Eggplant, Corn, and Tomato Casserole

Wow! It has been a hot minute.

Life happens.

This casserole is currently in my oven. I haven't tried it yet but it smells good so I'm going to go and say, this is a success!

I do not know the origins of this recipe- all I know is that it belongs to my ,grandmother. I really don't recall a time where she made this recipe for the family but it was on a handwritten recipe card that looked like it might have been given to her by my Great Great Aunt Emily.


1 medium eggplant
4 tomatoes
1/2 cup flour
garlic
1 onion, sliced
6 ears of corn
salt and pepper
butter
buttered bread crumbs

Slice the unpeeled eggplant and tomatoes; toss lightly in flour and fry in oil infused with the garlic. (I actually used an infused Olive Oil from Asheville's Olive and Kickin'. It's an infusion of several Italian herbs and garlic)

Drain on paper towel.

In a casserole dish, place veggies in layers starting with half of the fried eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and salt and pepper. Top each layer with dotted butter. Continue layering until all veggies have been used, ending with dotted butter. Add corn, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

6 servings

------------Notes-------------

* I made only enough for Kevin and me so I used 1 small Japanese Eggplant and 2 sliced tomatoes.
* I did not fry the tomatoes... seemed like that was just too much fried goodness.
* I did not have whole corn so I used corn kernels that we had blanched and frozen last summer.

Old Time Bread Pudding

Ok ok ok... so sometimes, just sometimes, Nanny makes things that are not necessarily family recipes but part of the family just the same.

You know when you're flipping through Our State magazine or Southern Living (or in my case Natural Health, Gourmet, etc...)and you see the advertisements for some brand of rice or beans with a little recipe "clipping" for "Creamy Skillet Chicken Casserole?" Well, Nanny loves these. If you've ever looked through her recipe box or just a pile of papers on the kitchen table, you'll find one. At some point in her life, she clipped a recipe for PET Milk "Bread Pudding". The clipping referred to the recipe as "Old Time Bread Pudding". Based on the look of the clipping, I'm guessing it originated sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.

As many know, this dessert is a weakness for me. If I see "bread pudding" on a dessert menu at ANY restaurant- I have to have it. I've had it all and I can't get enough. Well, this recipe is my go-to bread pudding recipe that is made from things right in your own pantry- no difficulty here! I have several other recipes that I love to prepare (you can't beat Irish cream bread pudding) but this one is just what it says... that Old Time taste that you expect from a bread pudding. This is Nanny's favorite and she makes it more often than most people realize (it's just that I usually eat it all by morning, so you have to be around early).

Old Time Bread Pudding
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

4 slices buttered toast, cut into squares
1/3 cup raisins
2 slightly beaten eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup PET milk (evaporated milk)
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place toast pieces in a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole. Spring raisins over the toast. Pour over toast a mixture of eggs, sugar, salt, milk, boiling water, and vanilla. Let stand for 10 minutes and spring with sugar and cinnamon.

The recipe says bake for 30 minutes but it usually takes longer than that. The pudding is finished when a toothpick comes out clean.

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Lemon Squares, made from scratch

Growing up, my mother made these for me. While I don't remember Nanny ever making them I've been told that the recipe came from her (or is also made by her). When I was in college my mother would send them to my dorm-mates and me and the obsession was ongoing. I think mom sent them to Raleigh maybe 4 or 5 times one semester and we could never get enough! I've realized that the "cheater" lemon square recipes that use lemon pudding or jello (whatever the cheater recipe is) are so artificial tasting and almost too lemony. These lemon squares are absolutely delightful. The subtle lemon flavor of these squares screams "from scratch" and I love the brownie like consistency.

Lemon Squares

4 eggs, beaten until foamy
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups Wesson oil
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 small bottle of lemon extract (1 fl oz.)***

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 7x13 or 9x13 casserole dish.
Mix ingredients together and pour into greased dish. Bake for 30 minutes.
Dust with confectioner's sugar. Let it cool before slicing into 2 inch squares.

***I have also made this with 1 fresh lemon, the zest and juice, and had good results.

Squish *I mean* Squash Casserole

So, probably my all-time favorite casserole that my grandmother makes is her Squash Casserole. It's surprisingly easy and while I wouldn't call it "heirloom" material (that is to say, I'm not sure Nanny learned it from her family) it is something special that will always remind me of dinner at Nanny's. I'm pretty sure this is just an awesome concoction that Nanny came up with on her own... because she pretty much rocks the kitchen.

