topic Re: We Need A Little Somethin' in Kitchen

We Need A Little Somethin'

ECBG — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 01:01:53 GMT

When you're preparing a meal (with no children home, the planning, sadly, has had to leave).

Do you ever look at a meal and need a choice to balance it?

What are your "go to's" to round out a meal?

I do fruit on a lettuce leaf with cheese maybe mayo added (popular from the 50's I, (we) always liked it; apple sauce; slaw; okra, tomatoes, and he gets corn, not me; or a rice dish if there isn't a starch in the meal.

Sometimes I'll do a salad on the side, he'll do beans.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Sooner — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 01:08:59 GMT

In a hurry? Steamed broccoli; those wide flat green beans from a can; coleslaw; black bean and corn salad with a vinagrette; sauteed apples; carrot and raisin slaw or simply steamed carrots; green pea salad or kidney bean salad. Stuff like that!

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

AKgirl2 — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:31:31 GMT

Sliced cucumber with a bit of plain yogurt, or sour cream or mayo

with fresh chopped dill, salt and pepper (sometimes very thin sliced onion added). Sliced beets (drained), a few pinches of dried oregano, basil, s&p, diced onion, garlic powder, onion powder, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Let it marinate in fridge or counter for 30 mins.

Also, french cut green beans (drained) with same ingredients as sliced beets. My son and I as well as guests have enjoyed these side dishes.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

QVCkitty1 — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 01:29:21 GMT

I always have a green salad with my meal.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Poodlepet2 — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 01:46:24 GMT

ECBG, boy am I strolling down memory lane! My mom used to take canned pears and put them on a leaf of iceberg lettuce and put a dollop of mayo topped off with grated sharp cheddar. I loved it and was thinking about it the other day.

I adore salad and usually have a huge salad for lunch.....but only when it's warm (80's)

Call me crazy, but I don't want salad when it's cooler or cold....I always have green veggies-including cauliflower in the freezer. I steam them, spritz evoo and Mrs. Dash. Beans are another thing I always have (I love them: name a variety and I bet I have it!)

I always have rice on hand, and potatoes.

Stay warm,

Poodlepet2

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

froggy — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 01:54:47 GMT

@Poodlepet2 wrote:
ECBG, boy am I strolling down memory lane! My mom used to take canned pears and put them on a leaf of iceberg lettuce and put a dollop of mayo topped off with grated sharp cheddar. I loved it and was thinking about it the other day.

I adore salad and usually have a huge salad for lunch.....but only when it's warm (80's)
Call me crazy, but I don't want salad when it's cooler or cold....I always have green veggies-including cauliflower in the freezer. I steam them, spritz evoo and Mrs. Dash. Beans are another thing I always have (I love them: name a variety and I bet I have it!)
I always have rice on hand, and potatoes.

Stay warm,
Poodlepet2

Oh how I hated that pear with mayo! Gag.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

3suwm5 — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:01:44 GMT

@ECBG The pear salad I remember is a leaf of lettuce, pear half (cut side down)on top of lettuce, cottage cheese for the tail, raisins for the eyes and an almond for the nose. What do you have???? A rabbit.......

My grandpa used to say; if we were supposed to eat lettuce, we'd be rabbits.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

ECBG — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:02:47 GMT

@Poodlepet2 wrote:
ECBG, boy am I strolling down memory lane! My mom used to take canned pears and put them on a leaf of iceberg lettuce and put a dollop of mayo topped off with grated sharp cheddar. I loved it and was thinking about it the other day.

I adore salad and usually have a huge salad for lunch.....but only when it's warm (80's)
Call me crazy, but I don't want salad when it's cooler or cold....I always have green veggies-including cauliflower in the freezer. I steam them, spritz evoo and Mrs. Dash. Beans are another thing I always have (I love them: name a variety and I bet I have it!)
I always have rice on hand, and potatoes.

