Mexican-style Grilled Corn--a great serving of summer’s gold

Corn, marvelous corn. Hubby had toted home a bucket-load of it and filled the refrigerator’s vegetable bins. I loved the grocery circular’s recipe for Mexican-style grilled corn, designed to be served with a wonderful creamy coating mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese, and cilantro. But I didn’t want to fire up the outdoor grill just for roasting some ears.

The recipe suggested that as an alternate to grilling, simply cook the corn in a cast-iron skillet set over high heat. That I could do. Then in the end, you take the grilled corn and toss it in the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture to give it an even coating. This is the type of corn that the recipe says you see as South-of-the-Border street food—often served on a stick to simplify the act of walking around with this portable snack.

Best thing was (besides the coated grilled corn being a delight) you could set aside some of the mayo/sour cream/cilantro mixture as a dip for veggies after you used the other portion to surround the corn. Great dip!

Mexican-style Grilled Corn

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream (I used fat-free)

1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup lime juice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ears corn, husked

lime wedges, for serving

In a large bowl combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, lime juice, and cayenne. Preheat a grill to high (or heat up a cast-iron skillet). Brush the corn with vegetable oil. Grill the corn; turn every minute or two, until it is lightly charred in places, about 5 minutes total. Toss the grilled corn with the mayonnaise mixture. Serve immediately with lime wedges and plenty of napkins. Refrigerate any leftovers. Serve 8. (Source: Kroger grocery circular)

Awesome veggie dish worth a sweaty, sticky garden trip to procure okra

I never thought I’d see the day: me—Kay—racing outdoors, snippers in hand, to stand in the punishing sun and prowl around among the sticky-leaved okra plants—hoping against hope that enough baby okra had matured overnight so I could clip a few morsels for a dinner entrée. Normally the bane of any gardener’s existence this time of year (too much okra—more than anyone knows what to do with), I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum: too many good okra recipes and okra not surfacing quickly enough to get them all prepared.

The enticing recipe this time was a recipe called Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux. That one sent me scurrying to do a little research. The dish sounded divine, but what was a Maque Choux? Had I spelled it wrong? Good ole Wikipedia told me it was a traditional southern Louisiana dish—the name pronounced to sound like the words “mock shoe”. Actually it’s a combination of cajun and American Indian cultural influence (I suspected some Native American might be lurking in there somewhere, since it bore such an unusual mixture of veggies).

Wikipedia states that besides the ingredients in this recipe, some Maque Choux combos include celery; others add a bit of sugar and a dash of hot sauce (I actually added a few hot sauce dots myself); others, instead of sausage, will contain bite-sized portions of chicken or crawfish or even will have shrimp dumped in at the final stage. Interesting ways to try it another time, but for this first adventure I stuck with the Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux recipe I found on www.myrecipes.com.

All I can say is, this divine ole Mock Shoe was worth sweating in the okra patch with its resultant stickiness to bring in enough baby okra for this delicious recipe. The turkey sausage gave it just that added touch. We wolfed it down quickly and were wanting more. From the looks of the baby okra still to be harvested outdoors, we should have plenty of opportunity.

Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux

1/4 pound turkey sausage, diced

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

3 cups fresh corn kernels, removed from cob

1 cup sliced fresh okra

1 cup peeled, seeded, and dice tomato

salt (or salt substitute) and black pepper to taste

Sauté sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 3 minutes or until browned. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Add corn, okra, and tomato; cook, stirring often, 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Zucchini adds the magic touch to keep this Chicken Tortilla Soup from being ho-hum boring

As everyone knows, Chicken Tortilla Soup recipes are a dime a dozen. Most people have a favorite; most recipes follow a certain predictable pattern of ingredients.

Except this one--it had sliced, fresh zucchini added! Now, how Newfangled Country Gardener-ish can you get? Zucchini, to go with all the other fresh vegetables in this mixture--fresh corn off the cob, fresh tomatoes, cilantro. It sounded as though it would an extremely healthy rendition of an old favorite.

