While Fall is typical of pumpkin recipes running wild and crazy, I fancy myself to corn. I love corn. I love corn almost as much as I love the potato. There are just so many things you can do with corn, thus the similarity with potatoes. I love versatile food. But there’s just something about corn. I don’t care if it’s canned, frozen or fresh. It’s all good.

So when I started digging through my old faithful standby recipes of Fall’s past, I cannot tell you how many corn souffle recipes I found. The bad thing about that is that I have never written on them to note which is my favorite, so I’m out to try them all and figure it out. Then I’m going to wrap the recipe card in laminate gold so that it will stand out in the crowded box. (All my old time favorite recipes from back in the day are in recipe boxes)

This one is not “The One”, but it is dang good! My oldest, broke and starving son came by last night and he smelled this cooking in the oven and almost melted on my kitchen floor. (It DOES smell really good) So you can bet that he hung around till it was ready. I’m pretty sure that’s why he stopped by anyway, but I don’t really care. I always have plenty.

Corn Souffle

1/2 stick butter, melted
1 (8 oz) pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1 can (15 1/4 oz) whole kernal corn, drained
1 can (14 3/4 oz) cream style corn
1 (8 1/2 oz) pkg corn muffin mix
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix melted butter and cream cheese together until smooth and well blended. Add both cans of corn, the muffin mix and eggs. Mix well. Pour into greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake 40 minutes until golden brown.

I’m not above bribing my boys with food to get them to hang out with their old mom.

I want to send tribute to Something’s Burning who reminded me of these cookies. She’s another Southern girl with two grown children who admits to being a geek and likes recipes and photography, so you can just imagine why I’ve been stalking her website. She’s the one person that got me to stop looking through recipe books for new stuff and go back to my tried and true recipes from back in the day. She’s posted several things that I grew up eating yet haven’t made in a long time. I would just go “Aawwhh! I used to eat that all the time!” So I’ve started going through my oldies but goodies.

Now she already posted about these cookies here, but I wanted to share too. And to thank her for sending me back to my treasure box of recipes handed down from my mama. She doesn’t even know she’s responsible for that. Thank you!

Now about these cookies. . . These things are SO easy that I think even my sister could make them. Maybe. It DOES require a pot, but you don’t have to bake them. You can make them as an afterthought, when you’re running late for something, or just because you want some chocolate. What I’m trying to say is that they’re EASY. Oh! And tasty too! Here you go!

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. When it comes to a boil, let it boil for one minute stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add peanut butter, oatmeal and vanilla. Mix well. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper. Cool and eat.

I probably should just go ahead and glue them to my gut cuz that’s where they’re going to end up.

How can one set of parents give birth to such totally opposite offspring? My brother, my sister and I are all infinitely different - opposite sides of a triangle. My sister and I are especially different in many ways. We were born only 14 months apart, yet I look about 15 years older. She got the “young” pretty gene from my mother. I, on the other hand, look like my dad. He didn’t make a very pretty woman.

Where my sister is tiny and shapely like my mom, I am larger and built like a square. The sister has a teeny tiny waist, small boobs and a behind that men have chased for years. Me - I have a mushy waist, huge boobs and a FLAT behind. My sister never had children and thus focused on her career where she became very successful. I became a mom, gave up the career, only to have to start over ten years later, still focused on my children. My sister is not very domestic, where I would like to reinvent myself as Martha Stewart sans the corncob up her ass. The sister is very concerned about her appearance at all times. Me - I’m lucky to have my hair cut by a professional once every five years and shorts and t-shirts are my friend. My sister does not cook. (That could explain why she’s so tiny) So you can just imagine my surprise when SHE gave ME a recipe.

That’s right! She gave me a recipe that she takes to potluck dinners. She was so excited to share it with me. Now when I tell you that it’s simple. . . you just simply have to believe me. This is from a girl who DOES NOT COOK, people! Actually, there’s no cooking involved in this either, but it IS a dish that she puts together. I tried it and it IS pretty good. I can see how it’s a favorite of hers since all you have to do is open cans and mix together.

