Pea Soup

I absolutely LOVE split pea soup! The kind that's made with a well-picked-off ham bone. My neighbor doesn't favor it and my nephew, who is an excellent "from-scratch" cook politely turned me down, claiming not to be a fan of pea soup. Oh, well...all the more for me! Actually I offered to swap a taste of mine for a taste of his roasted butternut squash soup but it was not to be.

I think I love it so much because of my first day at school. I remember that day very well, down to the tiniest details. You see, I didn't want to go. I was being the obstinate child that appeared often in those days. Mother took me by the hand we marched out the door and down the road anyway, with me protesting, even though I had my favorite pink dress on with the little white flowers and was wearing my turned down cuff Sunday School socks with the pink stripes. By the way, the dress was made from chicken feed sacks.

We walked the mile, yes it's like you hear, but we DID - and the teacher greeted us at the classroom door. She was very pleasant and smelled nice. I clung to Mother's skirts and wailed. Finally, after a promise from her that we would have split pea soup for lunch I relented and became a kindergartner with high hopes to just get through the four hours and have that wonderful treat as soon as Mother came for me and we could walk the long mile back.

Who would have thought peas could appease so well? That soup would be considered a TREAT?

Wonder what she did with my 2 year old brother when she was doing all that walking and preparing my soup? The promise was kept and who would know that it is remembered so well 70 years later!

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Pea Soup

Ham bones cooked in 16 cups water for 7 hours on low setting

Strain/drain ham bones

1 lb dried split peas put into broth

2 cups finely chopped onion put into broth

Simmer 3 hours, stirring often

Serve with warm honey cornbread muffins slathered with butter

Pecan Pie

Shortcut: I used prepared frozen deep dish pie crust

3 eggs need to be whipped to a froth.

Hard-packed dark brown sugar, butter and dark corn syrup need to come to a rolling boil in a very thick saucepan.

Hot boiled mixture needs to be poured INTO eggs immediately while stirring.

Ground (not whole or half) pecans stirred in along with vanilla.

All poured into crust shell and baked in hot oven.

Dishes, pot and utensils soaked in hot dishwater before washing up.

Easy but messy and sticky cleanup!

I make 2 of these each year and they are sooooo good! Better'n candy!

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

I don't make them fancy but they are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!!

Not an easy project due to VERY stiff batter, but worth the effort. Willing to share - some of the five dozen. Come and have several with me.

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."

~ Fernand Point ~

The Best Things....

It's corn time! We're country folks and really enjoy the summer corn. Tonight we had a corn dinner. That means that all we ate for dinner was corn - on the cob, of course!

Sure, we do know that it is high in starch and such, but so what! Several blogs last year, I posted about our love of corn. I'll repeat that post here, later, BUT.... The shock was that we paid 50 ¢ an EAR for this sugar and cream corn today! We bought five. They were EXCELLENT!

Now years ago, we were very spoiled by having instant access to our own garden corn and the nearby farmer's corn as well. We had all we could eat and our horses did too. I guess times have changed since we no longer have a garden. The local farmer's stand is 5 miles away so there is where we were "forced" to buy our supper.

I have my own method to cook it too, just like my mom and my grandma did. I put a little water in a big pot. When it comes to a rolling boil, I dump the corn into it, replace the lid, and time 10 minutes - EXACTLY! I then immediately remove the cooked ears (with tongs - mine are OLD) onto a platter. We serve ourselves. The butter, yes, I said BUTTER, (stick) is on a special flat dish and we ROLL the corn directly on it. Then we sprinkle salt and pepper. We've learned that we don't like sea salt at all. It isn't salty enough and doesn't stick or dissolve correctly. The pepper can be fresh ground from the mill or shaken from the regular shaker - it doesn't seem to matter to us.

1907 kitchen tongs

Our favorite is "bodacious" but we can't find any locally - YET!

Enjoy my previous blogs from last year about corn now......

Monday, July 12, 2010

Corn Fed

Here in the country, a local farmer brings his produce to town. He sets up in a vacant parking lot. Corn is all the rage now. It sells for 45¢ an ear and is well worth it.

The first we had was "Silver Queen" but it wasn't mature enough to suit me. This week it's "Butter and Sugar" and is WONDERFULLY delicious!Our favorite is "Bodacious" but he doesn't grow that variety. It's the one Ed used to plant here many years ago.

The first step is to find the large kettle which is stored waaaay in the back of the cupboard as it isn't used often.

The Hunt

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!! Yes! Corn is beautiful.

Satisfying too! YUM.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Corny Lesson

Bodacious (Top) and

Silver Queen

~The Bodacious hybrid is great eating and is still delicious well after harvest. The ears are about 8 inches long with 16-18 rows of kernels. The Bodacious hybrid does better in warm soils.

~The Silver Queen hybrid is a very popular white corn with 8 inch ears. The ears grow 14-16 rows of delicious kernels. The Silver Queen variety of corn is widely adapted to many different areas.

Hybrid: Hybrid seeds are seeds grown from the crossing of 2 parent plants to produce a new offspring. Most hybrids are an F1 variety, meaning that they are a first generation hybrid. Hybrid seeds incorporate the desirable traits of both parents to make strong plants.

Hybrid seed cannot be saved, as the seed from the first generation of hybrid plants does not reliably produce true copies, therefore, new seed must be purchased for each planting.

~Butter and Sugar kernels are yellow and white with delicious flavor. Ears are plump and sweet. This very sweet bi-color variety is great for eating fresh or freezing and canning. Ears grow about 7 1/2 inches long with 12 to 14 rows of kernels. They grow on tall, vigorous stalks.