Side

My daddy loved boiled okra, but it’s too slimy for me. Fried okra, on the other hand, is great with everything!

Cook out as much liquid as you can by uncovering and stirring often. A little browning doesn’t hurt. You know, I don’t even like squash, but this sounds yummy to me!

If you have access to real Vidalia onions, by all means use them here. Onions from Vidalia, Georgia, are the sweetest onions on the face of the earth! (But how do I really feel about them?) My uncle Wilson made these onions one Fourth of July, and they were a huge hit.

I serve baked beans with everything from hot dogs to Barbecued Chicken (page 96). They are a great side dish, and the bacon, molasses, and brown sugar in this version make them irresistible.

I make this with our home-canned green beans, but canned green beans from your grocery store cook down nicely with a little help from a ham hock. The recipe says to cook these for 30 minutes. I would really say just to cook them to death, but 30 minutes sounds sweeter.

We call these butterbeans in Georgia. I serve them with Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze (page 88) and Potato Salad (page 53). In college I had a friend named Tina, who is from Mississippi. When I would go home with her for the weekend, she would put mayonnaise in her butterbeans. Don’t try this at home, because you will love it and it’s more added fat that none of us need! (Okay, try it once!)

In the country, we planted a large garden every spring. It never seemed like a chore to shell peas or shuck corn because I always knew how good they were going to taste when they were cooked! If you’ve never had homemade cream-style corn, you don’t know what you’re missing. We always had a huge corn crop, so we made a lot of creamed corn and froze it in quart containers to enjoy year round. The kind of fresh corn you use can determine the thickness of the cooked dish. If it’s too thick, add a little water. If it’s too thin, add a little cornstarch.

Garth and the girls and I went to Colorado one spring break and spent the week in the guesthouse of some friends. We skied all day and came home exhausted in the evenings. Our friends provided a chef for us, and it was great to come back to the cabin after a long day to a beautifully prepared meal. I had always made Cooked-to-Death Green Beans (page 130), but the chef made these green beans one night and we fell in love with them. (The girls also fell in love with the chef, who looked a little bit like Tom Cruise.) When we have veggie night, the girls always ask, “Are we having Tom Cruise?” You can imagine the looks we get from guests who’ve never been to our house on veggie night!

I could live on collard greens and corn bread! I like collard greens better than turnip greens because I think collards are sweeter. When I make my corn bread and greens bowl (crumbled-up buttermilk corn bread covered with collard greens and a little juice), I add a little hot pepper just for fun. In the South, collard juice, or the cooking liquid that accumulates, is often called pot likker. My daddy always planted a big collard patch every spring, not only for the family but also to share with friends. Through the years, friends knew the patch was just out back of the barn and they were free to drive in and help themselves.

When Beth first made this very simple zucchini dish (which she created for our parents), Daddy asked, “Honey, how’d you learn to cook?” I thought that was funny because I think what he was really wondering was how she’d learned to cook something that Mama didn’t make at home!

It’s hard for families on the go to eat enough vegetables, so we decided to have one night every week that is only veggies. When we do, I always make this recipe. As the cabbage cooks, it sweetens a bit. I like to let it brown a little in the pan because I like the crispness and the flavor. Try it!

Here’s another dish that’s a hit on veggie night!

Growing up in a classic meat-and-potatoes family, I can’t remember a meal that didn’t include meat. As an adult, I’ve learned you don’t always have to have meat at dinner. This dish is a perfect choice for a meal that is all veggies and will leave you full and satisfied.

My mom made this cheese sauce when I was a child, mostly to pour over vegetables she was trying to get us to eat. I was a grown woman before I realized that steamed broccoli didn’t have to be served with cheese sauce! It does make this homemade mac and cheese taste amazingly good, though!

For some people, it just isn’t Thanksgiving without giblet gravy for the turkey and potatoes. Mom has included directions for a giblet-free version for those of us who have seen a giblet and never want to eat one!

Like most families, we struggle to get enough vegetables into our diets. This pasta salad, served cool, is full of great greens and reds, and it is so tasty! The sunflower kernels give it a nice crunch.

Garth has to claim this recipe because he modified my basic pasta salad to suit his tastes and changed it completely! He likes to eat it warm because he loves the way the cheese melts into the other ingredients, so he doesn’t wait for the pasta to cool down at all. He also says the secret to making the tomatoes taste so good is salting them separately. Who knew he was Gartha Stewart?

What’s great about this salad is that it only involves opening a few cans and layering the veggies with shredded cheese. It’s simple, healthy, and looks pretty in a glass bowl to boot!

Browning the almonds in sugar gives a great sweet crunch to this salad. I have to state for the record that this is one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted.

My sister Beth’s sister-in-law, Margaret, makes this salad, and it’s a nice alternative to plain cranberry sauce for holiday meals. In fact, it’s rich enough to serve as a dessert!