Category: Vegetables

appetizers · Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Fried Green Tomatoes

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This one worked like a charm. Was easy and was very yummy (if Leaanne Morgan can say yummy on her videos, I can use it on the food blog)

4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk *I had buttermilk in the fridge, so I used that instead of whole milk)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teas salt
1/4 teas black pepper
oil for frying

Slice the tomatoes 1/2″ thick. Discard the ends. Sprinkle each side with salt and place on paper towel to allow the salt to soak up some of the juice.

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a medium size bowl. Mix the cornmeal and flour together on a plate. Dip the tomatoes slices, one by one, into the egg/milk mixture and then dip in cornmeal/flour mixture. Allow to rest (the tomatoes, not you) while you dip each tomato slice in the egg and flour mixtures. When all slices are coated, heat the oil in a skillet and when oil is hot, place tomatoes slices in the oil. Turn over when that first side is lightly browned and then flip and allow the second side to brown. I sprinkled a little more salt and pepper over one of the sides while frying. Drain if needed on a paper towel before serving.

Daily Thoughts · Vegetables

VEGGIE NIGHT AT OUR HOUSE

Chocolate Castles7 Comments

We have been having quite a few veggie nights for dinner. It is weird. For some reason, maybe its the heat maybe I am getting lazy (but think I will just think it is the heat instead, sounds much better), but we have been enjoying vegetables much more than before.
On Sunday night we had family over for dinner. Because my sister-in-law doesn’t eat meat except for salmon or pork roast, it is fun to try to come up with new options for when they come over to eat with us. Sunday night we ended up having fried green tomatoes (yes, I know, we just had them last week, but they were so good and I still had 2 left, I wanted to make them again)cornbread that I added diced green chiles, a small can of creamed corn and because there was not milk to be found in our house, I diluted whipping cream to use in the cornbread. After all, is there anything whipping cream would not taste good in? I put on a pot of pinto beans, had fried potatoes with onions and boiled cabbage. The cabbage was so good that I am posting what I did. You probably have a million recipes on fried potatoes and onions and pinto beans, so will skip that part. But the cabbage was really good. We ended our veggie dinner with a wonderful key lime pie with whipped cream on top. It was a really great meal! We didn’t miss having meat at all. Well, actually because we didn’t have meat, around 9:30 p.m. we started to get a little hungry, so we just had a second piece of key lime pie. Took the hunger pains away instantly! Worked like a charm.

I cut up a head of cabbage and added it to a deep heavy saucepan. Filled the pot with enough water that it covered the cabbage about halfway up the pan. I use the seasoning package of frozen onion, bell pepper and celery that you can get at almost any grocery store for about $1. I added added about 1/2 cup of this to the pot. Sprinkled 2 teas chicken bouillon over the top, 1 teas garlic powder, salt and pepper and 1 rounded teaspoon of Herb de Provence. Cooked it over medium heat for about an hour. About halfway through I threw in about 2 tables of unsalted butter because, well, because if Paula Deen ever saw this post, I would want her to be proud of me for adding butter and because we had not had our full days quota of butter yet. That’s it. It was a great dish that went over so well and my sister-in-law loved it also. If you need a good recipe for fried green tomatoes, just comment. I used one I got off the internet and they were delicious. I will be most happy to share it. Last night, we had the rest of the beans, cabbage, shredded brussels sprouts, and homemade Spanish rice, which even if I say so myself, was really very good. Will post that recipe tomorrow.

Remember what your mom always told you…eat your veggies and have a butterful evening!

Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Salads · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Fried Okra Salad

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Happiest of New Years! As we sit and wait for the traditional black eyed peas to finish cooking to take to friends for dinner, it dawned on me that I had not posted this new recipe. This morning I realized that for the first time in probably 10 years, I had forgot to buy black eyed peas. How could we begin 2020 without them? Everyone knows that if you don’t have a helping of them Jan 1st, your hopes of ever winning any lotto, well, just forget it. Also, “they” say that if you don’t have the peas, you will probably catch every flu that there is no vaccine for, and you will gain weight just looking at cake and DSW will never have the shoe you want in your size. So just to be sure you are covered for all these things, have a helping of the little gems. Why take chances?

