Slow-cooked green beans with onions and bacon drippings.
Sometimes I think I could be a vegetarian. And then I remember how much I love fried chicken and onion sausage and ribeyes and I’m cured of that delusion. But sometimes, though, seriously, I’m totally content with a big ole plate of vegetables.
Slow-cooked, Southern-style green beans are one of the vegetables that could call me to the vegetarian altar. I could seriously eat a quart of them. And serve them with a few wedges of skillet cornbread too?? Y’all wouldn't hear from me for hours. I’d just be sitting in the corner somewhere eating my green beans and cornbread hoping nobody else wanted any.
And don’t get me wrong, I like green beans cooked in more delicate ways where they’re only slightly cooked and served al dente too. I just like them like this better.
Southern Style Green Beans
2 pounds fresh green beans
1 medium onion, diced
3 tablespoons bacon drippings*
1 cup chicken broth (water will work fine too)
1 teaspoon salt
Rinse beans in cold water. Snap the ends off the beans then snap each bean into 2-inch pieces. Set aside.
Heat bacon drippings in a large skillet over medium-high heat (feel free to just chop up some bacon and cook it down a little with the onions rather than just using the drippings). Add onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add beans and continue sautéing for an additional 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.
Add beans and onions to a medium-sized saucepan. Add chicken broth and salt, stir to combine, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.
*Substitute vegetable or olive oil for bacon drippings if necessary then ask the Lord for forgiveness for throwing away your bacon grease.
A sweet and creamy dip perfect for graham crackers and fruit that tastes just
like the classic pie made with lime juice, cream cheese and sweetened
condensed milk!
If you're anything like me, the heat of summer will have you looking for ways
to cool down, which means you'll likely end up at the beach, the lake or the
pool at some point.
And that means you'll be packing up a cooler to feed friends and family or
making your vacation grocery list.
Let me stop right here a minute because I just got smacked hard with a memory.
I can't look at a ham sandwich without thinking about summer vacations at the
beach as a child. For some reason, that was our go-to lunch and, to this day,
I crave ham sandwiches anytime I've been swimming. Ha!
I lean more toward dips and salads when meal prepping for days on the water. I
love to make chicken salad, ham salad and egg salad for lunches (recipes below) and like to
whip up sweet dips like this one for dessert!
It's pretty hard to store and serve a cream pie at the beach (lake or
pool), but it's easy to whip out a Tupperware container of this dip and a
box of graham crackers or sliced fruit and dig in!
Kids and adults alike love this recipe and everyone always asks for the
recipe!
NOTES ON MAKING KEY LIME PIE DIP
Make sure the cream cheese is fully softened at room temperature to ensure the
dip is silky smooth.
Key lime juice is best but regular limes work just fine.
Definitely use fresh lime juice. That bottled stuff just isn't the same.
You can absolutely use this recipe to make pie filling! Just reduce the lime
juice to 1/3 cup so everything sets up firm enough to slice.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Graham crackers are definitely my favorite but lemon cookies, ginger snaps and
coconut cookies are great too.
Teddy Graham cookies are fun for the kiddos!
Fruit kebabs on wooden or bamboo skewers are beautiful with this
(strawberries, grapes, melon, pineapple, etc.).
Make a charcuterie board with fresh fruit, fruity pastel marshmallows (make
into mini kebabs on toothpicks!), and a variety of cookies!
DIPS & SALADS PERFECT FOR SUMMER VACATION
Southern Shrimp Dip - A party pleasing appetizer recipe with shrimp, cream cheese, Cajun seasoning and tons of flavor perfect on crackers.
Classic Egg Salad - A classic Egg Salad recipe with tips for easy-peel eggs. The secret to this recipe is the three spices you add just a dash of.
Ham Salad - Also called Deviled Ham Salad, this sandwich spread recipe is made with ground or chopped leftover ham, sweet pickle relish and mayo.
Old-Fashioned Pimento Cheese - A simple recipe for classic Southern pimento cheese spread made with cheddar cheese, pimentos, mayo, a little seasoning (and no cream cheese).
Chicken Salad 3 Ways - Cranberry Pecan, Classic and Avocado Ranch chicken salad recipes and the BEST way to cook chicken breasts for chicken salad!
Seafood Salad - A quick and easy seafood salad recipe made with imitation crab that's perfect for sandwiches, rolls or crackers and always a hit!
Recipe for Key Lime Pie Dip
Key Lime Pie Dip
Yield: 1 quart
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 15 MinTotal time: 15 Min
A sweet and creamy dip perfect for graham crackers and fruit that tastes just like the classic pie made with lime juice, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk!
