Up & At 'Em

Y'all, I'm a lucky girl today because I'm being swooned by country singer Rodney Atkins

Driving through town, just my boy and me. He's about to go tour with his crew

Hey, crew! Hello! How y'all doing? And his first stop is my kitchen

So I'm going to be making them all a scrumptious breakfast to get them on their way

starting with a delicious French toast panini with ham and scrambled eggs

How do you like your eggs? Yes. Yes. Then Rodney's got a favorite breakfast of fried eggs and oysters he's making for me

Then I'm finishing it off with a quick skillet sausage and a cool frozen strawberry milk to wash it all down

Bon appetit. Here we go. I'm in here in my kitchen with Rodney Atkins

He is fixing to kick off his music tour. And he has agreed to drop by here in his big old bus along with his crew

and let me cook for them before he gets started on the road

Thanks for having us come by. We are ready to kick off a tour and get some home cooking

Thank you, Rodney. I didn't realize you're so tall. Well, you are too, too cute

All right, so let's get started. All I'm going to do now, y'all, is just real, real simple

Like I said, Rodney's crew is out in the truck, and they know that we're cooking breakfast for them

so I'm hoping they're getting up an appetite. Yeah, they are ready

They eat a lot. Well, what else is there to do on a bus but sing and eat

And we're going to start by making a scrambled egg and bacon and cheese panini

So what I need for you to do, Dumplin', is break these eggs one at a time into here

Okay. And when you're done, you can put your shells back in there. What you think to do

You got a trick? No, not yet. Not yet. As long as we go. Okay

So I'm going to come down here, and I'm going to scramble our eggs for the sandwich

And the eggs that you're cracking, we're going to dip our paninis into them

So it's kind of like a French toast panini. I understand that you've got a precious little 11-year-old son

I do. His name's Elijah. He's precious, isn't he? He's making straight A's, too

Very proud of him. Get out! How many musical instruments do you play

Pretty much I'm just guitar, just acoustic guitar. Just guitar. A little electric, not a whole lot

So let's talk about some things that people might not know, like the fact that you were adopted

I was put up for adoption, and I was in a children's home called Holston Home for Children

Mm-hmm. And from what I understand, I was put up for adoption

I was taken home by a couple, and I think I was colicky. I had a respiratory staph infection, which is crazy to be a singer now

now. So I got returned to the orphanage, and then another couple came along

Somebody out there watching this that returned a baby how many years ago

What? 43 years ago. You've done Mr. Good. I'm gonna drop a little sour cream

into my eggs that I'm gonna scramble, Rodney, because that sour cream will keep

those eggs nice and moist and keep them from turning green on us. Green

So I'm going to beat in that little bit of sour cream. I'm going to add some salt, pepper, and a few tablespoons of milk

So I understand that you work with adopted children, and I think that's wonderful

We get to do some stuff with different children's homes around the country and still are involved with the home that I was adopted from

Really? When you think you can't, there's not much you can do

There is just little things that mean the world. Right. It's those little things that can add up into a big thing

Exactly. Well, that is such a beautiful, beautiful cause that you're working on

And I would like to be able to help you any way that I could

All right. Now, my eggs are looking good. How do you like your eggs

Yes. Yes. He likes them, yes. I'm on the Atkins diet. So our eggs are ready

So what we're going to do is we're just going to take our bread and put our cheese and our ham on it

And then our scrambled eggs. And then we're just going to run it in to our scrambled eggs

So this is almost like a stuffed French toast, Rodney. Okay. That all we do That all we do So you take your sandwich and dip it down in there

Okay. And I'm going to get me some eggs. All right, now you got it on both sides good, baby

Yes, ma'am. You got it. Oops, some butter fell there. Good stuff

We're going to get this together and then maybe, maybe, I think I could get Rodney to just sing us a little bit of a song

and I'll tell y'all when we get back a song of his that I just adore

Okay. Up next, we're digging into our French toast. I love doing the testing, too

I love doing the testing, too. Then the serenade begins at breakfast with fried eggs and oysters

I wanna do everything you do. And later, the perfect quick dishes to take on the road

It's delicious. So we have cooked a lot of paninis, y'all

because we've got a crew on the bus waiting for us. but I think you and I need to just make sure, Rodney

it's good enough for our friends, don't you? Test it out. I love doing the testing for it