Stay warm,
Poodlepet2

@Poodlepet2What made me chose those was "When you have a hot meal, there should always be a cool item."). Think of salad and steak.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

ECBG — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:04:09 GMT

@3suwm5 wrote:
@ECBG The pear salad I remember is a leaf of lettuce, pear half (cut side down)on top of lettuce, cottage cheese for the tail, raisins for the eyes and an almond for the nose. What do you have???? A rabbit.......

My grandpa used to say; if we were supposed to eat lettuce, we'd be rabbits.

@3suwm5I remember that from my first cookbook. That salad was a picture.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Sweetbay magnolia — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:04:43 GMT

But what about chilled tomato aspic with a cube of butter on top? A relative used to serve that. To this day it makes me exhale loudly in distaste.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

house_cat — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:10:30 GMT

My husband loves what he calls "fried apples". I don't like them, but once in a while I make them for him as a side/dessert. I sautee peeled, sliced apples with some butter, sugar and cinammon.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

house_cat — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:17:09 GMT

@RedTop

My husband's family is from your neck of the woods, if I remember correctly. They are originally from Fort Gay, WV, some of them are still there, and then they moved to Louisa, KY and eventually Ashland. I'm sure my MIL served some foods with which you'd be familiar. One of his favorites, as a child, was a fried baloney sandwich. Have you ever had one?

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

AKgirl2 — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 09:07:25 GMT

@house_cat ~ My dad loved baked apples. Mom cored them, (MacIntosh) left peels on and stuffed the the core with brown sugar, bit of vanilla, raisins and added a bit of maple syrup over top. The house smelled wonderful, not exactly like apple pie baking, simply just cinnamon and apple. Love you mom and dad💕

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

pupwhipped — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:52:12 GMT

I think I am getting your question here. My go to for something easy "peasey" and green is, and always will be, Le Sueur English Peas. I've loved them since I was a little kid. Weird, I know. If I'm in a real pinch, I open the can, heat them up, and done. I have a friend who hates them with a passion and has always referred to them as "death peas." Her loss! LOL!

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

RedTop — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 02:59:35 GMT

@house_cat,

In my neck of the woods of southern WV, fried bologna is Redneck Caviar! My family ate a lot of fried bologna, but it was much better than the packaged stuff in the grocery stores now. Deli bologna comes close to tasting like the rolled bologna we ate back then, but is still different. To this day, I love to fry bologna in my Papaws cast iron skillet till it's almost black, and make a sandwich on white bread with mustard and thinly sliced onion.

In the 60's, there was a little Mom and Pop store in my neighborhood, and every Saturday night during the fall and winter months, they held a shooting match. My dad was a great shot, and participated in these matches almost every week. He always won something; many times it was a cash prize, but sometimes it was a food prize like a ham, turkey, or a 2-3 foot roll of bologna. My family was excited by whatever he won, but my brothers and I would jump up and down at the sight of that huge roll of bologna!

Sometimes Daddy would slice and fry some as soon as he got home, but it was guaranteed we would be eating thick sliced fried bologna for Sunday breakfast! Three slices would be fried; one for my dad, one shared by my mom and baby brother, and one shared by me and my other brother. If my mom had $1 for every piece of bologna she fried for our breakfast or lunches, she'd be a rich woman!

Fried apples are also a huge favorite in this house. We love them with biscuits and gravy.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Lost in Yonkers — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 03:30:07 GMT

My Mom used to make the mayonaise dish, too. I vaguely remember her doing it with pears. But I definitely remember she did it with pineapple slices. A lettuce leaf, 2 or 3 pinapple slices and she would mix just a little marachino cherry juice with the mayo and make it pink. Then put a cherry on top. Didn't like it then, don't like it now. But I have made it a few times for my husband.

