Growing up, one of my very favorite things for my mother to cook with dinner was fried eggplant.  It wasn’t something we ate often, so I was always thrilled when I spotted a beautiful eggplant sitting in the fridge after a trip to the grocery store.  To me, it’s the coolest looking produce in the market.  The shape, the color, the size…love it.

It’s has lots to offer nutritionally, as well.  Did you know:

• Eggplant is low in saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol?
• Eggplant is high in dietary fiber, folate, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus and copper?

It’s good for you.  But I’m going to change that.  Because I grew up country-fried and it’s what I do.

So…

Grab a skillet and put enough oil in it to cover the bottom.  Heat the oil over medium-high heat.

Select a beautiful eggplant and lop of the ends like this:

Then cut it in half.

Slice it into 1/4″ slices.

Coat each slice in a flour, salt & pepper mixture.

Dip in milk.  Or evaporated milk.  Or buttermilk.

And dip in flour again.

When your oil is hot and ready to go, lay your slices in there.  Cook each side until they reach a deep golden brown or whatever level of doneness that appeals to you.

Drain them on a plate covered with a paper towel.

And the special ingredient??

Sugar.

Lightly sprinkle them with sugar while they’re still hot.  Trust me.  It’s worth it.

The whole family loves them and while it may not be the healthiest way to serve eggplant, it’s a way to get them in kids’ tummies. Yummy comfort food.

I’m curious, though….how do you prepare eggplant?

Like

Unlike

It’s old school.  It’s country.  It’s delicious.

It was a staple on my grandmother’s table.  Rarely did I eat a meal at my grandmother’s house that she didn’t have dodger bread hot and slathered in butter.  My mom carried on the dodger bread tradition at our family table each time she’d cook a pot of beans.  Or turnip greens.  Or a roast.

It’s not a pretty food.  It’s not a fancy one, either.  But it’s the perfect accessory to any chilly-day meal and satisfies like nothing else.  You bake it until it’s hard and crunchy, then smear butter on it while it’s still piping hot.  Use it to sop up the juice from your beans.  Pile some greens on a piece and scarf it down.  It’s comfort in its truest form.

I’m sad, though, that it’s such a dying tradition.  I can mention dodger bread in a crowded room and nobody knows what I mean.  This is a delicious, simple food that needs to be widespread and carried on.  Help me bring it back to life!

Dodger Bread

2 cups cornmeal

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tblsp sugar

Boiling water (I boil about 3 cups to be on the safe side)

1 tblsp oil

Pour 2 cups of cornmeal into a medium mixing bowl (Nevermind my large one in the pictures.  Unnecessary.).

Add salt, baking powder and sugar.

Now, you’ve boiled a few cups of water, but we’re going to start by pouring in 1 1/2 cups of it.  I added a tad bit more to achieve this paste-like consistency.

Add your oil.

Mix well and spread on a cookie sheet*.  I use my oldest, ugliest one covered in foil because dodger bread bakes at high temperatures.  In fact, if I’m in a hurry, I’ll crank it up to 500 degrees, but that’s not necessary if you allow plenty of time.  Don’t forget to spray your pan or foil! (I did forget while I was taking these pictures.  I lived to regret it.)

Stick it in a 425 degree oven and set your timer for 30 minutes.  I like mine nice and crunchy with a little bit of softer bread toward the center, so I bake until the edges are nice and brown.  That’s the magic behind it, you see.  Get it almost brutally crunchy, then soften it with the juices from your meal.  Man, it’s magic on a cold day!

Make dodger bread a family tradition in your household.  Your kids will beg for it when they’re coming home from college one day.  I promise.

*You can also pat a little bit of the dough into greased muffin cups.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Find this recipe on Tasty Kitchen!

Like

Unlike

It’s a white vodka cream sauce with sauteed asparagus and mushrooms.  It’s so delicious served over a good cheese-filled ravioli but will make any pasta be proud to be seen with it.

Go try it.  Now, please.  Recipe is here.

And yesterday, Elliott and I were dozing in and out at nap time and I had this idea.  I felt like I needed to hurry to the kitchen and combine my favorite pie crust recipe and the delicious fudge filling from my Fudge Puddles recipe.

This is the result:

Absolutely heavenly little bite-sized fudge pies.  I call them….Mini Mud Pies.  Stick a pecan or some toasted coconut on top and WOW.  Yum.  Recipe is here.

So I have a new favorite cookie.  And it’s awesome.  I think I’ve eaten approximately 19 of them this morning and I see no end in sight. Please make them and eat as many as I have.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup  butter, softened

3/4 c  brown sugar

1/4 c  white sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c  flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp  baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

2 cups  quick oats

1 1/4 cup  white chocolate chips

1/2 or 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350.

