Recipe: Candied Sweet Potatoes

1 can (32 ounces) sweet potatoes
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 small can pineapple tidbits sweetened in their own juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter, cut in pieces

Drain half the liquid from the potatoes and pineapple. Place all the ingredients in a 2-3 quart casserole. Bake at whatever temperature you are cooking the rest of the meal until the liquid is bubbly and syrupy.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole with Crunchy Top

1 can (29 ounces) sweet potatoes
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup fat free Half and Half®
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Drain potatoes and mash with butter. Add sugar, eggs, Half and Half®, and vanilla extract. Transfer the mixture to a 9” square baking dish.

Crunchy Top
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup self-rising flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup flaked coconut

Combine ingredients. Spread over sweet potato mix. Bake at 350° until the mixture bubbles and the topping browns slightly, approximately 40 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes or Yams?

Although people use the terms sweet potato and yam interchangeably, true yams are quite different from the sweet potatoes that we call yams. A yam (Dioscorea Species of the yam, or Dioscoreaceae, family) is a white-fleshed, beta-carotene-lacking tuber originating in West Africa and Asia. It has a long cylindrical shape, sometimes with toes and a rough, scaly appearance. It feels dry in the mouth and tastes starchy. This tropical food is imported from the Caribbean.

A sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas of the morning glory, or Convolvulaceae family) is an orange-colored, beta-carotene rich root originating in Peru and Ecuador. It has a short, blocky, shape with a smooth appearance and a thin skin. In the mouth a sweet potato is an explosion of sweet, moist taste. This tropical food is grown here in the United States.

(Reference source: Jonathan R. Schultheis and L. George Wilson. “What is the Difference Between a Sweet Potato and a Yam?” Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University. Pp. 1-2.)

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes go great with collards.

A Dozen Sweet Potato Facts

1. The Center for Science in the Public Interest rated the sweet potato as number one in nutritional value of common vegetables.
2. The Nutrition Action Health Letter rated 58 vegetables by adding the percentages of US
Recommended Daily Allowances for Vitamins A and C, folate, iron, copper, calcium, and fiber. The sweet potato won.
3. A sweet potato is a great source of vitamin E, although it is fat free. Other great sources of vitamin E, such as oils, nuts, and avocadoes, are loaded with fat.
4. A sweet potato is a source of Vitamin B6, potassium, and iron.
5. Sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal.
6. A medium sweet potato has only 118 calories.
7. The deeper colored sweet potatoes have the most nutritional value and usually the best taste.
8. Storing sweet potatoes in the refrigerator will produce a hard core in the centers. Store them in a cool, dry, well-ventilated container at approximately 55°.
9. A cook should use sweet potatoes within two weeks of purchase.
10. One should handle sweet potatoes carefully to prevent bruising.
11. The peeling is a better source of nutrients than the inside.
12. Cooked sweet potatoes freeze well.

(Reference source for sweet potato facts: Susan M. Morgan. “How Sweet It Is”: Sweet Potatoes—A Fall Favorite” North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University. Pp 1-3.)

Recipe: Terry's Jambalaya

First prepare the meat. Place in a big pot:
1 whole chicken or 4 chicken breasts
Cover it with water and add as much of the following as you wish:
Salt
Black pepper
Red pepper
Garlic
Mrs. Dash
Cajun seasoning
Paprika
Boil until the chicken is tender. Debone it and save the broth.
Boil:
2 pounds shrimp in seasoning and peel them.
Chop or crumble:
2 pounds sausage (your choice of type)
Next sauté. Begin with a little olive oil. Cover the bottom of the skillet with oil. Brown:
2 small or 1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 whole onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (from a jar)
1 rib celery, sliced
Add and brown in the mix:
Sausage
Pour into a gumbo pot:
1 big (#3) can diced tomatoes
1-2 cans Ro-Tel®
Deboned chicken
2 cups broth
Simmer.
Add:
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
About 2 teaspoons Louisiana Red Hot® sauce
Powdered garlic
Cayenne
2 bay leaves
Simmer until it’s mingled really well.
Add:
Shrimp
1-2 cups Minute Rice®
Adjust liquid.
Put a lid on. Let it cook on medium low. Keep it stirred.
Serve with:
A dollop of sour cream

Recipe: Red Bean Gumbo--A Unique South Louisiana Delight

Hazel Keller's Red Bean Gumbo
Boil dry red beans until they are so well boiled that the shucks are loosened from the pulp. Mash and strain out the shucks.
Put about a pound of Andouille sausage cut up small in it. Don’t cook the sausage ahead. Let it cook in that gumbo.
(Note from Hazel: I used to make a roux, but I don’t any more.)
Leave that boil until tender 30-60 minutes.
Just before you serve it crack some eggs in it. (about 6 eggs if 6 people are eating it) Maybe you ought to crack them in a bowl first in case they are rotten. Don’t fool with the eggs too much. Let them poach in there.

Taste for seasoning. You might have to add salt. The andouille is usually well seasoned. It won’t be necessary to add other seasonings. Throw in some parsley and shallot greens.

Serve cooked rice on the side or add some cooked rice.

The old folks used to make it without the andouille because they couldn’t afford to put sausage in their gumbo.


