Our Southern Soul Food

Hey Y’all! Come own in! Gimme a hug!

We are the Proud Owner’s of this New Orleans Treasure Found in Salvage

( We have wonderful plans for it.) 🙂

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So, Are ya Hungry? We were just Cookin’ up some Catfish and Coleslaw.

We’ve also got a great Creole and Okra Casserole for ya!

A Broccoli and Cottage Cheese Cornbread

This is a Southern Favorite!

Care to join us? Come own in and sit a spell I’ll git you sum ice tea.

It’s comin’ right up!

Julie and Gordon

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Fried Catfish,

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Southern Coleslaw……. (I grew up callin’ it Slaaaw.)

I have to say that my Yankee husband made this Southern girl the best Slaaaw I have evah eaten! 🙂

Catfish and Coleslaw go hand in hand.

(There’s also nothin’ bettah than a Slaw Dawg. Slaw on a Hotdawg.)

Catfish is a very popular fish in the southern states. It was not a fish that my parents or grandparents cooked, but it was a food that I, Julie, would eat very often at restaurants. Whenever I would go water skiing with my friend Judy and her dad out on Douglas Dam Lake in Sevierville, TN. when I was in high school, Judy’s dad would always take us out to dinner for catfish after a big day of water skiing. There was a restaurant on the lake where you could park (moor) your boat.

Cowboy’s Restaurant Today

What I loved about that restaurant wasn’t just the delicious southern cooking, it was that they didn’t care what we were wearing. Judy and I would be barefoot and soaking wet wearing our swimsuits, yet no one cared!

(Have you ever eaten in a restaurant wearing a bikini with no shoes? And, no shirt…) 🙂

We would order a big dinner of fried catfish, coleslaw, French fries and hush puppies. We would usually eat every bit of it because we were so hungry from our day out on the lake. Judy’s dad taught me how to water ski. Judy was pro! She grew up on that lake and while I wore two ski’s, she only wore one.

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Great with Crab Cakes,

Stuffed Scallops……

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And Corn on the Cob….

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AND…

A Little New Orleans Homage to a Favorite Story, The Princess and The Frog

Disney’s Tiana

Our Niece Vivien with Tiana at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Strong Princess’s with Attitude!

My Homage Cupcakes to The Frog

(See Below at Bottom of Blog Post)

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Microwave Corn on the Cob

Gordon’s Write Up:

The best way I have found to cook corn on the cob is by using the microwave. It cooks it in 3 minutes and is just as good as if you boiled it.

Each Fiber is Connected to ONE Corn Kernel

Shuck away some of the top layers of corn husks. Keep some of the husks by pulling them down most of the way down the cob. Now remove the hair like silk from the cob. Rub the part of the silk attached to the cob to remove fully.

Wrap the remaining husks around the cob and then wrap the entire cob with a paper towel.

Wet the paper towel and partially squeeze each cob dry, so its not dripping wet. Set them aside until you are ready to cook them.

When everything else is cooked for your meal, place up to 3 wrapped cobs in the microwave for 3 and a half min. on high.

Carefully, remove the cobs from the microwave, then remove the remaining husks.

Butter, Salt and Pepper……

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Hush Puppies

Sadly, the hush puppies never made it to a pretty plate for a nice presentation. We just grabbed them from the cookie sheet when they were done.

These were just a frozen brand that we liked. Not homemade. Not everything has to be homemade to taste good.

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Pre-Packaged Stuffed Scallops

We bought these pretty Stuffed Scallops at Publix.

They were delicious! A great addition to our meal.

Just Bake in the Oven

Easy!

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Fried Catfish

Gordon’s Dinner, top…

Julie’s Dinner, bottom….

Because Catfish are Bottom Dwellers…..

many people will not eat them!

They eat things like worms, other fish, night crawlers, algae and plants… They love stinky food!

As gross as all of that sounds, just think about it? That would be lots of flavor!

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How to Fry a Catfish

Ingredients:

2 Catfish Fillets

2 Cups Peanut oil

1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk

8 Drops Tabasco Sauce

1/2 Cup Corn Meal

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

Our Ingredients for our Catfish

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Place your catfish fillets in a medium bowl.