Ingredients
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 8-oz. block cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8-oz. tub cool whip, thawed
Graham crackers for dipping
Instructions
Combine sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese then beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Add lime juice, zest and powdered sugar then mix until blended.
Fold in cool whip then mix until just combined.
Add mixture to a serving bowl then refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.
Serve with graham crackers.
Notes
Make sure the cream cheese is fully softened at room temperature to ensure the dip is silky smooth.
Key lime juice is best but regular limes work just fine.
Definitely use fresh lime juice. That bottled stuff just isn't the same.
You can absolutely use this recipe to make pie filling! Just reduce the lime juice to 1/3 cup so everything sets up firm enough to slice.
A sparkling white wine sangria with oranges, lemons, grapefruit and limes
that's super refreshing and perfect for cooling off by the pool, at the lake
or on the beach!
A truly authentic sangria doesn't have much more than fruit and wine but once
upon a time a friend made a slightly different sangria recipe she found in a
magazine and I've been using that as a base recipe ever since!
There are two things that make this method for making sangria my favorite.
It's sparkling and it's a "hard" sangria because of the added vodka!
The carbonation from the lemon-lime soda makes it extra refreshing and you can
really have fun with all the flavored vodkas out now!
INGREDIENTS FOR SUMMER CITRUS SANGRIA
1 red grapefruit
1 lime
1 orange
1 lemon
1 cup sugar (or to taste)
1 cup citrus vodka
1 bottle dry white wine
1 can lemon-lime soda
VARIATIONS OF SUMMER CITRUS SANGRIA
Feel free to change up the fruit (pineapple is DIVINE in this!)
I think a cup of sugar is perfect but make it the way you like! The combined
fresh grapefruit juice, dry wine and vodka need a little sweetness for me but
you do you!
There are so many fun flavors of soda and sparkling water available these days
so use whichever you think would go great with the citrus flavors!
Make this "skinny" by using Fresca or LaCroix and your favorite sugar
substitute.
CITRUS FLAVORED VODKA OPTIONS
Choose whichever citrus fruit flavored vodka you like best (for me, that's
grapefruit or orange!). This sangria recipe would be perfect with any of the
following (or plain vodka works too!):
Absolut Mandarin
Ketel One Botanical Grapefruit
Skyy Blood Orange
Smirnoff Lime
Absolut Citron
Stoli Lime
Ketel One Oranje
Grey Goose Le Citron
New Amsterdam Lemon
Grey Goose L'Orange
Deep Eddy Ruby Red
Absolute Grapefruit
Smirnoff Ruby Red
MORE REFRESHING SUMMER COCKTAIL RECIPES
THE BEST MOJITOS EVER- One simple step makes this recipe for mojito cocktails better than
the others - with fresh mint and limes, rum and a little something to make it
sparkle, this pitcher recipe will be your summer go-to!
CREAMSICLE CRUSH
- A cool and creamy cocktail with whipped cream vodka, orange juice and a
splash of cream served over crushed ice in a powdered sugar-rimmed
glass.
RUM RUNNER
- With fruity hints of banana and berries and a combination of rums, this Rum
Runner Cocktail is a favorite summer beverage that is sure to satisfy!
ALABAMA SLAMMER
- A sweet and fruity summer cocktail, this Alabama Slammer is a fun adult
beverage that is perfect for sippin’ on your front porch!
TENNESSEE HONEY HOLE
- Based on the Joe's Crab Shack Honey Peach Smash, this light and refreshing
cocktail recipe is made with Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey, peaches and ginger
ale.
LEMONADE MOSCATO WINE SPRITZER
– A light, refreshing, easy to make adult cocktail using any flavor of
lemonade, moscato wine, lemon-lime soda, garnished with fresh fruit.
Recipe for Summer Citrus Sangria
Summer Citrus Sangria
Yield: 10 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 15 MinInactive time: 4 HourTotal time: 4 H & 15 M
A sparkling white wine sangria with oranges, lemons, grapefruit and
limes that's super refreshing and perfect for cooling off by the pool,
at the lake or on the beach!
Ingredients
1 red grapefruit
1 lime
1 orange
1 lemon
1 cup sugar (or to taste)
1 cup citrus vodka
1 bottle dry white wine
1 can lemon-lime soda
Instructions
Clean and slice the fruit, leaving half of the grapefruit whole.
Juice the reserved grapefruit half then add juice to a 2-quart
pitcher.
Add wine, sugar and vodka then stir until sugar dissolves.
Add fruit slices then rest mixture at least 4 hours (or overnight).
When ready to serve, add lemon-lime soda. Serve over ice.
