Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Recipe from My Southern Kitchen....Cornbread

What is the deal with cornbread? Why are people afraid of it? I used to have the same problem, while I love eating cornbread, it just seemed so complicated to make.

Before I learned just how simple it is, I used to buy mixes. Now after learning the secrets to a good cake of cornbread I wouldn't dream of using a mix, it is just too easy to make yourself.

A couple of years ago, while on my summer pilgrimage to God's Country, I finally broke down and asked daddy to show me how to make cornbread.... he did and now I probably eat it more than I should!

One of the most important lessons I learned when making cornbread is, you must have the right pan. As we learned in a previous post, the preferred pan in any good Southern Kitchen is the black iron frying pan, or as we may refer to it in this instance.... a skillet. There is just something magical about those old iron pans that transform food like today's new fangled metallic pans can't.

The first step in making good cornbread is to heat the pan. After spraying your iron skillet with no-stick spray, place it in the oven to heat to 375 degrees.

Cornbread is made with just three ingredients..... yeah, three, how could it be any simpler?



Ingredients

Self Rising Cornmeal
Eggs
Buttermilk

(Some people like to add ingredients to their cornbread and that is all well and good. Peppers, onions, chilies, cracklins, and cheese can all be added to the mix, I just like to keep it simple.)

Mixing the cornbread is where people get confused and it really is just a trial and error kind of thing. In a bowl pour about 1 cup of cornmeal, add one egg and buttermilk. Mix together and you are looking for a "not to wet", "not to dry" consistency to your batter. If you need to add more meal then do so, or buttermilk to take your batter the other way. When adding eggs, I have found that one egg per cup of cornmeal works best.

After you have the right consistency for your cornbread batter, pour it into the hot iron pan. Bake at 375 until golden brown, approximately 30 - 35 minutes.

Serve with butter, crumbled up in a bowl of soup, dripping with syrup, or as daddy likes it in a glass of buttermilk.

Cornbread is an easy accompaniment to any meal!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Short Notes...Five Easy Budget Savers


I published this in another venue several months ago, but thought it was still relevant today, so I decided to share.


The economy is in the tank and we are all struggling. I have been searching for as many cost savings tactics that I can successfully implement into my own household.

Today I share 5 easy cost-savings steps that you can put into practice in your own household to help get through these difficult times. I am always searching for more, so if you have any ideas, add them down in the comments section for others to read.

Dump the Dry-Cleaning

Until recently I was spending 40 - 50 dollars per week on dry-cleaning. I sent all of my work clothes out to be laundered. When the economic crunch hit, this was one of the first things I cut back on. Now, I am laundering all my work clothes at home. I have started ironing while I watch television and it isn't so bad. One of my biggest worries when I started doing my own laundry was wrinkles, I love heavy starch in my shirts and can't stand wrinkles. A friend told me about a great product, Downy Wrinkle Releaser, it really works and gives the clothes a nice fresh smell as well.


Weekly Savings $40
Yearly Savings: $2,080


Save Your Change

For years I have saved change. I don't ever spend it under any circumstance, I only spend bills. At the end of the day I have a large jar I put the change in. I average at least $1.00 per day in change. During the Spring I emptied the jar because it was full, imagine my surprise when I had $1,368.49 in change saved!

Weekly Savings $7
Yearly Savings $365

Internet Coupons

We all know about coupons in the newspaper, but in today's culture one of the most important marketing tools any company has is their website. Before I go to the grocery I make my shopping list and then check out websites. Product websites often feature coupons that you won't find anywhere else, check it out, on my last visit to the grocery I had $12 in Internet coupons, I am a single person household so I don't buy as frequently as most, you can do much better than $12.


Weekly Savings $12
Yearly Savings $624
Hang It

As a child I loved the smell of sheets that had been hung out to dry on the line. I have reinstated the clothes line tradition in my own backyard. I am fortunate this time of year it is still warm in south Florida, so I can hang year round, but whenever available I highly recommend it, a clothesline is a great cost cutter and it is good for the environment as well! As in the last hint, remember I am a single person household so my cost may be lower than yours, I usually do 5 loads of laundry per week total, I know people who do that many per day, but if you save just 50 cents per load, that comes to $2.50 per week.