Add enough buttermilk to the bowl to mostly submerge the fillets.

Jostle the fillets around, so the buttermilk penetrates all sides of the fillets.

Add as much or as little Tabasco Sauce as you like.

The milk will counteract the heat of the Tabasco, so if you like things hot, you may need to add more Tabasco sauce.

Add enough peanut oil to your Cast Iron Skillet as needed to coat the fillets during cooking.

A Cast Iron Skillet is the best pan to fry things in, as it keeps the heat even and stays hot longer.

The oil will also help to place a thin layer of coating, making the cast iron almost non-stick.

Adding the Peanut Oil

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Add your corn meal to a medium sized bowl.

Then add your flour to the bowl

Now, add as much or as little cayenne pepper to the bowl.

Salt and pepper to taste, then your garlic powder.

(Here Gordon is adding Saindhav Salt to the bowl. Saindhav Salt is a Himalayan that has been ground to a fine powder. But you can use any salt that you like.)

Gordon Adding some Garlic Powder

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Mix the ingredients well.

Place the ingredients on a large plate and distribute it evenly.

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Heat your oil to Medium High heat. Be sure to have a splatter shield to prevent the oil from getting everywhere.

Place your fillet onto the dry mix, coating it evenly on both sides and shake of any excess.

Carefully lay your coated fillet into the hot oil.

After about 3 min. or when the one side is golden brown as shown below, using tongs flip your fillet to cook the other side.

After another 3 min. or so, using your tongs, transfer the fillet to a cooling rack with paper towel underneath to catch the excess oil.

Here, you can lightly salt the fillets if desired.

Perfection!

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Southern Coleslaw

(Sometimes known as Purple Slaw)

The Ingredients:

1/2 head of Red Cabbage – cored and shredded

8-10 – Multi-colored Carrots – grated

1/2 Shallot – thinly sliced and chopped

1 Cup Miracle Whip

1 Heaping Tbsp. Grainy Mustard

1 Tbsp. Celery Seeds

2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Splenda Sugar (or any granulated sugar you prefer.)

1/4 Cup Kikkoman Manjo Aji-Mirin – Sweet Cooking Rice Seasoning

Slice the cabbage in half, then in half again.

Now, slice away the hard core.

Slice the cabbage thinly, the chop into small pieces.

Place the chopped cabbage into a large mixing bowl.

Wash then shred your carrots into the bowl.

How Beautiful!

Slice one shallot in half…

then thinly slice and chopped half of the shallot into very small pieces.

Add your shallot to the bowl.

Now, add your Miracle Whip…

Mustard…

Celery Seeds…

Cider Vinegar…

Splenda Sugar…

and Mirin Rice Seasoning to the mixture.

Mix all the ingredients well.

Taste the mixture to make sure it is to your liking.

If you feel the need to add more of something then feel free to do so.

Beautiful PURPLE

We do always seem to put things in little bowls. 🙂

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Busch Gardens Food and Wine Festival

Po’ Boys and Frogs Legs

The Fish Po’Boy and the Frogs Legs

Our family recently spent the day at Busch Gardens Food and Wine Festival

Brian, Veronica, Julie, Lauren, and Brodie (Gordon taking photo)

My favorite food item was the Frog Legs

Having grown up in small towns in the south with my step-father being the only doctor in town, sometimes his patients couldn’t pay him for their medical treatment so they gave us things like Homemade Peanut Butter, Homemade Quilts, Deer Meat, and even Frogs Legs.

My brother’s fashioned sticks that had a forked end and tried their hand at Frog Gigging. We always had ponds on our property where frogs would thrive. You go Frog Gigging at night. Frogs legs are excellent, by the way. They even taste better than chicken to me. I am no fan of chicken wings, but frogs legs are a lot like them but so much better.

We will have to try our hand at a Frog’s Legs recipe, but until then, I do highly recommend them. 🙂

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Cornbread with Broccoli and Cottage Cheese

This is a Southern Favorite!

