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!