A flavorfully seasoned boil mix to use for a smaller batch of 1 to 2 pounds of jumbo shrimp, with sausage, potatoes and corn.

Small Batch Shrimp Boil

Most shrimp boils around here are done on a back porch, in a propane boiler set up {affil link}, and on a huge scale with often at least 20 pounds of shrimp (or more), and sometimes crabs or crawfish too. Hopefully out of that, we can sneak away a pound or two of peeled shrimp for those dishes we all love that call for already cooked shrimp.

Although I've certainly pan sautéed plenty and grown quite fond of using roasted shrimp when I just need to season a pound or two of shrimp, every once in awhile, I also want those highly seasoned potatoes, corn and sausage that come along with it. Enter the small batch version of my shrimp boil!

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Fresh peaches, softened, pureed and stewed for a fruit spread that is summer in a jar.

Peach Butter

When it comes to preserved fruit, I am generally much more of a jam or preserve gal, because while butters are usually pureed and have a smooth texture, I rather enjoy the presence of some chunks of fruit, so I guess it's a texture thing for me.

My Mama never canned, well anything, not that I can recall at least, so I never knew much about the subject and had little interest. Since starting a blog about food however, I've certainly seen a lot and as "butters" go, apple butters are featured all over the place with bloggers in the fall.

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Sliced fresh jalapenos, lightly blanched, then stacked in a quart jar with sliced garlic and brined in an apple cider vinegar and sugar brine.

Cowboy Candy - Candied Pickled Jalapenos

I used to grow lots of vegetables, including sweet and hot peppers, but haven't grown any in quite a bit. Haven't really grown much of anything other than tomatoes, and maybe a few herbs here the past few years. Just can't take the heat enough to keep the garden in good shape. But, peppers are in abundance and pretty cheap during the summer months, so you don't have to be a gardener to grab a bunch!

This is a variation of a Bell's Best cookbook recipe from the 70s that uses both sweet and hot peppers, but primarily sweet peppers. I decided to make it using only jalapenos. It's often referred to as Cowboy Candy across the net, but it's simply a pickled jalapeno that's a little bit heavier on the sugar, and somewhere along the line of those candied Fire 'n Ice pickles, we all love so much.

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Classic Fresh Purple Hull Peas

A classic recipe for southern peas, in this case, fresh purple hulls, simply seasoned with bacon, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, perfect as a side dish or as a feature on a vegetable plate. Pictured here with my whiskey glazed baked ham, Dr. Weil's steamed broccoli and the cornbread from my cookbook {affil link}, made with stone ground cornmeal from the Smoky Mountains.

Fresh Purple Hull Peas

If I had to pick one of my favorite southern peas, it'd have to be purple hulls. I just love them, and they are super easy to grow and easy to find, even if you don't grow your own.

Purple hull peas get their name from the color of the hull, and it used to be that if you ever shelled any from the pod, your purple stained fingers would be a dead giveaway. It might be that most shelling takes place in an air conditioned home these days, rather than in a rocker on the front porch in the heat and humidity, but I've shelled several pounds at a time and didn't have issue with those colorful fingers.

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A great summer salad made with garden fresh tomatoes, veggies and bacon, tossed in a flavorful mayonnaise dressing and macaroni.

Bacon and Tomato Macaroni Salad

This year, I only planted tomatoes, and although there are a few stragglers out there, they've all just about played out. I've had a few small baskets of them going at any given time this summer though, and I sure have been enjoying them, in every form possible! This macaroni salad is among the definite summer favorites of mine and one that's been sharing space in my fridge throughout this heat wave.

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Fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped and layered in with salt pork, onion, sliced smoked andouille sausage, plenty of freshly cracked black pepper and pork or chicken base or stock, cooked in the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Green Beans, Potatoes and Andouille

I absolutely love a pot of slow stewed, fresh green beans, so much so, that I can literally make a meal of a pot, especially when you throw in some ham or andouille sausage! Just give me that and some cornbread, and I am in heaven y'all!

I use my Instant Pot {affil link}, or one of my other electronic pressure cookers a lot, yes, even in the summer. I was never real attached to a slow cooker much, but I do a lot of cooking in the Instant Pot. This Instant Pot version of green beans comes in right up there along with the slow stewed version, even though instead of hours slow stewing, they come together in just minutes. I've made them enough times now, varying the way I do them, that I'm finally ready to publish a standalone version. No worries if you don't have an Instant Pot though - just click here to get to my slow-stewed, stovetop version!

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Thickly cut slices of summer squash, tossed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and a mixture of dried herbs, then grilled.

