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Blog Prompt – It’s International Pickle Week and I would love to hear about the pickles you love best.

There aren’t too many pickles I won’t eat.  I love dill, sweet, bread and butter pickles.  It really depends on what I am eating to what pickle I will choose.

I love dills on my hamburgers, bread and butter pickles on different kinds of sandwiches.  My mother makes a great bread and butter pickle and here is a great recipe for them.  She also use to make a lot of dill pickles too. Those would surely make you pucker.

Really easy recipe for all those cucumbers you have from your garden.

Bread and Butter Pickles

6 large cucumbers, sliced
4 onions, sliced
1/4 cup salt
1 pint white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

Use fresh cucumbers; wash and slice. Slice onions. Mix vegetables with salt and let stand 1 hour.

Drain and rinse with 2 cups cold water. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds and heat to boiling. Cook 3 minutes.

Pack vegetables into jars, add hot vinegar mixture, leaving 1/4″ head space. Seal at once and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Cool and store.

Have a wonderful pickle day,

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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Blog prompt: Today is National Pecan Day. Do you like pecans? Why or why not? If you do, do you eat it in a pie or do you eat it plain?

And you are asking a Southern girl if she likes pecan ???  *LOL*

I have a bag of unshelled pecans in my garage right now still waiting on my husband to crack.  I really don’t like that job at all.  It hurts my delicate fingers too much.  I do love it around fall time when we can pick up pecans off the ground.

I like pecan pie, but I don’t love it.   But I always have to take a bite or two at Thanksgiving, just because. I do  love eating pecans and baking with them all the time.   I love them in brownies and my favorite Oatmeal Cookies.

This is the best oatmeal cookie recipe I have ever made. Not to chewy and not too crispy. You gotta try these.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup raisins

Preheat ove at 375 degrees. Lightly grease some baking sheets. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. In another bow, mix the flouer, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Stir in oats, nuts and raisins. Drobe the dough in heaping tablespoons 2 inches apart and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

MY TIP: I use a melon scooper to scoop the mixture onto the cookie sheet. This makes all the cookies the same size.

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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Take a book or dictionary, hold it closed with the spine in your lap. Now remove your hands and let it fall open. Close your eyes and place a finger on the page. What is the closest word to your finger? Write a paragraph around that word.

Okra -  is a flowering plant in the mallow family (along with such species as cotton, cocoa, and hibiscus), valued for its edible green fruits. Okra’s scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus; it is occasionally referred to by the Hibiscus esculentus L.

What a great word for me since I LOVE fried okra.  I always look foward to summer time because thats when okra is in season.  And who would’ve thunk that it was in the cocoa plant group.  hehehe

Here are some interesting things about okra -

1. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize the blood sugar by curbing the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.

2. Okra’s mucilage binds cholesterol and bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver.

3. Okra helps lubricate the large intestines due to its bulk laxative qualities. The okra fiber absorbs water and ensures bulk in stools. This helps prevent and improve constipation. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra’s mucilage soothes, and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic. Okra binds excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids). These, if not evacuated, will cause numerous health problems. Okra also assures easy passage out of waste from the body. Okra is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming, has no adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most unlike the OTC drugs.

4. Okra fiber is excellent for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics). This contributes to the health of the intestinal tract.

5. Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.

6. Okra is used for healing ulcers and to keep joints limber. It helps to neutralize acids, being very alkaline, and provides a temporary protective coating for the digestive tract.

7. Okra treats lung inflammation, sore throat, and irritable bowel.

8. Okra has been used successfully in experimental blood plasma replacements.

9. Okra is good for summer heat treatment. Okra is a supreme vegetable for those feeling weak, exhausted, and suffering from depression.

10. Okra is good for constipation.

11. Okra is good in normalizing the blood sugar and cholesterol level.

12. Okra is good for asthma. Okra’s vitamin C is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, which curtail the development of asthma symptoms.

13. Okra is good for atherosclerosis.

14. Okra is believed to protect some forms of cancer expansion, especially colorectal cancer.

15. Eating okra helps to support the structure of capillaries.

16. Some information shows that eating okra lowers the risk of cataracts.

17. Okra is good for preventing diabetes.

18. Okra protects you from pimples and maintains smooth and beautiful skin. We understand the reason why Cleopatra and Yang Guifei loved to eat okra. There are other medicinal uses of okra, like its protection against trans fats.

