Southern Green Beans

During the cooking process, these green beans soak up an amazing amount of flavor from bacon grease, chicken broth, seasoned salt, and garlic powder. I start by cooking some diced bacon in a large pot. I then set the bacon aside, but leave all the grease in the pan. You can leave the bacon in the pot to cook with the beans, but it will get a soggy texture. But the up side is the beans will have even more bacony flavor. In this case, I’ve added the cooked bacon back once I’ve drained the beans, but sometimes I just leave it in the pot for the cooking process.

Many times a ham hock is used instead of bacon, or in addition to bacon. Traditionally, fat back (solid fat from a pig’s back) was a very popular choice for cooking green beans in the South and if you can get your hands on some good fatback, it is amazing. But good fatback is very hard to find these days. Mass market pigs are pumped full of hormones, etc. 

You want to cook Southern-Style Green Beans for at least an hour, preferably closer to 2 hours. You want them to get really soft, but not mushy, so that they are melt in your mouth tender. Just before serving, you can mix in a tablespoon or so of butter or bacon grease (my personal preference because, let's face it, everything tastes better with bacon) to give the green beans some a flavorful coating.

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon,, diced (or more!)
• 2 pounds green beans ends snapped off and longer beans snapped in half
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon butter, optional

Instructions

1. Brown and crisp bacon in a large pot. Remove bacon from pot and reserve.
2. Add green beans to pot along with all remaining ingredients, except butter.
3. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain beans and add butter if using. Check beans for seasoning and add extra salt and pepper to taste. I like lots of black pepper. Sprinkle with bacon and toss to distribute the bacon and butter.

Cheryl's Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

INGREDIENTS

For the Sweet Potatoes

• 6 large sweet potatoes (I like the dark orange/red ones)
• 1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup frozen condensed orange juice pulp
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Lots of cinnamon (we like a lot so I just dump it in until its the right color!) If you are a measurer - start with 2 t. and add more if you want
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the Crumble Topping

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• (or you can always use marshmallows depending on what you like)

• DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Make the sweet potatoes: Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and roast until very tender, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  3. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half, scoop flesh into a bowl and mash until smooth. You should have 6-7 cups of mashed sweet potato. Stir in brown sugar, molasses, beaten eggs, orange juice, vanilla, melted butter, cinnamon, and salt; transfer to a casserole pan (size depends on how much you make - 8x10" minimum)
  4. Make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, and pecans. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture. Transfer to oven and bake until nuts are toasted and casserole has puffed, about 30 minutes. Serve.

Southern Pan Fried Okra (and a story of Brevard, NC)

PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST - BREVARD, NC

Mom was an expert at pan frying okra (and squash for that matter.) It was and remains the only way I like okra cooked. She could fry it crispy-on-the-outside, almost caramelized shell and at the same time very tender inside. Her method of pan frying the okra was in the fat she fried it in.  She used melted shortening and bacon grease (which she kept on the back of the stove.) In the south bacon grease is used as a seasoning! If you are not a fan of shortening and bacon grease, then vegetable oil is fine. One rule to keep the okra tender on the inside and crispy on the outside was not to salt the okra until after frying, because it makes the okra lose too much of the moisture while it is frying and will make it tough.  Always cooked in a cast iron skillet, of course.

We lived in the country in Brevard, North Carolina, south of Asheville at the door of the Pisgah National Forest, for a while when I was a girl and we ate many a meal with just fresh vegetables out of someone's garden from the little Baptist church my daddy pastored. Most were farmers of some sort and we were frequent recipients of bushel baskets of fresh produce. I grew up, and fondly remember, sitting on the porch stringing fresh green beans and shucking a bushel basket of fresh picked corn. Fried okra, a pot of pinto beans, fresh sliced 'maters, fresh corn on the cob, and of course an iron skillet of mom's buttermilk cornbread (leftovers crumbled up into fresh churned buttermilk and eaten with a spoon.) Scrumptious! I could eat like that every day. 

Daddy was the pastor of a small country church in Brevard and one of the folks in the church had a dairy farm and supplied us with fresh milk, cream still floating on top, fresh churned buttermilk, and butter. We went over to their farmhouse for lunch many Sunday's after church. I remember the grandma who was living with the family sitting on the big porch with an old-fashioned wooden hand churner which she pushed up and down as she rocked and drank sweet tea. Us kids were playing in the corn silo or being taken for hayrides. As you can probably tell from my story, this was my all-time favorite place growing up. (see below photos)

Ingredients
1-2 pounds of fresh okra stems removed, sliced 1/4-inch
1/2-3/4 cup yellow cornmeal ( I use yellow self-rising cornmeal mix)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening and bacon grease or vegetable oil
salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat a large iron skillet over medium heat with shortening or oil. In a bowl add okra, sprinkle cornmeal on top; toss to coat. Add the okra all at once to the prepared skillet and fry until golden brown on 1 side, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Do not disturb until the bottom is golden brown. Turn the okra with a spatula and do not disturb until the majority of the other side is golden brown as well, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.