Weekly Savings $2.50
Yearly Savings $130

Brown Bag It

One of the best cost savings tools you can do on a day to day basis is brown bag your lunch. I have started cooking roast and turkey breast that can be extended through the week, this helps keep lunch interesting and tasty. I can't brown bag it every day, but I am doing 4 days per week, I usually spend 8 - 12 dollars per day on lunch. Over 4 days at just $8 that is $32 per week, brown bag it and eat in a nearby park, you get some exercise walking to the park and save money in the process!


Weekly Savings $32
Yearly Savings (Based on 50 Weeks) $1600

Those are some easy cost cutting tools that have a big pay-off. Any idea how much we just saved with those 5 easy tips?
$4,799!!!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

A Recipe from My Southern Kitchen.... HOT, Healthy Wings

This afternoon I was craving hot wings. I didn't feel like going out for dinner, so I decided to make them myself.

I have never made hot wings before, so the whole thing was an experiment. An experiment that turned out AWESOME!

Not having a story to share today, I decided to share with you a recipe from My Southern Kitchen.

With thanks to The Neely's from Food Network, I took a recipe of Pat's and modified it to my taste.

I hope you enjoy my version of HOT, Healthy Wings!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes
2 Teaspoons of Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons of Poultry Seasoning
2 Tablespoons of Hot Sauce

12 Chicken Drumettes

Prep:

In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients and hot sauce. Stir until you have created a rub.

Place the drumettes in a Tupperware container and spread the rub over. Work the rub onto the chicken and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cooking:

After the chicken has marinated for one hour, place it in a baking dish allowing the chicken pieces to touch. Pour the remaining rub over the chicken, cover with foil and place in the oven.

Let the chicken bake ate 350 for 35 minutes.

At the end of 35 minutes, remove the foil and turn the oven to 425. Allow the chicken to bake at 425 for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve:

After the chicken was cooked, I served with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce.

In addition to the wings, I had an ear of steamed white corn on the cob. (Or as we call it in our family, sweet corn.)

Rounding out the meal was Publix Diet Sweet Tea. An ingenious invention of Publix pre-brewed tea made with Splenda, almost as good as mama used to make......almost!

This was a simple filling meal, but remember it is HOT, so if you can't handle the heat, you may want to pull back on the ingredients.

I hope you enjoy, this recipe from My Southern Kitchen!

P.S.... see those "ads" over on the right side of the page? Click on em, there is some good stuff there, lots of times with discounts and when you click, I get a little something in return from the companies represented!

Thanks and have a great week everyone!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Strawberry Fields Forever

Daddy has always been interested in gardening. Both sets of my grandparents had gardens and today Daddy has two (he has always been an over-achiever!)

He enjoys the process of gardening. Laying it out, planting, weeding, harvesting and then freezing or canning what he has grown. I don't enjoy any of this!

God's country is ripe with gardens, the soil is good for growing most anything and the spring and summer weather are perfect.

One spring when I was in about the 7th grade, Daddy became enamored with strawberries. I don't know why they were his infatuation that year but they were. I don't even like strawberries, so for me it made no sense what so ever. Sam is the strawberry eater in the family, not me!

Strawberries need a lot of growing space, something we didn't have. However, daddy heard about a "pick-your own" garden in North Carolina that grew strawberries and decided that we should go up one afternoon after school and pick.

Being a typical pre-teen, the thought of being bent over in a field picking anything wasn't my idea of a good time. Being a typical pre-teen, I didn't have much choice about going. Daddy said we were going and we went.

After school, mama, daddy and I all piled into his two-tone Jeep Cherokee and headed to North Carolina on our strawberry picking adventure. As you can imagine I wasn't happy about going and was determined to make my displeasure known. I pouted, but to no avail, I WAS going strawberry picking and I was going to like it..... PERIOD, end of story!

Upon our arrival at the strawberry fields, we were each given a 1 gallon bucket. The owner advised us that we paid by the gallon. Looking out onto the fields, I decided to exert my independence and move to a far end of the field, far away from mama and daddy.

Daddy advised that we should be able to fill our buckets in about an hour, so to start picking and we would re-evaluate at the end of the time. I was bound and determined that I was not going to be bent over in that field of strawberries picking for an hour. I don't even like strawberries, let Sam come pick them, he is the one that likes them!

Off we went and I began filling my bucket, I picked and picked, cleaning off each plant I came across. Within about 20 minutes my bucket was filled, but I wasn't going to let anyone know, I was going to sit right here and soak up some sun.

I sat and waited until the hour had passed and began to make my way back to where mama and daddy were.

