It has been awhile since I brought you a Southernism…and this one fits perfectly! See, I have been so busy lately that you can’t even see the end of my list with a pair of binoculars and it doesn’t look like things are going to slow down anytime soon. Now in some ways that is a good thing, in others, not so much.
So, when people call me or e-mail me asking for my help on something I am having to say:
“I’ll do it if nothin’ breaks or comes untwisted.”
Basically, that is a yes but it also leaves a little wiggle room in case you need to bow out.
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Summer is just about over. We have plans to go to Hiawassee this weekend for some great food, family, friends, pickin and grinnin. It is the last big hooha of the year up there and due to age and health issues of my uncle it may just be the last one ever.
I have to decide what dish I am going to take and while I was browsing around I thought perhaps you might need to make the same kind of decision for a hooha that you are going to attend this weekend. So, I though I would bring to you a list of my 5 favorite summer dishes, since this is the last blowout of the summer and all.
1.) Spaghetti Salad
This dish is super easy to make, feeds a lot of people and is delicious. It also has a “light feel” to it and can be served warm or cold. That makes it the perfect dish to carry to any hooha you attend. Also, it only has 5 ingredients so it is economical to boot.
Another favorite in our house and to take on the road. Again, 5 ingredients, easy to make but it has to be kept cold. Light, refreshing and ohhh so good.
It is getting harder and harder to find Vidalia’s. They are only here for a short time so we have to take advantage while we can. If you can still get your hands on a few, grab them and make this pie! I promise, you will groan at the goodness.
This was one of my Granny’s favorites. You could always count on her having a bowl full in her refrigerator when you went to visit in the summer. It just evokes fond memories of sitting on the front porch snacking away…that it’s good doesn’t hurt either.
5.) Kool-Aid Pie
What can I say? Great dessert. Easy to make. 4 ingredients. And you can make it any flavor that you want.
All of these recipes are from the earlier days of The Post-It Place so none of them have photos. I need to go back and rectify that for ya’ll one of these days. I can promise that they won’t disappoint though. So, get out from behind the computer screen, quit worrying about Forex trading software and enjoy the last remaining days of summer with some family, friends and some good food!
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I like pickles, but if you offer me a jar of my Aunt Ruth’s pickles…I hide them. Seriously. I sit in a dark corner where no one else can see and eat just one. Then I hide the jar again. They are a precious commodity. One that isn’t shared in abundance and is extremely hard to come by. You are only offered one jar each year. ONE jar. You have to make it last and I don’t care how much you love your spouse and kids…this is the one thing you just don’t want to share. ONE jar, that’s it. That equals out to about 24 pickles. That is 2 per month. That is all you get and if you decide to share they are gone in one week. They have been known to be gone in one day.
If you are really, really lucky your Mom lives next door and you can sneak over to her house when she isn’t home and eat a pickle out of her jar of Aunt Ruth’s pickles. At her house you have to be careful though. Their have been known to be imitations in her refrigerator. You have to know the difference or else open every jar of homemade pickles and take a sample till you find the right jar. Not that I would ever do such a thing mind you.
This year, I decided that I would take Aunt Ruth’s recipe and try my hand at making my own pickles and hope like the dickens they turn out like hers.
I had a couple of issues right off though. First, I couldn’t find fresh dill…ANYWHERE. And I looked, and looked, and looked. I went to 14 different grocery stores. I went to the Mennonite’s. I asked everyone I knew to ask. I ended up using dill seed since I wasn’t ever able to find the fresh stuff.
The next issue is that I was unsure of what to do about one of the instructions in her recipe…you will see, because I am going to write it exactly as she did. I wish I had a portable xerox phaser 8560. That way I could just go in a copy all of her recipes….
RUTH’S KOSHER DILL PICKLES
1 mess small cucumbers (as many as you have)
2 quarts vinegar
2 quarts water
1 1/2 cups Kosher Salt
1 head Dill Weed for each jar
1/2 tsp Alum for each jar
1 clove fresh garlic for each jar
Wash the cucumbers. Mix the water, vinegar, salt and alum* and bring to a boil.
*This is where I had a little bit of a problem. I wasn’t sure how many jars my cucumbers would make so I estimated. My guess is that she can probably look and know how many jars she is going to make but I am not at that level yet.
Using hot quart jars, put 1 head dill weed and 1 clove of garlic into each jar. Pack with cucumbers. Fill each jar with the boiling mixture and seal each jar with a hot lid and ring.
That is all there is to her recipe. And I made 12 jars. I would really like to have made 52 jars. That is a jar a week. Then I might would be open to sharing. Might be, mind you…I didn’t say I definitely would. Ok, so I would and I will. But when I get my jar from Aunt Ruth this Christmas, I am still going to hide that one.
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This weekend being the 4th of July many of us plan to gather with family and friends to celebrate. Me, I plan to go to a small town even further into the mountains called Hiawassee to my Aunt and Uncle’s place where everyone will gather to enjoy some good food, good music and good company.
The best part of going…I get to see my Aunt Ruth. She is such a lively and fun person to be around. And, it doesn’t hurt that she happens to be the best cook that I know. So, I thought I would share one of her recipes in honor of the upcoming holiday so that if you have plans to attend a cookout and need a fabulous covered dish to take…you would have something to knock peoples socks off!
Aunt Ruth’s Barbecue Baked Beans
1 gallon baked beans
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
1 TBSP mustard
4 TBSP vinegar
1/2 cup chopped onions
dash of garlic powder
1/4 tsp of hot sauce (adjust to taste)
1 small hot pepper
Mix all of the ingredients in a large baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Serve hot.
Remember, this is meant to feed a crowd. I am not sure that Ruth knows how to cook in small quantities because even if you just drop by her house on a Tuesday for no reason unannounced, there is a crowd around her table…and that is just how she likes it.
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