A home-cooked favorite of shrimp and grits brings the taste of the South to Angela Witkowsky's South Dakota home.

The wife of an airman at Ellsworth Air Force Base, Witkowsky has lived with her husband, Brian, and their two daughters, Alena, 6, and Ava, 3, in Rapid City for six years. A native of Hollywood, Ala., she does a lot of cooking for her family, the squadron's First Friday Potluck, coffee klatches, a neighborhood book club and her visiting friends.

"We're joiners," Witkowsky said of her friends.

They also provide a great support network, especially when their husbands or wives are deployed into war zones.

"In the military, we have our friends over a lot. When our husbands are deployed, the wives will cook for each other - it's what we do," she said.

That may mean a classic comfort food like shrimp and grits.

"It's a casserole-type of dish that comes more from South Carolina than Alabama. South Carolina has totally different food. But the more people move around, the less we relegate food to a region," she said.

Witkowsky doesn't put on any Martha Stewart - or even Paula Deen - airs about her cooking style. Rarely one to watch The Food Network (although Witkowsky has eaten at Deen's restaurant), she counts on magazines, cookbooks or her mother's early teachings when it come to cooking meals.

"Mom (Connie Ruth Thompson) was a teacher. She wanted us to know how to cook. She prepared entire meals at age 12. … My mother was a wonderful cook; I was her sous chef," Witkowsky said.

Yet the Rapid City homemaker is more likely to add a splash of this or a dash of that to create her own recipe rather than following the one in front of her.

"I'm not one to follow directions, unless I'm baking and I'm good at baking," she said.

"I like not being held down to a recipe because I might not have what is called for in the recipe."

Improvisation is particularly helpful when shopping in stores that don't carry the familiar brands of groceries; it also offers some terrific new flavors.

"We were both amazed by piecing together a recipe how well it tasted," she said.

For grits, Witkowsky shops at Safeway; she also has found quick grits at Wal-Mart. She orders her favorite, White Lily Quick Grits, online. Alternatives to the grits could include mashed potatoes, rice, polenta or risotto noodles.

She describes grits as a Southern version of creamy oatmeal.

"If you're unfamiliar with grits, I hope you try them," she said.

She uses large, frozen shrimp that are cleaned, peeled and cooked. The shrimp are coated with sauce and cooked through. She serves the shrimp and sauce over a healthy serving of grits, adding the pepper at the last to finish the dish.

Witkowsky completes the dish with a small serving cup of diced fresh tomatoes and another of diced chives to sprinkle over individual servings. Served with a salad, sweetened and unsweetened iced tea, the meal offers a blend of flavors in one meal.

"It doesn't take a lot of time to cook; the bacon shouldn't overwhelm the dish. But whatever you add to it, it's going to enhance the taste," Witkowsky said.