I’m pretty excited that Boone is going to be contributing some to Mess of Greens! Read on for his thoughts about southern culture, food, and friendships.
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Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
Folks in the Delta really love a potluck. Friendsgiving is next weekend in our little town, and I’m traveling an hour or so on Wednesday to get together with some teachers in another county… and on Saturday night, our friends Jess and Boyce (those of bourbon pecan ice cream fame) hosted a fun pumpkin-themed potluck party. They figure that canned pumpkin is sold seasonally, PLUS all the recipes for pumpkin are pretty delish, so why not just throw out all the stops and eat ALL of said recipes one fun, semi-chilly weekend in November? It doesn’t hurt they live on a huge beautiful farm in an old farmhouse with horses and lots of space for a bonfire. Last year I tried my hand at pumpkin gooey butter cake (huge, big time, epic fail), so this year I thought I’d go with something more in my wheelhouse AND something that would go with the signature main dish, spicy pumpkin chili: pumpkin corn muffins. If I may say so, they were a pretty solid addition to the fare of cheesecakes, dips, and pumpkin eggnog. What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?
Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
Makes 24
What you need:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 can canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
What to do:
Sift or mix the dry ingredients together well (sugar, flour, cornmeal, spices, baking powder) and then stir the wet ingredients (pumpkin, milk, melted butter, and eggs) lightly using a spoon or fork… I made a huge (HUGE) mess because my bowl wasn’t very deep and I thought the pumpkin and milk would blend easily… turns out pumpkin is THICK. anyway, tread lightly.
Mix it all together, spoon into about 24 muffin tins, and bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. They won’t be golden brown, but a toothpick will come out clean when they’re ready.
they were a big hit with the spicy pumpkin chili. Be warned, this makes for one filling meal as the pumpkin makes the muffins a little more dense than your typical cornbread. 
Dining Out Delta: Rhoda’s Hot Tamales
we had the most fun delta adventure last saturday when my folks came for a visit (went to Rhoda’s in Lake Village, antiquing, old building exploring, and river gazing) and it ended the way of all great Delta adventures…with a tetanus shot in the ER.
but before all of that, we had lunch at rhoda’s famous hot tamales... delicious burgers, HOMEMADE hot tamales, and FRESH fried peach and apple pies. AMAZING. there’s a reason why every single tamale trail guidebook or Arkansas tourist or adventure magazines and websites mentions a stop by rhoda’s as a must.
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THE tailgate cocktail: bourbon and ginger
before we get started, a little confession: i’m really, truly, honestly not into college football. at all. not even a little bit.
now, i love a tailgate, and i love high school football (LOVE IT. there’s just something about cold weather, local pride, and a marching band that just tugs at my heartstrings) but i went to D3 schools for undergrad and grad school, and my folks just never were that crazy about it, so I just don’t really get the obsessive, soul-consuming passion so many southerners have about the college version. sorry, y’all.
really, i’ve tried to love it. boone is crazy about his alma mater’s team (the Demon Deacons) and my best friend katie sat next to me at an Ole Miss game a few years ago and talked me through every single play by play, thinking that if I knew what was going on, i’d enjoy it a little more…but nope. Now, I can sit still for 3 hours and cheer when I’m supposed to, but really I only want to watch games that I go to in person, and really only want to go to a game once or twice a year. oops. i hope this doesn’t ruin our relationship, y’all. even if I’m not crazy about the game, my love of social gatherings and reasons to cook and share food means i really, really love a tailgate. and who doesn’t have a delicious drink or two at a tailgate, am i right? it turns out that my favorite autumn and winter cocktail is a balance of warm bourbon and sweet, fizzy, spicy ginger ale. i’d been looking for a way to “fancy” it up a little bit this tailgate season (mostly for when i try to be supportive and watch wake forest on ESPN or the computer) when i found this garden & gun recipe for a homemade version of ginger ale and edited it a bit for my tastes. see if it hits your spot this football season.
Ginger Syrup for Bourbon and Homemade Ginger Soda
Makes approximately 15 drinks worth.
What you need for the syrup:
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 lb ginger root about 1/2 of one big piece you get from the store, peeled
1 tsp green or black peppercorns
For the cocktail
ice
bourbon
club soda
lemon
What to do:
after you’ve peeled the ginger, grate it using a cheese grater or microplaner. bring the sugar, water, and ginger to a boil in a small sauce pot. once it comes to a boil, and let it cook down until it is a little thicker (you’ll know if when you put a spoon into the pot if the liquid slides off slowly and leaves a residue, but you’re not looking for the consistency of glue or anything) this takes somewhere 5-10 minutes. remove the pot from the heat, add the peppercorns, and let the ginger steep and cool for about 30 minutes to an hour (if you’re in a rush, throw it into the fridge for a little bit.) strain the syrup and throw away the ginger, and store the syrup in an airtight container up to 4 weeks.
once you’re ready to enjoy your creation, fill a glass with ice and pour 2-3 tablespoons of the syrup with 1-2 oz bourbon. top with the club soda and a lemon or lime wedge and enjoy. you’ll find that this is significantly less sweet than a regular bourbon & ginger, and that the spiciness and flavor of the ginger comes through pretty clearly. it can also be served over ice cream or with pears, peaches, or apples. yeaaaah.