Now stir occasionally until all of the okra is golden on all sides, approximately another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the okra from the pan with a slotted spoon or spatula to a sheet pan lined with a paper towel.Season, to taste, with salt and allow to cool for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

Cherryfield Baptist Church, Brevard, NC



The parsonage where we lived was just down the winding gravel driveway from the church, lined with a row of pine trees we climbed as children. The little white house in front of ours (below) was occupied by a disabled woman named Helen who was in a wheelchair. As one of the church members, the church provided her this place to live and cared for her. Us kids would walk down to visit Helen often, on the way to the long stand of pine trees that we enjoyed climbing. We could go from tree to tree without coming down.

The basement of our house (below) doubled as the churches fellowship hall.

Brevard and the Pisgah National Forest were a natural playground. Slippery Rock (below), wading in the cold creeks, rope swings into the cold mountain water, hiking in the woods and meadows with Libby from our church (who gave me and my sister our nicknames - I was Peaches and Becky was Sunshine), climbing trees, and frequent sleepovers with friends. One of my best friends, Gail, lived on top of a mountain overlooking the valley and I spent a lot of time at her house. We'd swing in the porch swing, swim in the little pool sitting on the edge of the mountain, and walk down the mountain to collect the mail from the mailbox at the bottom. Her mom, Mrs. Dills, made the best country breakfasts and chittlin cornbread ever! Her dad owned a small gas station and Gail and I made ourselves sick on many an occasions raiding his candy vending machines! Another friend, Darlene's, mom was our little churches librarian. They were "rich" by Brevard standards and had a beautiful big white house with a Tara-like wide marble staircase and a large second floor screened sleeping porch which overlooked a dense forest of trees. When I spent the night was Darlene, we slept on this porch in four-poster beds, snuggled under lots of blankets, listening to the soft rain and crickets. It was magical. 

Every time I smell Dial soap, for some reason, I still think of the Coltrane Family. The two sisters, Gaye and Carol, were friends of my sister, Becky, and I. It was when we stayed with them over at their granny's place, that I decided when I was old as their granny I was going to have long silver hair like hers that she kept in a neck bun all day, but at night would let out and let us brush it with a wide brush before she braided it over her shoulder into a thick long silver cord at night. She kept chickens in the yard and when she wanted to fry up a chicken she just went out and caught one and holding it by the head, performed a whip-like maneuver which broke their necks. She would then deftly chop off the head and pluck out the chicken feathers. Now that was some fresh fried chicken!

The beauty of this part of North Carolina is amazing as you can see below, although the photos don't do it justice. If I could go back and live anywhere from my youth, it would be Brevard.

Broccoli Rice Casserole

Ingredients

Add 2  cups uncooked regular long-grain white rice to 4 c. water and  1 t. salt. Bring to a boil uncovered. As soon as it begins to boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes without lifting lid. Steam cooks the rice so keeping the lid tight is important (don't use a lid with vent). Remove from heat but don't uncover for 5 minutes as steam continues to cook the rice. 

While rice is cooking and using a very large skillet (I use my iron skillet):

Melt 6 tablespoon butter on medium heat and add 1 large chopped onion and 4 stalks chopped celery. Saute till tender. 

Add to sauteed veges over low heat and stir as cheese melts:

1 loaf (16 oz) Velveeta cheese product, cut into cubes 

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup 

2/3 cup milk 

1 teaspoon pepper (you may not need any salt, so taste first. Your rice was salted and velveeta contains salt.)

2 cups fresh broccoli florets (1/2 inch) (or you can use frozen,thawed) 

Put in greased casserole and add optional topping.

1 cup fine soft bread crumbs (about 1 1/2 slices bread) optional topping

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350ºF. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish (larger if doubling recipe) with cooking spray. Cook rice in water as directed on package.

Meanwhile, in very large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in cheese, soup, milk and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.

Stir in broccoli and rice. Spoon into greased or sprayed casserole baking dish. In small bowl, mix bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter; sprinkle over rice mixture.

Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until light brown on top and bubbly around edges.

I usually double this recipe because it's so good and leftovers are awesome!