St. Patrick's Day Peas

 

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PEAS

This past week I was finally able to plant some veggies in my garden. I dug up the rich black dirt to prepare the soil, made rows, and planted tiny seeds of beets, carrots, lettuce, radish, and kale. Pushing fat mini bulbs of red onions in the ground gave me all kinds of satisfaction at the thought of fresh onions to come.  But when I sprinkled the pea seeds is when I really began to drool.

Lots of people hate eating peas- even my two kids (of all people). I don’t know if it was what they considered “torture” picking peas and the time consuming shelling that transferred to their taste buds that did the trick or what. I certainly did my best to raise them to become farmers like my grandparents.  There is something altogether fascinating about peas from the fat little seeds that you plant in the earth, to the delicate vines that produce lovely blooms that turn into fat pods you pick, and then delightfully eat. Raw or cooked peas have a distinctive taste that shouts spring.  As soon as I plant peas, my taste buds go into overdrive demanding fresh green peas.

To satisfy my craving for peas, I grabbed the next best thing- peas out of my freezer.  So once again in a valiant effort (my children call it stubbornness, but I prefer to think of it as the Irish in me) to convince my kids and all you pea hating people, I’ve come up with a sure-to-please pea recipe that I call my St. Patrick’s Day Peas. The St. Patrick’s Day Peas have a smooth creamy cheesy flavor that hints of spring. My St. Patrick’s Day Peas is another quick (only 15 minutes) and easy no-fail recipe that serves four to five.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PEAS

1 lb frozen peas

½ tsp salt

Cover the bottom of a small saucepan with water, add peas, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook for five minutes.  Mix together:

½ c milk

2 tb cornstarch

Add to the peas. Cube:

 1 c Velveeta cheese

Add to mixture and cook until thickened and the cheese is melted.  Serve hot.

Tip: Adding ½ tsp of margarine helps prevent veggies from boiling over when cooking and adds flavor!

Bacon, Egg, & Potato Fry

Bacon, Egg, & Potato Fry
Dorcas Annette Walker

We’ve been having winter weather lately here on the mountain with cold temperatures and a few skiffs of snow, although overall winter this year has been mild. To pamper my hens we put out heated water dishes, turned the heat lamp on, and on cold days I fix up a batch of warm rice give to my hens- all which helps them keep laying. I’ve also mucked out the henhouse a couple of times giving them fresh straw and making sure that all the nests are soft. In return my hens continue to lay big fat brown, white, and cream colored eggs of which I’m expecting a double yolk any day now. Even in the midst of frigid weather there is lots of activity in the henhouse.

The big rooster, which was attacked by my hens, put in a separate pen, and lined up for beheading has managed to escape his fateful day. In fact Red Pepper is beginning to remind me of a cat with nine lives. When I was down with my arm, Dana decided it was too much work to fool with the rooster, who had started growing feathers back and looked healthy again, and without my knowing it, put my rooster back in the henhouse. As soon as I found out I protested indignantly -considering all the work I had given the rooster to keep the old boy alive-, especially when Dana admitted that the hens had begun attacking him again. I convinced Dana to rescue my poor rooster again and had him put Red Pepper in the back enclosed garden. Red Pepper shook his remaining bedraggled feathers looking quite the sorry sight as he began surveying his new domain. Since then I’ve fixed up a temporary shelter for my rooster, who has another batch of feathers coming back in while starting each day out with loud crows like an alarm clock. Once again the dear fellow has managed to avoid getting his head chopped off.

My Bacon, Egg, & Potato Fry is a hearty dish perfect for a winter day that can be prepared for breakfast, lunch, or supper. You can substitute sausage, hot dogs, or leftover ham for the bacon or add mushrooms, black olives and peppers if desired. Preparation time for the Bacon, Egg, & Potato Fry is around forty-five minutes and this recipe serves four.

Bacon, Egg, & Potato Fry

2 pieces of bacon
4 large potatoes
salt & pepper
6 large eggs
¼ c milk

In a medium-sized iron skillet fry the bacon crisp. While the bacon is cooking peel, wash, and dice the potatoes. Remove the bacon when done adding the potatoes to the hot grease. Salt and pepper to taste, cover, and let one side brown. Turn over the potatoes, crumble up the bacon and sprinkle over top, and re-salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about fifteen minutes until the potatoes are soft flipping the potatoes a couple of times. Beat up the eggs and milk in a small bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and cover. Stir until the eggs are cooked and scrambled. Serve hot. May garnish with ketchup!

Weekly tip: To determine if an egg is good or bad put in salt water. If it sinks it is okay, but if the egg floats throw it out!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes
Dorcas Annette Walker

Every autumn when the leaves begin to change colors and the brisk breezes begin to blow up here on the mountain, I am drawn to cooking with Sweet Potatoes. This is the time of year that stores stock fresh supplies of Sweet Potatoes making it easy to add to your menu. Sweet Potatoes provide excellent nutrition as they are loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber and are one of the most versatile vegetables to fix. Sweet Potatoes can be prepared as part of the main meal in a baked casserole, mashed, eaten by themselves, grilled, or served as a snack. There are endless possibilities when it comes to preparing Sweet Potatoes. Here are a couple of ideas to try:

Microwaved Sweet Potatoes

Poke holes all around a whole sweet potato with a fork, then it wrap up a paper towel or place in a microwave bowl with a lid (what I always do when preparing several potatoes at a time), and microwave until soft when you pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Cut the sweet potato in half, place butter and a scoop of brown sugar on top. Garnish with cinnamon and serve!

