A Southern Life

My friends Linda and Doris and I had a great time setting tables this week. We were at The Cottage, a great little store here. We found great pieces in the store to set a table. The owner of The Cottage is a great guy, but, unfortunately, he is looking to retire. If anyone out there would love to have a great place like The Cottage, email my friend Linda. She is a great real estate agent and can give you more information. You may remember her from a previous post titled, Southern Lady. If you missed that, go check it out. You will be hearing more from Linda later this month. So, on with the show!

We found this beautiful quilt for a table cover to highlight our dishes.

When I saw these blue hydrangea dishes, I knew they had to be on the table and, yes, they are for sale!

We called this table "In the Garden." I loved the cloche over the pretty little bird.

Aren't those great candle holders?

We couldn't decide which napkins, so, we used both!

How about this platter? Isnt' it gorgeous?

One last look.

This table was so much fun to do. Most of the fun was doing it with friends. Y’all check out The Cottage website. Everything on this table is for sale. I would love to buy it all myself! Thanks for visiting! Oh, I almost forgot. We had some really pretty glasses picked out to go with this but we forgot them! We must be getting old!

See the other great tables at Between the Naps on the Porch.

Today’s Lagniappe: Fried Green Tomatoes
Since we had a table called “In the Garden,” I thought a recipe for something from the garden would be good and Fried Green Tomatoes fit the bill!

• 4 to 6 green tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• cornmeal
• bacon grease or vegetable oil

Preparation:

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 – 1/2-inch slices. Salt and pepper them to taste. Dip in meal and fry in hot grease or oil about 3 minutes or until golden on bottom. Gently turn and fry the other side. Drain on paper towels. A yummy Southern treat!

As you may recall, last Wednesday, I posted pics of our little robin in her nest. At that time she had two eggs. Since then, she has laid two more eggs for a total of four! She is a very good mother. She runs off Blue Jays that get too near and is always on the watch for danger. She doesn’t seem to mind us. She is not real happy when we take pictures of her little eggs when she is out of the nest, but she poses very prettily for us when she is in the nest.

Here are the four beautiful eggs.

Here she is on her nest.

Keeping watch.

No bluejays allowed at this feeder!

Won’t be long until we have little baby robins!

Enjoy the other outdoor pics with A Southern Daydreamer’s Outdoor Wednesday.

Today’s Lagniappe: Fried Olives
I love olives and this is a great little bite!

I’ve seen recipes with the olives stuffed with blue cheese, ham, garlic, cream cheese mixtures and more. They can be filled with a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Just fill them however you like, bread them and then fry them.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup finely ground breadcrumbs or panko
olive oil (for frying)

Heat about half an inch of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.

Roll the olives in the flour, then, in the egg, then, in the bread crumbs. Fry the olives in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

I wanted to share with you a picture of a little garden bench that was given to me. It was unassembled and plain wood when I got it. I painted it and hung it on the wall of my porch.

I like the check and floral thing so that is how I painted it.

It comes in really handy for my garden gloves and other things that I can just drop off on my way in the house.

I think this little bench was originally intended to be used to set plants on as an accent. I like finding a different way to use things. This makes a nice little shelf for my porch.

Isn’t it sometimes the small things that make us smile? This little bench is one of those things. Really, in times like these, it is good to notice little things like how the grass is now green and the birds singing and the flowers blooming. These things make the big things not seem quite so bad.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an update on the robin’s nest – new eggs with pics!

To see more 2nd time around posts, visit Diane for 2nd Time Around Tuesday.

Today’s Lagniappe: Key Lime Bars
Something  refreshing to serve on the porch.

1 cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs
2 1/2 tablespoons finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
2/3 cup fresh Key lime juice , (about 23 Key limes total)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk, (14 ounces)
2 Key limes, thinly sliced into half-moons

Make crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Press evenly onto bottom of an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bake until dry and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.(Leave oven on.)

Make filling: Put egg yolks and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until very thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add condensed milk in a slow, steady stream, mixing constantly. Raise speed to high; mix until thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add lime juice; mix until just combined.

