Mess of Greens

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Vegetable Garden

A little ice cream adventure: Sweet Corn Ice Cream

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Let me tell you about something wonderful and a little crazy. Last summer (i know…but i had a 6 month old baby. and a full-time job!) our friend John Mark– who is btw, literally the nicest, most wonderful, most thoughtful guy in the whole Delta– brought us a giant paper sack of sweet corn from his farm. He’s also the friend who supplied us with a raised garden bed full of the best soil for growing things ON EARTH, but I digress.

After we’d eaten enough corn on the cobb to turn us yellow on the outside, I decided I should try something a little adventurous. I mean, I love making ice creams, and I had Jeni’s ice cream at home cookbook full of savory flavors and creams mixed with alcohol and herbs, so why not attempt a sweet-corn version? Luckily, there were some recipes out there that I could draw on to get the sweet-corn flavor while I used my favorite custard base. Also, I made an AMAZING blueberry sauce for this (I mean, seriously, blueberries and sweet corn…what’s MORE summer than that?) The recipe’s not on this blog but if you want it, leave a comment. But back to the ice cream…

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Your New Summer Staple: Bourbon-Peach Ice Cream

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There’s one thing every good southerner knows… know matter how you take your bourbon, it’s going to be so good.

Some people like it in a pecan pie, others on the rocks… my friend Shelton introduced me to a Bourbon and Ginger cocktail a few years ago and something about that combination is dynamite. In fact, it’s my winter go-to cocktail. But then, there’s this other summertime combination that really knocks my socks off… bourbon and peaches. The sweet juiciness of the peaches is just complimented so beautifully by smooth, warm bourbon and this is definitely true when they come together in a silky, simple custard-based ice cream .

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Mess of Greens Soup

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 So, here you have it… literally a recipe for a “mess of greens.” It’s about time, right? 
You may have tried some of my other New Year’s Day recipes (see pickled peas, black eyed pea hummus or lucky soup) but unlike all of those recipes that focus on black eyed peas, greens play a starring role in this year’s dish to bring us all luck and money in 2015. I was lucky enough to have a friend bring me a gallon bag of mustard and turnip greens from her winter garden yesterday, PLUS a gallon bag of shelled pecans (y’all. aren’t I so lucky?!?) and I’d had some pretty delish turnip green soup at Turnrow books a couple of weeks back, so it seemed like a no-brainer. My dish is pretty standard compared to the other ones you find on the interweb, except I gave my broth a spicy kick with some red pepper flakes, and use bacon AND ham (why choose just one?). Hope you enjoy!

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summer’s bounty…

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 i am the greediest glutton when it comes to summer vegetables. seriously…we had 5 fresh locally or homegrown tomatoes sitting in the windowsill, and when i saw that the grocery store had more locally grown ones, i bought two more. who does that?

 i’ve been on a cooking streak this week, making things with the tomatoes from our garden, the farmer’s market, and around town, plus the blueberries and peaches my mom brought up from my aunt’s farm, and the watermelon we got in vicksburg from smith county, mississippi. i had so much fresh produce that i just HAD to do something delicious with it. here are some tidbits to whet your appetite for the recipes…coming soon!

it may take a few days to post the recipes considering that boone and i moved into our new house in our new little town about two weeks ago and still don’t have internet… just makes things a little more difficult, but don’t worry, recipes for blueberry/peach crumble, tomato/watermelon sorbet, and the best damn blt are on their way. 🙂

what summer vegetable or fruit can’t YOU get enough of?