full bellies | warm welcomes
Is there really anything more satisfying than a popsicle in the summertime?
Ok, ok, homemade ice cream is waaaay up there, you’re right.
So, then, is there anything better than ice cream or popsicles in the summer time?
Oh. Well, you’re right… sno cones are pretty hard to beat when it’s hot out there.
Well, I’m pretty sure that sno cones, ice cream, and popsicles are the TOP three most satisfying things to eat in the summer. AmmIright?
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Can I tell you something embarrassing? I ate two whole watermelons in four days. By myself.
They are only JUST coming into farm stands and really aren’t that sweet yet, but I can’t stop. The fresh, clean, perfectly bright smell that permeates my house when I cut into one is, alone, honestly worth the cost of buying one. I’ve made cocktails, and salads, and this week, I tried Bryant Terry’s Basil Salted Watermelon, and damn. It was good and I’m not even a traditional watermelon-salter.
But down here in Mississippi (and I guess all over the country, these days) watermelons have had a shadow cast over their perfection.
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Y’all know I’m CRAZY about Dolly Parton, right? I mean, she saves wounded bald eagles, gives libraries of books to children, writes and sings incredible songs, is crazy witty, knows and is totally one-thousand percent comfortable with herself, and is just all around glamourous and adorable…Need I say more?
Well, when you’re as big a fan as me, and she announces the dates of her first tour in YEARS, PLUS you accidentally end up with 3 times as many watermelons than you actually need for the event you’re catering (still working on that..erg.) then AND you and your family have eaten so much of it that you’re starting to get waterlogged, you figure our something delicious to do with it. AND, of course, make sure to name it after the queen of east Tennessee herself. (waterMELONS, you know?) 
Anyway, I hated to see all this nearly overripe watermelon and juice go to waste, so I combined it with a few other juices, my favorite alcohols, and a little cucumber slices, and Voila! The perfect beach or screened in porch cocktail for warm days or nights…named after one of my favorite Dolly performances with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream.
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When I was a kid, the ice cream truck (called The Bootsy Wagon) would drive around our neighborhood maybe once a week in the summer, and I would FREAK OUT. I never had money–I mean, I was outside playing in the dirt. What seven year old has money in that situation?– and it would inevitably speed by my house too fast for me to get it to stop, but when I did catch it I’d get a mickey mouse bar or chocolate-vanilla ice cream sandwich and eat it as it dripped down my fingers and chin.
Pure summer kid joy.
Brett would giggle and didn’t believe that the Ice Cream truck company was called the Bootsy Wagon, (He thought my references to it were some folksy, Mississippi way of saying “Ice Cream Truck” like I say “buggy” instead of grocery cart.) Then he read in a corporate donor report that The Bootsy Wagon was a Mississippi Black Owned Business based in Ellisville, Mississippi. Vindicated.
Anyway, since I started making my homemade ice cream six years ago, I’ve been nursing this crazy unlikely dream that one day I’ll own a tiny ice cream truck and be able to bring joy and happiness to children in the summertime.
I don’t know about all that (yet.) but I DO know that I’m having some progress on the portable ice cream sandwich situation… This chocolate-mint ice cream sandwich is WHERE it’s AT. Make them knowing full well you’ll want to eat them all in one sitting.
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I went to Las Vegas a few months after my son was born for a conference, and at the recommendation of my cousin Virginia, ended up at Mesa Grill for supper with my friend Sara and some of her friends. We ate and ate and ate, and then did a little drinking and only a teeny bit of gambling on the black jack tables. The food was truly deeeelish, and the gambling was fun, but it was the cocktail that Sara had me order that I most remember. It was pink, and fizzy, and just right for the hottest of hot desert night… The Paloma.
I’ve been making and ordering them pretty much constantly since then since it’s made from one of my favorite spirits, tequila (See my ode to the margarita here) and is pretty much PERFECT for summer weather down here in the deepest south. Grapefruit soda, Tequila, lime… could it be any more delicious?
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We got out in the dirt this weekend and planted our vegetable garden… the weather was dreamy and it felt so productive to get my sweet little seedlings in the ground.
We’ll have about every color cherry tomato, plus some big ole red Big Boys, and some okra and summer squashes. It’s going to be wonderful IF we can keep the silly deer and other fauna out of them. Gardeners out there, any ideas or tried & true ways for how to keep my little vegetable babies safe?
