Reviews For Southern Living Magazine


A handbook for the Southern homeowner

I'm from Alabama--born and bred. Yes, I have an accent. Yes, I love grits and pot likker and fried chicken. And yes, I adore this magazine!

I grew up with my parents subscribing to this terrific periodical, and I also learned to cook from watching my mom prepare a lot of the recipes in it. My dad gave me a gift subscription for Christmas three years ago, and I have kept every issue.

There is something for everyone in Southern Living, even if you live in Canada or California or Massachusetts. There are sections covering every aspect of family life. Just pick up an issue, open it, and peruse the table of contents to see!

Every month, SL spotlights a vacation spot in the South or a special festival going on in a Southern city, like Atlanta or New Orleans, or Birmingham. In this section, you will find information on the cost to go this place, hotel and restaurant suggestions, what to see and what to pass on.

I love the decorating and craft ideas for the home. SL chooses a family home in the South that has recently been redecorated and/or remodeled, and shows you step-by-step, the before and after of the process. One can glean great ideas from these pages for re-doing your own abode. The seasonal crafts are great and even the children can help with some of them.

Also each month, there is a Southern Living House Plan included, showing the layout and elevations of the house and details of building, and how to order the plan from Southern Living. All the plans are designed by southern architectural firms, and in a lot of cases, the plan has been built somewhere in the South and there are directions to visit the model home.

And check out the garden section! SL will tell you how to make an English flower garden, as well as how to harvest a bumper crop of Southern veggies in the summer! In addition, there are terrific landscaping ideas for every type of yard.

My favorite section, by far, though, are the recipes sent in by readers.
These are just awesome and the directions for each recipe are written in a step-by-step format, so that even a fledgling gourmet can turn out delicious dinners for their families or for get-togethers. There are probably 30-50 recipes in every issue! I save my copies so I can refer back to the recipes, but SL also puts a out a yearly cookbook including the best recipes from that year.

I plan to never let my subscription lapse! Pick up an issue, check it out, and I promise you will love it, wherever you live!


Recommended:
Yes

A Guide to Gracious Living

Southern Living is one of our family traditions. We almost never throw out an old issue. It's a wonderful magazine for anyone interested in food, travel or gardening. There's also a home section with decorating, remodeling and building ideas. Don't think you have to be a Southerner to enjoy the magazine. The travel destinations and gardening tips are geared toward a Southern audience, but most of the articles are practical wherever you live.

I especially like Southern Living because it's truly a family magazine. Rather than providing a lot of tacky tips on weight loss, makeovers, and insane money-saving strategies like Woman's Day or Good Housekeeping, it focuses on things you can really put to use in your own home. And unlike magazines like Martha Stewart Living or more high-brow decorating or food magazines, it acknowledges and embraces the fact that many of us have children instead of a staff.

The travel section includes a huge range of vacation ideas from romantic luxury getaways to family-friendly activities and budget weekend trips. Southern Living also features many local festivals and less-crowded destinations all over the South. It's perfect for brainstorming your next trip, whether you're into antiquing or adventure.

The food section is by far my favorite part of Southern Living. All the recipes are tested by their own kitchens, so you know they'll work. There are tons of recipes in every issue, and special features on quick and healthy cooking. There's really a great range of foods covered, from elaborate meals for entertaining to quick weeknight dinners. Again, the magazine recognizes that many of us cook for kids, and there are kid-friendly foods, as well as articles such as getting kids in the kitchen or planning kids' parties.

I'm not much of a gardener, so I just skim through the gardening section, but even I have found useful tips every once in a while. I've actually managed to keep from killing some of my husband's flowers with their advice!

Many of the remodeling and building ideas are a little out of my price range, but it's nice to have some inspiration. After all, who wants to pick up a magazine and find the same things you can see at WalMart? Often, the magazine gives plans for the small projects, so if you're the handy type, you can do it yourself.

A subscription to Southern Living is a bit pricier than most magazines, but I still consider it a good value. In most issues, each section is as a large as a typical magazine devoted only to that subject.


Recommended:
Yes

The one Magazine that has it all

Southern Living has to be my favorite magazine. I can never seem to throw out my old issues even after cutting all the articles I wish to keep.