Spread filling evenly over crust using a spatula. Bake, rotating dish halfway through, until filling is just set, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or overnight).

Cut into 2-by-2-inch bars. Garnish bars with whipped cream and a slice of lime.

Finally done! The rain finally stopped long enough for me to finish getting my garden in. It isn’t a really big garden but it is just right for my husband and me and a little extra to share. I’ve got lots of veggies and a few flowers. I’m so happy. It has been some back breaking work and dirty work but it has been a labor of love. I’m still looking for my scarecrow. I think he must be hiding!

To plant a garden is to believe in the future!

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps,
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps.

Today’s Lagniappe: Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
Another great way to use those yummy strawberries.

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. sifted flour
Dash of salt
1 med. jar strawberry jam
1/2 c. nuts
Powdered sugar

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Add sifted flour and dash of salt; mix well. Spread 3/4 of the batter in oblong pan. Spread evenly. Then spread the jam; sprinkle nuts. Glob the remaining batter over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut into squares and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

As, you all know, Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. If you’ve been visiting here for a while, you’ve gotten to know my Mother a bit. If you haven’t met her yet, put “Mama” in the search bar on the right and you can meet her and read her guest posts. I know you will enjoy getting to know her! She is a fabulous Southern cook!

When I talked to Mama this week, she told me of a recipe for a cake that her Mother made called Roses in the Snow. Here is the recipe:

Today’s Lagniappe – Roses In Snow

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 egg whites
1/2 cup Crisco
3 tsp. Baking Powder
salt-dash
2 1/4 cup flour
vanilla – 2 tsp.
1 cup milk
Toasted coconut

Directions
Beat egg whites in a bowl till stiff then set aside. Cream
together sugar and Crisco and salt. Then add milk and vanilla.
Gradually add flour and baking powder. Gently fold in egg whites.
Turn into favorite cake pan greased and floured. Bake at 350
degrees till toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let
cool. Put your favorite white icing on. Then sprinkle with toasted
coconut.(Can toast coconut on cookie sheet after cake is done while
oven is still hot). Places roses on top of the cake and you are done!

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mama and to all of you!

Check out other great recipes at Designs by Gollum’s Foodie Friday!

One of my favorite community cookbooks is Louisiana Entertains – A Complete Menu Cookbook from the Rapides Symphony Guild in Alexandria, Louisiana –  copyright 1978. The first 54 pages of this cookbook are devoted to breakfast and brunch. These menus offer a Southern breakfast at its best! I’ve set the table on the porch for the menu “Table for Two.”

Mimosa
Eggs Sardou or Eggs Stravinsky
French Bread
Dessert Pancake
Fruit
French-dripped Coffee

The cookbook then gives the recipes for these delights. I’ll give you the recipe for the Eggs Sardou today.

We're all set.

Bailey is peeking at us over the table.

Have a seat.

I love the little fruit spoons (far right)

I can see a pretty little flower while I sip my coffee.

Mimosas can be served from the pretty pitcher.

We can keep an eye on the robin's nest.

We can enjoy some good food . . .

some good conversation . . .

At our lovely Southern breakfast!

Thanks for joining me at my Southern Breakfast Tablescape. Check out the other lovely tablescapes at Between Naps on the Porch.

Today’s Lagniappe:  Eggs Sardou
Delicious – If you don’t want to make these yourself, just head on down to New Orleans and order it from one of their great restaurants! It was created at Antoine’s and named after French playwright Victorien Sardou

4 Poached Eggs (See below)
1 Recipe Creamed Spinach (see below)
1 Recipe Hollandaise Sauce (see below)
4 Artichoke bottoms
Paprika for sprinkling

Divide the creamed spinach in the center of two heated plates, nest two artichoke bottoms per plate on the spinach. Place a poached egg on each artichoke bottom then top with a generous portion of Hollandaise sauce. Sprinkle with Paprika. Serve.

Serves 2.