Thank you, Fry's'. (Fry's is not the electronics store but is the Arizona version of our Kroger grocery. When we're in AZ visiting our little family there, we're devoted Fry's shoppers, so we get on the mailing list for the Fry's circular just as we do the Kroger one. (By the way, Fry's and Kroger's are owned by the same parent corporation.) The Fry's circular featured this Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.)

Talk about a dish that got healthier the longer it stuck around. The first night we served it, I just scattered a dash of cheddar cheese on top. The next day for lunch (I'm telling ya, this recipe made enough for two armies) I topped it with a little dash of sour cream. That night for dinner (this soup was so good, we never tired of leftovers; Hubby tolerated it for both lunch and dinner in the same day) I chopped up some fresh avocado and touched it up with a little more fresh tomato for garnish over all the other items. A meal in one, for sure!

Five meals later (no joke!) today at lunch I think Hubby and I will be polishing off the last morsel of this flavorful, healthy soup. I think the zucchini added the magic touch and kept it from being boring and left-overy. And best of all, it gives us just one more boost in the 5-to-9 fruit-and-vegetables category that we're supposed to have every day.

Never toss out that grocery-store circular without looking over the featured recipes. You might just find a gold mine like we did--probably the best chicken-tortilla soup ever!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 zucchini, cut into cubes

1 can (29-ounces) crushed tomatoes (or 2 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes, sliced in chunks)

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup fresh corn, cut off the cob

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

optional toppings: sliced avocados, tortilla chips, shredded cheddar cheese, fresh limes, sour cream, chopped fresh tomatoes (any or all will do)

In a stockpot heat the oil. Add zucchini and saute for 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, corn, cumin, cayenne pepper, and shredded chicken. Heat to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in a handful of chopped cilantro just before serving. To serve place a handful of tortilla chips in the bottom of a soup bowl. Ladle hot soup over the tortilla chips. Add a generous squeeze of lime and top with avocado, cheese, cilantro, tomatoes, and sour cream, if desired. Refrigerate any leftovers. Serves 4 to 6.

Long-ago act of kindness recalled by famous chef's fresh corn recipe

With great interest I've been following beloved TV chef Emeril as he has "gone green" and produced a line of low-fat, health-friendly recipes to add to his cooking repertoire.

The July 2010 issue of Prevention magazine features some in this new collection; it offers six "summer sides" that represent Emeril's transformation to "good-for-you" food.

One of them, Creamy Sweet Corn, caught my eye. Hubby and I enjoyed this tasty side of Emeril's during our recent July Fourth long holiday weekend. I always try to choose for the Fourth recipes that are certain standouts so we can have a holiday meal that we remember all year. My summer recipe album is stuffed with clips that bear notations about my July Fourth menus throughout the years. Of course the most memorable Fourth was the one in which our future son-in-law's parents drove over to our RV parked at the lake and Hubby and I met them for the first time. My recipe for "Lemon Grilled Salmon" is labeled "July 4, 2006; made for Casey's parents’ dinner.” That's certainly a recipe we'll never forget.

At any rate, Creamy Sweet Corn (find this on www.prevention.com) was delightful--made with corn kernels cut fresh from the cob and mixed with red pepper, celery, and onion and a sauce with a fat-free evaporated milk base. Although Emeril in Prevention suggested that it be served warmed, we enjoyed it just as much cold and served as a salad. We definitely were happy that Emeril had "gone green" (the next night we enjoyed--from the same Prevention article--Tossed Greens with Watermelon and Feta Cheese, a truly novel and refreshing mixture of the sweet and salty.)

Part of the reason Creamy Sweet Corn caught my imagination, however, had nothing to do with Emeril and his creations for Prevention. This fresh, inventive recipe reminded me of another corn recipe served at another time and an act of kindness by a dear aunt whose thoughtfulness has been remembered down the years though she's been long gone from this earth.