When I got back to the cash stand, I got THE LOOK. You know THE LOOK, it is that sideways glare that only parents have the ability to produce. THE LOOK is the worst thing a child can encounter, it means you have just ROYALLY messed up.

Being a typical pre-teen I asked the logical question "what?" After all THE LOOK deserved a response, didn't it?

After delivering my genius of a response, I looked down at mama and daddy's buckets and then back at mine..... uh-oh, now I knew what THE LOOK was for.

Mama and daddy both had overflowing buckets of beautiful red-ripe strawberries. Even for someone who doesn't like strawberries, I knew those were pretty.

Looking back at my bucket, I saw some pretty red berries, but mostly I saw half-ripe white plants that would eventually, if left on the vine, become something worth eating. For now, they were just unripened strawberries that were going to cost daddy money and not be used for anything.

Uh-oh, now THE LOOK made perfect sense. Daddy paid the man and we loaded back into the Jeep for a long ride home. Being a typical pre-teen, I thought I could make it all better by talking and making excuses, that didn't work well. I continued to get THE LOOK all the way home.

I don't quite remember how the story ended as sometimes it is just better to erase certain memories from your brain. I do know that this trip was my one and only visit to the strawberry fields.

To this day, if I am getting uppity Daddy only has to mention the strawberry fields and it shuts me down, no more uppity for me!

We laugh about my inept ability to harvest strawberries now, but at the time THE LOOK spoke loud and clear, thus ending my gardening adventures forever!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Andy

My family loves the Georgia Bulldogs. We live and breathe red and black and during football season you never have to doubt where we will be, either in front of the television, radio or in Sanford Stadium. College football and more importantly the Georgia Bulldogs are a way of life for us.

As any good Bulldog fan knows, UGA, the team mascot is revered throughout the state and throughout football lore.

UGA comes from a long line of English Bulldogs born and raised in middle Georgia. Leading the team to victory, UGA is possibly the most pampered dog in America, even residing in an air-conditioned house "between the hedges" during games.

Our neighbors, the Rogers, shared our same passion for Georgia Bulldog Football. Mr. Rogers especially loved his Dawgs!

Sometime around 1978, Mr. Rogers and daddy informed our families that we were getting a new pet. It seems as though they had found a descendant of UGA and together, BOTH FAMILIES, would be adopting Andy.

I am not sure if Mrs. Rogers or mama were aware that together we would be adopting a dog, but by the time the announcement was made it was too late to turn back. WE, yes WE, as in BOTH FAMILIES were going to be adopting Andy, a pure-bred English Bulldog with a lineage back to UGA, the Georgia mascot.

Daddy and Mr. Rogers had worked out a scheme. Andy would live with us for one week and then the Rogers the next, rotating between the families on Sunday mornings each week. BAD OMEN #1!

On a Saturday morning both families, excluding Mrs. Rogers and mama, piled into Mr. Rogers' Jeep Cherokee and headed off to pick up our new family member. All the kids were excited about bringing home our new little brother. The shared dog, this was a pre-cursor to today's non-traditional family.

When we arrived at our destination we were all introduced to Andy. An adorable white bulldog with minimal brown markings. At just a few months old, he already let his presence known as he would strut back and forth through the room, rivaling any high fashion model's sashay down the runway, backside swaying side to side as if it would come disconnected from his body.

The gentleman we were adopting Andy from had several English Bulldogs, but he let it be known from the outset that we were getting Andy.

I distinctly remember him telling daddy and Mr. Rogers, "Andy is crazy!" He would tell us how Andy and the other dogs would play and how Andy would clamp down on the other dogs so hard that the only way he could get them to break the grip was to throw them in the pool. BAD OMEN #2!

One would think that by now, one of us, ANY of us, may have started to rethink the idea of adopting Andy, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, we were getting our Andy, an English-Bulldog with direct lineage to UGA, the mascot for the University of Georgia!

So after daddy and Mr. Rogers finalized the business part of our adoption, we all loaded back into the Jeep Cherokee. Two grown men in the front seat, three kids in the middle seat and a younger kid in the back section of the Jeep. A bulldog roaming throughout the SUV, wherever he wanted to go!

Upon our arrival home, all of us unloaded the Jeep with pride as we were prepared to show mama and Mr. Rogers our new family member. I don't think either of them were excited and that lack of excitement became evident immediately when Andy jumped out of the Jeep and took off running.