*You can also use applesauce, crushed pineapple, raisins, or chopped pecans as added toppings!

Sweet Potato Fries

Cut sweet potatoes (peeled or with skin left on) in half and slice into wedges. In a bowl combine melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and toss until the potatoes are coated. Place on a baking tray in a single layer and bake at 350º for thirty minutes until crispy brown. Serve hot!

*You can also substitute taco seasoning mix, paprika, garlic salt, red pepper, or Tabasco sauce to give your fries added zest!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Bake sweet potatoes wrapped in tinfoil in the oven at 350º for forty-five minutes until soft. Let cool, then cut in half, and scoop out the center. Mash the sweet potato and mix with a little milk, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour the mixture back into the shells, sprinkle on chopped pecans, and bake for ten minutes until the nuts are toasted and the topping is slightly browned. Serve hot!

*You can also add cream cheese or cottage cheese to the sweet potato mixture for a creamier texture!

You can find the recipe for my Candied Orange Sweet Potato and Sweet Potato Delight on my Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at:
http://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com/2010/10/candied-orange-sweet-potatoes.html
http://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com/2008/10/sweet-potato-delight.html

Weekly tip: Handle sweet potatoes with care as their skins are delicate. Store in a cool dry place as dampness will cause the sweet potatoes to spoil. Never store raw sweet potatoes in the refrigerator as the insides will become hard and affect its taste. If sweet potatoes are stored properly they will keep for several months!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: http://www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com/

Double Squashy Casserole

Double Squashy Casserole
Dorcas Annette Walker

Yesterday I was cleaning my veggie garden spot to make it look a bit tidier where stalks of corn and vines have dried up. Time always flies when I work outside on a sunny day soaking up the warmth before autumn’s chilly blustery weather arrives. Harvesting seeds always gives me the same kind of thrill as canning produce for my pantry, but then I’ve been a pushover for saving seeds since the first year of marriage. I was fascinated to discover when the brilliant marigold flowers grown from a thin packet of seeds dried out that the pods were full of seeds. Little did I realize back then as I zealously broke off and saved each dead flower pod that not only was I keeping my window box looking tidy, but my efforts were a direct result in making the marigolds bloom like wild creating an eye-catching spot on the college campus.

Gathering seeds always brings back memories of all my other landscaping endeavors throughout the years where my husband pastored churches that I had to leave. Now that I’m living on my own piece of land I am a bit garden crazy. This year I grew gorgeous tall sunflowers that towered over everything else. After letting the birds eat a good portion of the seeds, I gathered seed pods to save while letting some fall to the ground to come back up- a rule I follow for every seed I harvest. If only humans patterned their lives after seeds what a better world we would live in. Once planted a tiny seed will produce lovely blooms, and then depending on the type of plant yield food to sustain human life and before dying give back seeds to reproduce their existence many times over in the cycle of plant life that the creator ordained.

So a kind deed given to someone else has a way of multiplying like seeds creating a circle of goodwill that eventually will find its way back to you in a bountiful measure. I love watching how a smile or considerate word changes an unfriendly atmosphere into pleasant conservation. We humans have the choice of leaving our fellow man feeling better for seeing us or letting our chance encounter in life become like a pesky weed.

For some reason growing squash reminds me of good deeds spreading everywhere. You never know where one will grow next. The yellow squash is like a ray of sunshine. This week I tried a new recipe I named Double Squashy Casserole to use up some yellow squash and zucchini. The Double Squashy Casserole tastes like a fresh summer garden with its colorful slices of squash with chopped onion in a creamy sauce topped by bread crumbs. Preparation time for my Double Squashy Casserole is around forty-five minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Double Squashy Casserole

2 medium yellow squash
2 medium zucchini
1 small onion diced
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (10.5 oz) can of cream of mushroom soup
1 c milk
1 (6 oz) box of chicken stove top dressing

In a 9 x 13 oven dish thinly slice the yellow squash and zucchini alternating layers of each while sprinkling onion and cheese on each layer of squash. Mix together the soup and milk and pour over the top. Sprinkle the stove top dressing over the casserole. Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350º for thirty-five minutes. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: There are almost 100-150 varieties of squash classified in two categories of winter (hard skin) and summer (soft skin). Both have a good source of vitamin B1, C, folic acid, fiber, and potassium!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Labor Day Beans

Labor Day Beans
Dorcas Annette Walker

Outside my window the birch trees lining the driveway already have yellow leaves floating down on every wind laying a carpet of gold across the lawn. I’ve noticed the poplar trees have turned as well due to the dryness, although if we soon don’t get a good rain the autumn colors this year will be muted instead of flaming across the mountain peaks. Even with hot days the nights have grown cooler and in every breeze stirring up the dust I feel fall in the air just around the corner. I love to hang out the wash this time of the year watching lines full of clothes puff out in every gust quickly drying almost as soon as it is hung up while feeling the wind ruffle through my hair. Soon gentle breezes will turn into blustery autumn weather and the temperature will plunge downward, but for now the sun still warms the earth with its fervent heat. Meanwhile I decided to do up a batch of my Labor Day Beans for this holiday weekend.

This summer has been a study in weather contrast gardening wise. We had frosts and freezing temperatures into May causing me to scurry around and cover up my bean and tomato plants. Then up until this month every time we turned around we had stormy weather with heavy rain showers between soaring temperatures near 100 degrees- what I call jungle weather. After nearing being froze my poor crops were then alternately drowned and scorched. Needless to say I’ve had better harvest from my gardens in past years. Despite unpredictable weather patterns, I was excited to reap wax (yellow beans) and black beans for the first time. I still have lima beans climbing around my tall sunflowers. With increasing prices, I may venture next year into growing kidney and butter beans. Either way I’m “beans” about gardening and trying out new vegetation.