Well, this morning when we realized that we didn’t have a black eyed pea in the house, Randy stopped at the grocery store across the street and I ran in to see if I could find either frozen peas or dried (just can’t do the canned ones, well, let me rephrase that, that would be my last choice if all other possibilities were exhausted) BE peas. Walking up to the frozen food aisle, there was a lady standing looking at the frozen veggies and she saw me looking and moved her cart out of the way, apologizing for being in the way. When I assured her she was certainly not in my way, as I was just looking for BEP, she stated that she was just trying to get some new ideas of foods to make. It was in that instant that I began an internal struggle. Do I just ignore her and assume she was just making a statement, or should I tell her that I have a cooking blog and hand her a card with the blog info on it. It took me about 30 seconds before I finally said, “do you like fried okra?” When she said yes I do, I handed her a card and told her that I would be posting this recipe later today for Fried Okra Salad. That lead to her reading my business card and she said, “oh I’m a believer also, what church to you go to?” And then she noticed my name and as we began to talk, she told me that she was in the title business, just like Randy. In fact she knew several people which we knew. It was just so great to visit. It always amazes me how God orchestrates these sweet little blessings that happen when we are just running into a store to pick up something.
January 2020….the beginning of a new decade. We have so much to be thankful for in this past decade. May we continue to always give thanks and always look for opportunities to share joy and kindness with others, all the while giving thanks for all the joy and kindness we have received from others. Here is the recipe which was given to me from a precious friend, Dena. Can’t wait to have it with a pot of cabbage and onions, potato casserole and ham….a perfect southern meal.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 pounds frozen breaded okra, thawed and fried according to directions
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

IN a small saucepan, cook oil, sugar and vinegar over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Set aside

In a large bowl, combine fried cooked okra and remaining 4 ingredients. Pour vinegar mixture over okra, tossing just to coat. Serve immediately.

*Taken from Paula Deen Magazine

Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Super Bowl Recipes · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Veggie Dinner With Squash Dish (Calabacita)

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How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Hope that all of you had the blessing of gathering around the table with family and friends to make some wonderful new memories. We were blessed to have two of our kids and their families here. Isn’t it just so wonderful to be able to enjoy your adult children? I heard about a family gathering that escalated into yelling and screaming because some of the relatives began to argue about something. That is something I just cannot even begin to understand. Years ago, my oldest sone, Jason, was in college and some of his friends came over when Jason came home for the holidays. They began to tell me how Jason would just walk into a room that was full of college boys, arguing over sports, or girls or something and Jason would yell “why can’t we all just get along?” and everyone would then start laughing. It is with a heart full of thanksgiving that we do enjoy our kids and so appreciate the time which we spend with them. Well, all that said, last night, after a full 5 days of cornbread dressing, potatoes, turkey, ham, pies and cakes and wonderful rolls, we realized yesterday that even our very unhealthy bodies were tired of all the greasy, rich meats and dishes. So we put on a pot of beans, cut up a head of cabbage, onion, cut up a couple of potatoes and got the small iron skillet out for cornbread. As I was looking in the fridge to get more butter out, (do not even think about asking me how many pounds of butter I have used the last 2 weeks, because I am too embarrassed to ell you.Lets just say that there is now an empty corner in the fridge where all the butter was stored) there was the Mexican squash I had bought, thinking that I might use it in a dish for Thanksgiving. But, there it was just sitting there waiting to be cooked. So out it came and it was such a great addition to our veggie meal. So, (after all the above 1000 words that was probably more than you ever wanted to know about our Thanksgiving) here is the recipe I used and it was so good.

2 cups cut up Calabacita Squash (Mexican squash)
2 tables olive oil
1 tables unsalted butter
1 teas fresh oregano
1/2 teas garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and butter in a small skillet. Add the cut up squash and seasonings to skillet. Stir until squash begins to brown a little on the edges. It was at this point that I added about 1/4 cup water to the pan and put a lid on so the squash would get tender. As it cooks, stir every few min so squash does not burn. If you like the flavor of the oregano, and garlic, you might like to add a little more per your preference. This squash is also great in vegetable soups.