Notes
See list of citrus vodka options above recipe card.
Feel free to change up the fruit (pineapple is DIVINE in this!)
I think a cup of sugar is perfect but you can add more or omit
altogether - make it the way you like!
Make this "skinny" by using Fresca or LaCroix and your favorite
sugar substitute.
When the pitcher is empty, I typically just add more wine and soda
then let the marinated fruit work it's magic.
When I was growing up (well, even still today), my daddy did all the grilling.
And not on any gas grill either. He’s a charcoal man.
When Husband and I got married, one of the first things I did was go out and
buy a nice grill. I knew that a gas grill wouldn't be as good as charcoal but
considering our busy schedules, I figured we’d use the gas grill more.
I figured wrong. We've hardly touched the thing. You know why? Because Husband
is as interested in cooking as I am in hockey.
I use it some but quite honestly, every time we have a crowd over (which is
often) I’m so busy preparing all the other stuff and making sure the kids
don’t drown that manning the grill just isn't something that works for me.
Plus, come about July or so, it gets to be about 437 degrees here in South
Carolina in the middle of the afternoon and I just ain't interested enough in
it to endure a heat stroke.
So I've figured out how to cook just about everything in the oven and one of
my favorites is barbequed chicken.
Let me just go on the record now and say that nothing can replace the flavor
of good ole coal-grilled barbeque chicken. And, yes, I know that by cooking it
in the oven I really can’t call it barbequed. Just work with me here.
It looks, tastes, smells and eats an awful lot like real barbequed chicken.
Except it’s EASY and requires no tending to, flipping, sweating, gnat-swatting
or IVs to prepare.
HOW TO SEASON OVEN BAKED BBQ CHICKEN
Each and every time I cook chicken, I use the same spice blend. I use it so
much, I gave it a name: Chicken Scratch. I make big batches of it that
I keep in an old plastic garlic powder container (one of those BIG ones from
Sam's or Costco).
It's less than 25% salt so you can use it very liberally. I don't find it to
be too spicy (neither do the kids) but if you're worried about the heat,
reduce the amount of cayenne pepper or substitute with additional black
pepper.
The recipe is included in the recipe card below.
NOTES ON COOKING BAKED BBQ CHICKEN
You can use any bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces but dark meat works the best
with this low-and-slow cooking method (there’s enough fat and skin to keep
the chicken from drying out). Reduce cooking time if using bone-in, skin-on
breasts; checking to see if they’re done after about an hour.
If your chicken pieces are on the small side, deduce initial cooking time by
15 minutes.
Use whichever BBQ sauce you like best.
Recipe for Baked Barbequed Chicken
Baked Barbequed Chicken
Yield: 10 Pieces
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 10 M
An oven-roasted BBQ chicken recipe for legs, thighs or leg quarters cooked
low-and-slow in the oven that tastes like it came right off the grill.
Ingredients
Chicken
10 chicken legs or thighs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Chicken Scratch (recipe below)
3/4 cup barbeque sauce
Chicken Scratch Seasoning
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
Instructions
Chicken
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Wash chicken pieces then blot dry with paper towels.
Place chicken in a large bowl then toss with olive oil until
thoroughly coated. Add Chicken Scratch then mix well.
I think it’s best to do this with your hands so you can really
make sure the chicken is thoroughly and evenly covered with the
oil and seasoning.
Line a large baking pan with aluminum foil (optional - just makes
for easy clean-up). Spray pan with cooking spray then arrange
chicken pieces evenly.
Cook at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Baste with barbeque
sauce then return to oven and cook for an additional 15 minutes
(total cooking time: 2 hours).
Chicken Scratch
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.
Notes
You can use any bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces but dark meat works
the best with this low-and-slow cooking method (there’s enough fat
and skin to keep the chicken from drying out). Reduce cooking time
if using bone-in, skin-on breasts; checking to see if they’re done
after about an hour.
If your chicken pieces are on the small side, deduce initial cooking
time by 15 minutes.
Chunks of boneless fish fillets lightly breaded in seafood breader then
quickly fried to crispy perfection.
I grew up eating fish and shellfish. And I LOVE IT ALL (something to
know about me... if it gets in the water, I will eat it).
We lived near the Congaree River in the midlands of South Carolina and spent
most weekends fishing for and eating bream, rockfish, catfish, etc. We
vacationed at the Chesapeake Bay (where my mom’s from) and Edisto Island, SC
during the summer and spent weeks at a time crabbing for and eating blue
crabs.
We lived close enough to the coast to be able by buy fresh shrimp off the
backs of pick-up trucks bringing in their haul through our neck of the woods.