My Labor Day Beans is a colorful hearty autumn dish that can be served year round hot or cold. Filled with protein the Labor Day Beans are a nutritious addition to any meal and can also be fixed in a Crockpot or baked in the oven. Chunks of hamburger with multicolored beans simmered in a lip-smacking sauce tastes great when paired with corn muffins or used on a cookout. Other beans such as black, pinto, or white can be added or substituted as well for variety. Preparation time for my Labor Day Beans is around forty-five minutes and this recipe serves ten.

Labor Day Beans

1 lb hamburger
1 tb dried onion or small onion chopped
garlic, regular salt, & pepper
1(27.5 oz) can pork’n beans
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 (15 oz) can lima beans
1 (15 oz) can butter beans
1 c ketchup
½ c bacon bits
¼ c br sugar
¼ c dark syrup
1 tsp mustard

Brown hamburger and onion adding salts and pepper to taste in a large skillet. Dump the contents of all the beans into the pan. Mix in the ketchup, bacon bits, brown sugar, syrup, and mustard. Bring to a boil and let simmer for thirty minutes. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: Saving the starchy liquid bean juice and adding it in when cooking makes the sauce thicker, more favorable, and gives extra body to your finished dish!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Brown Floured Wax Beans

Brown Floured Wax Beans
Dorcas Annette Walker

This month as we honor mothers, I decided to share a favorite recipe of my mother that she used to make frequently while I was growing up. I didn’t have any idea of how original her Brown Floured Wax Bean recipe was until I started looking around. Recipes for wax beans are scare even in cookbooks. On the internet I found recipes to make sweet and sour wax beans, fried onions and bacon with wax beans in a sauce, mustard and pickled wax beans, and wax beans made in white gravy. Especially down here in the south you don’t see wax beans served very often as few stores even carry the item. So this year I decided to plant wax beans in order to can and keep a supply of my own yellow beans on hand. I think the main reason that wax beans are not more of a southern cuisine is because wax or yellow beans tend to have a milder- what some might consider a boring- taste compared to green beans. My mother’s brown flour gravy adds a delicate flavor to the wax beans that turns yellow beans into a gourmet dish. Little did our family realize or appreciate what an awesome cook we had living in our own home. Between the influence of my mother and grandmother is there any wonder that I ended up loving to experiment with food and cook?

Wax or yellow beans, also called by some “butter beans” originated in the tropics of Central and South America and got their name due to the waxy texture and feel of their skin giving them a different flavor and texture when cooked from green beans. Wax beans vary from light to a deep yellow color, are a slender and long bean, covered with a thinner and more velvety skin. Their peak growing season is late July to September. Wax beans are canned, frozen, boiled, fried, steamed, used in soups, stews, and casseroles, and are popular cooked fresh today in stir-fries. Yellow wax beans provide a great source of vitamin C, iron, and immune boosting folate. Preparation time for my Brown Floured Wax Beans is fifteen minutes and this recipe serves two to three.

Brown Floured Wax Beans

1 tb margarine
1 heaping tb self-rising flour
1 (14.5 oz) can of wax beans
salt & pepper

In a small saucepan melt the margarine, add flour, and brown. Then pour in the juice of the beans adding salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil stirring with a Wisk until thickened. Fold in the wax beans and simmer for five minutes before serving. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika!

Weekly tip: Cooking with salt intensifies natural flavor and brings several blended flavors into perfection!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Southern Green Beans

Southern Green Beans
Dorcas Annette Walker

One main introduction to southern cooking was beans when we pastored in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Each meal had at least one dish of cooked beans. The kind of beans one grew in the garden and ate was of major importance. At every church dinner you could count on at least one table being full of nothing but all kinds of beans. Up until that time I had never encountered so many beans in my life. Thus began my education in southern-style green beans. I soon was canning and filling shelves of white half-runner string beans just like the rest of the church folk. Since then I’ve ventured out and even grown foot-long string green beans.

The common bean has been cultivated dating back to the ancient Egyptians. There are over 4,000 classifications of beans on record in the U.S. alone. There are three main types of beans: snap, string, and green (string-less) beans that grow as pole or bush beans such as: Kentucky Blue, Kentucky Wonder, and Blue Lake. You can choose between a rainbow of colors: green, purple, yellow (wax), red, black, red-striped, white, and navy beans. Other varieties include: lima or butter, kidney, pinto, and soybeans. With some beans the tender pods are eaten, others you let dry out and store for soups (Shelly or fall beans), while bean sprouts are used in stir-fries. Oriental, Mexican, Southwestern, Middle East, and Southern folk all use different kinds of beans in their cuisine. One recipe called Fifteen Bean Soup is made up of fifteen different types of beans. Field beans are mostly bush and used for stock feed.

Green beans are available year round as canned, frozen, or fresh and are cooked by boiling, steaming, or baking. Some restaurants serve battered and fried green beans. Beans continue to be one of the principal sources of protein for vegetarians and are a healthy food alternative for the poor. Green beans are low in calories, have an excellent source of vitamin K, C, and A, contain fiber, potassium, folate, iron, magnesium, thiamin, copper, calcium, phosphorus, protein, omega-3, and niacin.

