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Southerners love tomato sandwiches! We eat one everyday....just bread, real mayonnaise, and slices of tomatoes, sprinkled with salt & pepper. Traditionally tomato sandwiches are supposed to be made with white bread but we eat only whole wheat. There's not a healthier or better snack in the middle of the afternoon than a tomato sandwich! Check out your farmer's market; you may be surprised at the bargains there.
Squash Ritz Casserole
1 lb. fresh yellow squash (about 4 small)
Salt
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp.
butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup evaporated milk
8 Ritz crackers, crushed
Salt & black pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, for top
Preheat oven to 350º. Slice unpeeled squash and cook in salted water until tender,
about 15 minutes. Drain well and break up with a potato masher. Place in a large bowl; add cheese, butter, egg, milk, crushed
crackers, salt & pepper. Spoon into a lightly greased 1 quart baking dish and sprinkle top evenly with the other cup of
shredded cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Scrumptious Skillet Cornbread
No Southern fresh vegetable meal is complete without a pan of hot cornbread.
This is an especially good
one.
¼ cup cooking oil
1 cup plain cornmeal (stone-ground preferred)
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup whole buttermilk
Preheat oven to 400º. Place the ¼ cup of oil in
skillet in the hot oven. Meanwhile sift the dry ingredients together. Stir in egg and buttermilk, mixing well. Pour the hot oil out of the skillet into the batter, mixing well and then pour the batter into the skillet. Bake about 25 minutes. It will start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn out immediately, upside
down, onto a plate, leaving the pretty browned crunchy side on top. Cut into wedges and serve with lots of real butter.
Note: You really need a cast iron skillet the get the nice crunchy top.
Snickerdoodles
The kids can help make these.
1 cup butter
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2¾
cups plain flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400º. Cream butter, sugar and eggs together. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Stir into creamed mixture,
mixing well. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Mix the 2 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon together and roll dough balls into the
mixture. Arrange 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Lift off with spatula and cool
on a wire cake rack.
Note: 8 minutes will give you a softer cookie and 10 minutes a little crunchy. The soft ones will
firm up as they cool. Makes 5 to 6 dozen
Granny’s Old Fashioned Fried Creamed Corn
Eating fresh corn-on-the-cob is great, but for skillet fried corn you have to cut the
tips off with a very sharp knife and then scrape the milk from the ears into a bowl. I prefer to cheat a little and buy the
20-oz. roll of frozen. It comes cream-style, white or yellow in your grocer’s frozen vegetable case. They’re frozen fresh
so you won’t be able to tell the difference! Every once in a while these are on sale for “buy one and get one free”…stock up!
4 Tbsp. butter
20-oz. roll frozen cream-style corn, thawed
Salt & black pepper
About ¼ cup cream, half-and-half or evaporated
milk
Melt butter in a large skillet on medium-low; add corn. Cook, stirring constantly for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Sprinkle with salt & pepper; add milk to make it slightly soupy. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally
for about 5 minutes. Serve immediately. Makes about 4 servings.
Quick tip: It your going to cook this corn
for supper, put it in the refrigerator in the morning in a plastic bag, place in bowl, to thaw. The milk from the corn will
seep out as it thaws.