Its hot here. Probably not as hot as where some of you live but hot enough. We’re humid too and after having been to a few places on the planet that are “hot” and not humid…. I can tell you, it really is the humidity.
We don’t eat a lot of meat and in the summer if I can keep from heating up the oven – I do. When we have meat I grill it or cook it in the slow cooker. But most days we have a meal completely out of the garden… or the freezer or mason jars where I’ve put up garden produce.
Canning home-grown tomatoes
Breaking Beans
In all honesty, it was a new thing a few years ago for my husband to have a completely vegetable meal. He thought he had to have meat and potatoes at every meal for a while. Then money got tight and tighter and he was ok with it. Now he likes it.
A typical lunch might be: sliced tomato, pinto beans,(these I pressure-can so they are already cooked)corn bread in the form of pan-fried cakes, corn cut off the cob or sauteed eggplant and maybe a salad. That’s our big meal of the day. We have a little protein at breakfast as well in the form of eggs and/or bacon.
When the okra comes in we have a lot of it every day. I barely get any frozen because we eat so much of it! Everyone in the family loves it fried. I freeze as much as possible because we like gumbo in the winter. I also dehydrate a lot of it to use in soups and stews.
This year the squash is prolific so I’ve been making all kinds of dishes with it. One of our favorites is a Mock Crab Cake made with zucchini and Old Bay seasoning.
The biggest of our Cushaw squash
You know how a lot of people can food all summer to use all winter? In the winter-time I can lots of beans so that I can use them all summer! It keeps me from heating up the house in the summer. I can winter squash in the fall too so I can make quick pies or mast plain old mashed squash with some maple syrup and butter in the summer time. I also free chunks of winter squash to use in the summer on the grill.
Even if you don’t have a garden, you can eat this way. Check out your local farmer’s markets and grocery stores, choose fresh over pre-packaged and plan some easy summer meals.
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Shari!
Could you tell us how you make fried okra? I have tried to make it from recipe books and it doesn’t taste like what we ate when we lived in the south.
Thanks.
Yes, of course!
First I wash the okra and drain it.
I heat a large skillet with about 1 inch of oil. I use coconut oil or lard. Then I cut the okra into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Next, I toss the sliced okra, which is still a bit damp from the washing, with corn meal. Then I put the coated okra in to the hot oil and fry it til its golden brown. I season it with salt after I’ve taken it out of the oil and drained it on paper towels.
There was a time when I used to make a batter with self rising flour and buttermilk and coat the okra in it before deep frying but I didn’t use that recipe very long, The corn meal is what I had as a child in the south and what I prepare now.