Notes from Mary Lou:
I tried this recipe. It did not remind me of any gumbo I had ever eaten, but it was some of the most delicious food I've ever put into my mouth.

Always looking for the easy way to do things, I quickly decided it was too much trouble to push those beans through a strainer. Instead, I put them in the blender.

The mouths I feed delight in burning a little with pepper. I had to add some heat to this great dish.

Thank you, Hazel, for sharing this recipe.

Recipe: North Louisiana Collard Gumbo, Story of Gumbo

Gumbo, as defined in Merriam-Webster dictionaries, is a soup thickened with okra pods or filé and containing meat or seafood and usually vegetables. According to The Joy of Cooking, the word gumbo is derived from quingombo, an African Congo word for okra. Louisiana gumbo is a soup thickened either with okra or file, which is a powder made from ground sassafras root.

Roux, the basis of gumbo, is made by browning flour and oil until it is very dark.
When you make gumbo, you are allowed to substitute ingredients liberally. Gumbo is something delicious that Louisiana people cook with whatever meats they have available. The best gumbo has more than one type of meat.

People in the Mississippi and Louisiana hill country often add vegetables that the south Louisianans with French heritage find shocking. It’s all good!

North Louisiana Collard Gumbo, a quick and easy version of a Louisiana staple, is a blending of Southern flavors. (I started to call it a marriage: but since it has a hint of New Orleans, a strong component of African tradition, a kick of Tex-Mex, the tenderness of Georgia, and the practicality of north Louisiana, I realized it would be polygamy.)

Don’t judge the difficulty of a recipe by the length of the ingredient list. Frequently all that is required is tossing ingredients into a pot and allowing the ingredients to simmer until they smell irresistible. Judge the work and skill required by the directions, not the number of items required.

Paul, the Spicemouth, my good friend and official taster, likes curry in his gumbo. (?!!!) When I cook for him, we compromise. I place a box of madras curry powder by his plate. Also he likes huge amounts of crushed red pepper. He keeps his “crushed red” handy. “Once it’s in my bowl,” he insists, “It’s my business.”

For three more well-researched and tried gumbo recipes prepared by my friends and family, visit http://www.fwlcookbook.com/. Click on GUMBO.

North Louisiana Collard Gumbo
½ cup finely chopped bacon (preferably ends and pieces—select lean pieces)
⅓ cup minced garlic
1 package (12 ounces) frozen seasoning blend (onions, celery, green and red peppers, parsley flakes)
1 pound finely chopped fresh collards (tender Georgia collards if you can find them)
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 package (4.5 ounces Zatarain’s New Orleans Style® Gumbo Base
8 cups water
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon Splenda®
1 tablespoon liquid from pickled jalapenos
shake of crushed red pepper (according to your taste—you can always add more, but you can’t take it out)
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
1 package (14 ounces) cocktail smokies (sliced)
1 cup sliced okra

Brown the chopped bacon. Add the garlic, seasoning blend, and collards. Stir and sauté about 5 minutes. Add everything else except the smokies (which toughen when overcooked) and the okra (which gets mushy when overcooked). Simmer until it smells good, the collards are tender, and you’ve had time to cook some rice and set the table.
Serve with gumbo filé and rice.

Recipe: Baked Coon and Sweet Potatoes

Early this morning the birds called me out of my bed. The crows reminded me to go check my e-mail. The important letter about the important business I’d been spending my important time worry about, dreaming about, and anticipating was not there as it was supposed to be.

I made a cup of peach tea, threw a jacket over my pajamas, and walked, cup of tea in hand, down to the collard patch. It’s cool this morning—56 degrees—cool and pleasant. Looking through the sweet gum trees with raindrops glistening on their branches, I can focus on what is truly important in life. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalms 118: 24)

My collards are not quite ready to eat, but I found some at the grocery store. They were pre-harvested, pre-washed, pre-chopped, and pre-bagged in Georgia. Those Georgia collards were so tender that I didn’t need to add a pinch of baking soda; actually they were so tender that I used them for salad after pouring just a little fresh hot bacon grease over them to wilt them.

Terry Chrisman shared her mother’s recipe for baked raccoon. Since I can’t find any raccoons, I have not tried this recipe. Although it is my policy to try recipes whenever possible—my freezer door is propped closed because of all the food I’ve cooked and stored—I will make an exception in this case. Terry is a distinguished cook, and I trust her. She called her mother to verify the recipe. Because you may find a raccoon you need to cook, I’ll share the recipe with you.

Baked Coon by Ann Webb

Dress the coon.
Remove all the glands, especially from under the arms.
Quarter it.
Cover it with pepper sauce.
Lay thick slices of peeled sweet potatoes around the edges.
Pour a little bit of water in the pan.
Sprinkle a cup of dark brown sugar over the sweet potatoes and coon.
Cover the pan.
Bake at 350° until tender.

Terry told me that her mother cooks coon two or three times a year only in cold weather. Her father kills them when he goes squirrel hunting. She said, “He’s supposed to be squirrel hunting, but if he sees a coon, he kills it.”

Baked coon would be a gourmet meal with collards and cornbread on the side.