See! This is all you need! No heating required. So save all those pots and pans. You don’t even need a measuring cup. You can eyeball the dressing.

Texas Caviar

2 cans Pinto Beans
2 cans Black Beans
1 can Rotel Tomatoes (mild)
1 can Rotel Tomatoes (hot)
1 can Shoepeg Corn
1 can Mexican Corn
1 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

Pour beans, tomatoes and corn into a colander and drain well. Pour into a large bowl and mix in the Zesty Italian Dressing. Stir. Serve with Tortilla Scoop chips.

Now I’ve seen recipes for Texas Caviar before and this wasn’t it, but that’s what she said it was called. Actually she said that she wanted to call it Mississippi Caviar or even Arkansas Caviar, since that’s where she’s at right now. I think I’ll call it Potluck Scoopy Hodgepodge Chip Dip. But that’s just me.

I momentarily interrupt this perfectly happy blog site with an announcement of why I detest fast food joints.

Every now and then, I get a craving for something beside leftovers for lunch. I’m not knocking leftovers. They’re usually pretty tasty. But after the third day of the same chili I made this past weekend, I was itching for something different. So I went to McDonalds. I have to go once or twice a year to remind myself WHY I don’t eat fast food more often.

This is a real conversation I had just today at the McDonald’s drive-thru.

Speaker - “Hi. May I take your order?”

Me - “Yes. I’d like a fish sandwich meal with a large diet Coke.”

Speaker - “That’s a four piece chicken nugget. Would you like a drink with that?”

Me - “No. A FISH SANDWICH meal with a large diet Coke.”

Speaker - “Oh. A double cheeseburger meal. Do you want that large?”

Me - “NO! A FISH SANDWICH MEAL! Number 11. Large Diet Coke!”

Speaker - “Okay. A fish sandwich? Do you want the combo?”

Me - (oh my God) “YES! With a large DIET COKE!”

Speaker - “So, I’ve got a fish sandwich meal with a large diet Coke and a four piece chicken nuggets.”

Me - “Close enough.”

Speaker - “Drive around for your total.”

I wait in the line. I pay. I get my drink. I taste my drink before I drive away because these places notoriously try to give me regular Coke. And they HAD. I handed it back to them and told them that they’d given me real coke instead of diet. The girl said with a real smart ass attitude, “That IS diet Coke. The little button is mashed.”

Me - “I don’t care if the ‘button’ is mashed. THAT’S real Coke. Could I have a diet please?”

SmartAss - “That IS diet. Do you want diet Dr. Pepper?”

Me - “NO. I want diet COKE.”

SmartAss - “Well that’s all we got.”

Me - “Please just pour another cup using the diet Coke dispenser. Diet Coke will come out.”

SmartAss - “Pull forward. I’ll bring it out to you.”

So I pulled forward and waited again. They brought me what was probably the same exact cup because it still tasted like syrup. I gave up, came back to the office and poured it out. Water would have to work.

All of that to get limp fries and a fish sandwich with a quarter size dollop of tartar sauce. I choked down a couple of bites of each and decided that my leftover chili sounded pretty good. I guess I’ll have to go back in another 8 - 9 months for another jolt of reality.

But the one thing my little experience did do was reconfirm how much I really like my own home-cooking.

Recently, I was having a conversation about cooking seafood. I’m scared of it since it costs so much to experiment with. And we all know I like cheap. But catfish doesn’t intimidate me. It’s technically not even a seafood since it’s a fresh water fish, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t scare me. But if there’s anybody out there that is scared to fry fish . . don’t you sweat any further. If “I” can do it, anybody can do it. It’s really easy and quite delicious.