Poached Eggs Recipe

Fill a dutch oven with 1? of water, heat until just below a simmer. Add a few dashes of white vinegar. Crack the eggs and gently drop them into the water, keeping the shell as close to the water as possible when dropping them in. With a slotted spoon, gently move the ghost like strands of white back to the yolk. The eggs are done when the whites are no longer transparent, and the yolks are still runny. Remove with a slotted spoon and gently dry off with a towel.

Creamed Spinach Recipe

1 Cup Cooked and chopped Spinach, squeezed in a kitchen towel to remove excess water
1 Pint Heavy Cream, reduced by 3/4 of its volume
A pinch Freshly Grated Nutmeg
A pinch of Cayenne
1 tsp Crystal hot sauce
A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt to taste

Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
3 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Clarified Butter, warm
Kosher Salt & Cayenne Pepper
1 Dash Crystal Hot Sauce
A few drops Worcestershire Sauce

Place the vinegar, lemon juice, and egg yolks in the top deck of a double boiler. The water in the lower deck should be hot but not boiling.
Whisk slowly until you see the yolks start to coagulate on the sides. If the pan gets too hot, remove it from the heat for a minute, whisking constantly.
Whisk while cooking, minding the bowl temperature, until the yolks are lighter in color and do not leave yellow streaks when the whisk goes through them. If you see any signs of scrambling, remove the bowl from the heat.
When the yolk/acid mixture is good and thick, remove from the heat and slowly drizzle in the clarified butter, whisking constantly, until incorporated.
Add the hot and Worcestershire sauces, and season to taste with the salt & cayenne.

If the sauce is a little too thick, you can thin it down with a few splashes of hot water.

Makes about 2/3 Cup.

P. S. – I’m still getting around to visit all of the outdoor Wednesday folks. Eye Doc dialated my pupils and it really put a kink in things!

It is Outdoor Wednesday and memories of fish fries! Click the pic above for more of Outdoor Wednesday!

I have to interrupt my Southern food series to show you what this pretty little robin has been doing on my porch. After you see the pics, read about my Grandpa’s fish fries – a Southern tradition!

This is how she started out. At first the wind kept blowing the twigs away but she stayed after it. If you look real close you can see where my husband tried to help secure it with some floral wire.

Here she is, caught in the act of building. It was amazing to watch!

Still at it!

She's really making progress. The female robin picks the spot for the nest and is the primary builder. Male robins help out by bringing materials for the nest.

See her building material in her mouth? She is using her right wing to build this nest. Amazing!

Looks like a lot of work to me!

So, she got her nest built and we started waiting for eggs. We have to hold the camera up to the nest and let it auto-focus to get the pics. We cannot see in the nest from the porch. We kept taking pictures of the empty nest and then, finally:

An egg! Isn't it pretty?

At last check, there were 2 eggs that we could see. You can just see the tops of them.

Robins will lay from 3-6 eggs and then they will incubate for around 15 days. We will be looking for more eggs and keeping you up to date on their progress in the coming weeks!

Now, back to that fish fry! I just want to tell you a quick story about my Grandpa’s fish fries. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll remember that Grandpa is 93 years old this year. He used to hold the best fish fries. He used to go fishing in Canada every year and he would bring back fish and have great fish fries. Eventually, the limit that he could bring back got too small for his parties. He then had a friend that had a trot line on Lake Texoma. He said he would get around 100 pounds of fish from him for the fish fries.

After a while, so many of the local politicians were involved and vying for time that it started getting out of hand. One summer, Grandpa’s beautiful wife, Betty (who had done a lot of the fish fry work) tripped over their Great Dane, Patrick and broke her arm. That was the end of the fish fries. Everyone was really disappointed, but, it was great fun while it lasted!

Southerners have always loved to gather for food and friendship in the steamy hot days of summer. This is one of my memories of those times.

Today’s Lagniappe: Southern Fried Catfish
There are a million ways to do it. Here is how I do it.

