~real food~

This time of year, a true southern girl loves her fresh veggies. We have a farmer’s market every Saturday in my little town. Local farmers fill their pick-up truck beds with whatever they grow and head for the market. You can usually find me there, bright and early looking for a few of my favorite foods.

MMMMMM…Tomatoes, but not just any ole tomatoes.

Bradley Tomatoes

They are not the prettiest tomatoes, mind ya, but they make up for that in taste.

Slap some slices between two pieces of bread,

add bacon, lettuce, and mayonnaise.

OH baby!

MMMMMMM…corn, but not just any ole corn,

“Silver Queen” or “Peaches and Cream”

Here’s a photo of one of each. Silver Queen is a white corn while Peaches and Cream is yellow and white mixed. I really can’t decide which one I love best.

I posted a good ole southern “fried corn” recipe a while back and if you missed it take a look here. You’ll love it!

( Hmm..what a coincidence. While I’m typing this, I’m also listening to Oprah talk about “real” food verses “junk” food. Her guest is saying things like “eat real foods and you don’t have to worry about getting enough nutrients…and only eat food that will ROT.” Her guest says that many of the products in our grocery stores aren’t really foods at all! I don’t always agree with Oprah, but I’ll have to give her an AMEN on this one.)

Okay…moving on now.

Don’t want to get too serious about food since I still love my curly cheetos!

(and even though the bag has an expiration date,

I KNOW they wouldn’t ROT for about 100 years.)

Talking about simple country food makes me want to set a simple country table!

No fuss. No gush.

just an old blue canning jar filled with black-eyed susans from the yard

a farmer

a farmer’s wife

and their farm animals

And you’re set!

sharing with Susan’s Tablescape Thursdays

beautiful brown eggs make for a yummy frittata

Once upon a time, a citified college professor left his blackboard behind, walked out of his Delaware classroom and headed for the hills of Tennessee. He and his lovely bride bought a little farm, built a chicken coop and raised some cute chubby hens.

As you can imagine, those cute chubby hens laid the most beautiful beige and brown eggs.

All the while, there was a citified houdy toudy lady who always bought white eggs at the grocery store. One day the citified college professor turned Tennessee farmer gave the citified houdy toudy lady a dozen organic fresh brown eggs.

So the houdy toudy lady scrambled her an egg. WOW, her taste buds exclaimed! They’re so rich and flavorful!

So the houdy toudy lady tried something new with her organic fresh brown eggs.

First she sautéed some fresh veggies.

Next, she added her precious eggs.

And what did appear before her houdy toudy eyes, but a delicious vegetarian frittata topped with gooey cheddar cheese!

P.S. Yes, I have been called houdy toudy and yes, it hurt a little to type it. Oh well. J

Vegetarian Frittata

3 eggs

6 egg whites

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbs minced fresh basil

2 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 zucchini, sliced

2 cups spinach, torn into 1-inch pieces

1 ounce cheddar cheese (or feta cheese if you wish)

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

Whisk eggs, egg whites, black pepper and basil in a medium bowl until frothy; set aside.

Preheat the oven broiler.

Heat olive oil in a medium ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.

Add garlic and onion and sauté until softened.

Add bell pepper and zucchini and sauté until softened.

Add spinach and fold until wilted.

Pour the eggs over the sauté and fold to combine.

Cook over medium-low heat, without stirring until the eggs are mostly set.

Sprinkle cheese over the frittata and broil until the cheese melts.

Garnish with tomatoes.

It’s supposed to make 4 servings, but it made 2 for us. Oooops!

~Sharing with other great recipes at

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

and

Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays.~

just old friends getting together

Last weekend was our monthly supper club date. We got together with old friends.

You’ve heard about supper clubs and maybe you belong to one? I know some are fancy and

try new recipes and have theme nights. Ours is not, just old friends getting together.

Usually, we just have, what you’d call, comfort food.

Our gracious hostess for the evening loves gardening. We have that in common.