What a great veggie this is!!!  So, everyone.  Grab some okra this summer, slice it up, put some corn meal on it and fry it up.  It’s sooooooo yummy.

Better yet, here is the recipe for all you Yankees out there!!

Fried Okra

10 pods okra, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a small bowl, soak okra in egg for 5 to 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, and pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge okra in the cornmeal mixture, coating evenly. Carefully place okra in hot oil; stir continuously. Reduce heat to medium when okra first starts to brown, and cook until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Enjoy,

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY

LEVERAGES REAL-PEOPLE, REAL-TIME POWER OF FOOD PUBLISHING

 San Francisco – October 13, 2008:

“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”

Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.

“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.

The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month. “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.

24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity. The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included: Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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Blog Prompt: Today is World Egg Day. What is your favorite egg dish?

I love scrambled eggs the best with the regular bacon and a biscut.  My husband and I love to have this for supper sometimes.  But he likes to have a bowl of grits with his eggs.

I also love quiche and I really love the Breakfast Casserole that I make for Christmas morning.  I know alot of you have had it before and I will share the recipe with you below.  This is a great casserole for a brunch too.

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg.Regular Flavor Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
10 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups milk
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups cubed bread
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped (optional)
1/2 cup thin-sliced green onions (optional)Preheat oven to 325 F. In large skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. In large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, mustard and salt; stir well. Distribute half the bread evenly in a buttered 9″ x 13″ x 2″ baking dish. Sprinkle with half the pepper, half the cheese, half the sausage and half of each optional ingredient. Repeat layering using remaining bread, pepper, cheese, sausage and optional ingredients. Pour egg mixture evenly over casserole. Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes, or until eggs are set. Tent with foil if top begins to brown too quickly.

Note:

May be assembled ahead and refrigerated up to 12 hours before baking.

MY VERSION:  I always make it the night before and put it in the fridge.  It seems to cook better the next day.  I don’t put all the optional items on the top.

Here is another egg recipe I really love.  This is a great quiche recipe and is great for supper with a good salad.

New England Clam Chowder Quiche

1 unbaked pastry shell, pricked lightly (9 inch)
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can Snows clam chowder (15 oz.)
4 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons parsley flakes or fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 slices American cheese

Bake crust 8 minutes in 400 degree oven. Remove shell. Reduce heat to 325 degrees. In bowl combine bacon, chowder, eggs, onion, sour cream, parsley and pepper; mix well. Pour about 2/3 of mixture into baked shell. Arrange cheese slices on top. Pour remaining mixture over cheese. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until set. Cool 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

MY VERSION:  I use Progresso Clam Chowder soup and have used different kinds of cheeses on top.

I would love to hear if anyone tried these.

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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I can’t believe its almost Thanksgiving and I am so ready for that great meal that my mom will cook.  I am suppose to bring something and trying to figure out something interesting is always a struggle for me. 

This year I think I will get my Thanksgiving recipes from MyRecipes.com and fix something spectacular.  They even have great recipes for cooking turkeys and for those of you that love to find whole menus, this is the place to go.

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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You have heard that the President and his wife of an obscure country is coming to visit and picked you (and your family if you want) to have dinner with. You can decide to cook for them or order in or take them out. What 5 dishes would you want them to taste? They can be any part of a meal (appetizers, main dish, vegetables, salads, desserts) or all of one type (all desserts for example).

Since my husband and I our redneck southerners, here is our list.

1. BBQ – Chicken, pork or beef. We BBQ them all.
2. Brunswick Stew – This is a stew that was made by settlers that would take the “catch of the day” and make a stew out of it with vegetables. Really good.
3. Potato Salad, Coleslaw and Fried Okra and maybe, if it is in season, fresh Sweet Corn on the Cob.
4. Baked Beans
5. Strawberry Shortcake with fresh, grown in the garden strawberries

YUMMY!!!!!!!

Tags: Recipes by Tammy
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