Grilled Squash with Herbs

I hesitated to share this "recipe" at first but then I thought hey, the first time I ever wanted to grill squash, I had to look up "how to grill squash" because I wanted to do it right, so hopefully it will be helpful. There is always somebody, somewhere just learning to cook.

Besides y'all. Doesn't that just look scrumptious? It's really quite simple, but along the way I've discovered a couple of helpful tips.

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A whole cut up chicken, or bone-in leg quarters, cut up, baked with simple seasonings and the trinity. Pass under the broiler to brown further, as above.

Southern-Style Baked Chicken

I love a good baked chicken and though I have a few different recipes that I've used over the years, this is one of my favorite ways to make it. We often find whole chickens, as well as family-sized packages of thighs and legs, or large block frozen bags of leg quarters on sale around here, so that's what I usually use for this dish. You can certainly use breasts, and even wings, though you'll need to adjust times accordingly, depending on size, so as not to overcook, especially with the boneless breasts.

Baked chicken is certainly not unique to the South, of course, but there is a certain way that we prepare it that makes it a little more unique to our region - just chicken, simply seasoned and baked with a scattering of the trinity, the way we love it in the South.

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Marinated Cracked Blue Crab Salad

Highly seasoned boiled crab and claws, marinated in a vinegar and oil dressing, with fresh vegetables, lemon and lots of garlic.

Marinated Blue Crab Salad

From the time that I was a little girl, tying down chicken backs into crab nets on a Biloxi pier with my Grandma Mac, fresh crabs have been such a central part of my life.

In gumbo or stuffed into the shell, made into crab cakes or patties, stuffed into po'boy bread, or jumbo shrimp, in pasta, even that hot crab dip that shows up at pretty much every event in existence around here, I can't even imagine a life without some fresh blue crab in it.

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The flavors of a sloppy joe sandwich in an easy, baked casserole form.

Sloppy Joe Bake

The Cajun loves my homemade sloppy joes, but my hamburger buns were a little on the not so fresh side, so I decided to go with the baked version this time. It's a delicious and creative way to change up the sloppy joe routine - plus there's cheese involved!

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Quick and easy batter biscuits, made in a muffin tin.

Easy Spoon Biscuits

This recipe has been around a long, long time, but I've been seeing a form of these all over Facebook here recently as "no yeast rolls," though that's a bit of a misnomer because they aren't rolls at all. I mean, in my eyes, yeast is what makes a roll a roll and gives it that special lift and texture.

This is more like a quick batter bread really, that's poured into a muffin tin for little individual biscuits, similar to those muffin tin spoon rolls, that actually are made with yeast, but are just as easy as these biscuits.

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Sweetened blackberries, layered in with crumb topping and baked.

Blackberry Crumb Cobbler

A few years back, I was feeling a little nostalgic for those days when blackberry picking was a common thing that children did, so I planted two thornless blackberry bushes I purchased from Cottage Farms on QVC. I think I've had them for three summers and those things have been producing like crazy! If you decide to plant some here's two things I have learned.

The first year they grew like mad. Beautiful canes full of greenery everywhere but not a single blossom or berry in sight. Once it froze here, I thought I'd lost them, but I just left them be and lo and behold once spring rolled around, out sprouted new growth from those canes I thought were dead and here came the blooms and berries - in early spring, followed by more in late summer.

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Jumbo shrimp, tossed in a seasoned olive oil with lemon zest and lots of garlic, topped with a panko and Parmesan crumb topping and baked.

Sheet Pan Panko Shrimp

These are almost sheet pan scampi or garlic shrimp meets oven fried shrimp, without all the hassle of dipping and battering. The inspiration for this dish came from Marlene Koch's cookbook, Eat What You Love Everyday {affil link} and it works well as both a main dish or an appetizer. The Cajun and I weren't that hungry, so I left the tails on and we ate this as an appetizer. They were amazing!

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Spaghetti Recipe Roundup

When folks think of spaghetti, they typically think of the classic spaghetti in meat sauce or with meatballs. It's definitely a favorite, easy to make and easy to teach, and even though it's the version I make most often, I also like variety!

I've put together a collection here of some of my favorite spaghetti recipes, all right here on DeepSouthDish.com, for when you're looking not only for the classic version of spaghetti, but maybe something a little different.

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Seasoned and seared pork chops, simmered with tomatoes, onion and sweet bell peppers.

Creole Smothered Chops

These are just so tasty, it's hard to believe that they are also simple and easy.

They aren't really "smothered," as in the sense most folks think about with that word - all saturated in some kind of gravy or sauce. It's more of a light smother of veggies.

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