Another classic egg salad made with hard boiled eggs, red and green onion, lemon, seasonings, parsley, mayonnaise and Creole mustard.

Another Egg Salad

It's sure been another hot summer hasn't it y'all? And it seems to be all over the country so I guess we're all in good company.

Well, it is summer! But... I'm SO ready for fall.

I'm still plugging away over here cooking up a storm anyway. I mean, no matter the weather, we still gotta eat, right?

Still, there are days where the heat is just too exhausting to me and egg salad is a welcome addition, whether stuffed into a fresh garden tomato, spooned onto sandwich bread, or scooped on a plate with some crackers.

A mixed garden salad made with romaine and iceberg lettuces, fresh parsley, Romano and bleu cheeses, lot of freshly cracked black pepper and a tangy, lemon-garlic vinaigrette.

Sensation Salad

This salad is a slight revision of the well-loved salad found in the Junior League of Baton Rouge's River Roads Recipes II cookbook.

While it became more widely known across Louisiana and her sister states from the cookbook, it actually originated as a creation of a now closed, Baton Rouge restaurant called Bob and Jake's, and soon took on a viral life of its own among other local area restaurants.

Apple Julep, a refreshing drink made with apple juice, pineapple, orange and lemon juice, is bumped up to a sangria with the addition of white wine and rum for a refreshing adult drink.

Apple Julep Sangria

If you've ever been to the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant in the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee, chances are you've had their signature Applewood Julep. The restaurant, a renovated farmhouse, serves good ole country cooking and is so homey that it even has a great sittin' porch - if you're so inclined. It's been awhile since I was up that way, but isn't that area of the country just beautiful?

Fresh Peach Sweet Iced Tea - Sweet southern iced tea enhanced with a puree of fresh peaches and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Fresh Peach Sweet Iced Tea

It's gettin' to be southern peach time and we've got the early Georgia peaches already showing up in our markets down here in south Mississippi. The first batch I picked up were nice and ripe and supremely juicy, so I thought it'd be a good time to use some for peach tea.

 

Lemonade Icebox Pie made with sweetened condensed milk, whipped topping, fresh lemon juice and zest, gets an extra tangy boost from the addition of a lemonade powdered drink mix.

Lemonade Icebox Pie

The old fashioned version of lemon icebox pie used raw egg yolks in the filling.

I've included that version in the cook's notes at the bottom of the recipe for those of us who are still adventurous enough to make it. It is believed that the combination of the acids with the eggs in the pie filling "cook" the eggs sufficiently, but scientifically I have no idea if there is any truth to that.

I can tell you that many of us southerners love the egg version and have lived on to tell about it, but if you're concerned about the consumption of raw eggs, you can still have that creamy taste with a few shortcuts in the form of this refrigerator pie, which is also mighty tasty.

A refreshing summer drink of sour cherries and lemonade.

Sour Cherry Lemonade

It's kinda hard being a blogger of food this time of the year, and especially when it's primarily classic and favorite southern recipes you write about. People are cutting back on calories and passing over comfort foods, for swimsuits and vacation time. On top of that, it's just so darned hot down in this part of the world, that it's pretty hard to think about cooking, much less eating, especially if you've spent any of the day outside. On the rare occasion that we want to stand over the stove or turn on the oven in the summer, it has to be for something special, or to satisfy a particular craving.

This is the time of year that I like to try a variety of cold, fruity drinks. I was recently flipping through the July 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, and saw a recipe for sour cherry lemonade. It sounded refreshing, and a little different, so I thought it'd be a great time to add another lemonade to the mix. Of course Martha's recipe was made with fresh cherries and fresh lemons, neither of which I had on hand. I did know however, that I had a couple cans of Oregon tart cherries in the pantry and a can of lemonade concentrate in the freezer, and so, I wasn't troubled in the least! Fresh cherries would have been nice, although much more work, and canned cherries by Oregon contain nothing but fruit and water and are a great substitute and a winner in my book anytime!