Squash Casserole

You'll need:
Fresh summer squash
1 small yellow onion
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
a little bit of flour
salt and pepper
1 egg
Herb Stuffing Mix
Greased Casserole Dish

Slice the squash into 1/4" slices and chop the onion. Boil the squash and onions with the butter until tender. Drain well and cool slightly.

In a bowl, mix the squash and onions with the soup, a bit of flour, and the egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Put a light layer of stuffing mix in the bottom of your greased casserole dish and then place the squash mixture on top. Top the casserole with stuffing mix and dot with butter.

Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.

mmmm!! I usually make 3 small casseroles, and, learning from observation, freeze 2 and eat one. The casserole freezes REALLY well. :)

PS: the term "squish" is in honor of my best friend and all the fun we have cooking, frying, and eating squish. :)

A Cake of Cornbread

the recipe card for cornbread "mother's recipe" (that's Granny Ruth) that my mother and I have been using as long as I can remember.Props to Mom and Dad for taking this picture, so elegantly placed by the teapot lamp and antique china on the antique kitchen thingy in our home in Oak Ridge, NC
Nanny's cornbread is not something we can take lightly. It's probably the one thing that she can be most picky about, and probably enjoys the most. Her cornbread is pretty much fried in a cast iron skillet, crispy as can be on the outside and soft and moist as cake in the middle (but NEVER sweet). After baking she NEVER washes the skillet, instead just lets it cool in the oven and then places it back down with all the others.

There are 2 ways to prepare this recipe- one using self rising corn meal and the other, the recipe that Granny Ruth always prepared (if you've lost track, that's my great grandmother)

The plain truth of it is the cornmeal itself makes all the difference in the world. Nanny's cornmeal (Subert's) is delivered monthly from Lynn Dillingham's brother, in South Carolina, but if you don't have access to the "good stuff", she and I can both recommend using "Three Rivers" cornmeal, or any course ground meal (not corn flour) you have come across. If you have access to the Old Mill of Guilford Corn Meal(Nanny does not care for it, says it isn't not course enough) try that-- mom and I like it when we don't have access to the South Carolina treasure :)

Cornbread Recipe 1
(the cheater recipe, but this is what Nanny prepares these days)
**this recipe isn't so much a recipe at all, but more like a guideline :) **
For a 5" skillet

3/4 cup SELF RISING Corn Meal
pinch of salt
a little bit of sugar
1 egg
2 dollops of vegetable oil
buttermilk

Preheat oven AND skillet (with 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil) to 425-450 degrees (This is crucial because if the skillet isn't hot enough you won't get that good "crust"). Preheat before mixing the ingredients below because the corn meal will begin absorbing the liquid and ruin the consistency.

Mix corn meal, salt, sugar, egg, and vegetable oil. Then begin adding the buttermilk. The amount of buttermilk depends on the amount of meal you are using but a good rule of thumb is to mix enough buttermilk into the meal so that the batter is the texture of a thick chowder or the consistency of gravy. :)

Pour the batter into the very hot skillet and bake in the oven until dark brown.

Turn the cake out onto a plate before cutting or serving (upside down, as my significant other has so nobly pointed out to me)

-------------------------------------------------------------

The following recipe is pretty special to me. While I don't make this recipe as often because the self rising does so well, it will always be so valuable to me because this is the exact recipe I grew up making with my mother in our own kitchen... Even today, we use the same recipe card that was given to my mother from Nanny, handwritten as "Mother's Recipe" (Granny Ruth)... it's discolored, torn, folded, and in a really delicate state (See picture above), but that's why I love it. It shows the love that this recipe has been shown for so long. I'm 25 now and I can't remember ever using another recipe card to make cornbread. It will forever be the best.

Cornbread Recipe 2 (Granny Ruth's Recipe)

3/4 cup plain cornmeal (not self rising)
3 tablespoons AP flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda **see note
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil or bacon drippings
Buttermilk or plain milk
**if using buttermilk omit soda
We prepare this in a 8" skillet.

As with the above recipe, preheat oven and skillet (3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon drippings) to 425-450 degrees.

Mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and soda (if using plain milk). Add egg, oil. Mix and then add enough milk or buttermilk until the texture is similar to gravy- (not too runny but not thick, either).

Add to the HOT skillet and bake until dark brown. Turn out onto a plate for serving :-)

Serve with butter (adding a bit of garlic salt to the butter adds a wonderful twist- something Nanny introduced to my mom and me and have loved ever since).

goodness... sounds so good I'm going to have some right now :) ...now if only I had some beans cooked with a ham hock....

