Summer Squash Spoonbread (with Pimento cheese)

Hello friends and Happy Monday!

And it's also the first day of JULY...that's just unbelievable.
~
So I have a recipe that I'd like to share with you that I made over the weekend.
Have you ever been leisurely paging through a magazine and a recipe just jumped off the page

and stopped you in your tracks...and you knew right away you had to make it?

Well, that's what happened to me a couple of days ago.

I won't tell you exactly where I was when I was paging through said magazine...

...I'll just leave that one right there...😉...ahem...

Not only did the recipe look super easy but I love anything with squash in it.
I thought it was unusual that it called for pimento cheese and we always have some on hand...
...even better!

I also love baking in an iron skillet and the directions were to preheat the pan.

The recipe also called for two cups of diced onion...two cups?

At first I wasn't going to put in that much but I decided to follow the recipe and I'm really glad I did.

Not too appetizing at this stage is it?

My 10" skillet nearly overflowed as you can see...YIKES!

I was just hoping it wouldn't bubble out while it baking, which it did not after all. 

Next time I do think I will use my 12" skillet though.

So here's the recipe...

Actually, I was pretty happy about how beautiful it looked after it baked...

...and I dug right in...and it wasn't even suppertime yet.

Now keep in mind that I make stuff like this when Jim's working so I can dig in whenever I want!

Oh mercy...it was SO good y'all!

So I just had to have me a little snack!

And a couple hours later I had a little more with a side of my "pickles".

And in keeping with the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, 

there was also a little bit of red, white and blue action going on.

This dish is just perfect for an easy summer supper...actually, anytime at all.

I don't know about you, but I am learning more and more that I don't need a meat with every meal.

I had some again for lunch on Sunday with a baked sweet potato...really a great combination!

I am sometimes a little hesitant to post a recipe that I thought was really good 

for the fear that someone might try it and think it was really gross.

But isn't that always a chance we take whenever we try a new recipe?

Life is a gamble!

Anyway, I do hope that if any of you decide to give it a try, it will be to your liking!

HAPPY JULY!

Wednesday Medley: Food for Thought

Hello and happy Wednesday to you!

So the first page of the calendar has been turned over to a new month already.

Wasn't it just last week that I took down that Christmas tree??

As usual, time is ticking right along...way too fast.

Even though the calendar says February, it feels like it's already June here in North Carolina.

We went from having temperatures in the teens last week to the mid 70s this week!

Although quite a treat, I really prefer the weather to be seasonable...

...I know, I'm weird like that. 😏

~

So here's the latest on what's going on with me...

The majority of my blood tests came back within normal limits with just a few things a bit off,

most likely due to some minor jaundice and malnutrition that I have been experiencing. 

You would never know it by looking at me but yes, apparently I'm undernourished.

I have dropped about 20 pounds recently...not in a good way but I am holding steady.

None of the results were red-flagged and all were published to my electronic MyChart account.

They don't release bad news until the doctor explains the results and I have not heard from them.

So far, so good...I think.

I did have the second biopsy last Friday and hope to be getting the results any day now.

This waiting is the worst part but I know sometimes it takes a while to get the right diagnosis.

Patience....ah, patience...I just don't have any it is not always my strong suit!

So I just keep telling myself that this must be God's plan for me...

...and I'm still waiting for the day (patiently?) that our plans coincide.

(I still like my plan better.😉)

So let's get on with this week's Wednesday Medley...

...just hop on over to Terri's blog, copy and paste her questions and answer them on your blog.

It's a fun way to get to know a little more about our blogging friends!

~

TODAY IS NATIONAL FROZEN YOGURT DAY!

1.  Today, Wednesday, February 6th, is Frozen Yogurt Day!  A cold dessert on what must be a very cold day for most of you reading this today!  Do you enjoy frozen yogurt?  Does it matter what the weather is?  Share with us your favorite flavor and/or topping, please!!

Well, actually, it's another day in the mid 70s here today so frozen yogurt sounds pretty good right about now. I do enjoy frozen yogurt and no, it doesn't matter what the weather is for me to have a frozen treat. I couldn't really name a favorite but I have a feeling it might involve chocolate...with no toppings. I am not really much of a "topping" kind of girl. But here lately, yogurt would most likely not be on my list of foods...only if it was fat-free and low sugar. With whatever it is that's going on in my tummy, this would most likely not go down too well.