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Meatless Mondays, Turnip Greens Tuesday, Weeds (oops I mean Salad) Wednesdays, Tomato Thursdays & French Fry Fridays

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We are old. We now walk in the mall with the rest of the Seniors in the mornings. Because it is still too hot to walk outside, we have joined the Mall Walkers Senior Citizen Group of America. Randy said that next time we go we need to go a little later in the morning so we would be there when the stores actually open and reward ourselves with a cinnamon roll for all the steps we were getting.

After getting all settled in now and have all the boxes unpacked, we find ourselves putting on some of the weight that we had lost while we were in Italy. So we have come up with a plan. It started this past Monday with Meatless Monday when we decided that maybe we should keep up the “less meat” way of eating like we did in Italy. So we have declared Monday to be Meatless Mondays. As I thought back about the veggies I tend to cook, it seems that green beans and cabbage are usually a staple at our veggie meals. Looking through a Paula Deen cookbook, I ran across a recipe for squash casserole, which sounded delicious. I had everything for it except sour cram so I substituted Cream of Mushroom Soup. It was even better the next night when we had it for leftovers. Actually, Wednesday nights we head for El Fenix for the 2 cheese enchilada special. So We don’t really have salad Wednesdays, wait a minute. Yes we do. There is a little parsley on the plate of enchiladas so we count that as salad. We had got in the habit of making cut up tomato and mozzarella with olive oil for lunch when we were in Italy (I sill love saying or writing that, it makes us sound so suave and debonair) So we have decided that we need to keep that up instead of always driving to the closest Whataburger. Since my cholesterol had dropped 50 points from the time we left in April to the time we returned in July, I DO NOT want to hear a dr tell me it is back up to where I started. So we truly are trying to eat a little more healthy. In fact, just yesterday, I only ate one basket of chips with salsa at El Fenix. And today, having lunch with my sister-in-law at Houstons, I left half of my key lime pie to bring home to Randy. But…when Janece dropped me off at my car, I picked up the wrong bag and brought the bag that was suppose to go home with her. Being the kind person I am I had brought the other half of my pie home to Randy, but Janece ended up with that bag and I had grabbed her bag that had a whole piece of pie she had ordered to take home to her hubby. No…I didn’t know I did that. So after we share a whole piece of pie tonight we will plan on maybe easing up a little on the olive oil with tomatoes and mozzarella tomorrow for our lunch. What the heck, will cut back on the onion also, so we can have an extra piece of garlic bread to go with the bruschetta. Yes, we are a couple who thrive on eating healthy now and who are the proud owners of smart watches which count our steps as we walk to the donut shop.
Fridays we celebrate with hamburgers and french fries for all the healthy food we have endured during the week.

In case you have a veggie meal and you are in the mood for something different than green beans and carrots, try this squash casserole. It is delicious. The recipe calls for sour cream but if you have cream of mushroom soup,it works great also Either will be great.

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 medium yellow summer squash, thinly slice
1 large Vidalia Onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt & Pepper

1 sleve crackers, crushed medium to fine
4 tables butter

Heat oil and butter in little until butter is melted. Add squash and onion, salt and pepper and cook until squash and onion are tender.
Add both the Parmesan and cheddar with the sour cream, and stir until combined.
Pour into a baking dish and bake in preheated 350 oven for about 20 minutes. Remove and add crushed crackers over the top. Dot the 4 tables utter over the top and bake for about 10 minutes or until crumbs begin to turn golden.
(Actually I forgot, I used Progresso Italian Flavored bread crumbs instead of crackers and we loved using that. Tasted great.)

So from our healthy table to yours….you’re welcome. And Yes, the butter is healthy because…well, it just is. Just ask Paula Deen. Besides I have a cake server that has “LOVE & BUTTER” on the front. And if you can’t trust a cake server, what can you trust?

Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Lemon-Green Bean Pasta

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This week I saw this recipe on FB and decided that I had to try it. We cooked it Friday evening and it was delicious. No meet, yet, it was so good that we didn’t even miss the meatballs! Quick and easy, you might even have everything in the house that is needed to make it. We have decided next time to add some fresh spinach along with the green beans but you will love this wonderful meatless Italian dish.

