Garden Fresh Mexican Salsa – Just What I Was Looking For

At the top of my “things I want to make this summer” list is salsa.  I had an acquaintance many years ago that made homemade salsa every summer.  It was so delicious and she canned it and gave it away as Christmas presents to her friends.  Darn!!  Many times I wished I was a friend and not an acquaintance. As I pondered over wanting to make fresh salsa, I remembered seeing a recipe in one of my cookbooks.  I just could not remember which one.  At first I thought it was in one of my local church cookbooks that has so many great recipes but it wasn’t.  I was on the right track as far as location of the cookbook because I found the recipe in my Hickory Junior Woman’s Club cookbook, “Please Don’t Eat The Geraniums.

There are so many different reasons why I love this recipe.  First of all, it does seem fairly simple to make and you can use fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes.  The recipe only makes a small amount of salsa and it is just enough to share some with a friend or neighbor.

As I write this post, I am amazed at how our taste for food has grown in the South.  I believe our Southern youngsters of today would be totally surprised if we told them we did not have Mexican food or restaurants in the South when we were growing up.  We were raised on hot biscuits, molasses, tomato sandwiches and deviled eggs.  HMMMMMM!!!!! Maybe that really was the “good old days.”

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Summertime Southern Vegetables

I can only speak from my own Southern experiences but I do know that around this time of the year our vegetables are abundant.  The people that have gardens try to share their vegetables with the people that do not have gardens.  It can be a very casual statement between friends such as,  “do you need any tomatoes?”  Be careful how you respond or you might be the recipient of about a bushel of tomatoes. I have been both the giver and the receiver in this type of situation and I know it can be frustrating for either one. Mr D and I enjoy fresh vegetables but we can be overrun with them if someone bring us a large portion or as we say in the South “a mess of green beans, etc.”

If you are facing some of those obstacles, I have chosen three recipes that I think would incorporate fresh vegetables and would also be delicious. The first recipe is from Dori Sanders Country Cooking, ”  I love Dori’s suggestions for incorporating the jam into your meals; however, I think it would be wonderful on a fresh hot biscuit.  YUM!

The next recipe is from James Villas, “the Glory of Southern Cooking.  It has the wonderful Southern vegetable okra combined with the wonderful bacon flavor.

The next recipe is from Amy Rogers Hungry for Home Cookbook and is similar to James Villas recipe.  As it is a Kwanzaa succotash, it appealed to me as I have heard that okra came to this country from Africa.

 

I am looking forward to my first taste of fresh okra this year.  I never think of okra without thinking about how the “old timers” in my life called it okre.  I guess that does sound a little better than okra.  Of course, I think one reason artichoke hasn’t ever appealed to me is because of the name.

I hope you have an abundance of fresh summer vegetables and be sure to give okra a try for sure.  It is very good even though it can be slimy.

Happy Summer and thanks for stopping by.

Crustless Tomato Pie

The last two weeks have been challenging for me.  I usually work between 17 and 20 hours a week but I was asked to work about 30 hours for the last two weeks.  I was happy to help out in a staff shortage situation at work but I have decided I enjoy working part time when it really is part of the time. Complicating the situation was the fact that Mr. D and I volunteered to help out with Vacation Bible School at our church the first week and that meant I was away from home from around 5:00 PM until at least 8:30. I was very appreciative of the fact that a meal was served at Vacation Bible School and that helped with the time challenge. And then the worst part was the fact that I had to be at work every morning at 8:00 AM.

Towards the end of the first week I could feel myself spinning out of control.  I told Mr. D that I felt very stressed and as if I was neglecting our home. This is the funny part.  I came to my cookbook shelf and scooped up all of my Ina Garten cookbooks and took them to him.  He said, ‘What are you doing?”  I said, “I  miss cooking and I haven’t cooked anything good in so long.”  That wasn’t true but at the time I felt as if the world was speedily passing me by.