I love doing the testing, too. So. Looks good. Bon appetit. Here we go

Oh, man. It's awesome. Isn't that yummy? It's great. You want me to fix you some extra for the bus ride

I'm going all the way to Oklahoma, so it might be good. Does that work

Mmm. That's so good. That's great. You know what's even better? What's up

If you just do me a little tune. Any requests? Yes. So let me tell you the song that you have done that I just love, and it's something

Did you write, do you write any of your own songs? I have a feeling you might have written this because it's about a little boy watching his daddy

Oh. What is the name of that one? It's called Watching You. That's an old song of his, but it just happens to be one of my favorites

Okay. Driving through town, just my boy and me

With a Happy Meal in his booster seat Knowing that he couldn't have the toy till his nuggets were gone

A green traffic light turns straight to red I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath

His fries went a-flying and his orange drink covered his lap We've all been there

And then my four-year-old said a four-letter word It started with this, and I was concerned

So I said, son, now where'd you learn to talk like that

He said, I've been watching you, dad ain't that cool I'm your buckaroo

I want to be like you. I want to do everything you do

So I've been watching you. I love that song. I love that song because it's so true, Rodney

You think your children are not listening to you? They don't miss a trick, do they

No. I've got a song just for you. Okay, yay. And you'll do it later for me

I'll do it in a bit. All right, so what are you doing? We're going to make oysters and eggs

Of course, we got to have bacon. Look at that. I'm going to go ahead and just fill that whole pan

Load it up. All right, you got you some chicken broth right there. Got some chicken broth. We're going to make some grits

I love oysters. I'm just going to drain these. I'm going to take these down here

and I'm going to pour a little buttermilk over them. Marinate the oysters

Yes, I'm going to marinate these oysters. And I'm going to mix in some Creole seasoning

All right, so we're going to bring your chicken broth to a bowl. You're going to add, what, a couple grits

Some grits, yep. I'm going to fry this bacon just long enough, y'all, to get me some bacon grease because I'm going to fry our eggs

So y'all, Rodney's grating some cheddar cheese and adding some salt and pepper to our chicken broth

You are adding one cup of grits to your broth. Is that right

Yes. Have you always been, Rodney, so mild-mannered? Pretty much, yeah. Well, you just seem like you're the most easygoing

And I about ready to take this bacon out I don know what you laughing about It load of bacon Huh It is a load of bacon But remember this bacon got to last us till we get to Oklahoma

Yeah, we need a lot of bacon. And now, I'm going to show you a little trick

When all my children come over and all my friends and I'm doing brunch or breakfast

It takes a lot. So, I'm just going to finish that bacon off in here

And as that cooked, y'all, I'm going to be making a mixture of equal parts flour and cornmeal

Plus, and some extra Creole seasoning just for our oysters. So, look at that

The bacon is done. The bacon is done, honey. Just that quick

So we're going to cut that with a little milk. All right. And let's go ahead and add us about half a stick of butter

And then we're going to add that delicious cheese. Look, Rodney. Rodney, look at that

Look at that. Oops. Nice. That's my kind of cooking. And while I'm frying our oysters, you can start frying our eggs, okay

All right. Now, our fried oysters are not going to take but just a minute

Ooh, those eggs. You're not eating but one egg. Because two of them are mine, right

Those are looking good. Our oysters are looking good. Rodney Atkins, y'all, is in the house

Up next, Rodney's breakfast plate has almost everything you could ask for

Rodney, I forgot your vegetables, honey. Of course. Thank you. And later, more singing and sizzling, y'all

It's bus tour cocktail weenie time. Ha, ha, ha! Okay, Rodney

Mm-hmm. There's your oysters dumpling. All right. And your grits look so good

I'm fixing your plate first. All right. I'm just going to slip your eggs on that plate

Get back over there, you little egg. This is a very, very simple breakfast

And I'm going to, if it's all right, I'm going to put your oysters right on your grits

Looks good. Is that all right? Smells incredible. Just kind of pile them up like that

Man. There you go. All right. Mmm, that's great

Yummy. These guys are going to be living large. Oh, gosh. Rodney, I forgot your vegetables, honey

Thank you. It sure is good. It is good. Now, do you usually eat your oysters on top of your grits

Only for this recipe, but I didn't think it made sense. It sure does

It's great. I've got one more thing I want to fix for you. I love that crunchy bacon