I’m always anxious to see what she’s planted. We share plantings too. Last fall, she gave us slips from her hummingbird vine. Unfortunately, our resident rabbit ate mine. L I was so disappointed, but I’m going to try again next fall. Any suggestions on keeping rabbits from eating your plants? They also ate a blueberry bush. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d just ate the blueberries, but no, the whole bush, leaves, stems, trunk and all!

Well, it was a perfect evening to dine outside.

Dessert was my contribution to the evening. After browsing through cookbooks and recipes files, I couldn’t decide what to prepare. Peered in my pantry to see what I already had since I wasn’t in the mood to grocery shop. Much rather be in the garden this time of the year. Oh wow! There’s two cans of peaches!

Peach Cobbler it will be! Remember, what I said?

We’re not a fancy supper club, just old friends getting together.

So I:

Preheated my oven to 350 degrees.

Melted two sticks of butter in a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish.

(I always use real butter! Trust me. It makes all the difference in the world.)

Mixed:

• 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt

• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of milk

Poured batter over butter. Did not stir.

Poured 2 cups of fruit (I used canned peaches, undrained) over batter. Did not stir.

Baked for 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Everyone loved it cause remember what I said? We’re not a fancy supper club,

just old friends getting together.

I’m sharing with others at Outdoor Wednesday.

Strawberries, Cake and the South Beach Diet!

With strawberries in season soon, you may want to try this pound cake recipe, perfect with berries and cream. We enjoyed it topped with strawberries and real whipped cream on Easter.

I know! You remember a few posts back I began the South Beach diet. Well……..we just took a little break for Easter and now we’re back on it again.

By the way, Cigar Man, daughter and I weighed in last Friday. We usually will weigh in once a week, but this time we weighed 4 days after we began since we knew we’d be eating BIG on Easter. J Are you ready?

I lost 3 pounds!

Too bad, I gained 1 pound back after eating cake topped with strawberries and cream. Well, truth known, the cake wasn’t responsible for the whole pound. I hate plenty of other FAT foods over the weekend. Of well, what’s a girl to do!

I’m working on losing that pound again. Since, I’m beginning to think a big part of losing is to eat only when you’re hungry. I wasn’t hungry last night so no supper for me.

I was feeling pretty good about that till I found a half eaten bag of M&Ms and finished them off. L

Oh well, if you’re not on the South beach diet or you want to take a break, here’s the recipe. Sorry I don’t have the calorie count. I really don’t even want to know!

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter (YIKES!)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar (YIKES!)

5 eggs (YIKES!)

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbs vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. (I used an 8 1/2” pan and had enough batter to make a second cake in a loaf pan. I like to freeze one and eat one. If I’m going to take the time to bake, I want to make it worth my while.)
2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening, and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture. Add the vanilla and mix well.
4. Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan. Bake for 1 3/4 hours, or until the cake is done. The cake will pull away from the sides of the pan when ready, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a pretty cake plate .

Strawberries:

I like to sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over a cup of sliced strawberries in a bowl and let it stand for about 1/2 hour. It will make its on syrup that will moisten your cake and melt in your mouth!

Fresh whipped cream:

1 cup whipping cream

about 1/4 cup sugar

Beat together the cream and sugar with an electric mixture until stiff. Can’t beat it! hmmm…you actually just did. J

See ya later. I’m heading over to Gollum’s Foodie Friday. Who knows, I might find something I can still eat!

Easter Bread Basket Recipe

Tried my hand at this Easter Egg bread this week.

Even though it involves kneading and rising and kneading and rising, I think it’s worth making again for special occasions.

(By the way, notice the old cutting board? It belonged to my mother in law. She made many-a-biscuits on this board.

My daughter asked, “You’re not going to really use that, are you?”

Me: “Of course I am!”

Daughter: “Don’t you think it has germs from all those years!”

Me: “You watch too much Dr. Oz.”)

On a side note from the bread making,

you can see how to make this tag and others.

Just click here.

It makes sweet little Easter gifts for hostesses, neighbors, or whoever!

You can also make a large ring for Easter dinner.