I am from the south and have always lived here. I really enjoy the travel sections. I clip out articles and keep them for future reference. IT helps my plan my little weekend jaunts or a nice week long vacation.

The gardening section is wonderful. It has helped me in deciding what plants and flowers I would like to plant. The tips for diagnosing problems are very helpful.

This magazine covers so many things. They always have articles for and about your home, bonus sections, Travel, Gardens , Foods and always special issues to go along with whatever holiday is approaching. Wether it is Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The food section is my favorite because cooking and baking are my passion. The recipe's are wonderful and always taste like a professional chef prepared them. I used to clip all the wonderful recipe's and stick them in every cookbook I own but as I have gotten older I have started ordering their annual southern Living cookbook. This is a must for all southern living food section fans.

This is a magazine that has been around for awhile and will stay around. IT has been read by many generations before us and will be read by many generations after ours.This is one I will always have a subscription for. It is my favorite and will always continue to be. NO other magazine compares to southern living.


Recommended:
Yes

Southern Living Learning to live my "dream" magazine

Several years ago while visiting my brother, I spent a great deal of time scanning his Southern Living magazines. The articles were about places that I wanted to visit or live and the recipes were beyond belief.
In fact, I would dream about the day that I could live somewhere without cold and snow. Later at Christmas time, my brother sent a gift subscription of this magazine. Now I am much closer to the dream retirement to Middle Florida, I thank Southern Living magazine (and my brother) for giving my the information about the place where I will live out my years. What does the magazine have in it for you, you might ask?
This magazine has some of the best articles on all sizes of cities and towns, travel information, great recipes, gardening tips (couldn't use them in Wisconsin), living style information, historical information, and great advertisements for real estate.
UPDATE: I just moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area and have started living my dream much earlier than I imagined. We have gone to a number of places in Georgia that I read about in this magazine. More to come.
Get a copy and of this magazine and read it! You may be converted too!


Recommended:
Yes

Great Magazine

Southern Living has been my favorite magazine for some time now.I love the many mouth watering recipes of just about anything and are simple to make.They are what real southern cooking is about.

There are many articles from travel to landscaping.I love the many helpful decorating ideals.inexpensive but beautiful in my opinion.

This magazine has ideals for decorating all through the year.There are wonderful projects for the holidays with great photographs.

One of my favorites are the articles on flower gardens.There are so many great ideals and beautiful photos.It is very helpful when working on a landscape project.There are many flowers and different ways to plant them for beautiful displays of colors.Southern living is a great magazine and I look forward to my monthly shipment.



Recommended:
Yes

A Magazine that Soothes the Soul

This magazine feels like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold, wintry day. It soothes the soul and quiets the mind. Yes-this is one of the best magazines a southerner could ask for.

I greatly enjoy the travel tips to local small towns near Atlanta. From finding the best restaurant in Rutledge Georgia to viewing the first public sculpture garden in the USA (which is located in South Carolina between Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island).

Each month presents a gardening project that's fun and simple. Planting herbs in colanders and strainers and creating a raised flowerbed are just some of the things offered.

Southern Living is a great friend to the novice as well as the seasoned gardener. Plants details are given each month with detailed specifications and the best regions to grow the plants. I have furnished my garden by reading Southern Living!

Let me not talk about the awesome recipes; such delectable treats for all cooks. I just love this magazine. It's my travel guide, cookbook, and gardening book all in one!


Recommended:
Yes

Southern Living is a Keeper

I was raised with copies of Southern Living around the house. My grandmother reads it and my mother reads it (and I read their copies when I visit). (I give my mother a gift subscription every year.) Some of the best recipes and decorating ideas have come from the pages of Southern Living (my grandmother was spray painting things gold before Martha Stewart was conceived).

Southern Living's strength is that it features good ideas that are practical and tasteful. The thing about Southern Living is that the issues are timeless. The good food and traditional/contemporary decorating is not based on fad but good taste and practicality. There are always different ideas and plans/instructions for do-it-yourself projects and crafts. Homebuilders can view a whole portfolio of Southern Living house plans and peak inside the annual Southern Living design houses.