2.  What food do you know you shouldn't eat but can't help yourself?

To tell you the truth, there are many...but these days it's pretty easy to pass them up.

3.  If your life was a meal, what kind of meal would it be?

Gee, I maybe should have passed on the Medley this week since it's all about food...HA! Let me just try to answer the questions the way I would have answered them before I got sick. Sooooo.....if my life was a meal, it would be a Thanksgiving turkey feast with all the trimmings and usual desserts...comfort food at it's finest. Comfort food comes in many varieties but it always seems to make folks feel better...thus the name "comfort food". I very much want my life to be a comfort to those I encounter along the way.

4.  Do you like spicy food?  Why or why not?  What is the spiciest food you have ever eaten?

I do like a moderate amount of spice but nothing too extreme. Even on a good day, really spicy food doesn't set well on my stomach and gives me indigestion. I'd say the spiciest food I ever had were some REALLY hot buffalo wings so I'm always a bit cautious around them.

5.  (Most of you know I have been sick with a cold.) What food do you eat or crave when you have a bad cold?

Whether it's a bad cold or my currently messed up belly, this is my go-to meal. Yep...good old Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. It just seems to always hit the spot and has done so as long as I can remember.

6.  Please tell us something random about your week (and maybe it will involve food).

Another week of waiting on more test results and just trying to go about life as usual here. I would actually love it to involve food but nothing much appeals to me lately except the soup...and well....maybe these....

Enjoy the rest of your week, my friends!

"Little House" Cracklin' Cornbread

You may say crackling...I say cracklin'.
What are cracklin's anyway?
Plain, unadulterated pieces of crispy fried pig skin rendered from the lard making process.

So now that we have that all cleared up....
...IT'S THE FIRST FULL DAY OF FALL, Y'ALL!

Recently I shared that I was reading the book Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser. 

Although the book shed a lot of light on many things (and some I would really rather forget),

I was left wanting to know more and more about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'd never read her "Little House" books until recently...
I finished them just last week and now I want to read them all over again!

I only became familiar with the fictional Laura when Little House on the Prairie came to TV.
It has been a favorite show since the 70s and I still record and watch them regularly.
I never grow tired of these wonderful stories, even if I do know exactly what's going to happen next.

And the books are even better...how is it even possible that I hadn't read them all these years?
I especially enjoyed reading about all of the wonderful sounding food that Ma cooked daily.

That led me to finding and purchasing The Little House Cookbook.

Now that fall is really in the air, my thoughts go to making soup, specifically chili.
And what goes better with a steaming bowl of chili than cornbread?
So one recipe that sparked my interest right away was the one for Crackling (Cracklin') Cornbread.
I read about this first in Farmer Boy, book #2 in the series,
the story of Laura's own Almanzo Wilder when he was growing up.
This was a favorite thing that his mother made for him and so I decided to try my hand at it.
I am sure the cracklin's back in those day were somewhat different than what we get in stores today.

The ingredients and the recipe...

The recipe calls for stone ground cornmeal but I accidentally got self-rising stone ground...
I really don't think it made much of a difference but probably would not have needed the baking soda.

You add the melted butter to the batter right before placing it in the baking pan.
As you can see, I should have used my larger skillet...it was to.the.top!

I thought it might even out grow the pan...

Nope!

I couldn't wait to try it and I did...just a few minutes out of the oven.

The cracklin's had softened quite a bit but they gave it a really good flavor
and along with the dense, rough texture of the stone ground meal....m-m-m good!
I do believe the next time around I will use the cracklin's from the meat department...
rendered right off the pig, not processed...more authentic for this recipe.
If you are used to a sweet, cakey-like cornbread, this may not be for you though.
It reminded me very much of the cornbread that Mom used to make when I was a little girl...
and I didn't even like it back then...how our tastes can change, right?

So that little morsel that I sampled wasn't quite enough...
...and then a great idea popped into my head!



A couple of weeks ago, a sweet blogging friend sent me a little gift for my birthday...
...a jar of her yummy homemade raspberry jam.
Oh my goodness, can I just tell you what a wonderful combo this was?!
The salty cornbread...the sweetness of those berries...m-m-MMM!

That was yesterday and it was 86 degrees.
Last night, fall paid us a visit...today it hasn't gotten out of the 60s and it's cloudy and damp.
Perfect soup weather, I'd say...wouldn't you?
So here's my chili I just made this afternoon and here's Almanzo's cornbread.
No jam, just butter.

