making sure I don't waste those fruits and veggies... a great vegetarian soul food meal!

After spending so much time Saturday going through the profuse amount of fruits and vegetables I decided to go ahead and cook up some of them for a great soul food dinner. There is nothing like simple soul food. And being a lover of classic Southern fare, I rarely plan a meal without thinking of the heart. This meal was easy to prepare - didn't take hours - and hit the spot just perfectly!

Here's the menu:

fresh field peas (aka crowder peas)
cheesy brocolli rice casserole
mashed sweet potatoes
homemade macaroni and cheese
...served with a biscuit!

The field peas are simple - I cheat and use Uncle Wiley's Beans & Peas Seasoning - it's a great shortcut that yields rich and delicious flavor. You can buy it in the produce section at Kroger - $.99 a packet and so worth it! I use one packet per pound of peas. Great with butter beans too. We eat a lot of butter beans and home grown collards.



The cheesy broccoli rice casserole I made with fresh broccoli that we received from Nature's Garden Delivered. I used 1 head of broccoli and halved the recipe. The full recipe is below:

1 head of fresh broccoli, steamed and chopped (you can use frozen too - 10oz is good)
3 cups of rice - brown rice is great - adds texture
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup

Cook your broccoli and rice separate (rice is generally 2:1 water to rice ratio - about 1 1/2 cups of dry rice will yield 3 cups cooked - I think). Saute your diced
onions in the butter, along with the garlic. Once broccoli, rice and onions are cooked, dump them together, add the soup and cheese and mix well. Add to a casserole dish and top with more cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. YUMMY!

For the sweet taters, I peeled and boiled about 8 or 9 small garnet sweet potatoes. I have TONS of them from the produce delivery to use up and I love sweet potatoes, so I reckon I'll be repeating this recipe. Once they were soft I simply mashed them with PLENTY of butter and raw sugar. Add a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg if you like. Don't get them too sweet or they might as well be dessert! You want the flavor of the potato to come through too...

The macaroni and cheese is also surprisingly easy but you have to plan ahead. Paula Deen has a great slow cooker mac and cheese recipe that will blow your mind. . If you start it in your slow cooker in advance of your meal it will save you the prep time with the broccoli rice casserole and sweet taters. Click on the link for the recipe! Gotta love Paula Deen - takes a true Southern woman to cook like that!! (Psst: If you get in a bind for time, Publix makes some surprisingly homemade tasting mac and cheese... yum).

Serve it with a buttery biscuit and you'll be a happy belly! Mary B's biscuits are the bomb and don't involve any floury mess on your countertop!

The other great part about all of this is that you can eat these leftovers for a few days afterwards and the flavors only get better!

Enjoy! I know we did.