Southern Veggies

Squash Justine

6-8 medium yellow squash

onion

butter

cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

optional add-ons:  chopped red pepper and/or canned pimento, slivered almonds

Cook squash in boiling water 4-5 minutes and set aside.  Layer in baking dish: squash, slices of onion, cheddar cheese and butter, repeat layers, salt and pepper to taste.  Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes

Fried Okra

sliced okra (a lot)

corn meal (some)

salt & pepper

Put okra in large bowl.  Moisten with small amount of ice water.  Toss with corn meal to coat.  Heat oil in skillet and fry okra in batches until golden.  Serve alongside fresh, sliced garden tomatoes.

Comfort Food: Bread Pudding with Warm Lemon Sauce

No picture of this one- I completely forgot... but hopefully it will speak for itself.  So yummy and easy!

Bread Pudding
Baguette (day old) broken into pieces
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups milk
6 beaten eggs
1 tsp rum extract (or vanilla)

Break baguette into pieces and arrange in 9x13 dish (I used almost 3 small baguettes).  Melt butter in saucepan, stir in sugar and milk into heated.   Stir in beaten eggs and extract and pour mixture over bread.  Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until golden on top and set.

Warm Lemon Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup water
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp butter

Combine sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan.  Stir in water until smooth and bring to boil over medium heat.  Boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, lemon peel and butter, stirring until butter melts.  Serve over pudding.

**this sauce was also fantastic with crepes!

Balsamic Green Beans

This is one of my new favorite side dishes- quick, easy and delicious!

Balsamic Green Beans

2 lbs green beans (snap off ends)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Cook green beans in boiling salted water for 4 minutes.  Remove and set aside.  Cook balsamic vinegar in small saucepan over medium heat about 7 minutes until reduced by about half to a syrup.  Meanwhile toss beans in mixture of olive oil, salt and pepper and place in single layer on roasting pan.  Roast 18 minutes at 475 or until slightly charred (don't stir).  Remove from oven and place in serving bowl and toss with balsmic vinegar.  Serve immediately.  

Roasted Tomato Bread Toss

This was super yummy and perfect with summer tomatoes.  I didn't have enough cherry tomatoes so I used a combination of cherry and tomatoes and chunked up regular tomatoes.  I also added feta cheese.  The amount of time it said to roast just the bread was a little too long I think but the juices from the marinate soaked into the too crispy bread and it was fine.

Roasted Tomato Bread Toss

2lb tomaotes (6 cups) cut up
6 cups torn baugette or any stale bread
2 -3 T olive oil
1/2 c pitted Kalamata and/or green olives
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

1. Position one oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat to 400 F.
Line jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Pat tomatoes dry with paper
towel. arrange tomatoes in single layer in pan. Place bread in large
bowl,toss with 2-3 T olive oil. arrange bread on 2nd jelly roll pan.

2. Roast tomatoes on upper rack, bread on lower rack for 20 -25
minutes for tomatoes. Leave bread in until it is lightly toasted (5-10
minutes).Roast tomatoes until they begin to wrinkle,stirring once.

3. Put bread and olives in tomato pan. combine remaining 2 t. olive
oil and remaining ingredients. toss gently, transfer to serving bowl.
Makes 8 side dish servings