FULLER THAN a TICK on an OLD HOUND DOG

I know every geographical area and every ethnic group thinks their style of COOKING is the best, but I’ll put our SOUTHERN COOKING up against anybody’s😊  

In the South we take our FOOD PREPARATION and our EATING very seriously!

If you live in the SOUTH, you can expect your family, friends, and neighbors to respond to sickness, new babies, deaths, and housewarmings with some type of edible item.  It’s just our way of showing love and hospitality.  And don’t even get me started on FAMILY REUNIONS and CHURCH HOMECOMINGS…there’ll be enough food to feed a few armies.

I really didn’t grow up knowing how to cook but I watched my mama prepare a full-course meal almost every night.  Once I got married, it took awhile for me to become a good Southern cook, but I finally arrived.  At least my husband never backs away from the table and tells people what a good cook I am.  (Thanks, Honey, for sticking with me through all those early-marriage mistakes meals.)

Tonight I fixed a meal you can find on many Southern tables: 

First, homemade biscuits.  I wish I had a dollar for every pan of biscuits I watched my mama make!  Watching her mix up the flour, milk, & Crisco, then knead the dough and shape it into individual biscuits was like watching an artist at work.  I can make a good biscuit, but my technique will never match my mama’s! 

Of course, a meal in my house isn’t usually complete without a pot of peas or butterbeans.  These “pink eye peas” came out of our freezer…we put up several different kinds each summer.

Next, I fried up some salmon croquettes.  Now I know that some folks don’t think you ought to eat fried foods (and they are right), but if you are a TRUE SOUTHERNER you know you’ve got to have a little bit of grease flowing through your veins every once in awhile😊

Last, but certainly not least, we had some sliced fresh tomatoes…Lord love us, here in the South we could live on MATER SANDWICHES all summer if we had to!  (Add some bacon to that sandwich and we think we’ve died and gone to heaven.)

So here was my plate with strawberry jam added to the biscuit.  I did leave off the butter though since I’m trying to trim down the waistline!

And here is my plate when “supper” was done.  Yes, we call the evening meal SUPPER. 

And now I’m fuller than a tick on an old hound dog!  After it all settles for awhile, we’ll top it off with a piece of this delicious CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE.  My sweet granddaughter “M” and her summer sitter (a teenage friend) baked this for me today because tomorrow is my birthday.  She couldn’t wait (so she said) and she also just “had to have” a taste to make sure she made it right!  It is absolutely delicious and turned out beautifully…that “perfect pound cake crack” and everything!  Thank you, sweet “M”.  You made me day!

Wish you were here to “chat” awhile; if you were I’d offer you a slice of cake and a glass of sweet tea just to show you some good ole’ SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY😊