The Monsteri: Ours is a Lee Bros. Kitchen

These guys are cooks?! Absolutely -- the best. If you don't own both of the Lee Brothers' cookbooks RUN, don't walk to your nearest bookstore to snag them.

Matt and Ted Lee are two of the geekiest looking dudes you might see. I love them.They write some fabulous cookbooks. "The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook" and their latest, "Simple, Fresh, Southern" are the go-to books in our house.

Matt and Ted are Charleston natives that moved to NYC after college. One one of my favorite things about the Lee Bros. is that one of their first forays into the culinary world was to start a mail-order boiled peanut business, marketed primarily to displaced southerners living in New York City. Everyone needs an "I Brake for Boiled Peanuts" bumper sticker -- and Red will be sporting one, soon.

One of my favorite Lee Bros. stories: We got the first cookbook signed for Megan and Jamie when they moved from Brooklyn to Charleston (fitting, right?). Megan immediately became a Lee Bros. enthusiast and when they came to her 'hood for a book signing, she grabbed her copy and headed out. It was not until Matt and Ted turned to the title page to sign her cookbook (As Jamie tells it, she was swooning), that she remembered that it was already signed! Awkward. Ha! Poor Megan. At least they knew they'd met their biggest fan (besides me).

I always turn to the the Lee Brothers when we have company for dinner. Tom and JoAnn spent the weekend last month and we made the "Whole Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Onions." It was a huge hit.

Mom visited this weekend and on Friday we tried the "Caesar Salad with Catfish 'Croutons'" (we substituted fresh grouper cheeks for the catfish.) Two words: fresh and fabulous.

We constantly taste their recipes and I encourage you to, as well. (May I recommend the sweet potato pie?) Here are a few Lee Bros. recipe pictures. I'd be happy to email recipes, but please go buy the books -- they're worth every penny.