With leash in tow, Andy ran through the neighborhood, back and forth as the kids and father's chased him like a run away fullback, both mothers standing on the sidelines arms crossed, with a look of "what have we gotten ourselves into" on their faces. Andy's first run through the neighborhood was BAD OMEN #3, this would be the first of many escape runs.

I don't remember who took Andy the first week, but I do remember that when he was in our house, Andy always slept with me. As a child I was rather slight, I know you can't tell it by looking at me now, but this fat 45 year old used to be the runt of the litter.

I slept in a twin bed and when Andy was in our house he would rule the sheets. Outweighing me, Andy would move in the middle of the night and push me to the side, as I grew, he grew, until eventually we overfilled the bed.

Back and forth Andy would go, one week our house, the next the Rogers. Like a game of badminton he would be go from one side to the other.

Through the years we had Andy, he never got housebroken, can you blame him? He didn't know which house to break!

He would get out of the house and run through the neighborhood at least twice a week and during those years the newspaper usually only got read two weeks out of each month, because he would chew it up the weeks he was in our house.

Each year at Christmas, Mrs. Rogers would put up the most elegant tree I had ever seen. Red twinkle lights, gold ornaments and an ornate gold nativity scene, it really was stunning. One day Mrs. Rogers came home to find that stunning tree and lights strewn from one end of the house to the other. BAD OMEN #4, I think the Christmas tree debacle was the last straw for Andy.

Mama and Mrs. Rogers did not like Andy and I think they began to dread the weeks he would be in their houses. I wasn't privy to the conversations, but I have a feeling they let the men-folk know, it was time for Andy to go!

Eventually Andy did go, he was passed on to another family with Bulldog pride who had a farm where Andy could run. One family.

After he was gone I missed Andy, he really wasn't a bad dog, just a bit confused. Wouldn't you be confused if you lived in one house for a week and the next moved to another?

I never saw Andy again after he left our neighborhood, but from time to time we still laugh about his antics.

Mama made a rule after Andy moved away. NEVER, EVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER would she have another house dog.....NEVER! She maintains that rule still today.

The Rogers got another dog not long after Andy moved. A small dog, one that was housebroken and one that couldn't turn over a candlestick, much less a Christmas Tree.

Without a doubt, Andy was crazy. But he was ours (and the Rogers), he provided a lot of good memories and some not so good.

A crazy English Bulldog and our connection to the world's most famous college mascot.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

We're Going to the Elk's Lodge

My family is big on tradition. We follow the same routine for Christmas, birthdays were always a big deal, Thanksgiving dinner has been the same since I was a child and today I cook the same meal in my own home. I love the traditions that were set forth by my parents and in many cases their parents before them.

One such tradition was the Clark Family Reunion in Elberton each summer. Elberton is about an hour from God's Country, but it is where ma-ma and her brothers and sisters grew up. Known for its granite businesses, Elberton is a big producer of tomb stones. (Somebody has to do it!)

Ma-ma came from a big family and each year the descendants would descend on Elberton, The Elk's Lodge to be exact and reunion.

Going into reunions I was never excited. As the youngest of the grand-children I didn't have a lot in common with my cousins. More precisely I was closer in age to many of the second cousins, which kept me in limbo. I was too young to hang with my peers and the younger kids were too young to do much, which left me clinging to ma-ma and mama most of the day.

Reunion would begin early in the morning. These gatherings were pot luck, so mama would get up early and start putting together her contribution for the meal. With mama's penchant for extreme cooking, she would usually prepare enough for a small army, when it comes to cooking for groups she has never understood the concept of everyone bringing something, she always wants to make sure there is enough just in case someone isn't able to bring their share.

Daddy wasn't much into these family reunions, but he would always go and put on a happy face. By the end of the day, daddy would be in full spirit and entertaining the masses with his stories.

By the time mama was finished preparing her dishes the four of us would load up the car and start our trek to ma-ma and gramps house, about 30 miles away. Like mama, ma-ma would over indulge in the cooking department as well. There was always homemade chocolate cake, usually fried chicken, okra, corn from the garden and peas. Ma-ma would prepare for days for the reunions, these events were what she lived for. Getting together with her brothers and sisters and showing off their families.

Sam and I would always get a lecture in the car. No fighting and be on your best behavior, we were NOT to embarrass ma-ma in front of her family.

Off we would go, gramps, daddy and me in the front seat, ma-ma, mama and Sam in the back. Dressed in our new reunion clothes, a Bonneville filled with enough food for a third world nation and two kids threatened within an inch of our lives to behave.