My Southern Green Beans are easy to prepare and make a colorful addition to any meal. Some southern cooks use shortening or fatback instead of bacon grease. I have also added small chunks of ham or bacon in my green beans. Preparation time for my Southern Green Beans is around twenty minutes and this recipe serves four.

Southern Green Beans

1 quart canned green beans
Water
1 tb bacon grease
1 tsp chopped onion

Rinse green beans and dump into a medium-sized saucepan. Almost cover the beans with water. Sprinkle on the onion and add the bacon grease. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and let boil for at least ten more minutes until most of the water is gone. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: My recent Lemon Squares recipe had the (three eggs) omitted from the listing of the first six ingredients that you creamed!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Speedy Sweet Potato Snack

Speedy Sweet Potato Snack
Dorcas Annette Walker

This year I decided to try and grow sweet potatoes in my garden again. Usually I just buy a box at a produce stand as I enjoy having my own canned sweet potatoes year round. I couldn’t resist buying some though the other weekend to tide me over until my own sweet potatoes are ready for harvest. Not only do I like canned sweet potatoes, but I also enjoy eating fresh ones as well. These summer days when I am busy in the kitchen canning, I love to grab a sweet potato and nuke it in the microwave to make what I call my Speedy Sweet Potato Snack.

Sweet Potatoes are not related to regular potatoes. They are classified as a trailing perennial plant whose tubers are eaten instead of the roots. There are only two types of sweet potatoes; the northern drier yellow fleshy ones and the southern moist bright orange colored flesh often referred to as yams. Sweet Potatoes were cultivated in ancient times by the Aztecs, grown in Peru as early as 750 B.C., and introduced into Europe in the 16th century. In the 18th and 19th century sweet potatoes became popular due to Louis XV and Empress Josephine’s fondness for them. Native Americans were already growing sweet potatoes when Columbus arrived in 1492 and were the main source of nourishment for early homesteaders and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. During World War I the UDSA used sweet potato flour to stretch wheat flour. Since 1843, the first Monday in April, Benton, Kentucky holds an annual three-day Tater Day Festival devoted to sweet potatoes.

The sweet potato is the 6th principal world food crop; 90 percent grown in Asia. In the United States the sweet potato is chiefly cultivated in the south. Mississippi claims to be the sweet potato capital of the world. 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes were produced in 2007; in 2004 98,300 acres of sweet potatoes were planted in the U.S. Although mainly harvested from August through October they are available in supermarkets year round due to being stored in controlled warehouses. It takes six to eight weeks after harvest for sweet potatoes to reach their peak in sweetness. Sweet potatoes are considered to be the most nutritious vegetable high in vitamin A, C, B6, iron, potassium and fiber.

My Speedy Sweet Potato Snack has the warm buttery taste of candied sweet potatoes that melts in your mouth. This Speedy Sweet Potato Snack can also be used with a main meal or eaten by itself. You can add marshmallows, raisins, or eat the sweet potato plain with butter and salt. Preparation time for my Speedy Sweet Potato Snack is 3-5 minutes and this recipe serves one.

Speedy Sweet Potato Snack

1 medium sweet potato
2 tb margarine
¼ c br sugar
cinnamon

Poke holes in the sweet potato with a fork, warp up in a paper towel, and microwave until soft. Cut in half and spread 1 tb of margarine on each side. Divide up the br sugar and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon!

Weekly tip: Sweet potatoes should not be refrigerated unless cooked, always use a stainless steel knife when cutting a sweet potato as a carbon blade will cause the flesh to darken, and select only smooth plump dry potatoes!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Canned Cream Corn

Canned Creamed Corn
Dorcas Annette Walker

Each week I eye the rows of tender cornstalks that have grown another inch in my garden envisioning fresh corn on the cob this summer. Since I don’t have fresh corn, I decided to prepare a substitute I always loved of my mothers. I grew up eating mostly canned vegetables as we didn’t have a garden to give us fresh vegetables and frozen vegetables were an expensive rare occurrence. My mother turned a plain can of corn into a tasty dish using simple ingredients. Every time I make up a dish of Canned Creamed Corn I think of my mother.

I never realized how pampered my background was food-wise until I was grown and traveling around with my husband eating at different households across the United States. Even my husband, Dana, who never hesitated to eat a hearty meal whenever any type of food was set before him, would sometimes ask me later why a certain dish didn’t taste right or what was missing. Blessed were the times I’d stay with a cook that loved to prepare food ending up having a marvelous time comparing recipes and helping out in the kitchen. I’ve noticed throughout the years that good cooks aren’t afraid to be nosey, ask questions, or experiment with food. And while there are a few cook that hold tight to secret recipes- not realizing that anyone who is around food a lot can usually figure out what is in any prepared item- most cooks are generous in sharing tips or their favorite recipes.

One of my greatest joys was encouraging timid cooks to branch out and try new ideas. After spending years in the kitchen I still love to try something different while keeping my tried and true recipes as the backbone of my menus. You will find certain blends of spices or herbs to be what you and your family prefers, but you never know what new recipe will end up being a winner. As my grandmother often said, If you put enough good ingredients together its bound to turn out delicious!

My Canned Creamed Corn is an exciting alternative to standard corn year round with its smooth creamy taste of summer that can be fixed quickly in the microwave. Its soft yellow color will blend in with just about any other prepared item giving you another vegetable to add to your menu that everyone will love. You can double or triple this recipe to meet the needs of your family. Preparation time for my Canned Creamed Corn is five minutes and this recipe serves three.