• Scald milk; add sugar, salt, shortening, and lemon peel. Cool to lukewarm.
• Sprinkle yeast on warm water; stir to dissolve. Add to milk mixture with the 2 eggs, slightly beaten, and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth.
• stir in enough remaining flour, a little at a time, to form a dough that is easy to handle. Turn onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place in lightly greased bowl; turn dough over to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place free from drafts until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch down; cover and let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Makes 2 large braided rings or 12 individual rings.

For 2 Large Rings:

Divide dough into 4 parts. Form each part into a 36” rope. On a greased baking sheet, shape 2 of the ropes into a very loosely braided ring. Repeat with other 2 ropes of dough for second ring.

For Individual rings:

Divide dough into 12 parts. Form each part into a ring.

• Cover; let rise until doubled. (About 30 minutes)
• Brush evenly with beaten egg. Sprinkle with tiny decorating candies.
• Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) 15 minutes for individual rings and 20 minutes for large rings, or until lightly browned. Serve warm.

Tips:

A boiled, colored egg nestled in the individual rings makes a sweet presentation.

Freeze ahead to avoid hectic holidays.

Let your dough rise in the laundry room while your clothes are drying. I know it sounds crazy, but it works.

I am sharing this recipe with other yummy treats at Gollum’s Foodie Friday.

South Beach Diet – who me?

Recognize this book, anyone?

You guessed it. The South Beach Diet.

My daughter came up with this not so sure it’s going to work excellent idea for us to diet, starting today.

She also came up with this not so sure it’s going to work excellent idea to make a contest out of this diet thing. You see, at the end of each week, we’ll weigh and whoever loses the biggest percentage will get a day off. You know, we have two very active adorable babies in our house, so a day off is a real prize! (If you know what I mean.)

You can tell she’s serious. She’s even written out a menu!

So in dread anticipation of beginning the South Beach diet, I enjoyed succumbed to a Krispy Kreme “HOT ONE” yesterday.

mmmmmm…it was GOOD!

Actually, we just ate supper according to “the book” and it was not bad. We strayed from the menu a wee bit.

• Grilled chicken tenderloins drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Cavender’s Greek Seasoning.
• Fresh asparagus seasoned with olive oil and Greek seasoning (yes, we like this combo.) and baked in the oven on 425 for about 15 minutes
• A tossed salad rounded off our meal.

I’ll let you know how it works out. Oh, and by the way, if you want to lose weight too, you're so welcome to join us. Misery LOVES company!

Joining Tempt your Tummy Tuesday. Check out some great recipes!

a fresh look

The best part of spring cleaning besides the obvious which would be getting things clean, of course, would be the fresh look of things. I can go all year and see my surroundings, but never see them. You know what I mean? But when I take the time to spruce up, I see my little treasures in a new light.

I can add a touch of the season while I clean.

I can make a game of cleaning and it’s not drudgery anymore. Well, almost not.

(Recognize the starfish? Oh yes, they’re from our friend at Tales from an OC Cottage. Aren’t they gorgeous!)

Light my candles to show off a new clean glow.

Flick on the light and enjoy the new sparkle.

And after everything’s spic-n-span clean, make it easy on myself and put a roast in the crock pot to cook all day.

My family loves a rump roast sprinkled with one package of Lipton’s onion soup mix and one can of cream of mushroom soup. Add to that potatoes and carrots and salt and pepper to taste. It couldn’t be easier and more delicious.

I’m sharing with Marty and others at Table Top Tuesday and Lisa’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Homemade Chicken Salad

In the summertime, one of my family's favorite foods is my homemade chicken salad. So on an unusually warm day in February after weeks of bitter cold, we have a craving for homemade chicken salad.



I don't have a written recipe for this salad, but I can give you a few hints for making it extra tasty.

1. Boil a whole chicken with the inside package (liver, heart, gizzard) included. The insides of the chicken and the white and dark meat give a rich flavor to the chicken and so to your salad. Now, I don't actually chop the insides and include in my salad, but by boiling with the chicken, the flavor is there.

2. Use real mayonnaise.

3. I like to add pecans, raisins, and celery to my salad; although, this time I used almonds and dried cranberries instead.

