Key Lime Cake

At a Teachers Conservation Workshop at Northeast Mississippi Community College, Booneville, MS, Andy Chumbly, an asst. principal in Tishomingo County brought the second-best cake I have ever eaten. Ask me sometimes, and I will tell you about the best.

You HAVE to try this:

Key Lime Cake
1 box lemon cake mix
1 small box lime Jello
1 1/2 C veg. oil
1/2 C orange juice
5 eggs

Glaze
4 T conf. sugar
1/2 C lime juice

Frosting

1 stick margarine (softened)
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 box conf. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients into 3 well-greased cake pans. Bake for about 20 min. or until when cake springs back into middle when touched with fingers. Remove from pans and while cake is warm, mix glaze and drizzle over layers. Frost when cool, garnish with lime slices.

Julie's Superbowl Hotdogs (From Publix)

4 (2-oz) beef franks
1/2 C cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/2 C mild salsa
8 slices cured chorizo (Italian sausage, like pepperoni)--@ 1 1/2 oz
1/2 C guacamole
4 hotdog buns
1 (8 oz) bag shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Chop cilantro & set aside.
Cook franks in grill pan 2-3 min. on medium-high, turning often, or until hot.
Heat salsa in small saucepan until simmering.
Turn off heat & stir in cheese until smooth & blended.
Add cilantro.
Place buns, cut side down, in same grill pan; cook 1-2 min. or until toasted.
Place 2 slices chorizo, 2 tblsp guacamole, & a frank in each bun; top with cheese sauce.

Craig doesn't like guacamole/avacadoes, & it took some doing for him to sample these at Publix Grocery, but we loved them! They had each one cut into 3 small sections with a toothpick, which is what I plan to do for our Superbowl Party tomorrow night!

Harold's Creole Baked Chicken with Veggies

This is very quick to prepare, and is a meal in itself.

Three skinless chicken breasts
one sliced large white onion
two sliced bell peppers
two stalks chopped celery
one can cream of mushroom soup
Toney Chachere's Creole Seasoning (to taste)
Maybe salt, depending on how much Creole Seasoning you use.

Place chicken breasts in baking dish
cover with vegetables
pour can of soup over all (do not add water)
sprinkle on Creole Seasoning -- the more the spicier. If you add a lot of Creole seasoning, you won't need salt. It might be best to salt at the table.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.

Serve over rice.

Herb Cookies

I conducted a Project Learning Tree Workshop for teachers in Oxford in August, 2009, and a teacher, Mariam Wahl brought some herb cookies. They were delicious. Since I had some lavendar growing in herb garden, I picked some and Paula made some lavender cookies. Everyone enjoyed them:

Lemon Basil Snaps
(use only fresh basil in this recipe)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon rind
" juice
1/3 cup minced fresh basil or lemon basil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped pistachio nuts
3 Tablespoons sugar
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and next three ingredients, beating until blended. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Cover and chill one hour.
Combine nuts and sugar in shallow bowl. Shape dough into one-inch balls; roll in nut mixture and place two inches apart on un-greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with hands or bottom of a glass. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Lavender Sugar Cookie:

Step One: Plant lavender
Step two: Harvest Lavender
Step Three: Bake Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teapoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons lavender flowers, crushed and ground in food processer
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and lavender flowers. Sift flour and baking power together and add to butter mixture. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes just undil edges brown. Remove to racks to cool.

Lavender Ice Cream
(This recipe is for a tabletop ice cream freezer)

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
2 teaspoon vinilla extract
1 Tablespoon lavender flowers
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

Place lavender flowers in a diffuser ball or in triple thickness cheesecloth bag. Combine cream and milk in a heavy saucepan overe medium heat. Place lavender into milk and heat until mixture almost boils, 5-8 minutes. Reduce heat to low and remove and discard lavender. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until light yellow and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add 4-5 tablespoons of the hot mixture into the eggs and stir until combined. Add egg mixture back to hot milk, stirring continuously to keep eggs from curdling. Cook over low heat 3-4 minutes until thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon.
Cool mixture in an ice water bath, stirring constantly. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour before placing in ice cream freezer. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

Lavender Lemonade

In a two quart Pyrex measuring bowl, place eight cups of water and seven heaping tablespoons of lavender flowers. Boal 24 minutes in microwave; let steep for two-three hours. Strain lavender water and use to make your favorite lemonade recipe. For convenience, this also works well with Country Time Lemonade mix.

Canned Okra

Canned Okra

1 gal. okra, cut-up
4 tbsp. salt
8 tbsp. vinegar

Cover with water and let come to a rolling boil. While still hot, pack in hot sterilized jars and seal.
Be sure the lids on canning jars seal. There is no need to process as the vinegar and salt act as preservatives almost pickling the okra.

When ready to use drain and rinse the okra well, then meal and/or flour and fry as usual. This really cuts the slime that many people object to with okra.

Paula's Okra Salad

Fried Okra Salad

There is a recipe for canned okra under vegetables on this site. It is similar to pickled okra and can be used in this recipe. I really like it better.



1 1/2 lbs. okra, fresh or 1 qt. canned okra.
2 tomatoes, chopped or 1 carton of grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced
6 slices bacon cooked and crumbled or 1 pkg. of real recipe size bacon bits
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. vinegar

Fry okra as you usually do. Drain, In a bowl combine okra, tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions and bacon. In a small saucepan combine oil, sugar, and vinegar. Cook until sugar dissolves. (I use a glass measuring cup and the microwave) Pour over okra mixture and serve