4 catfish fillets
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
creole seasoning to taste (I use Emeril’s Essence or Tony Cherchere’s)
salt to taste (depending on what creole seasoning you use)
vegetable oil

Pour vegetable oil to a depth of about 1 inch in a large cast iron skillet.

Heat the oil to around 375.

While oil is heating, mix cornmeal, flour and seasoning.

Coat catfish fillets in flour.

Once the oil is hot, fry the fish until golden brown and it flakes easily with a fork.

Drain the fish on paper towels and serve hot with tarter sauce.

Today, I’m joining Barb at Grits and Glamour for her porch and patio party. You may be wondering what happened to the series on Southern food. Well, it’s still here. You see, porches and Southern food go together like greens and ham hocks.

Back in the day, they didn’t have air conditioners. So, Southerners would often gather in the shade of the porch on Summer evenings after supper to enjoy the relative coolness of the evening. Remember, it gets blazing hot and very humid down South; so we are always looking for cool spots.

July and August are traditionally favorite times for church socials on the grounds, community barbecues and other outdoor gatherings that centered around food. The crops were already in the ground, and it was a good time for everyone to take a little bit of a break.

Some of the favorites at these gatherings were fried chicken, deviled eggs, potato salad (a true Southerner knows to steer clear of potato salad that has been sitting out in the Summer heat). There would always be desserts and lots of sweet tea.

One year, when I was growing up, my Mama and Grandaddy, decided to get some chickens to “process” in Grandaddy’s backyard. Now, the chicken I always ate came from the grocery store, and I really didn’t want to have anything to do with the actual “killing” of the chickens. When I told Mama this, she informed me that the dead ones were the only kind you could eat! Well, she’s right about that.

Here are pictures from one of my porches. I still love to sit on the porch in the evenings, listening to the birds sing and enjoying the world. Of course, there will be recipes at the end!

View from the yard. That's a bird feeder in the fore-ground.

Lobelia and white petunias. There will be morning glory growing up that rail soon!

That is an old salvaged window fitted with mirrors and then decorated with gallery glass. This is my 2nd time around entry. Love how this worked out. Click on pic to see more 2nd time around entries.

A place to sit and watch the birds.

A place to pot flowers.

A place to sit and eat that good Southern food or read a good book.

A closer look at the table. I like to change this out.

Some greenery. See the nest at the top. More pics of that tomorrow!

One more view.

Thanks for coming to the party on the porch. Now for some food!

Today’s Lagniappe: Mama’s Southern Fried Chicken
Mama tells me that to get it really crispy you need to fry it in shortening or lard.

shortening or lard
1 chicken, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds, cut up
2 cups flour
salt
pepper
seasoning salt

Salt the chicken. Heat the shortening or lard in a large skillet. Combine the flour with seasoning salt and pepper. Roll each piece of chicken in flour and place in the hot fat (about 370° F). Put the largest pieces in first, in the hottest part of the skillet. Arrange the chicken pieces in the fat, making sure not to overcrowd. Fry the chicken until outside is golden brown and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning once to brown both sides. Reduce heat and fry until cooked through golden brown, about 15 minutes longer. Turn once. Drain chicken on brown paper or paper towels

The fat should be deep enough to cover the pieces when it boils up, but make sure you use a deep skillet, preferably one made for frying chicken, and watch carefully.

Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch

Southern Cornbread Before

After - Golden and yummy!

Southern Food and Southern Cornbread – More than just something to eat! (The first in a series on Southern Food)

One of the things that really defines the South is the food. It is one thing that has always brought us together. Whenever a family suffers a tragedy, the Southern community goes into action to bring food and share in the tragedy. One of the best places to find and learn about Southern food is the community cookbooks. The church cookbooks, the Junior League Cookbooks, the garden club cookbook. All of them are compiled recipes from the homes of those mysterious Southern cooks that have the old family recipes that they are happy to share and pass along.

The first community cookbooks were compiled during the War Between the States (known to some as the Civil War)  to raise funds to treat wounded soldiers, to support family members who had lost fathers and sons and also those who had lost farms to the ravages of the war. After the war, many other charitable organizations continued compiling the community cookbooks and it still continues today.