This is super simple. This is one of my favorite little redneck dishes

Are you a redneck? I'm a redneck. A little bit. So, Rodney, this is a super quick and easy skillet sausage that you can take on the bus with you

I'm gonna hook you up in case you don't have a crock pot on your bus

We had a crock pot. Well. I think we broke it. We gotta get another one. Well, I'm gonna give you one

And we're gonna take 28 ounces of little weenies. You wanna write a song about it

You gonna sing the recipe? You tell me the rest. It's 28 ounces of weenies

28 ounces of weenies. A cup of apricot jam and two tablespoons of a grainy Creole mustard

One cup of apricot jam. Two tablespoons of, what was it? Creole mustard

Creole mustard. It's bus tour cocktail weenie time. It's going to be good

They're going to be sweet. So sing it one more time. Do the chorus for me

48 ounces of cocktail wings. One cup of apricot jam. Two tablespoons of mustard

Yes, sirree. It tour bus cocktail weenies with Paula Dan Ha ha ha I love it Yay You so cute So we going to go get that crock pot We going to let this heat

And you finish eating your breakfast. And we'll be right back, y'all, because I hadn't given the poor boy a thing to drink

Coming up next, the freshest strawberry milk. Too sweet. This is great

Too sweet. Then we head on to Rodney's bus for a taste of his tour

In a cabin in the woods. Hey, y'all

I'm in here in the kitchen with Rodney Atkins, and I'm fixing to send him off on his tour

We've got him some cocktail weenies. Now, if you would just dip those up, I got you a crock pot

And I hadn't fixed you one thing to drink, Rodney. so I'm going to fix you a quick strawberry milk

You like milk? You bet. And you like strawberries? Yep. I'm going to put in two cups of frozen strawberries

and that's going to make our milk so ice cold and kind of thick

I'm going to add a fourth of a cup of sugar. You like sugar, right

Yep. Got a lot of sugar. Sugar and butter. Yes. And I'm going to add three cups of whole milk

How do you like your weenie? It's great. Good. Perfect

And I'm going to put this in a mason jar because I figured a good old country boy like you can appreciate a mason jar

Look how thick that got. Wow, strawberry milk. Isn't that pretty? And look what I did to the top of it

You got your hole. I'm going to ball it. Because I don't want you to miss a drop

How do you like it? That is great. Good. Unbelievable. Look, and not a drop of ice cream

Those frozen strawberries did just what we needed them to do. Thank you so much

This is great. No, thank you, darling. This week. This is great

This week. All right, let's load up your weenies, baby. I got this

I'll take your milkshake. All right. So let's go. I'll follow you. I can't believe it's time for you to go already

Rodney, this bus, it's a lot nicer than the bus I traveled on

Hey, crew. Hello, hello. How are y'all doing? Doing well, thank you

Good. Oh, my gosh, what a way to travel. All right, well, let me recap what we've got for y'all in case Rodney forgets

This is bacon. This is the wonderful panini sandwiches. You had me in bacon

And then I brought y'all some strawberry milk. That looks so pretty with your shirt

This is Rose. She loves strawberry milk. And Rose is also a singer and songwriter, right

I am. Here we have, this is Lee, my publicist. Your publicist, okay

And over here, this is my tour manager. This is Doug. Hello

Hi. We've been working together since the third grade. Are you kidding me

So y'all have been friends a long time. Oh, look, Lee's eating her panini

It's delicious. Well, you know. Very fine time. I know that y'all got a role, but you did promise me a song

So it's either you sing me a song and I get off your bus so you can go about your business

Or I sit until I get a song. We're not in a hurry for you to leave our bus

You're welcome here anytime. Thank you. Anytime. Thank you. Well, I'll sing your song

I know the guy that owns the key to the lock on a chain of that gate across that gravel road

You never know just over that hill there's a little log house by Springfield Creek

where the bluebells grow so thick you wouldn't believe. Oh, I want to lay down with you in a cabin in the woods

On an old feather bed With a fire going good Just the two of us alone

And feeling like we should Baby, wanna lay down with you In a cabin in the woods

Oh my gosh, thank y'all for coming

And you were just the sweetest, kind, gentle soul. Thank you so much

Thank all of y'all. To y'all out there, we always send you love and best dishes

From our tour bus, from our kitchen. Thanks for having us. Love and best dishes, y'all

Go see this boy