I started thinking about the recipe I am sharing with you today.  I clipped it last summer and I think I wanted to prepare it and share it with you; however, another post must have taken priority over it.  I made the pie this weekend and it is so good.  It appealed to me because it is crustless and that is good for Mr. D, the Diabetic.  I was a little apprehensive about his take on the pie and but he loved it.  The ricotta and parmesan made it so creamy and the wonderful fresh tomatoes made it even better.  We had our first fresh corn with the pie and it made our meal so special.

I really have no idea where this recipe came from but I do believe it was from Our State Magazine.  I also made an Ina Garten recipe over the weekend so I think I have gotten back to my regular routine.  One of the great joys of being semi-retired is having time and not being in the rush of working full time.  I haven’t forgotten how that feels and the past two weeks have definitely helped me to remember that.

I hope you are enjoying those wonderful freshly grown tomatoes no matter where you are.  Thanks for stopping by.

Dori Sanders – A Summertime Southern Favorite -Fresh Corn and Tomato Stew

Over the last couple of weeks I have featured a favorite fellow blogger on my blog.  Today, I am going to share one of my favorite Southern cooks and cookbooks.  Last year I found Dori Sanders’ Country Cooking cookbook at our local library and decided I wanted my own personal copy.  Dori grew up on one of the oldest African American-owned farms in South Carolina.  On Summer days Dori is either working on the farm or at the Sanders Farm Stand in Filbert, South Carolina.

As she has written two novels, she tells wonderful stories and shares many experiences of growing up on a farm in the South.  I think I relate so much to her stories because they remind me of my life growing up and the stories my parents or grandmother told us about growing up as farmers.

I am truly amazed at some of the innovations Dori uses and she explains in her introductions how the recipe was created and a lot of it had to do with the food that was available on the farm.

Today I am sharing Dori’s recipe for Fresh Corn and Tomato Stew because it uses so many of the fresh vegetables that are becoming available for us to enjoy.

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Along with the recipes are stories of different events and memories of growing up and one of my favorites was about the wash pot.  I do remember when I was really young that we had a wash pot.  It was only used on rare occasions and then I remember that my Mother used it as a flower-pot and planted flowers in it.  The story of Dori’s wash pot brought back fond memories for me.

The farmers not only in the South but all over our country used the ingredients they grew on their farms to feed their families.  I think it is good that we are becoming more conscious of eating fresh products.  I think for people like Dori it has always been a way of life.

So Does That Mean I Am Southern Because I love Dori Sanders, I certainly hope so.   Thanks for stopping by.

Oh Yes We Have Tomatoes – Tomato Caprese Salad by Ina Garten

This year we have been blessed with a wonderful summer season for fresh tomatoes.  I think I have been getting a little carried away when I have visited the Farmer’s Market and have purchased too many at one time.  Now, saying that and being a Southern girl, I really don’t think you can have too many tomatoes in the summertime.  We have eaten tomatoes with basil, tomatoes with balsamic, tomato caprese salad, blt’s, and pasta salad with tomatoes.  Mr. D never complains about the foods I prepare but last week as we were eating tomatoes again, he looked at me and said, “Hmmmmmmmmmm, lots of tomatoes.” I felt as if he was reading my mind because I was thinking we had been eating lots of tomatoes during the past week.  We are still eating tomatoes but I have slowed down just a little with my preparation.  For Mother’s Day Mr D gave me a patio tomato plant and we are harvesting a few tomatoes from my plant too.

As I browsed through Ina Garten’s cookbooks for tomato recipes, I saw this one and prepared it.  It is from her cookbook, “Back to Basics. Even though Ina’s instructions include using store bought plum tomatoes and roasting them, I chose fresh tomatoes and incorporated them into my recipe but I did not roast them.  This is a picture of Ina’s Salad.

This is Ina’s Recipe

There is nothing any better than a freshly grown tomato and I am so proud of my patio tomatoes because they have the traditional old fashioned flavor I remember from childhood.  I really surprised myself by altering Ina’s recipe a little.  I have no doubt that Ina would use fresh tomatoes in her caprese salad if they were available too. I hope fresh tomatoes are available for you in your neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by.