If you cook the recipes alone are worth the price of a subscription. Southern Living recipes are for good, wholesome foods that are tasty and easy to prepare (no overly exotic ingredients here unless you consider grits and jalapenos exotic). Like any good southern cook, Southern Living recipes are not afraid to incorporate pantry staples in the creation of good food. And many southern cooks will admit (if prodded) that their own special recipes came from the pages of Southern Living.

Thinking of visiting the South? Features about destinations in the South and a monthly events calendar are more than enough to provide vacation ideas whether you are honeymooning or traveling with a family full of kids. Even the classifieds (a section I skip in most magazines) are a good resource if you are thinking of renting a cabin in the mountains or a house on the beach.

Whether a southerner by birth, by accident or by imagination, you won't regret taking a look at this useful magazine.




Recommended:
Yes

Southern Living Magazine - Elegance and Great Info

This magazine is a monthly gift. It is a touch of class that inspires, informs, touches the heart, provides great ideas and the food section is one of the best in any monthly magazine I have seen.
First of all, it weighs about 1.5 lbs. It is worth taking with you on a journey. With the events section, there is always something to do or see or at least want to read about.
The homes portion is usually about decorating, sometimes about using a new technique or decorating idea, but always visually graphic and very tastefully done. The visuals in this mag are stunning. They have achieved what many others wish they could.
Often, they explore an area or a particular travel destination, and almost always I add that place to my list, if I have not already been there. The reporting is well balanced, without being overblown or too much. They seem to capture the salient info without providing too much.
My favorite part is the cooking sections. Each month they feature some event, vegetable, canning adventure or some such thing as to captivate the reader's attention. There are things I read about that I know I will never cook or try, but this is such a well written magazine, that you want to read the articles anyway.
The homes section provide not only great decorating ideas that are always elegant and well appointed, but also they show homes redone with before and after pictures, as well. Often, they include a mini-floor plan of a featured home.
I think they have perhaps some of the nicest advertising of any magazine. I love the classifieds and have been known to rip them out and send them to folks looking for a particular place to go, rent a condo for a vacation, etc.
When this magazine comes, I put it aside, and make time to sit and enjoy the artistic flair that the folks at Southern Living have provided for the month. They are located in Birmingham, AL and have a cooking school there as well. Their annual cookbooks are by far, outstanding and are nothing more than all the food sections lifted from that years magazine.
This magazine makes a great gift, by the way.
When I began getting Sl over 14 years ago, we paid extra to have it shipped to states outside of the "southern" areas. However, that is no longer a practice. I can honestly say, this magazine is one of the reasons provided me with enough data and information where I decided to move to the South, and never have regretted it.


Recommended:
Yes

Not just for Southerners!

Being born and raised in the North I had never heard of Southern Living Magazine. My sister moved southward and introduced me to this fine publication. Believe me it is definately NOT just for those that reside in the Southern areas of the United States!

I waited anxiously each month for my copy to arrive in the mail. Each time I was very pleased with the contents. The sections on foods and recipes are outstanding. I have made some of the best foods I have ever eaten from recipes found in Southern Living. From appetizers to desserts, each recipe is easy to follow and prepare.

The gardening section is just as wonderful. Not only do they show beautiful pictures of both vegetable and flower gardens..but how to achieve those results. Plants are identified by their botanical names and in depth information on their care is provided.

Holiday issues are especially nice. There are craft ideas, holiday menu and decorating ideas, and beautiful photographs accompanying them. They show great ideas for home improvements as well as showcasing homes.

Pick up a copy today! You will be happy you did! I believe this to be one of the best magazine publications available.


Recommended:
Yes

My all time favorite magazine

I love Southern Living magazine. I have been a subscriber for over 10 years. I love to travel and have cut out many articles to take with me so that I would have directions. I try to research every place I visit and Southern Living has never let me down yet. I have managed to visit many of the places that they have written about.

When visiting Savannah and Charleston, I took my magazines with me. I have cut out hundreds of the recipes over the years. I have made many of them. I have ordered many of their cookbooks and all of the holiday books. I can't say enough about the magazine. I really look forward to each issue. I save it sometimes for when I am all alone and can really read and enjoy it. The articles are great, the recipes are great and the decorating and craft ideas are great great great.


Recommended:
Yes

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