bourbon ice cream with salted butter pecans
what did you do for labor day? we got to spend the long weekend with four super fun, outdoorsy friends at my folks’ teensy cabin in southern ms. the plan had been to go tubing, and swimming, and fishing, but weather reports like this totally put the kabash on them. we ended up slogging around in the mud and doing lots of cooking, drinking, and talking. it was just what i’d needed.
the pieces de resistance were two ice creams from jess’s jeni’s splendid ice creams cookbook. we made a deeee-licious curry chocolate and this velvety, rich bourbon and pecan ice cream. according to garden & gun, it’s national bourbon heritage month, so i thought i’d share this recipe with you, too!
What You Need:
For the Salted Butter Pecans:
3/4 cups pecan halves
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Bourbon Ice Cream:
2 cups whole milk, divided
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup Bourbon
3/4 cups pecan halves
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Bourbon Ice Cream:
2 cups whole milk, divided
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup Bourbon
for the pecans (embarrassing note, i bought walnuts and took pictures of them before i realized my mistake, but then went and got pecans before we actually made the ice cream) chop the nuts into small-ish pieces, and melt the butter. coat the pecans and sprinkle the salt. you can use the oven at 350 OR do the easy thing and toast them in the microwave on high for about 40 seconds. put them aside once they’re brown and buttery looking.
for the ice cream, get a small bowl, and whisk together 2 tablespoons of the milk and the cornstarch together and put it to the side (the recipe calls for it to be a “slurry” honestly, no idea what this means… we just mixed it all together), then whisk together cream cheese and salt until it’s all smooth in a separate bowl.
heat the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan over medium high heat. bring to a rolling boil and allow it to boil for 4-ish minutes. remove from heat and whisk in the cornstarch. bring the mixture back to a boil and allow it to thicken a little bit (for about 1-2 minutes). take the pot from heat and then, little by little, whisk the hot mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. stir in bourbon. Pour the mixture into a big plastic bag or a metal bowl and place in an ice water bath until cool. i swear, i felt like this took for-ev-er, but probably only took about 30 minutes.
Freeze ice cream according to your ice cream makers instructions, (but note that ours really didn’t freeze much in the maker at all. once it finished in the ice cream maker, we added the pecans, put it in a freezer-safe container and slid it in the freezer overnight.) the recipe calls for a 4 hour freeze time, so make sure to plan ahead…otherwise, you end up with ice cream for breakfast, like us. (not that i’m complaining even a little bit. deeeeeee-licious.)
how are you going to enjoy bourbon heritage month?
Dining Out Delta: Cypress Swamp Picnic
i’d heard rumours of a magical, ancient cypress swamp in a not-too-far-away town, and imagined that it would be the perfect place for a romantic weeknight picnic. i obviously wasn’t thinking clearly, since cypress swamps are known to be muggy and mosquito-infested, but it just seemed like such an adventure, i knew we had to do it anyway. i told boone we were going on a secret date, and that I was packing a picnic, and told him to be home by 5:30. he was totally bewildered, but got home in time last monday night to change clothes and help me load the car with the picnic basket. this is what we found:
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The Pink 75
I mentioned back after the engagement ice cream party that I would post the recipes for the cocktails we enjoyed… they aren’t particularly southern, but they were pretty delish, so i figured it was worth sharing. The actual drink that I based this on, (the French 75) is a delicious light yellow drink,…not too sweet or fruity that packs a serious punch. (a combination of Gin, Champagne, and a fruit liqueur will do that, you know?) The name, French 75, apparently comes from the gun by the same name and originated just after the turn of the 20th Century and garnered fame as a lovely Champagne cocktail with a strong kick. my friend sam gave my my first French 75 on my 29th b-day at the Giardina’s and then i was reintroduced at my local neighborhood bar a month or so ago. To make my own version a girl-party worthy drinkity-drink, I added some grapefruit juice because nothing says girlie like pink, and served them in my antique champagne saucers. It seemed a little less french at that point, so I took liberties and gave it a new name. it was a big hit… no one wanted the wine or the grenadine-vodka cocktail i concocted once they’d tasted this. Let me know if this hits you as hard as it hit me…
The Pink 75
Makes 1 drink
What you need:
1 oz St Germain (Elderflower Liqueur)
1 oz gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
Champagne
1/2 tsp sugar or stevia
3 oz Grapefruit juice or better yet, sparkling grapefruit juice
Ice
What you do:
Mix the St. Germain, the gin, the grapefruit juice, the lemon juice, and the sugar together with the ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake, and pour into a martini, tall highball glass, or a champagne saucer and top with the champagne. Garnish with a lemon peel or sugared rim.