40 Years of Southern Living Magazines Best Recipes

I love to visit he library and I always browse through the cookbook section.  Recently, I found a great cookbook entitled “Southern Living 40 Years of Our Best Recipes.  I checked the book out and saw so many recipes in the book that I really wanted to try.  Southern Living Magazine is a magazine about the South that began in 1966.  This cookbook showcases many of the great recipes published in the magazine over the years.

Last week I shared with you the Tomato Basis Asparagus Pasta Salad that is in the book. Today I want to share two more recipes and the first one is for spicy okra tomato corn saute. I saw fresh okra at the farmers market last week and I do plan to purchase some soon.  Okra is a very southern vegetable and I think you either love it or hate it.  I think you could use fresh okra in this recipe even though it calls for frozen okra.  I do prepare frozen okra in the winter because I think it is great in vegetable soup or fried.

The next recipe I am sharing with you caught my eye because it has a comment from John Grisham and he is one of my favorite Southern authors.  In fact, I have one of his books on my walkman right now and I listen to it at the gym.  Catfish Lafitte is not a dish I am familiar with at all and I had never tasted catfish until earlier this year.  This recipe is for pan fried catfish in a cajun cream sauce.  It does sound good and I will agree with John about the pan fried fish as it is definitely my favorite way of eating fish.

I enjoyed this cookbook so much and it was a sentimental journey for me as I read many of the recipes and remembered seeing them for the first time in my Southern Living Magazine.  I really believe the magazine was a big influence in my cooking development and helped me to prepare many great Southern dishes.

I have a few more recipes from the book that I will share with you on Friday.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

The Farmers Market – Squash and Tomatoes

During the summer months I think I mention visiting the Farmers Market in my posts just about every week.  Last week, I decided to take my camera with me on Saturday and take pictures of the Farmers Market in the neighboring town of Hickory, NC.  It is a very popular place and has a new home now under the sails in downtown Hickory at Union Square.  The Sails was built by the city of Hickory and there are special concerts during the summer months at this location too.  The Farmers Market is open on Monday Afternoon, Wednesday and Saturday.

Here are the pictures from Saturday and I decided it would be good to include recipes from a Hickory Cookbook.  I selected a recipe using squash and a recipe using tomatoes as they are so abundant right now.  The recipes come from my Market to Market cookbook published by the Service League of Hickory.

Baked Goods For Sale

Entrance to Farmers Market

Fresh Lemonade

Smell Is the Best Freshness Test!

Beautiful Flowers

One of My Favorite Vendors

She Has The Best Vegetables

I love my visit to the Farmers Market once or twice a week

View of Union Square from the Market

Another View of Downtown Hickory

I have the two recipes listed below.  One is for a baked squash ring that seems a little unusual and  festive.  There is also a recipe for tomato pie and it reminds me of a childhood Southern favorite tomato biscuit.  That would be a leftover biscuit from lunch with a slice of tomato.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to the Farmers Market and it is my intention to include local pictures in some of my upcoming posts.  Happy Monday Everyone!

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Salad – YUM!

If you read my post on Monday, you can see that I am looking for inspiration to prepare some new dishes.  I was browsing through my Good Housekeeping magazine and saw a recipe for BLT Salad.  It looked delicious and I decided to make my own version.  We had it for our evening meal yesterday (dinner or supper as it is still called in the South).  The Good Housekeeping recipe include grilled bread slices but I omitted them from my version as this eliminates carbs for my diabetic husband.

First, I washed approximately one quarter head of regular lettuce, drained and tore it into pieces and placed it on the bottom of the two chilled salad plate.  (A chilled salad plate seems so special in the hot summertime.)

Second, I peeled and sliced two fresh tomatoes, cut them in half and removed the core.  Then I sliced them and placed them on top of the lettuce.

Third  my husband fried a 12 ounce package of bacon on our griddle.  I crumbled approximately 6 slices of bacon over the lettuce and tomato.

I topped the salad with Salad Sprinkles, Croutons and a small amount of blue cheese.  I served it with a bottled ranch dressing.

We ate it with wheat crackers and it was a wonderful summer meal.  Now, you might ask, will this replace bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches at our house?  Absolutely Not!!!  And remember in the South, we use Duke’s Mayonnaise on that white sandwich bread!