One summer day early in our marriage Hubby and I stopped by Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Bill's Delta County rural home for a visit near mealtime. Aunt Bonnie had just brought in some fresh ears of corn from her marvelous garden; she prepared for us the Fried Corn recipe below. My hubby extolled this to the sky; he never had dined on something so close to perfection. Aunt Bonnie, in her ever-gracious way, wrote down the recipe for him so I could attempt to recreate it for him at home. Hubby was overwhelmed that Aunt Bonnie would take such account of his interests that she would do this for him--a recent family addition and an in-law at that. A host of summers later my husband still can feel his tastebuds spring alive at the mere thought of this dish.

We're so thankful Aunt Bonnie (one of the Three Red-Haired Miller Girls who are the main characters in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden) took the time to preserve the recipe so Hubby and I can continue to remember her over-the-top hospitality. Long before the term or the concept of healthy eating ever became a household word, this precious aunt was deliciously cooking "green".

Fried Corn

8 ears fresh corn

1/2 cup milk (we use skim milk)

1/2 teaspoon salt (we use salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs (we use egg substitute)

Cut corn from cob and to kernels add milk, salt, and pepper. Melt butter in a heavy skillet. When skillet is hot and butter melted, add corn. Cook until tender. Stir occasionally. Just before corn is ready to take up, add beaten eggs and blend in well.

Fresh corn makes vegetable medley a scene-stealer for a summer potluck

Look out, summer potluck meals and family reunion food tables! A new blockbuster recipe I've just discovered is sure to start making the rounds.

If the health-appeal factor doesn't wow you, the sheer colorfulness of it will! This recipe would be a sure scene-stealer at any covered-dish occasion.

"Lemony Vegetable Medley" that I prepared last night with the first ears of corn from our very own garden (yes, it finally got as high as an elephant's eye!) is the most inventive and most flavorful dish I've tried in a long time--and that's saying a lot, since we've had some winners lately.

Hubby cast his oft-skeptical glance at the project when I asked him to get some radishes for me in the produce section of the grocery store. He couldn't imagine how sliced radishes would "go" with corn and steamed green beans in this marinated mixture.

He was the first to sing the praises of the dish, however, and wanted more and more. He said it was the most colorful salad he'd ever eaten and that it was like devouring health personified. Can't get better reviews than that!

The ingredient that "made" this medley, however, was the fresh garden corn. How eager we'd been to go out and raid our very own stalks.

The good news was that what we brought in was great and tasted terrific; the bad news was that we'll use it all up in just a couple of dishes. No voluminous corn harvest this year, I'm afraid.

Hubby is bemoaning the fact that he left much of the garden planting to the yard man. In retrospect we can see that our yard man planted things too close together and not as carefully as he should have. The corn, the tomatoes, and the peppers are all tightly bunched without a lot of growing room. (Gardening was not our yard guy's thing and was done in haste so he could quickly get back to mowing.) Hubby resolution: he'll do the planting himself next season and let the yard man stick with mowing. When you care a lot--and he cares bunches--garden-tending's just not something you leave to someone else. We live and learn.

However, we can be thankful for what corn we were able to bring in. And when we dined last night on "Lemony Vegetable Medley" (thanks, "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" recipe booklet), we enjoyed it down to the very last kernel!

Lemony Vegetable Medley

2 cups corn (about 3 large ears), cooked

2 cups green beans, lightly steamed

1 cups radishes, thinly sliced

1 cup red bell pepper, sliced

Dressing:

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 tablespoons chives, chopped

pepper to taste

Mix dressing and set aside. Combine vegetables in large bowl. Add dressing and refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir and serve.

"Essence of summer" food must-have list just got a new addition

Some foods literally exude summer. Everyone has his or her faves, but my "essence of summer" foods are lemon ice-box pie, strawberry shortcake, marinated cucumber salad, and calico beef burgers, to name a few.

They're the menu items that I just can't "do" the summer season without. So early on, I start making a mental list to be sure I'm not having to cram in some last-minute gorging as the season wanes.

