Fresh butterbeans, or frozen, baby lima beans, slow simmered in a ham hock seasoned broth with onion, chicken base, salt and pepper, and finished with a nob of butter or bacon drippings - a definite summertime southern favorite.

Southern Style Butterbeans - Baby Lima Beans

I love butterbeans - big and small - and I don't understand for the life of me, why some southerners get all up in a tizzy about what is a butter bean, any more than what constitutes a "real" cornbread or whether a hoecake is flour or cornmeal based.

The internet has opened the south to all southerners and revealed that despite what we thought growing up, there is no one south. Truth is, how you cook in the south and what you call things in the south, depends on what part of the south you grew up in and how your mama did it, which is more likely than not to be different from how somebody else's mama did. Folks in south Mississippi cook differently than folks in north Alabama and folks in Louisiana cook differently than folks in Georgia. It's just food y'all, it's all good, so how about let's just eat and stop with the arguing about what we think is right?

These are another very simple, country-style side dish that southerners love and another one that I can literally make a meal of. On the rare occasions that The Cajun and I get to Cracker Barrel, I usually have a side of butter beans, if they have them, and in fact, my favorite meal there is a vegetable plate. Just add a chunk of cornbread and I'm a pretty happy gal. These are one side dish that I have to share though, since it's one of the few that the veggie-opposed Cajun in my household will also eat, darn!

Corn on the cob, smeared with a garlic and herb butter blend, individually wrapped and baked or grilled.

Foil Packet Corn on the Cob

I'm hearing chatter here and there of back to school already and I'm not all that unhappy! No, it's not for any of the reasons you're probably thinking. It's all because back to school means fall is near, and I am sincerely looking forward to fall this year. This summer has been miserable and it seems as if it gets harder and harder to handle as I get older. I've become a near vampire this year to avoid the heat, so I'm ready for some soup and sweater weather!

Melissa's Southern Cookbook Book Review

Melissa's Southern Cookbook by Melissa Sperka, a labor of love, paying homage to those who instilled in her a love for cooking and baking Southern-style.

Wow is it hot y'all! I almost hate to say this because I know many of you are thrilled that summer is here, but it seems like it's been super hot here in the Deep South long enough now, that I'm actually looking forward to fall.

In the meantime, I've got a nice cold dessert recipe from Melissa Sperka, straight from her newly published, debut cookbook Melissa's Southern Cookbook - Tried and True Family Recipes. It's her Granma's Famous Blueberry Icebox Pie, a true delight and perfect for these hot summer days. First, however, I'd like to introduce you to Melissa and tell you a little bit about her new cookbook!

The best of summer berries in a comforting cobbler. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the perfect summer indulgence.

Summer Berry Cobbler

I guess cobblers are about as popular in the summer as anytime for us southerners. We just turn on the oven and crank down the air conditioning here in the humid deep south. I guess we contend with high summer electric bills like folks up north do with heating bills in the winter.

Could you imagine only ever having a winter cobbler made with canned peaches? Not that there's anything wrong with that - I love those too - but I sure love a cobbler made from fresh fruit when those fresh summer peaches arrive, as much as I do a cobbler made with the luscious fresh berries of summer we all love too.