Welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.

I'm your host, Sid Evans.

And today I'm talking with someone who's written a lot of books over the years,

but until now, she's never done a cookbook.

Jen Hatmaker grew up with a father who was a pastor

in the Baptist Church, moving the family from Kansas to a series of small southern towns throughout her

childhood. For a long time, though, she's been a diehard Texan, which is very evident not only in the

food she loves, but also her fierce independence streak.

Her new cookbook, Feed These People, breaks just about every rule and tradition you've ever seen in a cookbook,

from the ingredients to the directions to the occasional curse word.

But that's what makes it fun.

We'll talk about all that, her deep love of the Texas Longhorns,

and why she built a 30-person table on this week's Biscuits and Jam.

Well, Jen Hatmaker, welcome to Biscuits and Jam.

I'm so excited to be here.

There's so many of my favorite things.

Biscuits, jam, you.

Yay.

There's no downside here.

So, Jen, the last time I saw you was in person in Birmingham, and you and Tyler came up to the food studios and looked around, and your cookbook, I think, was hot off the presses.

It was. And in fact, somebody in the offices had just shot a whole People magazine deal with a recipe out of my cookbook.

And they're like, hey, it's weird that you're here.

...