A new quintessential summer dish moved onto my radar screen this week. I wasn't looking for a summer synonym--but simply something to use the ample ears of corn my hubby brought home from Kroger this week because the produce area had it at a good sale price. (The corn in our garden is materializing but isn't quite as high as an elephant's eye yet, so we're still supplementing from the grocery until we bring in our own corn ears.)

So I stumbled on a recipe for "Avocado Salsa". I thought the mingling of avocados, cherry tomatoes, and fresh corn sounded, well, colorful at least. Like several other recipes I've mentioned in this blog, this one inspired skepticism also. "It just seems like it would need some kind of a dressing," I reported to Hubby as I assembled the ingredients.

Interesting role-reversal. He's usually the one who raises a dubious eyebrow about whether a recipe will "work". This time he was the Encouraging Barnabas of the kitchen. "I bet the lime juice is all it needs," he assessed as he scanned the salsa recipe in the "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" booklet from the Chickasaw Nation.

He was right. The lime juice, mixed with the salt and chopped cilantro, worked miracles on the avocado, tomato, and corn combination (and even more so the second day after the concoction refrigerated overnight.)

The result! "Avocado Salsa", which we served over spinach but also could be an appetizer alongside tortilla chips--became instant, edible summer--a new dish perfect for summer staple events such as picnics, family reunions, church potlucks, lunches at the lake, or as we experienced it--a simple summer dinner-for-two at home.

Avocado Salsa

2 avocados, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered

1 cup corn, cooked and cut off cob

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon salt (we use salt substitute)

Combine avocado, tomatoes, corn, and cilantro; toss. Slowly pour lime juice over the salsa and toss to combine. Chill for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend.

To avoid the drab, even farmwives of yesteryear needed help with recipe inspiration

What do I do with all this stuff?

You've had an exhilarating day at the farmer's market and returned with a backseat-load of produce--colorful, healthy, and diverse.

Or, your trip to your garden plot has yielded a potpourri basketful of bits and pieces--some random okra, a few corn ears, a handful of tomatoes, an onion here and there--not enough to stock a cellar with canned goods but never-so-fresh-as-now and calling to be prepared and eaten.

What to do? Where do you go for inspiration?

Farmwives of the past, believe it or not, faced the same dilemma.

We tend to regard women of bygone days--when gardens were a necessity and when frugal food preparation meant the difference between survival and starvation for some families--as born wise in the "how-to" department. We tend to think of granny ladies of that era as people who hatched out mature and well-versed in automatically knowing how to use their garden produce.

Enter our Aunt Frances and her first job out of high school.

As a young woman entering the work world in Delta County, TX, Aunt Frances was hired by the county extension agent as an office helper. Her job was to type the recipes that the agent then carried to rural homes throughout the region. The recipes were welcome helps to farmwives who were stumped about how to use their garden pickin's so they didn't have to fix the "same-old, same-old" for supper. (An entire chapter, "Downtown", is devoted to this in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden.)

An example of the kind of recipes Aunt Frances would type--and also tuck away for the eventual day she, as a married lady, would be queen of her own kitchen--is today's feature: Sauteed Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes. A few evenings ago, when we brought in just "a bit of this and a bit of that" from our garden, this dish was a perfect medley. As I mentioned in my blog post, "Fresh vegetables unadorned make for some delightful seasoned greetings", Hubby and I always are incredulous how the fresh vegetables season themselves--with only limited salt and pepper recommended to be added--yet how immensely flavorful!

What the county extension office did in Aunt Frances' day is the same kind of help the Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services office provides today to help Chickasaws learn to cook more healthily and to use homegrown produce. My hubby and I stand amazed each time we visit our closest Chickasaw offices in Ardmore, OK. The nutrition-services building has free recipe cards on display in its entry. Live food demos are scheduled several times a day; they feature test kitchen and personnel to show how recipes on the freebie cards are prepared.

(Of course in today's Internet age, merely "Googling" the names of ingredients you have also can turn up a wealth of ideas as well.)