It’s also quite easy to make…….

All you need to do is to make a cornbread mix, any brand or recipe that you prefer.

Then just add some broccoli and cottage cheese. I thaw out a frozen broccoli package and drain, before I add to the cornbread mixture before baking. I just eyeball the ingredients.

I Loaded my Cornbread with the Ingredients!

Then baked them according to the package instructions.

Packed With Broccoli and Cottage Cheese

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My Cupcakes

Our son Brodie made the frog in the frame. It was a school project. He had to carve it out of a piece of rubber, then placed the rubber “stamp” into some green ink, then applied it to a white paper and then brought it home. I framed it.

I immediately loved it! Not just because it was a frog, but because my little Brodie made it!

These are my Birthday Cupcakes

(Note the bicycle bell) 🙂

Cupcakes for My Birthday

I’m so happy to have the bicycle bell!

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Tiana’s Beignet’s

Disney’s The Princess and The Frog

I remember when the movie came out in 2009, how excited the African-American community was. They finally had their very own Disney Princess! And what a cool Princess that she is! I also remember that we went to Disney World right after it’s release that I was very pleased to see so many Caucasian children wearing Tiana’s Princess dress.

Tiana isn’t a color, she is an inspiration.

And every little white girl that mimicked her knew that.

Tiana’s Beignet’s

Your know you’re in New Orleans if the doughnuts are square and don’t have holes. These pillow shaped French pastries are called Beignets…….

As taken from The Princess and The Frog, Tiana’s Cookbook, Recipes for Kids

Ingredients:

3 Cups Flour

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 t. Baking Powder

1/2 t. Baking Soda

1/2 t. Salt

1/2 t. Nutmeg

1 Cup Buttermilk

1/3 Cup Water

1 Egg, Beaten

1/2 t. Vanilla Extract

Vegetable Oil, for Frying

Confectioner’s Sugar for Dusting

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Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine 2 3/4 Cups of the Flour with the Sugar, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt and Nutmeg. Whisk everything together.
In a large bowl, whisk together the Buttermilk, Water, Egg, and Vanilla Extract. Stir in the Flour mixture from Step 1.
Use some of the remaining Flour to dust your work surface. Place the dough on it and pat it into a large 1/2 inch thick square. Dust the top with more Flour if it gets sticky. Next, slice the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares.
Now it’s time to fry the Beignets—- be sure to ask an adult to help you! Heat 2 inches of Vegetable Oil in a heavy saucepan on the stovetop until the temperature reaches 325* on a deep-fat thermometer. Check the temperature every so often while cooking. If it gets too hot, temporarily turn the heat down, or off.
Carefully drop 3 dough squares at a time into the hot oil. Fry them for 3 minutes, turn them over, and continue frying for 3 more minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beignets to a wire rack set atop paper towels to drain. Dust the beignets with Confectioner’s Sugar, and enjoy!

Tip: Use a sifter or small sieve to put the sugar on the top of the beignets.

They made a BEAUTIFUL Birthday Cake for ME!

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Two Cool Disney Princess’s

Belle and Tiana

The Princess and The Frog

Our Niece Vivien with Tiana at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Disney’s Tiana

Strong Princess’s with Attitude!

My Homage Cupcakes to The Frog

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Our Fountain Tadpoles

Every spring we turn our fountain over to the frogs that lay their eggs in it. The eggs hatch and turn in to tadpoles that then grow into frogs.

We feed them lettuce and celery and whatever greens that we have that are rotting in our refrigerator.

We watch them grow, sprout legs, and jump out of the fountain when they are ready.

Sometimes we catch a few of them that have gotten in our house and then release them outside in our backyard where they can live and thrive and hopefully go on to having their own “children” someday who will then lay their own eggs in our fountains.

So, these are the cupcakes that I dedicate to the Frogs that just may turn into Prince’s.

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The Cupcake Toppings

Sugar Free Ready made Frosting

Food Coloring

Various Colored Sugar Beads

Chocolate Beads

Green Sugared Candies

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I do Believe This is Naveen

Can you see the frogs peering at you from the swamp?