Growing up in Mississippi back in the day, I had the opportunity to eat a lot of fish. I’m really glad that I like fish, otherwise I would have gone hungry alot. We went fishing almost every single Sunday. The whole family - Mama, Daddy, Brother, Sister, Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy’s Drinkin’ Buddy - it was quite a crew, to put it politely. Redneck can’t quite sum up the description. An accurate picture is far past that. Not as far as Deliverance, but you’re headin’ in the right direction.

My poor mama was always the only sober one of the bunch, therefore the only one sober enough to wield a knife in order to clean the fish. She had it the worst. Us kids just tried to stay out of the way. We didn’t want to go anywhere near an angry (she was angry at the drunks) knife-wieldin’ fish-guttin’ mama. And we definitely wanted to steer clear the drunk daddy, the drunk grandpa, the drunk grandma and the drunk drinkin’ buddy. I had no appreciation for what my mama had to do and what she put up with.

But I did have an appreciation for what she could do with a catfish. Oh how I love me some catfish! Now I don’t catch my own anymore and I most certainly would never ever clean one. I’m too too girly girly for fish guts. There’s a lot of things in this world I do on my own, but I’m afraid gutting a fish isn’t one of them. Again, I really appreciate my mama for doing that.

My mama made awesome fried catfish and I make it from time to time, but my favorite was always the Blackened Catfish. Heck, I like just about anything blackened. I’m a spicy girly girl.

It’s surprisingly easy. Here’s all you need.

Blackened Catfish

1 1/2 Tbl. paprika
1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
4 catfish fillets
2 Tbl vegetable oil

Blend all your spices in a shallow bowl. Rinse the fish fillets and pat them dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture onto both sides of the fish.
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add catfish fillets and cook for 4 minutes. Carefully flip them over with a large spatula and continue to cook another 3 - 4 minutes. The fish will flake easily with a fork. Drain on paper towel and serve immediately.

Anyone who likes blackened anything will scarf this down. It didn’t last long enough once I took it out of the frying pan to even take a picture. So I’m glad I snapped one while it was frying.

I just said last week that I swore I would never discuss religion or politics on this site and then I went off and posted about the Presidential election. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that the Presidential food in restaurants got my attention. . . cuz well, it was FOOD. Food is not politics, so I squeeked by on my own rules through a small loophole. One which I created on my own, cuz I can. Thank you very much.

Now, today, my sister sent this to me. It looks like I’ll be discussing religion, but no. . . No I won’t. This just made me giggle. Religion isn’t supposed to make you giggle, so again. . . loophole.

But truly, this is classic of WHY I don’t talk about religion. These two churches of different denominations are across the street from each other. This is how different their opinions and interpretations are. It’s really kinda funny.

Now tell me. . . Did YOU think it was funny? Or am I just nuttier than peanut brittle? You can be honest. I can take it.

My babies are growing up! I realize that they’re in their twenties now and I should have noticed this fact long ago, but in my eyes, they’re still my babies. They’re still these sweet little towheaded boys searching for adventure. I love this picture!! I just want to pick them up and squeeze them.

They’re just so sweet and innocent and so pure. I tried to keep as much of that in them as long as I could. Probably too long. I just adored their sweet, positive outlook on life untarnished by the evils of adults with their prejudice and war and skanky girlfriends (Ooops - that just slipped in there), and I wanted to protect them as long as I could. But despite my best efforts, they grew taller, more opinionated, more independent, more bullheaded, and blind to the evil lures of the opposite sex. I’m not saying that ALL girls are bad. Remember, I am a girl . . . but I was never bad. Not me. Pure sweetness is all I’m sayin’. My boys, however, have both gotten ahold of some doozies.

I won’t go into details out of respect for my boys’ privacy. . . and also because they would murder me eight times. . . each. It’s just that I was having a conversation with my youngest last night. He’s recently split up with his girlfriend of five years. It wasn’t easy on him and it still isn’t. But he called me last night all excited because of some solid decisions that he’s made that demonstrates that he’s moving forward. . . like a big boy. He just sounded so “together” and so . . . mature. It just smacked me with pride. My little boy is putting on his big boy pants and taking big boy steps out in the big bad world. He’s learning that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. That his days of kool-aid and teddy bears are over. His mother can’t kiss the booboos and make them go away. As much as I wanted to take his pain and disappointment away, he just had to learn to deal on his own.