Eggplant Casserole

Years and years ago, when Nanny was a young girl, her family sent her to Washington D.C. to spend Christmas with her aunt and uncle's family. Nanny's story was great. She started by telling me all about the train ride and her arrival at what she deemed a grand home. Her aunt and uncle must have had some money because she said cooks actually prepared Christmas dinner for them. Of all the foods she could have told me about or taught me, she chose probably the ugliest most untastey-looking dish.. that was surprisingly WONDERFUL. She told me that on that Christmas the cook brought out this mushy-looking purple blob covered in cheese and Nanny refused to eat it. Over the years, she grew to love this casserole and now it's one of our favorites. The trick is to make sure that, after boiling, the eggplant must drain in a colander for as long as possible, before adding the rest of the ingredients and baking.

Eggplant Casserole
(serves 3-4 side dishes)

You will need:
Small eggplant
small yellow onion
2-3 tablespoons butter
AP Flour
1 egg
salt and pepper
sharp cheddar cheese
small casserole dish


Begin by choosing a relatively small eggplant. (If you are planning to serve a larger group-- get 2-3 small eggplants. Large eggplants have too many seeds which I think makes this dish hard to prepare AND eat.)
Cut the bottom and top off the eggplant and peel the skin off of the vegetable.
Dice the eggplant and onion. Add to a pot, cover with water, and add butter. Cook the eggplant and onions until completely tender. Drain well (this could be up to an hour? sometimes I try to move it along by stirring the mixture in the colander- don't worry too much because it will all get mashed up, later, anyway).
After draining, add flour, egg, salt and pepper and mix and mash well. Place in the greased casserole dish and cover with cheddar cheese (don't be stingy- throw it on there!)
Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbling.

It is probably the most unattractive casserole I could think it post on this blog but the taste is really great and worth the effort.

**Update, my boyfriend, a true California-boy from San Francisco, tried the casserole last night and thinks that this dish would also be really great at brunch-- not only a side at dinner. :)

Russell Family Peach Cobbler

It's the perfect time of year to make my grandmother's peach cobbler. The recipe does not have exact measurements and that's half the fun of the dish. Originally, my grandmother would have made homemade pie crust but today, in an attempt to shortcut the recipe and save time, I recommend purchasing a roll out pie dough like Pillsbury Pie Crusts. If I had my grandmother's pie dough recipe I would share it- perhaps it will surface sometime soon. The best part of this recipe are the dumplings of leftover pie crust found in the middle of the cobbler.

You'll need the following:
deep casserole dish that is approximately 6 inches wide
1 pie crust, chilled, rolled out to desired width.
a little bit less than 1 cup of sugar
1 - 1 1/2 cups water
Roughly 1 heaping tablespoon of all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter (we always use salted butter in our family)
ground nutmeg
3-4 cups peeled, sliced, and seeded Free-stone peaches

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (375 works too).

Start by cooking peaches and butter in the water (the water should just barely cover the peaches) over medium heat on the stove top. While the butter melts and the peaches cook, mix the flour with the sugar. Add the flour/sugar mixture to the peach mixture and continue cooking until the peaches are soft. After about 15-20 minutes check the consistency. The peaches should be soft but not falling apart. Check the sugary sauce. If it's too sour for your taste you'll want to add a little bit more sugar- but it's your preference.

Set aside to cool. Coat a deep casserole dish with butter (or Pam works). Cut the pie dough to fit the casserole dish but save the leftover pieces of dough for the dumplings. Put half of the peach mixture into the casserole dish, place the scraps of dough over the peach mixture and repeat with the other half of the peach mixture. Sprinkle nutmeg over the top layer of peach mixture. Lastly, top the cobbler with the pie crust and cut slits into the top for ventilation.

Bake until the top crust is golden brown. Cook for at least 45 minutes.

The cobbler is best when still warm but not hot. My family can't decide if it's better with or without homemade vanilla ice cream. I am a purist. I like the cobbler "as-is."


I received a ton of overly ripe peaches from my favorite produce stand in Weaverville, NC. In an attempt to cook them before they all spoiled I made two cobblers and plan to take one to a friend (hence the disposable tins). A good tip, especially by the end of August, talk to your produce man about the possibility of free or discounted overly ripe peaches. Don't be afraid to cut off the overly ripe parts of the peach flesh. These will actually make a much sweeter cobbler.