Canned Creamed Corn

1 (14.5 oz) can of creamed corn
¼ c evaporated milk
1 tsp sugar
½ stick margarine
salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a small microwave bowl and microwave for three minutes. Stir and serve in a crystal bowl. May garnish with a pat of butter!

Weekly tip: Turn a regular can of corn into creamed corn by pouring the entire contents into a blender and pureeing. Older or tougher ears of corn from the garden are also perfect for making creamed corn likewise- just add a little water when pureeing!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Twice-Made Baked Potatoes

Twice-Made Baked Potatoes
Dorcas Annette Walker

I’m amazed that in our lawsuit happy society someone hasn’t sued the flower/plant companies that send out seed catalogs and brochures all year tempting plantaholics like me. All I have to do is step into a greenhouse full of flowers to turn into a wild woman. Surely by now someone has faced financial ruin from compulsive ordering and buying plants besides me. I came to the realization that I was obsessed with flowers years ago when in one of our moves I was more concerned about transporting a station wagon load of plant starts rather than my household stuff. There is nothing like the thrill of receiving packages of tiny plants or seeds ordered during the dreary days of winter when I couldn’t resist the bright colorful pictures in seed catalogs. Like a true addict the first area I visit in any store when shopping is the plant section to check out new arrivals. Now that I’ve filled up all the space possible with flowerbeds around my house, I’ve turned my attention to our woods. My husband shook his head in disbelief when I sowed part of our new garden area for vegetables this spring with flower seeds. The only saving factor that keeps the courts from being tied up in lawsuits versus seed companies and greenhouses is the reason that most gardeners are some of the most loving big hearted folk around. Who else after spending hours of toiling in the dirt, weeding, watering, and caring for a garden will turn around and give away part of the harvest for the sheer pleasure of helping their fellow man? No matter how bad the economy gets as long as there are plantaholics or gardeners’ alive seed companies and greenhouses will flourish.

Early this past Sunday morning I was out in my herb garden snipping off the tops of a couple of garlic stems to add to my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes. These baked potatoes are a yummy deluxe version of a regular baked potato with a fresh garden taste that melts in your mouth. Each bite of my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes is flavored with bits of bacon, a hint of onion, and melting cheese. Twice-Made Baked Potatoes can be made the day before, refrigerated, and then popped in the oven along with the dinner rolls for Sunday dinner. You can also add black olives, green peppers, or substitute other herbs like chives, thyme, parsley, oregano, and rosemary to the Twice-Made Baked Potatoes to pamper your family’s taste buds. Preparation time for my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes is twenty minutes and this recipe serves eight.

Twice-Made Baked Potatoes

4 large potatoes
½ stick margarine sliced
salt & pepper
½ c milk
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c bacon bits
1 tb minced chives

Microwave potatoes until the potatoes are soft when you insert a fork into them. Put margarine in the bottom of a small bowl, carefully slice the hot potatoes in half, and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Mash the insides together, sprinkle salt & pepper to taste, and add milk beating until creamy. Then mix in shredded cheese, bacon bits, and onion. Refill the potato shells and bake at 350º for twenty minutes until lightly browned. Can garnish with a scoop of sour cream!

Weekly tip: To microwave a potato: first wash the potato and dry. Then poke holes into the potato with a fork. You can either wrap one potato in a paper towel or microwave a couple of potatoes in a covered microwave dish until soft alternating with microwaving and letting them sit a couple of times!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Garden Peas

Garden Peas
Dorcas Annette Walker

Every time we visited Grammy Lehman’s house she always made sure to have frozen peas just for me. Whether it was the dark green color or the taste of fresh garden peas- we only had canned peas at home- I loved my grandmother’s frozen peas. So after I got married every spring I planted a couple rows of peas in my garden. Neither one of my kids shared my love of fresh garden peas. To them peas didn’t taste that great and were not worth all the work involved. Long and loud were the complaints when it was time to pick and harvest my precious peas. After “torturing” my kids for several years I finally gave in admitting that peas did make a lot of work for the amount gained. Dawn and Dwight did a victory dance to celebrate the year I announced that we wouldn’t plant peas- not that I was going to give up having garden peas mind you. If you don’t plant peas this year and run out of frozen peas my Garden Peas recipe is a nifty way to turn your canned peas into tasting like fresh garden peas.

Traditionally peas (round-seeded varieties or wrinkle-seeded kinds) are planted on St. Patrick’s Day because they perish in the heat and have a brief growing season. Peas grown either for their edible seeds or pods are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables; the sweetness of garden peas is legendary. From 1858 to 1866 an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel discovered the basic rules of inheritance by testing roughly 28,000 pea plants where he bred and analyzed garden peas in his monastery garden. There are two main types of peas- English or garden peas and sugar pod peas. Garden peas have a valuable source of protein and iron, along with vitamins A, B-3 and C, but are low in fat and fiber. Last year a new Canadian study showed that the protein in peas fight high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.

My Garden Peas are the perfect vegetable to eat this St. Patrick’s Day. Not only will the Garden Peas add color to your menu, but they give the taste of fresh peas just picked out of the garden instead of coming from a can. Preparation time for my Garden Peas is fifteen minutes and this recipe serves three to four.

Garden Peas

1 (15 oz) can of peas
1 heaping tsp self-rising flour
2 tb margarine
salt & pepper

Drain the liquid from the can of peas into a small saucepan. Add flour and shake in salt and pepper to taste. Stir with a Wisk while bringing to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and add margarine. Stir until melted. Fold in the canned peas, cover, let sit for five minutes, and serve. Can garnish with mint leaf and a pat of butter!