The Cupcakes are just a White Cake Mix

The Toppings are Tiny Sugar Beads that Represent Frogs Eggs

I did use food coloring, green and blue, for the cupcake frosting.

The plastic frogs I keep around the house in various places. I like to bring nature inside my house. So that it kind of looks like frogs are hopping around our house. I do keep a few in our windowsill. I started doing this when we left Hawaii and moved to the Mainland. I missed all the geckos we had crawling all over our walls so I bought a bunch of plastic lizards and placed them around the house because I missed them.

The frog tile that you see to the right was painted by my nephew Joseph, and given to us as a gift.

We treasure it!

Also some of the Princess and the Frog Valentine’s.

Tiana as a Frog, Herself

See the card to the right of the photo above? Those were graphics that my daughter did that I found in her trashcan and then scanned into our computer and applied to this card. I then added Disney’s Tiana and a cute little frog to the card.

I made that card YEARS ago!

Tiana’s Cookbook

One of my Favorite Cookbooks!

Delicious Cupcakes, Perfect for Mardi Gras!

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Let’s Not Forget that Voo-Doo that You-Do to ME!

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Ah, New Orleans

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Our Outdoor Fountains

As I said above, every spring we turn our fountain over to the frogs that lay their eggs in it.

They hatch and turn into tadpoles. We feed them lettuce so that they won’t cannibalize each other. When they are grown they will be frogs and they will eat the bugs and mosquitoes that carry diseases in our backyard. They are very welcome to live in our backyard. They contribute to our health and survival.

I do admit that I would love my beautiful fountain back, but I am willing to sacrifice for “tadpole kind.”

I’ll get the fountain back in the summer. But until then, it’s all worth it!

Here the tadpoles are going through a terrible storm. The water is filling up and spilling over the fountain. I just hope the tadpoles don’t spill over either. They usually instinctively stay at the bottom and underneath the leaves whenever there is a threat.

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This has been a very busy tadpole season.

The frogs have pretty much laid their eggs in every single body of water in our backyard.

My Makeshift Birdbath

Our Tadpole Salad

If you are thinking that is too much lettuce, you would be wrong! They will gobble that up in no time.

I LOVE these photos of the tadpoles because I am getting them with their legs growing and how they come up for air.

In the photo at right, some of the tadpoles are starting to look like frogs.

I love the cute little legs here!

They are even in an abandoned planter on the side of our house.

Welcome, future frogs of America!

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Mary Keith and John’s

Creole Celery and Okra Casserole

This casserole is from my mother and step-father. I hadn’t eaten it in decades but found the recipe card my mother gave me long ago. I gave it to Gordon to look over and told him that although I remember it being very good, that he could “Whann it up” and make it even better. So he did!

Delicious!

I Especially Love the Colors

(That’s why I went a little overboard posting the photos because the colors were just so beautiful)!

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The Ingredients

1/2 Chopped Med. Onion

4 Tbsp Butter/Margarine (We used Olive Oil)

2, 4.5 oz. Cans Chopped Green Chilis

2, 14.5 oz. Cans Cooked or Stewed Tomatoes

1 1/2 Cups Diced Celery

4 Cups Okra, (We used chopped, frozen)

1/2 Chopped Green Bell Pepper

1/2 Chopped Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Chopped Yellow Bell Pepper

1/2 Chopped Orange Bell Pepper

3 Garlic Cloves sliced

1/2 tsp Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Hot Sauce to taste (About 2 T.)

Fresh or Dried Basil or Oregano ( About 2 t.)

1 1/2 Cups Garlic and Herb Bread Crumbs

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The Spices

3/4 t. Paprika

3/4 t. Smoked Paprika

1 t. Onion Powder

1 t. Chipotle

1 t. Worchershire Black Pepper

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Gordon Used Frozen Okra

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All Prepped and Ready to Start

The Okra was still a little bit frozen, so Gordon ran it under the water in a strainer. Once thawed, he drained the water and added it to a saucepan with a little olive oil.