But on topic, to round out a meal, I like a salad of iceburg lettuce, onions, strawberries, canned sliced pears and candied peacans. I love the Emerald pecans called Pecan Pie. Delicious in many dishes. I then top the salad with a salad dressing by KEN'S that is raspberry pecan.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Zhills — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 16:29:33 GMT

@pupwhipped wrote:
I think I am getting your question here. My go to for something easy "peasey" and green is, and always will be, Le Sueur English Peas. I've loved them since I was a little kid. Weird, I know. If I'm in a real pinch, I open the can, heat them up, and done. I have a friend who hates them with a passion and has always referred to them as "death peas." Her loss! LOL!

I would take that can of peas, add some relish and mayo and make pea salad! (can add onion if you like it. I do!)

Also, quicker than fried apples (yum) microwave baked apples with brown sugar, a dab of butter and raisins. Cut in half and fill cavity. Fast and yummy, especially with a scoop of ice cream that melts over it!

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

house_cat — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 18:22:26 GMT

@RedTop

My husband had a Papaw and Mamaw, as well :-)

We own three acres of land somewhere between Louisa and Fort Gay. I've never seen it, but DH suggested we retire there. I've only lived in big cities all my life, so that thought is kinda scary to me, but you never know.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

RedTop — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 14:27:25 GMT

@house_cat,

I've never been to Fort Gay, Wayne County, WV, or Louisa, KY. My limited knowledge of Louisa, KY, is thru a family friend who worked there for 2 1/2 years on a construction job in the 80's. It was actually a much larger place than the very rural area he was from farther north. A Google search of Fort Gay was quite enlightening, but the info available was from 2010, so hopefully the area has grown, and changed, since then.

I cannot imagine moving from a big city to an extremely rural area in WV. While our entire state is rural, we natives have broken that word down to degrees like semi rural which is equivalent to less than a 30 minute drive into town, mountain rural which is up to an hours drive into the closest town with a bank, doctor, and grocery store, and then total sticks where you are definitely pretty isolated and count trees as your neighbors. I've lived in WV my entire life, and love being rural; I love walking outside and hearing absolutely nothing. I am semi rural; I live in sight of my mother, my brother, and the trashy trailer neighbors, but the next closest neighbors are 1/4+ mile away.

In November my teacher daughter took me to a resort in Randolph County where she takes classes in the summer, and we were truly deep in the sticks! I told my husband we drove into Nowhere, and then went 50 miles past that. The resort was beautiful, and I understand why my daughter loves the area, but at this stage of my life I would not want to live that far off the grid.

I have a feeling Fort Gay is pretty far off the grid even by WV rural standards.

Re: We Need A Little Somethin'

Tigriss — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 15:09:05 GMT

@pupwhipped Those are my favorite canned peas, Le Sueur! They really do just taste better than the others. They aren't mush. I warm them in a bit of water, then drain and add butter and Mrs. Dash or Nature's Seasoning. I also do the same with canned corn. A bit of butter and Mrs. Dash makes them pop. Sometimes I add a bit of cheese, parm or sharp cheddar, usually.

@RedTop I'm from Georgia. That is common down here as well. Bologna doesn't taste the same today as it did back then. I don't know if they changed the recipe or if my taste buds have changed as I've grown older! Fried bologna and fried apples are super easy, somewhat health, and cheap.

@LostinYonkers Pear salad is what we called it here in Georgia. You take a canned pear, a bit of Dukes or Helman's mayo, extra sharp cheddar cheese, and a cheery to top it. I like mine sprinkled with black pepper! It really makes a difference. We have that in our schools as well. We also make pineapple sandwhiches with slices of drained pineapple, mayo, and cheddar. You can also make a pineapple casserole. YUM1

@Zhills Pea salad is AWESOME! We do it with frozen green peas instead of canned for extra crunch/texture. I also like to toss in some diced tomatoes that have the "juice" removed from them. Add lots of salt and black pepper, and you have a great side or even light lunch with some boiled eggs.

Ya'll are bringing back so many memories.