4. I love to season with Cavender's Greek Seasoning. I used it on everything!

If I were to use a recipe, I guess it would read something like this:

1 whole chicken boiled in lightly salted water until done. Dice or shred chicken.
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped pecans or sliced almonds
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
2 boiled eggs chopped
1 tsp Cavender's Greek seasoning
Salt to taste
Mayonnaise (Add to desired consistency - about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)

We like to have ours with croissants and fruit. Do you put something different in your chicken salad? Let us know in the comment field.

I'm sharing with other wonderful foods at Tempt My Tummy.

nothing fancy, just pecan pie

Cigar Man loves pecan pie so I made one for his birthday. He's an old fashioned kind of guy. He likes the old tried and true recipes. For example, he prefers roast beef and potatoes over a quiche or any kind of casserole on any day of the week.


I, on the other hand, LOVE to try casseroles and the more you throw in the mix, the better. I guess it's true. Opposites do attract.


Thirty-seven years ago when I was a young bride, pecan pie was the first dessert I tried to bake. To say it didn't turn out like I'd expected was an understatement. It was hard as a brick. We laughed and slammed it on the counter top to see if it would break. It didn't!


It was then that I decided to join a cookbook club. I received dozens of cookbooks in the mail and I would actually study them at night. That's how I learned to cook. I'm not a great cook by any means, but you can eat my pecan pie now without breaking a tooth!


This pie recipe came from an old church cookbook. You know, where the ladies of the church contribute their recipes and compile them in a book. Do you have a few of those? As you can see, I have used it often. LOL! I don't know Mrs. Hazel Springer, the contributor of this recipe, but I sure do appreciate her!


Contributing to Foodie Friday where you'll find delicious food, both new and tried and true!

Morning Glorious Muffins

When it's cold and snowy outside, it's enjoyable to watch the birds,
and admire the icy wisps on the trees
and the new look of the rustic plants against the ashen snow...

from the INSIDE where it's cozy and warm!

while treating yourself to... Morning Glorious Muffins.

This is an old old recipe of mine. For some reason, I started craving them during the snow days we've had. Must go back to the time when I used to make them for my girls on "no school" days due to snow.

Isn't it funny how memories remind you of certain foods?

And here's the recipe if you'd liked to try them yourself. This time I left out the dates and coconut since I didn't have any in the house. They were still delicious!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tsps baking soda

2 tsps ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

1 1/2 cups peeled and shredded apple (1 large)

3/4 cups coconut

1/2 cup snipped pitted dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 beaten eggs

1 cup cooking oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt. In another bowl combine carrot, apple, coconut, dates, and pecans. Stir in beaten eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients, stirring till moistened.

Grease or line muffin pans with paper-bake cups. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans. Bake in 375 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from pans: cook on wire racks. Makes 24 muffins.

Sharing this post with others at Outdoor Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, Foodie Friday.

Christmas cookie as good as it looks!

Have you ever been to a cookie swap? If you have, you know it's lots of fun. I mentioned here, we were getting ready for a cookie swap. Well, the cookies my daughter made turned out delicious and I knew you'd want the recipe.

She found the recipe for Chocolate-Caramel Thumbprints in the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook and it's a favorite at our house now. I'll list the ingredients at the end of the post.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy: gradually add sugar, beating well. Add melted chocolate, egg yolk, and vanilla, beating until blended. Stir together flour, soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, beating well. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in pecans. Place balls 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets.

Press thumb gently into center of each ball, leaving an indentation. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until set. Combine caramels and cream in top of a double boiler over simmering water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until caramels melt and mixture is smooth.

Remove cookies from oven; cool slightly and press center of each cookie again. Quickly spoon 3/4 teaspoon caramel mixture into center of each cookie. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Microwave morsels and shortening on high 1 minute. Pour melted chocolate in a ziplock bag and seal. Snip a tiny hole in 1 corner of bag; drizzle over cooled cookies.

Wow! They are not only delicious, but pretty too!

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 (1-ounce) semisweet chocolate baking squares, melted

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup very finely chopped pecans

16 caramels

2 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

2 teaspoons shortening

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen.

ENJOY!

I'm contributing to Tempt my Tummy Tuesday!