I love to collect cookbooks but some of my favorites are these community compiled cookbooks. They may never win culinary acclaim, for the recipes contained within are simple recipes from real people using simple ingredients. So many of the recipes have a story to tell, a history of generations past.

In my own history, Southern food was defined by more than what was on the table. It was about my family sitting around the supper table sharing a meal and getting to know each other. It was about sharing our table with the company of friends and family, where everyone was always welcomed. It was also about being in the kitchen with my mother learning how to create a wonderful meal and serving it with warm hospitality.

Southern food – it has a mysterious connotation that surrounds the culture of the South. I hope you enjoy this series of posts about Southern food and some of the stories surrounding the culture.

I have been including a lagniappe with every post for some time. That is part of my attempt at Southern hospitality. Lagniappe simply means “something extra that is added.” The word is used in Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Eastern Oklahoma, Southern Arkansas, Charleston in South Carolina, southern and western Mississippi, the gulf coast of Alabama, and parts of eastern Texas. Mark Twain writes about the word in a chapter on New Orleans in Life on the Mississippi (1883). He called it “a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get.” It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The lagniappes that I will include with this series will all be about Southern food.

Today’s Lagniappe: *Southern Cornbread
At one time, corn was “virtually the sole grain of the South and cornbread the true staff of Southern life,” according to A Gracious Plenty, Recipes and Recollections from the American South by John T. Edge for the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.

My grandmother used to make cornbread and crumble it in a bowl with buttermilk. Personally, I prefer it hot and slathered with butter.

2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup white cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon bacon drippings (or oil)

Preheat oven to 425. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, then the cornmeal, and mix. Add the salt, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. mix thoroughly. Place the drippings or oil into a 9 inch iron skillet. Heat the skillet in the oven.

Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Put it in the oven and bake the cornbread for 10 to 15 minutes. Place it under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top slightly. Turn the cornbread out upside down on a plate. Cut it like a pie and serve immediately.

From:
Concerts from the Kitchen
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Society Guild
Little Rock, Arkansas
* -The story is that this recipe is from Georgetown, Arkansas, a community of about 75 people located on the White River. This recipe is said to have originated with a cook employed on a nearby plantation.

Photo by fritish via flickr

Knock-out Rose

I’ve had so much fun with y’all this week. I hope you have had a good time as well. So, Frugal Friday, finds me trying to find inexpensive ways to garden. Well, yesterday, I stumbled upon the best garage sale I have ever been to. I’m not sure where the sellers got all of these plants but it was like going to a nursery right there in their yard.

I got two very nice knock-out rose bushes for next to nothing. Can you believe that? They had so many nice plants, I felt like I was at Disney World (You might have to be a gardener to get that).

This weekend is also time for the Master Gardener’s plant sale. They divide up the plants in their own yards or root them or propagate them somehow and pot them up and sell them at a local park for great prices. This is one of the ways they fund their projects all around the county. I really appreciate the work they do making this area beautiful. They have gardens in front of the police station, at some of the local parks at the fairgrounds and many more places that they volunteer their time to keep up.

By the way, I’m still taking pics of the robin that is still busily building her nest on the drainpipe near my porch. I’ll be posting some of them sometime next week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Today’s Lagniappe: Kentucky Hot Brown Casserole
Getting ready for the Kentucky Derby? Try this recipe for Kentucky Hot Brown Casserole.

* 1 lb Ham; thinly sliced
* 1 lb Turkey breast; thinly sliced
* 3 can cream of mushroom soup
* 1 lg can asparagus pieces
* 1/2 lb American cheese slices; (or Velveeta)
* Bacon; cooked, crumbled
* 1 Tomato; sliced

In a large casserole, layer all ingredients, except bacon and tomato in the following order. Using 1/3 of each ingredients in each layer: soup, ham, turkey, asparagus, cheese. After making all three sets of layers, top with tomato slice sand crumbled bacon. Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over toasted English muffins or toast points. Serves 8-10.