.  Breakfast at Primos is almost better than their butter cookies.  Almost.  And, in my opinion, there’s one very good reason for that:

GRITS.

The grits served at Primos are creamy and thick (but not too thick).  They’re like Mary Poppins…practically perfect in every way. In fact, there’s only one problem with them:

I can’t get them here.

Neither can my kids…and they love them let me tell you.  They were the first restaurant food my son ever ate.  And, before he was born, my daughter and I would sometimes stop at Primos share a breakfast.  We never shared grits though.  We ordered two of those.  (I’m selfish that way.)

So, on the rare occasions that I tried to cook breakfast (I’m not much of a morning person), I found that no one in my family found my grits to be quite good enough.  They ate them, but I could tell they were just being polite until…

I started making cheesy grits.  And, my daughter actually prefers them to Primos.  (Or at least she tells me she does.)

I looked for recipes for grits that would taste like those we love, but if you’ve never looked for a recipe for cheese grits, let me tell you this: they are too complicated.  Seriously.  I mean, it’s grits with cheese, right?

That’s what I thought, too.  So I took what I knew about Primos grits (one word: cream) and started working on it, and this is what I came up with.  We love it, and I hope you will, too.

Easy Cheesy Grits

Prepare grits according to package directions, except substitute half and half for 1/2 the liquid required.  As grits begin to thicken, add shredded cheese (you can add whichever you like…we usually use whatever is on hand) and stir until melted.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve.

How much cheese?  Depends on the amount of grits you make, but about a half a cup for 3 or 4 servings.  I usually just add enough to turn the grits a very light yellow.  VERY light.

Enjoy!

P.S.  I don’t actually know if Primos grits have any cheese in them…this is just what we’ve come up with that we like as much (or more) than we like theirs!