Potato Salad

I rarely make potato salad, but when I do I like mine a little on the sweet side. I just use potatoes, peeled
and diced (after they get cold so they retain the texture) and add chopped hard boiled eggs, sweet pickle relish,
and mayo. My sis adds chopped pimento, it is really pretty.


Catt’s 70’s style Crockpot Mushrooms

Can you just picture these in your avocado green crock pot

Rinse 3 pounds mushrooms, and trim off just the very end of the stem (leave stem intact, just remove the
rough part), and leaving mushroom whole. Drain well. In slow cooker or crock pot, put one stick of butter
in the bottom, and add mushrooms - your top may even be askew, that's ok, they will cook down momentarily.
Sprinkle generously with garlic salt. Cook on high 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Serve.

Pinto Beans

I rinse the beans, cover them with water, and bring to a boil. After they come to a boil, I turn them off and
let them sit for 2 hours. After that, I drain them, cover with water again, and add a quarter of an onion,
diced cooked ham, a teaspoon of chicken base, and salt and pepper. Then I bring them to a boil again, then
reduce the heat and simmer slowly for a few hours. At the end I add 2 finely diced potatoes, and a finely
diced carrots. Let cook, on medium low heat (just above a simmer) for 30 minutes. Then I serve this over a
slice of cornbread.

Not really a bean soup, more like a chowder. But I don't eat it as soup, I love eating it over the cornbread.

Pork and Beans

My mom would just take pork 'n beans, and mix them with minced onion (I mean she would take her grater
and mince the onion), ketchup, brown sugar, and pour it in a greased corning ware dish. Then on top, she
placed strips of bacon, and cooked them all night on 300 degrees.

Man, they were good, and thick.

Now, my aunt always made these things called "Cowboy Beans" which was where you take a can of pork n
beans, a can of butter beans, a can of pinto beans and a can of northern beans. Then you add onion, ketchup
and a pound of browned sausage. Throw it all in the crock pot for 6 hours on low. They were so good, we
had them at every cookout and get together. My uncle ate just a big bowl of that with buttered bread.

Last, when I cater certain events, I put the maple flavored sausage in my baked beans. It makes them
unique.

A COOK'S PRAYER

Lord, guide my willing hands, to bake my bread today.
To mix a little laughter, in what I do or say.
Help me to feed my family with good food seasoned right.
With wisdom of a loving heart, keep my kitchen shining bright.
Guide my erring thoughts to Heaven, when my spirit is sad and low.
Help me to set my dinner table, with food for hearts that glow.



Martha's Stewed Okra (My Mom's recipe)

My mom made this every summer! She would sometimes make large batches and freeze it.
This is a great side dish too, even though my mom ate it with a slice of cornbread, as a complete meal. She
would take her okra and cut it into small chunks, and added some of her owned canned tomatoes, but I am
sure you can use store bought. She also added a can of shoepeg corn, diced onions, a tad of celery, and a
little bacon grease, and she cooked it down until it was a soft, creamy, stew like texture. Everyone raved
over it, and during the summer she was asked to bring it to every pot luck.

Martha's Stewed Okra

1 small onion, diced small
3 cups sliced okra, sliced in coins and rinsed well
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes (15 oz can)*
1 can of shoepeg corn or 1 frozen box shoepeg corn
Slice of bacon
salt and pepper

Dice the bacon and fry in sauce pan, until done. Remove bacon to paper towel, leaving the bacon grease in
the sauce pan. Add the onions to the grease, and cook on low until onions are tender. Be careful not to burn
them, that is why I cook them on low. When the onions are done, add the okra, tomatoes*, corn, salt and
pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

*My mom used her tomatoes that she canned herself. She never used fresh, so I don't know about that. But
she would take her kitchen shears and cut up the tomatoes in the jar before she added them to the pan.

My Mom's Stuffed Green Peppers

If you have some wonderful green bell peppers, here is the best recipe to enhance the flavor. This is not
your typical ground beef/rice filling, my mom used leftover roast and it is so good. The smell throughout
the house was enough to make your mouth water. Enjoy!

Martha's Stuffed Peppers

Leftover beef roast, chopped fine
1 can crushed tomatoes (I usually use a 15 oz can)
small chopped onion, chopped fine
I can shoe peg corn*
Chopped potatoes, chopped fine

Mix together in large bowl. Stuff inside green peppers that has tops removed and insides cleaned. Place in
dutch oven or crock pot. Any left over beef mixture, spread around the bottom of the pan under and around
the peppers. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

These are wonderful. Mom always served them with cornbread. Absolutely wonderful.

*Shoe peg corn is a white, small kernal corn. You can buy it in cans, but you can buy it frozen as well. Either
will work in this recipe, and it really gives the dish great color!


My mom's Sweet Potato Balls

My mom had a special place in her heart for this recipe. It was one she made as a newlywed, and my dad
thought he had married the most wonderful girl! After his death in 1974 left her a 49 year old widow with
me at 13 to raise, she often made these and told the same story, about their little kitchen over his family.
My father's family owned a barber shop, and for a while my mom and dad lived above it in apartments with
an uncle and his wife. My mother remembered them as very odd people, very tight with their money. The
uncle would go every morning and buy himself a donut for a nickel, to go with his coffee. He would bring
his wife a donut also - IF she left out her nickel. No nickel, no donut. My mom laughed at that one!


She would prepare sweet potatoes, by boiling them, draining them, and putting them into a bowl with a lot
of real salted butter, at least 1/2 a stick, and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar. Beat until smooth, making sure
they are stiff. Form the mixture around a large marshmallow, then roll in coarsely crushed corn flakes.
Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes.
Watch them carefully, and don't overbake - the marshmallow will disappear.


I hope these make their way to your holiday table - and don't forget to leave a nickel for your donut! *wink*

__________________
Always be a first rate version of your self instead of a second rate version of someone else.[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.