Put water on to boil.

Mix butter, brown & white sugars and vanilla thorougly.  Add in flour and salt.  Mix.

Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and mix into dough.

Mix in oats, white chocolate and cranberries.

The dough will be thick and not gooey.  Form into 1 1/2″ balls and put on lightly greased cookie sheet (I prefer to use parchment paper).

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Gorge yourself.

(P.S.  These are excellent with a hot cup of Tension Tamer tea from Celestial Seasonings!

Like

Unlike

How could anyone resist these?

I found the original recipe at allrecipes.com, but made a few minor changes to make the recipe a little more to my taste.  Here’s my version:

Abbie’s Fudge Puddles

1 cup softened butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar*
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla**
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat to 325.

Mix butter, peanut butter, and sugars until creamy.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate, smaller bowl, mix your flour, baking soda and salt.  And to peanut butter mixture.  Once you’ve got your dough mixed well, roll into 1 inch balls and place in greased mini-muffin pans.  Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Immediately press center of cookies with melon baller ( I use a round teaspoon) and then let cookies cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.  Any less time and they’ll be too soft to transfer in one piece and any longer, they might get too hard and stick/break.

For fabulous fudge filling:

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips***
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

You can use a double boiler to melt this, but I just put them in a Pyrex bowl and microwave them for 1 minute.  Stir, then microwave in 20 second increments until nice and smooth.  Spoon into cookies and allow a few minutes to set.

*I love using dark brown sugar for a richer taste.
** I keep the huge bottles of clear Mexican vanilla on hand. I prefer the clear, because with the Mexican clear, you still get the amazing flavor, but it doesn’t affect the color of my icing when I decorate cakes.
*** I prefer semi-sweet to the sweeter milk chocolate, but do whatever appeals to you.

Like

Unlike

I’ve decided to share this glorious thing with you today and let you know how I do it. I’m sure there are a billion and 3 ways to do it, but here’s my way.

Things you’ll need:

2 Eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 cups flour
paprika
salt & pepper
3/4 cup Louisiana hot pepper sauce
3 Tblsp Butter
1 tsp vinegar
oil
about 3 chicken breasts cut into strips

Please keep in mind my measurements are very approximate….I don’t ever measure on recipes like this.

Pour oil into skillet until it’s about 1/2 deep or so. Set the burner to medium heat and let the oil get hot while you prepare your strips.

Put milk and eggs into a small bowl and mix with fork.

I like to put my flour and seasonings in a pie plate. Dump in a heap of flour and sprinkle in seasonings to taste. I don’t add tons because I have to keep a few strips out for the kids without sauce, and I want theirs to be pretty mild. Mix ‘em up.

Take your breast strips and roll each one in the flour mixture, then in the milk mixture….and back into the flour mixture. Gotta make sure they’ve got a nice coating on them.

By now your oil should be hot enough, so throw in your strips and let them brown on one side. Flip them once and let the other side brown. (See that one dark one?? What the heck? He got a little anxious and had to get brown a little too fast. And it wasn’t because he was the first one in and my oil was too hot. It wasn’t.)

While the chicken is frying, put your pepper sauce, butter and vinegar in a microwavable bowl. Zap it until the butter melts and then mix it up. Just smelling it will give you heartburn. Mmmhmmm.

When your chicken is cooked, drain it on a paper toweled plate. Pull out some for the kiddos and then dump the rest in a big Ziploc bag. Dump in your prepared sauce, too. Zip it up really tightly and shake it until your strips are good and coated.

Dump into a dish (Choose one that makes your food look plentiful, though. I did not.) Eat up and let me know what you think!

Like

Unlike

Well, it was one of those days. I really should have gone grocery shopping a day or two before that, but hadn’t, so supplies were running low. I grabbed the only things that even made sense together and came up with my Chicken Roll-ups. They have become a huge hit with my family….and many of my friends’ families! Let me know what you think!

1 can chicken breast
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can chopped green chilis
garlic powder to taste
chopped onion or onion powder to taste
about 1/2 cup milk
1 can Grands biscuits
shredded cheese

In a skillet, mix chicken, the soups, peppers, garlic, onion, milk and a handful or two of cheese. Heat until soups have thinned some, but not to the point of melting the cheese completely. (don’t you love how specific my directions are…)

While that cools a bit, roll your biscuits flat with a rolling pin. Plop a big spoonful of chicken mixture in the middle of each biscuit and roll them up burrito style. Place them seam-side down in a casserole dish and cover them with remaining mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Keep in mind when you read my recipes that Shayne can’t cope with onions….so anytime you see ‘onion powder’ please add chopped onion if your family can cope. I dream of chopped onion……

Like

Unlike