Weekly tip: Frozen peas are a colorful and nutritious addition to any tossed salad. Simply sprinkle in frozen peas as you prepare the salad. By the time you are ready to eat the salad the peas will be soft enough to eat and yet be full and round!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Potato Cakes

Potato Cakes
Dorcas Annette Walker

For some reason when I am snowbound or get cabin fever during the winter- feeling like the walls of my house are caving in from having to be indoors so much- I start scrounging around in my cookbooks and recipes for something different to cook. The other day I came across an old recipe for Potato Cakes. As soon as I began frying up a batch in my kitchen last Saturday morning, my husband grabbed a plate and fork and proceeded to hover close by until a sizzling hot Potato Cake was finished. There is nothing like eating a homemade Potato Cake right from the skillet. If you are feeling hungry and want something filling whip up a batch of my old fashion Potato Cakes.

Potato Cakes actually refer to many ways of making fried potatoes. Here in the United States the term is commonly used for frozen hash brown potato patties that are available in supermarkets and served by many restaurants. In England and New Zealand potato scallops or potato fritters- a regular cheap item in fish and chip shops- are usually thick slices of potatoes dipped in batter and fried. Irish potato cakes are typically mashed potatoes mixed with baking soda and fried while Scottish “tattie scones” uses flour, are fried on a griddle, and served with breakfast or topped with baked beans. Southern Australia potato cakes are a sweet dessert made of mashed or sliced potatoes with other ingredients baked in the form of a cake or an actual cake recipe using potato flour.

My Potato Cakes are a type of home-style fried potatoes in the form of a pancake that are delicious as a weekend brunch with bacon, sausage, and eggs or eaten by themselves. For variety you can use unpeeled potatoes, leftover mashed potatoes, add shredded cheese, mushrooms, or chopped veggies to make a well balanced meal. For lower fat content drain fried Potato Cakes on paper towels for a couple of minutes before eating. Either way you like them these crispy Potato Cakes are filling and lip smackin good. Preparation time for my Potato Cakes is about fifteen minutes and this recipe serves eight large man-size cakes.

Potato Cakes

4 large potatoes peeled and shredded
1 small onion diced
½ c self-rising flour
2 eggs
salt & pepper
2 tb shortening or bacon grease

Heat up shortening or grease in an iron skillet until it sizzles when you flick a drop of water on the pan. In a medium bowl mix together the shredded potatoes, onion, flour, and eggs. Drop large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot skillet and mash flat with a wide turner or spatula. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using medium heat let the Potato Cakes brown for five minutes, flip over, cover the skillet, and then let the other side brown for another five minutes. Serve hot and garnish with ketchup!

Weekly tip: To save time use a food processor to shred the potatoes then immediately rinse all the parts of the food processor in hot soapy water and drain to save up washing up later!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Christmas Potatoes

Christmas Potatoes
Dorcas Annette Walker

Each year stores put out zillions of Christmas items to dazzle customers with new colors, garlands, lights, and tree-toppers. Store aisles are taken over with holiday decorations until it leaves a person floundering to find basic items that have been moved to make way for all the holiday merchandise. Now I enjoy decorating for Christmas and giving gifts, but unfortunately too many times the Christmas season becomes more a hassle than a celebration. Hopefully with the economic crisis folks will one again realize that it doesn't take a lot of fancy decorations and expensive presents to have a meaningful Christmas. Meanwhile my Christmas Potatoes are simple and easy to fix when you get feeling stressed out.

Our best family Christmas had nothing to do with lights or presents. It started when Dwight at eight months old got a mouth bleed that lingered despite numerous trips to the hemophilia clinic to get his factor level raised. The week before Christmas when I checked on Dwight during an afternoon nap, I found my son lying in a pool of blood struggling to breathe as we raced him to the emergency room. He was admitted, given blood, and factor, but the bleeding continued as nursing staff and doctors monitored our lifeless toddler. The head hematologist finally told us that they had contacted the drug administration to see how much factor Dwight's system could handle. He shook his head and said that there was nothing else they could do to stop the bleeding. People everywhere began praying while I sat by my tiny son watching him struggling to breathe as the hours passed. God spared our son's life and two days before Christmas we took Dwight home. Totally exhausted, I spent Christmas day in bed while my active little boy crawled all over me. My husband heated up a can of soup for dinner, but it was the best Christmas ever. I had my son.

My colorful Christmas Potatoes taste like summer with the blend of fresh herbs and seasonings. You can add vegetables, meat, or mix-match herbs to individualize this recipe for your family. These Christmas Potatoes can be prepared on a grill or cooked in a Crockpot and will fit with any holiday menu. This recipe takes ten minutes to prepare and serves six.

Christmas Potatoes

6 large red potatoes
3 tb vegetable oil
1 tb chopped dried or fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried or fresh parsley
1 tb dried or fresh minced onion
1 tb parmesan cheese
garlic & regular salt and pepper

Wash potatoes and cut into wedges. Drizzle the oil over the potatoes and then sprinkle on rosemary, parsley, onion, parmesan cheese, salts, and pepper. Cover and bake at 350º for thirty minutes then uncover and bake for another thirty minutes until the potatoes are lightly browned.