They broke up 2 1/2 months ago. Now she wants to come back. He thought that’s what he wanted too. But during this time apart, when “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is usually the case, it wasn’t so much this time. During her absence, my boy grew up and realized that he was happier on his own. That there ARE other girls out there. Nice girls. Who won’t treat him like dirt. Who will realize what a gentle soul he has. . . . and what pretty babies they’ll make.

Look at this face. Isn’t it precious? I just want to squeeze him.

But seriously, I think it was THIS photo, this time, this day, that I knew my baby was turning into a little man. He was so serious here, so determined, so committed, and so dang adorable. All the parents just lapped him up. But he had my heart.

I so love my little boy. And I’m so proud of the man he’s becoming.

I was over at Dad Gone Mad’s site last night and he had several interesting questions posed that caught my attention. They ranged from your level of happiness to what really pisses you off to what would you do with $10 billion to who your favorite artist is to . . . . FOOD. You should go weigh in on any or all of these. Again, I enjoyed the comments immensely. I love comments. . . even if they’re not on my site.

Anyway, the FOOD question: Name something you would eat more of if health, cost, allergy, and caloric intake were of no concern. You can see why that got my attention. Anything related to food catches my eye and tugs at my heartstrings. I know I’m not right. But seriously what would you choose to eat more of if there were no consequences?

Being someone who has had to limit my food intake my entire life because just thinking about food makes me gain weight, my thoughts were all over the board. My mind was racing around like a kid in a candy store. What would I eat if I could a) afford it and b) wouldn’t make me gain weight? Hmmmmm. For a Foodie like me, this was more difficult than I’d imagined it would be.

First, my mind ran immediately to seafood - Lobster, more specifically. I heart seafood.

Then it ran to homemade vanilla ice cream. Then to french fries, to delicious warm donuts, to wine. (I’m all over the place) But I already eat little bits of all of these all the time. Well, except for the lobster. I can’t afford lobster. So that’s what I’m going with. Lobster/seafood. Plus a glass or three of wine, with some homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yeah, I’d be rollin’. . . literally like a ball down the street. PLUS I’d be broke as a joke. One can dream though.

So since I was fantasizing about my favorite foods, my mind wandered over to my favorite restaurants. Plus I just got a Hampton Roads Dish magazine in the mail at the office that got my thinking cap rollin’. It’s the first time I’ve ever read it, but it was very interesting SINCE in addition to my freakishness for recipe books, I also have a freakishness about restaurant menus. (I dated a guy once who used to steal the menus of the restaurants we went to - like it was a game cuz he knew how crazy I was about them. Yeah, we didn’t date long.) This magazine was my golden ticket. It has menus of all the nicest restaurants in the area. Being on the oceanfront, we have a plethora of seafood restaurants. So I totally enjoyed perusing the collection of menus. I was in my glory.

Sadly though, out of all the restaurants they displayed, I’d only ever eaten at one. I don’t get out much. But I found where I WANT to go (one that’s leans toward the less pricey but still constitutes a “splurge night out”. . . A place called Mahi Mahs - a seafood restaurant and sushi saloon where I would order a bowl of their Seafood Bisque and their Asiago & Parmesan Crusted Tilapia with a lovely glass (or three) of Pinot Grigio. **sigh**

A girl can dream.

What’s YOUR food of choice should you throw abandon to the wind? And your favorite restaurant should you strike oil like Uncle Jed in The Beverly Hillbillies. **okay, I’m dating myself with that one** But seriously, I’d love to hear what you dream about.

I swore when I started this site that I would never get into politics and/or religion. . . and I don’t intend on starting today. However, I’ve just got to interject here a trend I’ve been seeing alot of lately. Unless you were hatched yesterday or perhaps fell off the preverbial turnup truck this morning, you are all well aware of the excitement and intensity of the current Presidential election.