1 box angel hair or spaghetti
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tables olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped purple onion
5 tables unsalted butter
4 teas lemon zest
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teas Italian Seasoning
1/2 teas crushed red pepper
2 cups fresh green beans (I bought the bag of fresh green beans that you can cook in microwave in the bag and cooked them for 3 min in microwave before adding to the skillet.
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
2 teas lemon juice

Cook pasta according to directions on box, set aside saving about 1/2 cup pasta water.
Add olive oil and butter to skillet and stir until butter is melted. Saute onion, garlic and green beans in the oil/butter mixture until onion is clear. Add salt and pepper to your liking. Add the crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning and cook until green beans are tender (remember I cooked them first in the microwave to save on time). When these vegetables are done, add the pasta to the green bean mixture along with the pasta water, lemon juice and zest to mixture. Add the Parmesan cheese to the mixture before serving. Serve with garlic bread and Tomato-Mozzarella salad!

appetizers · Breads · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Vegetables

Stuffed Like a Squash?

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Legally it is Fall. That means that I can crave cornbread dressing from this point on without the guilt. In summer, I feel so guilty telling people that I just have to have some dressing, when everyone is walking around with an ice cream cone in their hands or nibbling on crisp lettuce. But now….now, I can stand up and announce, “hi, my name is Trudy and I am a dressingaholic”. I think I could eat it every other day, in-between the hamburgers and pizza that I crave.
This morning after making sugar cookies while stuffing movie bags with Hersheys Chocolate bars and M&M’s to take to the movies with 8 of our closet friends this evening, dressing would not leave my mind. So luckily I had a zucchini still in the fridge. AND…a box of Stove Top Cornbread Dressing. I never use it during the holidays, (as nothing can take the place of homemade dressing)just when I am binge dressing eating during the summer or pre holiday. It satisfies my craving for dressing and makes an excellent side dish to go with the chicken fried steak we are having for lunch. Normally, this would be a meal for dinner, but since we will be gone watching “God Bless the Open Road tonight, our dinner will consist of popcorn, cookies and candy.
Yep, gotta have a good healthy meal before eating all the junk. So broccoli with butter and cheese, stuffed zucchini with the dressing with chicken fried steak and gravy. Then we don’t have to feel guilty for all the junk food we will consume tonight. Nothing says healthy eating like chicken fried steak and gravy!

1 large zucchini, washed, cut in half horizontally
1 box of Stove Top Cornbread Dressing (made according to directions on side of box, except that i added about a teas of sage to the boiling water before adding the dry dressing. I was going to tell you to place the leftover dressing that you don’t use in a ziplock bag and pace in freezer for stuffing mushrooms or a chicken breast or more squash, That was my plan until I stood at the stove and “snacked” on the leftover dressing. Not too much to freeze for a later use now.

Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Scrape the middle of the squash out, either with a scoop or spoon, reserving or discarding. Be careful not to cut the outside of the squash, allowing it to be a “boat” for the dressing.
Using a pastry brush, apply a very thin coat of olive oil to the inside of the raw squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Using a large tablespoon, fill the zucchini with about a 1/2 cup of the prepared dressing to each half of the squash. Bake in preheated 400 oven until squash is tender. About 20 minutes. If dressing begins to dry out, cover with foil.

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Dinner Party Menu

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Friday evening we had two couples over for dinner. When it was time to plan the menu, I thought about a couple of recipes which I had not made in quite a while and decided to bring them out of retirement. So as Randy barbecued chicken breast (which btw, he has totally perfected and is so good) and thighs, I made corn casserole and rice pilaf. One of the other ladies said she would bring the salad, which is one of those things that I do not make well. Maybe its because it is healthier than what I usually make, but for whatever the reason, salads are my least favorite thing to make. It surprised me to discover that neither couple had even experienced either of these recipes before, but they loved them. Then it dawned on me that they were not from the South, so had not grown up going to Southern Baptist potluck dinners. Both of these recipes were staples at the church gatherings and graced every table at Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. So…here you go! Your welcome!

Corn Casserole

1 box of Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter
1 can (drained) whole kernel corn
1 can cream style corn
1 (8 oz) sour cream
*optional 1 small can diced green chiles

Spray with Pam or grease a 11×7 (or medium size pyrex baking) dish. Preheat oven to 350. Melt Butter and pour into mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake uncovered in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges and middle is almost firm to the touch. Remove from oven and serve hot.

