Spoon-Tastic!

This is an easy fresh corn spoonbread that is a great dish to make with kids--it's pretty much all about measuring and stirring and pouring, which are MY kid's favorite things to do in the kitchen. The recipe is from Southern Living, and is credited to Beth Trueblood of Lanesville, Indiana.

Fresh Corn Spoonbread

Ingredients:

1 cup white cornmeal mix
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (or equivalent in honey)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 to 6 ears)
2 cups plain yogurt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix together dry ingredients, set aside.

Stir together corn and all remaining ingredients.

Add corn mixture to dry mixture, stirring just until blended and moist throughout. Pour batter into a 2-quart baking dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, until golden brown and set in the center. I may have tented some foil over the top for the last 20 minutes or so...I really can't recall. Just eyeball it, and don't let the top and edges dry out during baking.

Enjoy! It's some yummy stuff.

Fried Green Tomatoes. Yes, They're That Good.

This recipe almost doesn't need words, but I'll use a FEW. Get some of these:

I have actually had people tell me that they couldn't find "this kind" of tomatoes, only the red ones. Well, these are the red ones. They're just not ripe yet. The rest of you quit laughing. There are actually people who have never seen a tomato before it hit the grocery store. Green tomatoes are apple-firm and wonderful to work with. A lot of people seem to prefer the ones that have just a hint of pink blush forming, but I like the pure greenies. I like fried pickles, too, though, so take that into account when you select your degree of green-ness.

Slice 'em up. I like to do them at an angle instead of straight across the middle, but that's just me. I promise the tomato-slicing police will not show up at your house if you do it differently.

Have a shallow dish of buttermilk, salted and peppered to taste, at hand, and as you slice the tomatoes, add the slices to the buttermilk. They don't have to soak or marinate, but a couple extra minutes couldn't hurt, right?

In another shallow dish, combine equal parts cornmeal or cornmeal mix, and flour. Take the tomato slices from the buttermilk, and dredge them in the flour mixture. I usually just lay the wet slices onto the flour, cover them, and lightly press the flour mixture into the tomato a little.

Cook in hot oil until golden-brown, then turn them over and brown the other side. The tomato slices will soften as they cook, but don't let them get all mushy. If your slices are no more than 1/4-inch thick, they should get done about the time your coating is golden-brown.

Drain slices separately on layers of paper towels, or in a wire basket or on a rack (though that won't get as much oil out as draining on paper), and serve HOT. We like ours with cold ranch dressing, but I'd love to hear any other ways of enjoying fried green tomatoes.

An alternate, and equally acceptable method is to simply dredge very thin green tomato slices in seasoned cornmeal mix and then fry them. That should get you a result like these slices, from a popular Arkansas country restaurant. Also yummy, if greasier and floppier.

Chicken & Squash Bake

This is adapted from a Southern Living recipe, and it's just really good. Could easily go vegetarian--just leave out the chicken and swap the cream of chicken soup for cream of mushroom. Also, after having made it, I think it could use a whole lot more carrot, if you like carrots. This time of year, there can't be enough recipes for zucchini and yellow squash, so go get an armful and try this! It was a hit with the whole family, including my daughter, who, prior to this meal had never, ever consented to eat squash of any kind.

Chicken & Squash Bake

*2 to 3 pounds of zucchini AND straight- or crookneck yellow squash, sliced
*1 small, sweet onion (I used a Vidalia)
*Salt

Combine first three ingredients in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot. Add water just to cover, bring to boil, cook gently for 5 minutes. Drain veggies well. After I got the veggies out, I heavily salted and peppered the water they cooked in, and used it to boil 1/2 to 1 pound of skinless, boneless chicken until just cooked through. Then I took it out and shredded/cut it up.

Meanwhile, in a good-size bowl, combine:

*1 cup grated carrots (I think you could use twice as much if you wanted)
*8oz. (1 cup) sour cream (I used reduced-fat)
*1 can cream of chicken soup (I used 98% fat-free)
*1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Fold the cooked veggies and chicken into the sour-cream mixture until well-combined. Set aside.

Melt:

*1/2 cup butter or substitute of your choice (I like Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend)

Into melted butter, stir:

*8oz. Herbed stuffing mix (I used Pepperidge Farm)

In a lightly greased (or sprayed with Pam) 9/13" casserole dish, spread half the stuffing mixture on the bottom of the dish. Pour all of the filling over that, then top with the other half of the stuffing mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350F, for 30-35 minutes, until golden and bubbly. I had to tent some foil over it at about 20-25 minutes, for the duration of the baking time.

This was Bella's bowl. The rest of us did eat off plates, but it's notable that the little one cleaned that bowl pretty well.