As I peruse through my blogroll and my emails, I’ve noticed how deeply food is becoming intertwined with this upcoming election. Silver Diner, a restaurant you may or may not have in your area, has jumped onboard with a breakfast special for each of the canditates.

Then as I was reading through Serious Eats (it’s on my blogroll too). There was this article from A Hamburger Today. It looks like Silver Diner isn’t the only one on this food bandwagon. It seems the trend has gone as far as Paris where they’re offering burgers inspired by each of our candidates.

Obama and McCain Burgers in Paris
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 30, 2008 at 5:30 PM
If you live Paris and want to get in on some Presidential election-inspired foods, head to the Hotel Concord La Fayette in Paris for Obama and McCain burgers. Chef Laurent Belijar modeled Obama’s “O-Burger” after Obama’s birth state of Hawaii by making a curried patty topped with pineapple carpaccio and a mix of coriander-flavored shrimp. McCain’s “Elephant Burger” is southwest-themed, made of a tomato-flavored patty mixed with grilled lamb and guacamole and served with tomato salsa and nachos.

Photograph taken by Harald Gottschalk

These burgers are available until November 4 at the La Fayette Bar and cost €22 each.

The trend spans the globe. . . from Paris to Maryland. Read on.

Obama and McCain Burgers at the Burger Joint in Maryland
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 25, 2008 at 4:00 PM
The Burger Joint in Bethesda, Maryland is offering special burgers named after Obama and McCain through the first week of November. The Obama burger is modeled after a Chicago-style hot dog and is topped with relish, pickles, tomatoes, peppers, celery salt and a Vienna beef hot dog. The southwest-themed McCain burger is topped with poblano and chipotle peppers, black bean salsa, and pepper jack cheese.

And Serious Eats continues:

If Obama and McCain were food… What food would they be?
Posted by Boscompb, June 10, 2008 at 9:20 PM
I’ve heard several old cliches, some NOT so nice. Personally, I’d say that McCain would be “salt”, and Obama would be “pepper”. What’s your take?

You really should check out the comments on this last one. They’re pretty funny. You’ll get a good laugh, no matter which side of the fence you’re on.
What do YOU think?

I’m tellin’ you. . . I’m on a roll with these Ready-To-Use Pie Crusts. They come two to a pack so I just HAD to find something else to use the other one for. Since I’d already made a dessert, I opted for something more savory. I happen to have had everything in my pantry for this one too. I love it when that happens. . . especially on a cold rainy day when I don’t want to run out to the store. Okay, so it wasn’t cold and rainy Sunday, but I still didn’t want to go out.

This is the only quiche I’ve ever made. . . but I always used the frozen pie crusts. Most of the other quiche recipes I see have broccoli or spinach or something else equally as green in the recipe and I always knew one or both of my boys would whine about it and wimper as if I were trying to poison them, so I chose my battles. I made this one with the green onions. I told them to just “get over” the green onions. . . they were going in. . . into a frozen crust. (I’m pathetic, I know) With the compromise of crabmeat and baby shrimp, which they LOVE, they did. And it’s the only one I’ve ever even tried to make. I’m sure there are others that they’d eat, but then they saw the book “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche” and poopooed quiche altogether.

Disclaimer: As much as I tried to raise broadminded young men, they still grew up to be MEN, aka. stubborn.

SEAFOOD QUICHE

1 (8 oz) pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1 (6 oz) can Crabmeat, drained, flaked
1 (6 oz) can Shrimp, drained
4 eggs
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Ready-To-Use Pie Crust, baked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pie crust according to package directions.
Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Pour into baked pie crust. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 - 15 minutes.

I can’t brag enough about this crust. It’s very good and it just doesn’t get easier. . . and I’m ALL about some easy. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving just to make pies! I’m going to make lots of pies. I’ll make my other standard favorites too, but I’m definitely adding pie.