Hush Puppies

This is the Deep South so every now and then you have to fry up some Hush Puppies. I like Hush Puppies. I do. The fish that sometimes go with them? No so much.

Still, it's important to have a good Hush Puppies recipe. I found this one in the August 2014 issue of Southern Living magazine. For a variety, substitute fresh herbs or chopped green onions for the diced onion.

Hush Puppies

Vegetable oil
1 cup self-rising yellow cornmeal mix
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup diced onion
3/4 cup buttermilk

Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 350 degrees. Stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda and onion in a large bowl. Add buttermilk, stirring just until moistened. (Mixture will be slightly thicker than cake batter.)

Drop batter by teaspoonfuls into hot oil, and fry, in batches, 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown, turning often. Drain on a wire rack over paper towels; Serve immediately.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Green Bean and Shoepeg Corn Casserole

I've been meaning to try this recipe for awhile now. I just never got around to it. Wow! I won't make that mistake again. This is fabulous. Even the normally finicky eaters at my house went for seconds.

The recipe comes from Christy Jordan's cookbook Southern Plate. I definitely recommend you purchase it, and not just for this recipe. She shares many family recipes that are just wonderful Southern dishes. Give it a try.

I wasn't quite sure what "shoepeg corn" is. I consulted with my Mother and used a can of whole kernel corn. It worked great. I know you'll enjoy it!

Green Bean and Shoepeg Corn Casserole

1/2cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
One 11-ounce can shoepeg corn, drained
One 11-ounce can French-style green beans, drained
One 11-ounce can cream of celery soup, undiluted
1/2 pint sour cream
1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine or butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together except for the crackers and margarine. Place in a casserole dish. Melt the margarine in a skillet and mix with the crushed Ritz crackers. Spread over the top of the vegetables and bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Mini Apple Cider Pound Cakes

I found this recipe in the September 2014 issue of Southern Living Magazine. Found is the correct word. I'd marked it, laid it aside and then stuff just sort of piled on top of it. I'm going through items trying to clear out and get rid of stuff and I found what looks like a wonderful recipe. So here it is.

Mini Apple Cider Pound Cakes

 

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup apple cider

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 (5 x 3 inch) disposable aluminum foil loaf pans

Vegetable cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Stir together flour, apple pie spice, baking powder, salt and cloves. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with apple cider, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Lightly grease disposable loaf pans with cooking spray. Pour batter into prepared pans, and place on a baking sheet. For streusel-topped cakes, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons Streusel Topping over batter in each pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely (about 1 hour).

Makes 6 mini loaves.

Streusel Topping

 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

1/8 teaspoon table salt

Stir all ingredients together. Let stand 30 minutes or until firm. Crumble into small pieces.

Makes about 1 cup.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Breasts

I found this tip in the September 2014 issue of Women's Day magazine. It's from Trisha Yearwood, who has written a couple of cookbooks. Oh, and she's a fabulous singer too!

This recipe is for all of us who need cooked chicken and/or chicken broth quickly.

 

Pressure Cooker Chicken Breasts

You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also use bone-in cuts.

Season the chicken and place it in the pressure cooker. Completely cover it with water. Pressure cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to sit for another 15 minutes to let the pressure release.

Let cool completely and store in resealable plastic bags for up to a week.

Lazy Biscuits

This is another biscuit recipe from the May 2014 issue of Southern Living magazine. This is for all us folks who never seem to have enough time.

 

Lazy Biscuits

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups chilled buttermilk
1/2  cup butter, melted
Parchment paper
1 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk together flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Stir together buttermilk and 1/2 cup melted butter in a small bowl. (Butter will clump.) Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Drop dough by level scoops, 1 inch apart, onto a parchment paper-lined jelly-roll pan. (Use a 2-inch cookie scoop.)

Bake at 475 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter and serve.

Makes 14.

Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuit

The May 2014 issue of Southern Living magazine included a wonderful section on homemade biscuits. My Grandmother made the best biscuits. She had a flour bowl and just kind of threw ingredients in, mixed it all up with her hand, shaped the dough and placed it in an old greased tin pan. They were so good!!! I wanted so badly to learn how to make them but she didn't know how to teach me. She'd done it for so long, it was instinct. It didn't work when she slowed down and thought about it.

 

I doubt any of these biscuits will come close to those my Grandmother used to make, but they're sure worth a try. I probably won't use the parchment paper but I'll follow the remainder of the directions.

Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuit

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) frozen
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup chilled buttermilk
Parchment paper
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Grate frozen butter using large holes of a box grater. Toss together grated butter and flour in a medium bowl. Chill 10 minutes.

Make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk, and stir 15 times. Dough will be sticky.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly sprinkle flour over top of dough. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches). Fold dough in half so short ends meet. Repeat rolling and folding process four more times.

Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch floured round cutter, reshaping scraps and flouring as needed.

Place dough rounds on a parchment paper-lined jelly-roll pan. Bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with melted butter.

Makes 12 to 14 biscuits.

For Pillowy Dinner Rolls that are soft even when cool:
Cut in 1/2 cup cold shortening instead of cold butter.

For Crunchy bottom biscuits that are perfect with Sausage Gravy:
Warm a cast iron skillet in the oven and spread a bit of butter in the skillet before adding the biscuits.

Dixie Peanut Brittle

This recipe comes from the Alabama Peanut Producers Association. It was included in a newspaper insert a few years ago. I hope you enjoy making your very own Peanut Brittle.

 

Dixie Peanut Brittle

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups raw peanuts, skins on
2 teaspoon baking soda

In a heavy saucepan, heat sugar, syrup, water and salt to a rolling boil. Add peanuts. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly. Cool until syrup spins a thread. Add butter, then baking soda. Beat rapidly and pour on a buttered surface, spreading to 1/4-inch thickness. When cool, break into pieces.