Fresh or frozen baby lima beans or butter 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 Baby Lima Beans or Butterbeans

You can use this for both butterbeans or baby lima beans, both of which I love.

Southern Style Hissy Fit Warning... I love all kinds of butterbeans - big and small and speckled - and I don't understand for the life of me, why some southerners get all up in a tizzy about what they think a butter bean is, 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.

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 in the summertime anymore 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.

A vegetable skillet meal, made from fresh summer squash, sweet Vidalia onion, with fresh okra and tomato.

Summer Veggie Skillet - Squash and Okra with Onion and Tomato

This is one of my favorite summertime skillet vegetable dishes - just simply squash and sweet onions, sauteed in a little bit of bacon drippings and butter, and stewed down with sliced okra, fresh tomatoes and finished with some garden parsley and basil. Quick and easy to make, I can make a meal of this entire pan on these hot summer days!

Ways to Use Those Garden Cucumbers

When the garden cucumbers start flowing, here's a collection of recipes for salads and more, to enjoy them!

This year, for the first time since we moved, I planted a small square foot style, raised bed garden right outside my backdoor patio. In that, I planted an heirloom tomato, some herbs, two pepper plants and two cucumber plants that just exploded, so I've been picking two to three cucumbers a day for several weeks now. The only thing I did was to feed it Jobe's organic fertilizer for vegetables. The cucumber salads have certainly been flowing here lately, and I just love having different variations to make.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven and My Thoughts on Low Carb Dieting

Perfect bacon, cooked all at once in the oven!

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Oven bacon is the easiest way to cook a lot of bacon at once, but first, I want to address a subject that interestingly several long time readers have contacted me about recently, and that is to ask what I think about this new low carb trend among some southern food bloggers, to which I respond, "there's a trend??"

Between family, grandchildren and work, I don't get out much across the interwebs so I wasn't aware of this, but y'all tell me there has been, and seriously, I'm not at all surprised to see some southern food bloggers taking the low carb path. Here's why.

 

Brabant Potatoes, known as Louisiana fries, are made from peeled and cubed potatoes, first blanched, then deep fried and tossed with a rich, butter garlic sauce. A delicious side for fish, or any main dish!

Brabant Potatoes - Louisiana Fries

While still served in high end restaurants around here on the Gulf Coast, I'm afraid that Brabant Potatoes, a Louisiana style, cubed, fried potato side, has mostly fallen out of favor with home cooks in recent years - probably due to their multiple steps.

Although folks seem to be making their way back to home cooking - and often, lamenting the fact that they didn't pay more attention to their grandmother in the kitchen - I'm afraid that in this hurry up, busy world we live in, we've mostly become more of an eat out and fast food nation.

Cold Green Bean Salad - fresh green beans, blanched then shocked in cold water to retain crispness, dressed with a seasoned vinaigrette and finished with sliced cherry tomatoes.

Cold Green Bean Salad

I have a confession to make. I have been cheating on y'all!

Well, not like that... but, when it comes to posting new stuff, things were a bit slow last month. Although I have written quite a few new recipes lately (that I've yet to write up, including this one), I have primarily been using my usual, regular, repeat recipes that y'all have also already been using for years too now. I've also been using my Traeger grill and my pressure cooker quite a bit too.

Meatballs and Marinara - Meatballs, tossed in a quick, homemade marinara sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese and served over rotini pasta. Add a side salad and some crusty bread for a fantastic meal!

Meatballs and Marinara

The Cajun loves meatballs. I swear his eyes literally light up when I say we're having meatballs for supper, without him knowing a thing about how we're having them. Just the word meatballs makes him happy!

Of course, I'm pretty sure he could also finish off a full 3 pounds of them in one sitting, if I let him. He is definitely your quintessential meat and potatoes man, so I do try to "fill in" with things like sauce, maybe some pasta, a little bread and a salad.