I tell you all this because since I've been married to my mainland, white
bread, meat & potato eating Canadian husband, I don’t cook (and therefore
eat) fish and shellfish much anymore.
I recently discovered that The Boy loves it like I do. Now, every time we go
out to eat, the first thing he asks is if they have fish and shrimp. Most kids
love McDonald’s, The Boy loves Captain D’s.
Since Husband spent the entire weekend golfing, I decided to load the kids up
and spend some time with my folks. Yesterday, we cranked up the gas stove and
cast iron pot on the screened porch and went to town frying fish and shrimp.
We have two awesome seafood breaders readily available in my neck of the woods
that are amazing... one from
House of Autry
and one from
Adluh. But I've learned writing this blog that you guys don't always have access
to the same things I do so I'll list my seafood breader recipe in the recipe
card.
All Daddy does is lightly dust the fish in seafood breader and plop it in some
hot oil. I soak mine in buttermilk and hot sauce first but since that’s not
how these were cooked, I’m sticking with how Daddy did it.
We always serve our fried fish with homemade French fries, coleslaw and lite bread.
If we're really putting on the dog, you're likely to find a pot of grits, hushpuppies, bread & butter pickles and collard greens too!
Give me the grits (with some of that fish grease spooned on top) and some hot sauce and I'm happy!
Recipe for Southern-Fried Fish Nuggets
Southern Fried Fish Nuggets
Yield: 6 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 20 Min
Chunks of boneless fish fillets lightly breaded in seafood breader then quickly fried to crispy perfection.
Ingredients
2-lbs fish fillets
Salt & pepper
2 cups seafood breader
Vegetable shortening or oil
South Your Mouth Fish Fry
1 cup ground cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
Instructions
Heat a minimum of 4 inches of oil in a deep skillet or wide pan to 350 degrees (medium-high heat).
Cut fish into 1-inch chunks/nuggets then lightly season with salt and pepper.
Add fish and seafood breader to a large, lidded plastic container or brown paper bag then shake gently to coat.
Shaking off excess breader, add fish to hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack or pan lined with paper towels.
Notes
We use Adluh or House of Autry seafood breader OR make our own with the recipe listed above.
Use rockfish (striped bass), cod, catfish or whatever you can get your hands on!
Vegetable shortening (Crisco) makes all fried food extra crispy!
If using self-rising cornmeal in the fish fry, increase amount to 2 cups and omit flour.
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dinner, main dish
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OK, first things first. You have to make a batch of the Chicken Scratch seasoning that I make these chicken tenders with. I promise you will love it. If it ever had feathers on it, I put Chicken Scratch on it. Period. I posted a few recipes below that also use the Chicken Scratch... ya know, to try to lure you in to making some :)
I don’t fry often because deep-frying anything is time consuming, expensive, fattening and messy but the great thing about these chicken tenders is that you’re really just pan-frying them. You just use enough oil to cook the tenders on each side - you don’t have to submerge them in the oil. Chicken tenders are great for this cooking method because they’re light enough that they won’t sink to the bottom of the pan and burn and they are small enough to cook quickly.
Pan-Fried Chicken Tenders
1 pound chicken tenderloins
2 tablespoons Chicken Scratch, divided (recipe below)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup hot sauce
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Vegetable oil
Season chicken with 1 tablespoon Chicken Scratch; set aside.
Whisk egg, milk and hot sauce in a shallow bowl; set aside.
Combine remaining 1 tablespoon Chicken Scratch, flour, black pepper and dry mustard in a shallow bowl; set aside.
Working in batches, dip seasoned chicken in egg wash then toss to coat in flour mixture. Place chicken on a cooling rack or plate lined with wax paper and refrigerate until ready to use. Allowing them to rest a bit will help the breading stick to the chicken tenders.
Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet until temperature reaches 335-340 degrees. Fry the chicken until golden brown and crispy, turning once (about 5 minutes) then drain on cooling rack or paper towels.
Serve with honey mustard or your favorite dipping sauce. P.S.... I have it on good authority that Chick-fil-A Sauce is just honey mustard with a little barbeque sauce mixed in.
Chicken Scratch This is a seasoning mix I came up with years ago that I use each and every time I cook chicken. For more recipes using Chicken Scratch, click here.
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper*
1 tablespoon onion powder
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container. I keep mine in a large used spice container that still has its shaker top for easy use. Season chicken or other poultry LIBERALLY with mix (this is made with less than 25% salt so you can rock it out!)
*if you prefer a Southwest vibe, use chili powder instead
UPDATE! This recipe was "Pintested" by Pintesting and received 4.5 out of 5 pins! Read the review here 😜