Weekly tip: When baking meats and potatoes line the baking dish first with tinfoil before baking to save on cleanup!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a publisher author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Dutchy Fried Squash

Dutchy Fried Squash

Dorcas Annette Walker

I’ve found out no matter how long we live our parent’s influence will follow us, especially in the realm of food. It is amazing how much a person’s upbringing shapes the way we eat. Just when I think that I am completely my own person evolved from being exposed to other culinary cultures in different parts of the United States, I find myself eating something from my childhood. Different seasons of the year trigger off a hunger for something I ate while growing up. For me summer isn’t complete without a platter of fried squash. Now, not just any fried squash mind you, but what I call Dutchy Fried Squash from my father, who was Pennsylvania Dutch. I have never been a big eater, but I confess that when it comes to fried yellow squash I completely forget any ladylike tendencies I’ve learned about eating dainty portions and completely pig out. I’ve even been known to eat a whole plate of fried squash. My family has learned to turn a blind eye on me when the garden summer squash comes in.

One summer company came by our place to stay for a few days when our daughter was still small. We had never met these people before in our lives, but they knew my parents. These folk had a skinny teenage son, who seemed to be quite bored with life in general. In fact the only place the fellow perked up was at the table. I was quite shocked to find out that the mother’s cooking consisted of making up a huge pot of food in the beginning of the week and then having the family eat the same leftovers for the rest of the week- I kid you not! So needless to say the husband and son thought they hit paradise-on-earth having home-cooked meals with lots of baked goods to fill up on in-between.

One meal I set out a large platter of fried yellow squash. This poor family have never seen nor eaten fried squash before. By now the husband and teenage son was willing to try anything I cooked. They were quite fascinated by the fact that to me the only way to eat fried squash is to put a spoonful of homemade apple butter on top. They hesitantly tried one piece, realized instantly how delicious it was, and without warning cleaned up the entire platter of fried squash. From then on I fried up squash for every meal and was hard put to grab a couple of pieces for myself before it totally disappeared. So I’ll post a warning here that my Dutchy Fried Squash can become habit forming. The Dutchy Fried Squash takes only fifteen minutes to prepare and this recipe makes twelve pieces.

Dutchy Fried Squash

1 yellow squash
3 tb shortening
1 egg
½ c milk
1 c self-rising flour
salt and pepper
homemade apple butter

Melt shortening in an iron skillet. Wash, trim the stem ends, and slice the squash into 1/8 round pieces. Beat together in a small bowl the egg and milk. Dip a slice of squash into the egg/milk mixture and then coat it with flour. Place in the hot iron skillet and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Fry for five minutes until one side is golden brown, turn over, cover skillet, and brown the other side. Serve hot with a spoonful of homemade apple butter!

Weekly tip: Summer yellow squash skins are so thin and tender that they require no peeling, the seeds are soft enough to eat, and cooks up quickly. Harvest young squash when close to two inches in diameter for frying!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Stewed Tomatoes

Stewed Tomatoes

Dorcas Annette Walker

Tomatoes are a popular home garden crop. They require a small area, bear repeatedly with an abundance of fruit, are widely adapted, and easy to grow. There is nothing like the first time a home gardener goes out and picks the first ripe tomato off the vine that he has watched slowly mature. Tomatoes are a favorite subject of gardeners. Some prefer a real mouth puckering tomato while others like a sweeter tasting tomato. Then another consideration is open-pollinated or hybrid, staking or bush, fast ripening, early, main season, or late variety. There are also over 600 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. You can choose any color you wish from the traditional deep red; a rainbow of green, yellow, and pink; yellowish white; bright orange; yellow red; pink; orangey red; deep yellow; pinky purple; lemon yellow; to red and orange stripes. In other words there is a tomato out there for everyone.

There are endless recipes of how to prepare tomatoes. Tomatoes were popular and a traditional southern dish during the latter part of the Civil War. An 1825 recipe for stewed tomatoes says to take off the skin, put the tomatoes into a pan with salt, pepper, butter and cook until thick. Not only are tomatoes tasty, but they are healthy for you as tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C, low in calories, and have been linked to prevention of cancer. For the younger generation there is a female rock band called "Stewed Tomatoes". I think the name says it all.

I’ve never had a recipe until now for my homemade Stewed Tomatoes that tastes very similar to fried tomatoes due to browning the flour before adding fresh or canned tomatoes. Stewed Tomatoes makes an attractive vegetable dish by itself or you can eat them over toast for a nutritious and economical lunch. Stewed Tomatoes are good year round, but comes in handy during the summer when canning tomatoes and you have one quart that doesn’t seal or extra tomatoes that needs to be used up. My Stewed Tomatoes takes thirty minutes to prepare and this recipe serves six.

Stewed Tomatoes

4 tb margarine
¾ c self-rising flour
1 c cold water
1 qt tomatoes
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper

In a medium-sized saucepan melt margarine and then stir in the flour. Turn up the heat and brown the flour. Then turn down the heat to low and quickly add water and tomatoes. Turn the heat back up gently stirring the tomatoes until they boil. Add salt and pepper. Let simmer for fifteen more minutes. Serve hot by itself or over buttered toast!

Weekly tip: Never refrigerate tomatoes as it destroys the flavor and makes them mealy. If your tomatoes need ripening place them in a paper bag with a banana or apple for a couple of days!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Corn Pudding

Corn Pudding

Dorcas Annette Walker

Our henhouse is bustling with activity. Zebulon rules the outside and the six largest hens, which have been molting during the heat wave of the past month reducing egg production. Despite the heat nothing escapes his eagle eye making him an ideal watch dog. The other day to my surprise and delight I heard an echo of Zebulon’s crowing coming from inside the henhouse. It turns out that Cheesecake is a rooster. Perched on top of a roll of wire, Cheesecake rules the younger brood inside the hen house. While Cheesecake doesn’t have the volume of Zebulon, he still manages to make a respectable sounding crow. The other surviving member of his batch, Lemon Pudding, laid her first egg yesterday. It was a perfect miniature oval.