Elberton is about 30 minutes from ma-ma and gramps house, not a far journey, but when it is made in a car that is over packed and over stuffed by six people in dress clothes on a summer day with the sun beating through the glass it isn't always a pleasant trip. By the time we reached Elberton, we were all ready to get out of the car and stretch our legs.

Family reunions were held at the Elk's Lodge, a rustic old building just off the main road. Without fail, the first person we would always see standing out waiting for the family would be Uncle Chester. If gramps would have had a twin it would have been Uncle Chester, although they were only related by marriage the two men were the mirror image of each other. Tall, lanky, distinguished southern gentlemen of few words, impeccably dressed with a sly smile and twinkle in their eyes. Gramps and Uncle Chester were the kind of men people gravitated to, not to be entertained but to learn from.

After the parking lot greeting, Uncle Chester would help us unload and move into the Elk's Lodge. The interior of the lodge was exactly what you would imagine, one big open room with a kitchen in the back, a large rock fireplace, linoleum floors and dark stained panelling.

Aunt Laura Bea would be busily working when we came in. Setting up the buffet with her load of food big enough to feed an army, she would stop the pace of activity just long enough to greet us all with a hug and kiss, always stating what fine young boys Sam and I were.

Like ma-ma, Aunt Laura Bea was short in stature but big in personality. Like ma-ma, immaculately dressed and with a quick catch up story of where all her family was, what time they would arrive and who was bring what. Between ma-ma, Aunt Laura Bea and mama, the buffet was arranged and in place before anyone else could arrive to help.

Throughout the late morning and early afternoon, the other families would arrive. Our glamorous Aunt Frances and her family from South Carolina, the Virginia Clark's and the Maxwell's.

As the families arrived and the buffet grew to embarrassing proportions the sounds of laughter would echo through the Elk's Lodge. Cheeks were pinched, kisses exchanged, hugs enveloped us all and the Clark Family Reunion would be in full swing.

Like other traditions passed down from generation to generation, Uncle Chester would round everyone up when it was time for the feast. Families would encircle the room, all holding hands and Uncle Chester would bless the meal.

Mealtime would find one big family, all mixed together around long tables in fold up chairs, enjoying the foods of our ancestors and recipes from the current Southern Living magazine. Laughing, joking, catching up and reminiscing about the years past and ancestors lost.

After grazing for what seemed like hours, the families would then move to the front lawn, games were played, conversations took place and pictures were taken. Instamatic cameras would be pulled from every purse in the crowd and every configuration of family was photographed. First cousins, second cousins, immediate family, family with grand parents, grandparents with children, grandparents with grandchildren.... pictures, pictures and more pictures. Creating memories that would carry us through to the next year's reunion.

After a long day, after the last picture was taken, the lodge was cleaned and the last hug exchanged we would once again pile into the Bonneville. Stuffed bellies and empty dishes but most importantly complete, filled with shared moments, family traditions and the love of extended family.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Staple of the Southern Kitchen - Buttermilk


Wikipedia describes buttermilk as the liquid left over from churning butter from creme.

The southern kitchen describes buttermilk as a delicacy.

In the south, we love our buttermilk. A staple of the southern kitchen, buttermilk can always be found in the refrigerator. It is used in baking and general cooking.

One of daddy's favorite meals is buttermilk and cornbread. Not buttermilk IN cornbread, but buttermilk AND cornbread.

I can still hear daddy, after a long weekend proclaiming, "mama I just want buttermilk and cornbread for supper." (Daddy calls mama, mama too!)

Buttermilk and cornbread is something I have never eaten, but as served to daddy it was a big glass of buttermilk with cornbread broken up in it. Daddy loves that meal and still eats it today.

Mama always used buttermilk in biscuits, ma-ma used in when she baked cakes and I have seen people drink it right out of a glass.

Buttermilk is a true southern staple.

A couple of years ago, when I finally learned how to make cornbread I learned to appreciate buttermilk. Now, as hard as it is to find sometimes, I keep it for my own cooking purposes.

Although I have never done it, I have heard of people who dredge their chicken or country fried steak in buttermilk before cooking. Some people even dip okra and other vegetables in buttermilk before frying, since I am not much of a "dredger" I don't use buttermilk for such purposes, but I can certainly see how it would enrich the flavors.

Buttermilk, does the body good.