Rice Pilaf

1 can French Onion Soup
1 can Beef Broth
1 cup water
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
2 cups rice
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a medium size baking dish that has a close fitting lid or Smaller Dutch oven. Melt the butter in the dish in oven. When butter is melted, pour the water, and both cans of soup into the melted butter. add the 2 cups of rice and the almonds and stir to combine. Bake covered in the over for about 40-45 minutes or until rice is done. Stir and serve hot.

appetizers · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Vegetables

Stuffed Mushrooms

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These great little gems have now been placed in my “oh my gosh why haven’t I made these before? I only have maybe 20 years or so left to eat them” folder! Because we had some friends over last night for spaghetti & meatballs, I started thinking about the left over cornbread dressing from Thursday evening when I made stuffed zucchini. They were so good I had the leftovers today for lunch. They were easy, quick and will be a favorite for any fall/winter dinners that we have.

12 large white mushrooms, cleaned and stems taken out and chopped very fine (the stems, not the mushrooms)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained very well. I just continued to squeeze the thawed spinach until I couldn’t get anymore moisture to squeeze out.
1 box of sage or herb Stovetop ( I can’t remember what the box said now) cornbread dressing, made according to directions.
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tables Worcestershire
2 tables red wine vinegar
1/2 teas onion powder
Black Pepper to your liking
Parmesan cheese for topping the mushrooms.

Prepare a baking dish by spraying with Pam, big enough for the mushrooms to fit.
Melt about 2 tablespoons of the unsalted butter in a medium frying pan. Add the finely chopped mushroom stems and sauce until they are cooked. About 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the onion powder,and pepper to your liking.
Add as much of the drained spinach as you like. (I used about 2/3 cup.) Stir until well mixed. Add about 1 cup of the corn bread dressing to this mixture. Stir until well combined.
Place about a tablespoon of this mixture into each hollow mushroom cap and then place mushroom in baking dish.
Melt the rest of the butter in a microwave safe container. When butter is melted, add the Worcestershire sauce and the red wine vinegar. Pour over the tops and around the mushrooms. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the tops of the mushrooms and bake in preheated 350 over for about 10-15 minutes or until stuffing is bubbly and mushrooms are tender. d
*Depending on the size of the mushrooms, you might not use all of the stuffing mixture. I had some left over and just spooned it around the mushrooms in the dish so I could eat it all….it’s that good.

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Vegetables

Cornbread Stuffed Zucchini

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Anything that reminds me of cornbread stuffing gets my vote. This is taken from 2017 Southern Living and I cannot wait to make it. Choose squash that are uniform in size. The best kind for this recipe are long, straight but not too skinny. (as per SL)

Serves 4

3 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread
4 zucchini
3 tables canola oil, divided
1 teas kosher salt, divided
16 oz ground chicken (I will use ground Italian seasoned turkey)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
4 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tables)
1 teas paprika
1/2 teas black pepper
6 oz white Cheddar Cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup fresh corn (I’m not a huge corn person, other than just corn on the cob, so think I will substitute fresh spinach, sautéed and drained well, before adding to mixture)
3 tables chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 375. Spread cornbread in an even layer on one end of a baking sheet. Cut zucchini in hal lengthwise. Using a serrated tomato corer or melon baller, scoop out zucchini pulp to equal 3 cups pulp, leaving a 1/2″ shell intact.
Coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of pulp; reserve remaining pulp for another use. Brush zucchini shells with 2 tables of the canola oil. Place zucchini shells on baking sheet with cornbread and sprinkle with 1/4 teas of the salt.
Bake zucchini and cornbread at 375 until cornbread is lightly browned; 8-10 minutes. Reduce oven to 350.
Heat remaining 1 tables oil in a large skillet; cook, stirring to crumble, until browned. (about 5-6 min)
Add onion, garlic, paprika, pepper, reserved 1 1/2 cups zucchini pulp and remaining 3/4 teas salt to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally until onion is tender.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in cornbread, white Cheddar cheese, corn (or spinach) and parsley.
Divide chicken mixture evenly among zucchini shells. Place shells in a lightly greased baking dish. Bake at 350 until filling is lightly browned and zucchini is tender, about 25 minutes.