Molly Sims Dishes On Her Family Food Traditions - Exclusive

Food is an incredible means for expressing culture, creating bonds, and, of course, celebrating special occasions and holidays. And for model and Hood Cottage Cheese celebrity representative Molly Sims, it's also a major source of nostalgia and tradition, as she explained in a recent interview with Mashed. "My mom had a love of food. She grew up on a farm. Her mom and dad were very close to us. She was always very into a magazine called Southern Living. Very Southern — casseroles, dishes, cakes," Sims explained. 

"That love of food, and biscuits, and the tradition through baking with family, definitely was very much a part of my life," she added. "[My mom] was very into doing traditions, like making something [for] Valentine's, or Easter, or Christmas. She definitely celebrated through food." In addition to her mom being an "incredible baker," Sims has some favorite traditional Southern foods that really stand out in her mind because of the feasts her family always made growing up, and she shared them with Mashed.

Molly still makes her mom's spinach casserole

If there's one dish that really stands out to Molly Sims when she thinks back on her mom's cooking influence, it has to be her spinach casserole. "It is the single best spinach casserole, besides her red velvet cake, and her biscuits. Actually, my grandmother's biscuits were better than hers," Sims said, explaining that the casserole is convenient to make because it uses easy-to-find ingredients and a simple cooking method. "It's totally like Americana. It's cheddar, a block of American cheese, kind of like what you put in queso. Cottage cheese, flour, butter, salt. You put it in a Crockpot and you let it sit," she explained.

While it's clearly a favorite of Sims', the model and actress also shared a few of her other favorite family dishes, too. "There was an amazing red velvet cake. I grew up with cornbread, and tomatoes, and cottage cheese. I grew up with biscuits, and breads, and homemade cookies, and coconut cakes," she added. "My aunts and my family made a book of all of their recipes. It's amazing," she added. It certainly seems food played a huge role in family get-togethers and celebrations of all sorts for Sims. So, it's no wonder she has continued to love the recipes and shares them with her fans and followers on her website.

Enter the Hood Cottage Cheese giveaway at this link and find their products at your local grocery store. You can also discover Molly Sims' recipes on her website.