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Oh folks, can you stand it? It’s. Almost. Margarita. Weather.
Margarita weather ALSO means that it’s linen and white clothes weather, drippy fish tacos on the back porch weather, read your favorite book (To Kill a Mockingbird, obvi) while sitting outside covered in sunscreen and also mosquita spray weather, and, my personal favorite, black cherry-slash-green apple snocone weather.
I didn’t even know that I liked tequila until I tried silver tequila, and then I literally wanted to drink the whole bottle right then and there.
Some of y’all are thinking, oh, oh tequila. no nonononononononooooooo. (because there was that one night when you turned 22 and you went out dancing with your friends at that blues bar and met Morgan Freeman and then took so many shots that you ended up dancing on top of a car while it was driving through downtown at 2.3 mph.. oh wait…)
But before you say “nooooooo” let me FIRST tell you that this has NO sour mix involved AND is a truly refined cocktail for grownups and not at all like the tequila you may or may not have thrown up for two days straight that night in college.
This margarita recipe is refreshing, a little tart, and tingles in all the right places. You get me?
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But now it turns out we’re heading to the beach for my favorite religious holiday because my mama snagged a condo for us, so all the menus I had in my mind got thrown out the window. We’ll be having fresh gulf shrimp something-or-other (which will be oh-so-fine) instead of our traditional dishes. Since we won’t be around next weekend, I insisted that we have our favorite Easter foods this past weekend instead. Ham, asparagus, and deviled eggs…y’all! It was divine! (no Easter pun intended.)
According to my cousin Virginia, my mama makes THE. BEST. DEVILED. EGGS. IN. THE. WORLD. As Virginia travels all over the country nearly every day of the week for her job and fun, and eats at all the best highbrow AND the lowbrow places, I’m pretty sure she knows what she’s talking about.
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As a toddler mama, I spend roughly 2/3 of my time in the kitchen trying to figure out how to make something that Dubs will eat that has at least SOME nutritional value. Low-sugar Peanut butter on whole wheat waffles, oatmeal with raisins, avocado toast, and colby-jack cheese cubes are my standby snacks (obviously kale pesto and sweet potato mac ‘n cheese are also on this list.) Thankfully, ALL of us love tacos, and sweet potatoes, and black beans, so this recipe has risen to the top of our dinner menu pretty quickly.
Also, it’s like the easiest thing ever.
I’ve seen some really gorgeous recipes lately with cubed sweet potatoes. Y’all, that makes for a LOVELY photo and also probably a little less messy eating, but you can’t beat the flavor of roasted sweet potatoes mixed with smoked paprika and cumin. You just can’t. So, that means these photos maybe aren’t as lovely as a few others out there on the interweb, but the recipe is WORTH IT. Also, you can make this recipe into burritos, tacos, OR quesadillas. It’s so versatile and awesome. Enjoy!
What you Need for the Potatoes:
2 medium sweet potatoes, roasted then peeled
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (if you like spicy food)
Salt to taste
For the Beans:
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 onion diced
Cilantro
2 tablespoons of lime juice
To Serve:
Flour tortillas
1 ripe avocado
cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths
sour cream or greek yogurt
shredded cheese
Salsa (if desired)
What to Do:
Prick your sweet potatoes all over with a fork and wash them. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for about 30-45 minutes on 400 WITH their skin. You’ll know they’re cooked because their skin will puff out a bit and they will be squishy to the touch. They’re SO much easier to peel once they’ve been baked.
While they are baking, drain your black beans. In a medium saucepan, sautee the onions, and sprinkle the chili powder over the onions. Sauteeing the seasonings brings out a better, richer flavor. Dump your beans in and cook briefly, just enough to warm them. Mix the cilantro and lime juice in. Voila!
Once your potatoes are cooked and have cooled enough so that you don’t burn your fingers off when you touch them, mash the potatoes with the cumin, salt, chili, and paprika. Stir it in very well.
Serve by putting the potatoes, black beans, and toppings in a flour tortilla. Eat until your belly is full and your heart is content.
It turns out that I made this recipe for roasted spicy okra over the weekend with a big bag that had been left on Boone’s desk, so it just feels right to share it today after this week’s events. I’d only ever had it stewed, gumboed, and fried, so I thought I’d try a new way. It turns out that like the Fighting Okra, real okra just gets a little crispy and more flavorful when you turn up the heat.
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