Two weeks ago Dana took down the protective wire inside the henhouse to let our smallest bunch of half-grown chicks roam free. Blackberry ventured outside the henhouse and met his doom when he had a run-in with Zebulon. Thankfully Mustard, Cluster, Fluster, Blueberry, and Raspberry have played it safe and stayed indoors. Their bodies are growing rapidly and they are quickly becoming adults. It is fascinating to see them take on the mannerisms of their older peers. Instead of hearing peeping sounds, you now hear new-sounding clucks. With colder weather coming up all the chickens will start to go inside to roost at night. Dana is going to separate the young roosters from Zebulon and place them in another pen so we don’t end up raising fighting roosters. Instead we’ll fatten them up for the freezer.

To keep the chickens healthy and our hens laying they have to be fed a balanced diet of grains, greens, and protein. To survive the winter extra corn will be added to their diet starting in the fall to help fatten our poultry up thus enabling them to produce the necessary heat needed for cold temperatures. Chicken scratch is an old favorite chicken feed made up of a combination of whole grains or oats and corn, which is the equivalent of candy to a hen or rooster. That is why layer pellets, other protein sources, and greens are added to their diet.

Corn Pudding is an old fashion dish also known as scalloped corn or corn soufflé. Over the years I have combined a couple of recipes to our old family recipe of Corn Pudding to get the desired creamy texture and taste. You can substitute one can of drained whole corn for one can of creamed corn. Corn Pudding is an ideal dish to pop into the oven on a brisk fall day and is sure to please everyone. Preparation time for my Corn Pudding takes only ten minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Corn Pudding

Mix together in a blender:
2 (14.5 oz) cans of cream corn
1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk
½ stick of margarine (cut into chunks)
2 tb sugar
2 tb cornstarch
2 eggs
Pour mixture into a buttered two-quart baking dish. Cover and bake at 350º for 1½ hours. Serve warm!

Weekly tip: Some quick crumb toppings for baked casseroles include melted butter drizzled over: crushed Ritz crackers or regular saltine crackers, bread crumbled up fine, crushed corn flakes or bran cereals!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Mountain Cookin page at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Taco Potatoes

Taco Potatoes

Dorcas Annette Walker

My Taco Potato recipe is for the fellows like my husband who are meat and potato guys. No matter what else may be served unless there is meat and some kind of potato a main meal isn’t complete. My father was the same way. He’d sniff suspiciously at any fancy dish, but pass him meat and potatoes and he’d always smile with satisfaction. Today the microwave cuts time drastically when it comes to fixing potatoes. Now that’s enough to make a cook smile too.

There is evidence that the Incas cultivated potatoes for centuries dating back to the second century A.D. Three centuries later the Spaniards introduced potatoes to Europe. From 1845 to 1846 blight destroyed much of the Irish potato crop triggering off a widespread famine where around 2.5 million people died from starvation and disease. Ireland was the most likely source of potatoes being introduced to the United States when approximately one million Irish immigrated during this time. Today the United States ranks fourth in worldwide potato production.

Sprouts from portions cut from whole potatoes are planted in the spring. Then potatoes are harvested from the roots of the potato plant in the fall; Russet being the main potato variety grown here in the United States. Only ten percent of the potato crop is harvested in the winter, spring, and summer months. Potatoes are well suited for long-term storage in climate-controlled rooms allowing potatoes to be sold throughout the year, which also allows greater flexibility to sell U.S. potatoes on the open market. Idaho and Washington account for half of the entire U.S. potato production, although the highest yield of potatoes per acre are in Oregon, Washington, and California. Today the net import value of potatoes amounts to between $8 and $9 for each American while the potato farmer grosses close to $2,000 per acre in potato sales.

Russet Burbank’s are used commercially for French fries. The processing potatoes are contracted, negotiated, and signed to commercial fryers before planting. The volume of frozen potatoes consumed is now larger than the volume of fresh potatoes (less than one third of production sold) with French fries dominating. The rest of the potato production is processed into potato chips or other dehydrated products.

Potatoes are quite versatile to fix, in fact the possibilities are endless, yet no matter how they are prepared potatoes remain a filling staple. Instead of using a taco topping you can substitute:
- barbeque pork/chicken with shredded mozzarella cheese
- cooked mixed vegetables with cheese sauce
- leftover chili topped with shredded cheddar
- cooked broccoli and cheese sauce
- salsa, pepperoni’s and shredded mozzarella cheese
- sour cream with bacon bits and diced chives

Taco Potatoes

Brown 2 lbs of hamburger in an iron skillet.
Add 1 pkg taco seasoning with a small amount of water and simmer for five minutes.
While the hamburger is browning:
Poke holes in 4 medium-sized potatoes with a fork, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave for two minutes. Let sit for a couple of minutes and microwave again for two minutes until the center is soft.
Slice the potatoes in two.
Spoon taco mixture onto the top of each half potato.
Sprinkle shredded cheese over meat.
Cover and microwave for one minute until the shredded cheese is melted.
Garnish with sour cream and chives!
Preparation time is approximately fifteen minutes and this recipe serves eight one-half potatoes.

Weekly tip: After microwaving and cutting a potato in half, pinch each end of the halved potato and then take a fork to fluff up the inside pulp. This will help to keep your topping from sliding off of the potato and also let the topping seep all the way through to make your potato more flavorful!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com