Enjoy! (but don’t get too crazy…) What’s your favorite fancy cocktail?
pimiento cheeseburger in paradise
i did a bad thing, y’all. this summer (if you haven’t been able to tell by the recent recipes) i fell off the weight watchers wagon…not just fell, but plummeted.
the fact that i cooked this for dinner tonight really says it all: pimiento cheeseburgers. YOLO, right? 
by itself, pimiento cheese is a delicious, classic southern staple…boone goes crazy for it and eats it on crackers, on sandwiches, and cheese toast. my grandmother LOVED it..and there are not one, but two different recipes in my favorite southern cookbook, Come On In. i can usually take it or leave it, but when i read about the pimiento cheese hotdog and the pimiento cheese burger in the new Garden&Gun, i started to salivate…weight watchers, what? and trust me, it was worth it.
Spicy Pimiento Cheese (burgers)
recipe adapted from Garden&Gun and Come on In
Serves 4
What you need for the Pimiento Cheese:
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup pimientos (about one small jar)
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 mayonnaise (again, helmann’s…i know Carolinians use Dukes, but seriously, people..use dukes.)
salt (no more than 1/2 tsp)
black pepper (1 tsp)
cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp)
And the Burger:
1 lb lean ground beef
salt
pepper
garlic powder
red onion
4 sesame buns
ketchup
What to do:
Mix the cheese, pimientos, green onions, mayo, and seasonings together and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
mix the seasonings in with the ground beef and make 4 balls. Flatten the balls into patties, and press your thumb into the center (this helps distribute heat evenly, i guess.) cook the burgers on the grill or in a skillet until medium rare or medium.
Turn on the broiler and spread the pimiento cheese onto the top half of the hamburger buns. Put both sides of the buns into the oven for about 1-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melty. make your burger the way you like it, and enjoy.
A Girly, Sweet Engagement Party
Happy almost-wedding Stephanie! This is Stephanie (in green).
This lovely lady is getting married in September to a great guy, so a few of my work colleagues and I wanted to celebrate their upcoming marriage. Since getting married to Boone was the best thing that ever happened to me, I think it’s SUPER important to make other brides-to-be feel special by going all out. it’s a pretty busy time of year for us, though, so we decided to do something fun but easy….ice cream sundaes and cocktails!How do southerners throw parties for their gal pal? like this:
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chicken on flying biscuits
boone and i have a road-trip tradition (if you can call it that). if it’s 10:31am OR if we’ve just passed an exit it’s a given that i’ll turn to him and say, “hey, we should get a chicken biscuit.” which sets off a crazy craving for one AND is at that moment, totally impossible.
i have the worst timing.
just thursday we watched adam richman’s (of man vs food) new travel channel show as he searches for the best sandwich in america and he highlighted a chicken cheddar biscuit from time out, some chapel hill, nc establishment and ever since we’ve been dying for this perfect southern breakfast combo. since we were having folks over for brunch this weekend to watch the olympics we decided to try to make one ourselves. we used a chicken recipe from some show on CMT that promises to help folks recreate fast food staples (BTW, whoever thought “country music and fast food, that’s the PERFECT combo” is definitely encouraging obesity AND making hank williams senior and johnny cash turn over in their graves). to top it off, we pulled out my favorite atlanta cookbook (the flying biscuit) for their world-famous biscuit recipe. no lie, it was a giant mouthful, but pret-ty delish.
What you need for the chicken:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups peanut oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons salt
What you need for flying biscuits:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons granulated sugar (3 tablespoons for the recipe, 1 for the topping)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups light cream (or 1 1/2 cups half and half if you can’t get light cream)
1/3 half-and-half
What to do:
for the biscuits, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. cut the butter into small chunks. work the butter into the dry ingredients until its all about the size of small peas. smushing the flour and butter together feels wonderful, so just relax and enjoy it.
make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and butter and pour in the light cream (or half and half) and stir it using a circular fashion until all the ingredients are wet and sticking together, “until the dough comes together in a sort of sticky ball.” don’t over handle it, but put it on a floured surface and knead it lightly until into a ball, then roll it out using a lightly floured rolling pin to about a 1 inch thickness. use a 2″-3″ cookie cutter to cut the dough. (turns out i don’t have a cookie cutter, BUT a wine glass or plastic cup works just the same)
brush the tops of the biscuits with half and half and sprinkle the sugar on the top. (now, i didn’t do this last part since I wasn’t sure about the sugar and chicken, but if you’re making authentic flying biscuits, then it’s a must.) once this is done, bake the dough at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes until golden brown.
For the chicken, i’m turning things over to boone, since i had no hand whatsoever (which is why there isn’t one single prep photo. oops.) anyway, here goes.
Boone: heat the peanut oil in a deep skillet to 400 degrees, this takes a long time, so it’s best to start here. then, cut the breasts in half and (if you’re smart, pound them to be a bit flat and make it easier to eat). to make the batter, mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. beat the egg and stir in the milk in a separate bowl. submerge the chicken in the egg mixture, then drop it into the dry batter and coat the entire breast. fry in the oil and cook for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown. perfect.
ok, i’m back. once the chicken is done and the biscuits are baked, cut them in half and make your sandwich…the time-out version calls for cheddar cheese melted on top, so if you’re feeling decadent, you can go that route. serve with fruit or roasted potatoes and ta-da!
doesn’t looking at this make you feel as fit as our olympic swimmers or divers? i know… me too.