Pardon me while I dig in.

Have a wonderful first week of autumn,
 sweet friends!




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 Amaze Me Monday

Yummy Veggie Slaw

Hello...I hope y'all are having a good Saturday!

Rarely is it that I do a post on a Saturday and actually,

rarely is it that I do a recipe post....period!

But today I made this delicious slaw and I wanted to share it with you.

Now like many things I make, I kinda just made up it up and tasted it as I went along.

I mean, it's slaw dressing after all...not gourmet cooking!

It all started yesterday after I purchased this bag of shredded veggies at the grocery.

I have had the broccoli slaw many times before and it is delicious but when I looked closer,

I realized this was something a bit different...it's called Super Blend...

...and it is a super blend...just look at the ingredients!

I wrote this post on a whim and should have taken the photo of the bag when it was full.

It would have been so much more pleasing to the eye...oh well.

There were no serving suggestions on the bag but right away my mind went to coleslaw.

I toyed with the idea of just buying a jar of Marzetti's Slaw Dressing but decided to make my own.

Now I usually don't really measure and of course you can always use your own recipe,

but here is my best guess off the top of my head...

               *an almost empty jar of mayonnaise (maybe 1/3 cup)

*a couple of sloshes of apple cider vinegar (maybe 1/4 cup)

*6-8 packets of stevia sweetener (more or less, according to your taste)

*fresh ground black pepper

I put the vinegar in the nearly empty mayo bottle and shook it to get it all out. 

Like I said, I'm completely guessing at these measurements...

...but isn't life really all about guesswork anyway?

 Mix it all together and refrigerate...but of course you can eat it right away if you choose.

I always like to let it marinate in the dressing awhile.

Now here in NC, most of us eat slaw with our pork barbecue and I'm not talkin' about as a side...

...we eat the slaw on the barbecue...on the bun.

So when there is no barbecue in sight but there's a dab of left over sloppy joe meat in the fridge,

well, it was a pretty good substitute!

It was so good, y'all!

I added a few veggie sticks for some extra added crunch...

...almost like fries but probably a bit better for you...maybe...just a bit.

And that was my lunch!

It really was so much better than your regular run-of-the-mill coleslaw 

and I will definitely be making it again...

...if I can remember my recipe!

Happy weekend, peeps!

Happy New Year Hodgepodge

It's a brand new year and a brand new Hodgepodge!
Even though I say this every year, I hope to make this year better than last year,
not that 2017 was a bad year by any means...
but if I am able to step it up a notch at any one place where I am lacking,
and there are too many to count,
I will have accomplished that...only with the Lord's help.



So let's get down to the business at hand...the Hodgepodge...

...where Joyce asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.
~

1. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year's top vote getters are- 

unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy
Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

Oh my, there are so many to choose from...some I've not really paid much attention to and others that are just plain silly. Of all that are on this list, I'd like to see "fake news" disappear...and not just the term...but the real thing, which sounds like an oxymoron. Remember the days when we used to be able to trust what we heard on the news and respect the people who brought it? I hope that day will return soon. Right now I can't think of another word to add to the list, although there surely must be more floating around out there.

2. What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?

Many, many things but mostly this one...



3. Where do you feel stuck?

Worrying too much. I know better.

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?

If you consider Brunswick Stew soup, then that's my answer and it was on New Year's Eve at Aaron's house that he made from scratch. Click on the link if you northerners want to know it's origin and a little more about it. To tell you the truth, it's not my favorite but there is Brunswick Stew and then there is Brunswick Stew...

...and this was Brunswick Stew! 

It's a thing here in NC and large gatherings are usually held when folks are "doin' a stew". The taste is wonderful but it's the consistency that is my least favorite thing about it since you cook it so long that the meat is in strings. Some cook it even longer and the vegetables are no longer recognizable. That's when I say, "No thanks". Aaron's was actually very good! My favorite soup right out of the can would be the one and only Campbell's Chicken Noodle (with crackers) and my favorite from scratch on a cold winter's day is either chili or broccoli cheese...but any homemade soup on a cold winter's day hits the spot!

"I don't usually open my mouth this wide when I am eating Brunswick Stew,
but when I do, it's because I'm posing for the camera." 😉

5. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.

Country living.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Well, I hope that the first few days of 2018 have been goods ones for you
and that the next 362 are even better!

Love,