This simple roasted chicken using butter and plenty of lemon, has a bit of a reputation of garnering marriage proposals, enough so that it has been dubbed the engagement chicken.

Lemon Roasted Chicken

Legend has it, that the original "engagement chicken" first made its appearance almost 30 years ago now, when a Glamour magazine editor shared the recipe for a simple, roasted chicken with an assistant, who prepared it for her boyfriend one evening.

A month later he proposed. While you can read more about the story here, all that aside, it's certainly a great recipe for a roasted chicken. There is just something so comforting about the smell of a chicken roasting, that it's one of my favorite methods of cooking chicken.

Often referred to as a pantry pie because it can be made from pantry basics, chess pie is an old fashioned, southern favorite. I like to cut the sweetness of my chess pie with just a bit of buttermilk instead of sweet milk and fresh lemon juice and zest, instead of vinegar.

Old Fashioned Buttermilk Chess Pie

Old Fashioned Chess Pie is southern to the core. And sweet. A very sweet custard pie made with eggs, butter, a little flour, a bit of cornmeal, vanilla and sugar. Lots of sugar.  While not many folks include buttermilk in their chess pie recipe as I do, I happen to think that it only improves on the flavor of the chess pie. The tartness of the buttermilk helps to cut the sugary sweetness and makes for a simply perfect chess pie.

Weekend Cocktails - Lemon Drop

If I keep doing this weekend cocktail series, I guess I'm going to have to invest in a basic bar set, because frankly these are what I'm using for shaking and straining. Pretty darned sophisticated, huh?! Well, I guess that would be what you call southern ingenuity! Make do with what you have. So, please also forgive my use of the margarita glass for what clearly should be in a martini glass. I'll try to redeem myself on the next martini glass worthy drink.

Sour Cream Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Fig and Walnut Topping

A tender cake of lemon, sour cream and poppy seed is topped off with a glaze made from fresh figs and walnuts.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Fig and Walnut Topping

Growing up we always lived in a subdivision neighborhood. Things were pretty tight-knit in the old neighborhood, and everybody knew each other back in those days. We were constantly outside, playing and running around - nothing like today where many of us don't really know most of our neighbors and you barely even see children out and about.

 

Super easy to make, using fresh or frozen strawberries and frozen lemonade concentrate, it's sure to become a spring and summer favorite!

Speedy Strawberry Lemonade

I've gotten a few inquiries about my recipe for the strawberry lemonade I mentioned the other day. Well, there's not a thing to it, because for this I use frozen concentrate. Lemons are a bit pricey unless you are lucky enough to have a mature tree, or you can catch them reduced. Since I have just one baby Meyer lemon tree that is barely 2 seasons old and produced exactly one lemon this year, I only tend to make fresh lemonade for special events and holidays.

Many times I use good ole concentrate just like everybody else, and this is one of them, so we'll call this a "speedy" version. Of course you can certainly make a fresh lemonade concentrate (minus the water) with simple syrup and simply add the pureed strawberries to that if you prefer to go from scratch.

Old Fashioned Hand-Squeezed Fresh Lemonade

Old fashioned homemade lemonade made with freshly squeezed lemons and simple syrup.

Old Fashioned Hand-Squeezed Lemonade

I admit, there are some pretty good frozen lemonade concentrates out there, but a holiday like Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day, just calls for something special and that means fresh, homemade lemonade to me. This one begins with a simple syrup, which really helps to provide that perfect balance between tart and sweet. Be careful not to over-boil the syrup though ... you don't want to make candy!

Classic Old Fashioned Lemon Squares

Sweet and tart, these old fashioned lemon squares are a classic.

Lemon Squares

I'm not a huge sweets eater, although I do have a few recipes here for some of my favorites. I don't tend to crave after a sweet as much as something savory and salty, unless it's those basic things - like homemade brownies, chocolate cake, pig pickin' cake, or these lemon bars.