Hubby and I enjoyed our Sauteed Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes for dinner alongside Sauteed Zucchini and Fettuccini (featured in Wednesday's blog). The fact that we had this okra medley recipe in our collection (thanks to Aunt Frances, who by the way died a year ago at age 102) made us really happy that those farmwives of yesteryear needed a little help now and then!

Sauteed Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes

2 pounds fresh okra, with stems and tips removed

3 pounds tomatoes, skinned and seeded

8 ears fresh corn

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons oil

4 cups onions, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon salt (we used salt substitute)

freshly ground pepper

Cut okra into 1/4-inch rounds; discard tops. This should make about 6 cups of okra. Put tomatoes in stainless or enameled pan and cook slowly for about half an hour. Do not scorch. Drain any liquid. This should make about 2 cups of tomatoes. Use sharp knife to cut corn from cob. In a skillet heat butter and oil. Add okra and onions. Cook until onions are wilted and okra has begun to brown at edges, about 10-15 minutes. Turn often; add reduced tomatoes and salt; cook 5 minutes. Add corn and cook 3-4 more minutes. Add salt and pepper; season to taste.

Fresh vegetables unadorned make for some delightful seasoned greetings

“This is gonna be a loser.”

My hubby muttered this statement out loud as I placed in front of him a small pile of fresh veggies for him to cut up. I had just returned from my two-mile fitness run for the day and was ready to step into the shower. While I cleaned up, he graciously agreed to get dinner started by chopping the veggies.

I could tell, however, that Hubby was dubious about the recipe for "Okra Stir-Fry Medley" that I had spotted to use some of the other yield of our trip to the Chickasaw farmers markets last week in Oklahoma. (I mentioned this in my blog two days ago.) "It doesn't even call for any seasoning," he grunted as he studied the page in front of him.

Ever the lover of black pepper and more black pepper, I thrust a shaker under his nose and gave him my permission to pour away. He was correct, though. My "Okra Stir-Fry Medley" recipe didn't even as much as hint of adding salt--or salt substitute, as would be applicable in our case. Would this menu item have any taste to it at all?

We reassured ourselves that we hadn't had a flop yet from the recipe book "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" (source for "Okra Stir-Fry Medley") the Chickasaw Nutrition Services gives people to help them make creative, healthy dishes out of the fresh produce, so I left the recipe in my hubby's capable hands while I undertook my post-run shower.

Fifteen minutes later Mr. Ray of Sunshine, who had been glum about the potential of this side dish, was beginning to sing a different tune. “Look how fresh and colorful,” he commented as he stir-fried the squash, okra, onion, and corn, with tomatoes to be added at the end.

He was right. The bland-looking veggies had seemed to explode with color once they were stirred around in the skillet with a touch of olive oil added. The same thing had happened the previous evening when we stir-fried some anemic-looking green beans to go in our Japanese Green Beans recipe. Beans I wouldn't have given you a plug nickel for amazingly turned bright green as they were zapped around the skillet over moderate heat.

We dished some up on our plates to go along with our casserole left over from last evening's meal. In a few bites Hubby was exultant. "I can't believe it; this seasoned itself,” he assessed.

Many times we think we have to camouflage sides with high-calorie, high-fat-content breading or sauce, when the freshness of the unadorned veggies themselves provides the most delightful taste imaginable.

Meanwhile, the fiber in the corn wiped out my husband's other reason for being skeptical--that he would leave the dinner table hungry after this bantamweight side dish. Fiber fills you up, so you don't have to eat as much to feel full afterward.

The Chickasaw Nutrition Services, which provided the recipe for "Okra Stir-Fry Medley" (below), won our admiration again. And just as he drifted off to sleep last night, my husband was still extolling, "I can't believe what a tasty recipe that was--all by itself". Seasoned greetings!

Okra Stir-Fry Medley

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 ears of corn, cut from the cob

3 yellow squash, sliced

10 okra, sliced

1 diced tomato

Place olive oil in skillet. Add onion, corn, squash and okra. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add diced tomato; continue cooking for 3 minutes. Serve. Makes six side-dish servings.