Serves 6
Time: 1 hour, mostly unattended

1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt to coat
ground cinnamon to coat (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1/3 c white raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Peel sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler, and cut into bite-sized cubes.  Put into a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish; drizzle with olive oil, and coat with salt and cinnamon.  Stir, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and stir again.  If you want to add the raisins, mix them in and let them warm in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Serves 4
Time: 30 minutes

Lady and Sons Okra and Tomatoes

4 slices bacon, diced into small pieces
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 T chicken stock (or Better than Bouillon)
1 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 c fresh okra, cut into 1-inch pieces (frozen is okay)

Cook bacon slightly. Sauté onion and garlic with bacon until tender. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning if needed. Meanwhile, wash okra and remove fuzz (if using fresh), and cut into pieces. Add okra and simmer until okra is done, about 20 more minutes, less if using frozen.

I use it for cooking:

• scrambled and fried eggs
• braised cabbage
• onions for any dish that calls for softened onions (okra & tomatoes, sweet potato soup- recipe coming soon)
• green beans
• collard greens
• field and black-eyed peas

And here are a lot more ideas that I’d never thought of!

(And no, lard won’t clog your arteries and make you fat- the way they’ve been telling us it does for the past 70 years.  Before the 1920s, when everyone cooked with lard and butter, heart disease didn’t exist and obesity was rare.  Go figure!)

one package of sausage links (about 12 oz.) sliced in 1/4″ slices
(I like the natural andouille sausage from Costco–the brand is Sausages by Amylou)
2 onions, cut into chunks
3 large or 4 small apples, cut into chunks
2 T bacon grease, butter, or coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour oil in a medium-sized cast iron skillet, and heat to medium-high.  Add sausage; cook until barely browned.  Add onion, cook until onions start to brown. Add apple chunks; cook until apples are just soft.  Check seasoning; add salt and pepper if needed.  Serve with mashed potatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, or whatever else you think would taste good.

Serves 4
Time: 15-20 minutes

5-6 large carrots (almost a pound), sliced
4 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c water or stock
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
salt to taste

While you’re slicing the carrots, melt the butter on medium heat in a medium-sized dish that can be covered later.  Toss the carrots in the melted butter for 1-2 minutes, or until they start to soften.  Add water or stock, maple syrup, and salt.  Cover, turn heat to low, and let carrots simmer about 10 minutes, or until almost done.

After 10 minutes, uncover, turn heat to high, stir until extra liquid has evaporated, and carrots are glazed with butter and maple syrup.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Modified from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (I love this cookbook!)

Tortilla Chips, crushed
Grated Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Pepper Jack cheese

Brown sausage in a medium to large saucepan until no “pink” is left. Add in onion and bay leaves.  Saute until onions are slightly caramelized. Add remaining ingredients; cook until flavors have settled, about 20-25 minutes. Check seasonings. 

Serve with crushed tortilla chips and cheese.

Stock also makes a great food for anyone who’s been under the weather.  It’s a great way to get back to regular foods after a stomach upset, and it’s a great way to fight a cold.

Making stock is more of a method than a recipe.  The most important ingredients are bones: they add nutrition and flavor. You can save bones from bone-in meat, use the carcass of a whole chicken, or even save bones after a meal. (We put ours in the freezer in ziplock bags until we’re ready to make stock. Since the bones will be cooked again for a long period of time, this is perfectly safe.)  Your bones can be precooked, or they can be raw.  They can be from regular grocery-store meat, but the best is from grass-fed animals that have eaten an organic diet.  Ours aren’t always that good, and we still enjoy our stock.

To make stock, start with a good amount of bones– usually about half a gallon, or a gallon-bag’s worth.  Put these in a large pot.

Splash over the bones a glug of vinegar (about 2 Tablespoons).  Some recommend Apple Cider Vinegar, but white vinegar works fine. (This helps release the nutrients from the bones)

Add in enough water to cover the bones, but not so much that it will boil over.  (Usually about 2-3 quarts)

Add in 1-2 Tablespoons of salt (depending on how much water you’ve used).

Any “stock-like” vegetables, like celery, onions, or carrots that you need to use up.

Any fresh herbs that you need to use up, like parsley, marjoram, thyme, etc.

Place your stock pot over a burner, cover it with a lid, and begin heating the stock slowly.  I usually use a medium-low temperature setting.  Once the stock reaches a boil, lower the temperature to a simmer. Let simmer for a couple of hours.  You can cook the stock for as long as it’s convenient for you–it really doesn’t matter.  Eight to twelve hours is the maximum length it gets cooked here.  The longer it simmers, the more nutrients you get out of the bones, and the better for you the stock is.

Once you’re finished (or you’ve run out of time), strain the broth, and pour into containers for storage. You can freeze your stock, or you can store it in the fridge for a week.  If you think it needs more flavor and you want to drink it as a clear soup, you can add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste.

This method is based on the one found in Nourishing Traditions.

1/2 a chicken breast’s worth of meat—about 2 cups, cut up.
(Rotisserie chicken from the store works great here– just cut half the breast off a chicken, and cut it into slices against the “grain” of the meat, and cut the slices in half.)
(If you’re using boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 2-4 will work–simmer them in some stock to cook, and then cut them into slices against the grain of the meat.)

Salt and pepper to taste
Chicken seasoning– my favorite is Simply Organic’s Chicken Seasoning. 
(I know you can get it from Ingles, and I think you can from Food Lion.)

Noodles, if you want some (I eyeball it. :)
Extra water, if it needs thinning.

Heat up oil/fat in a large 3-4 quart soup pot.  Add in onions; sauté for 5 minutes.  Add in garlic, carrots, and celery.  Add salt, pepper, and chicken seasoning, and cook for 5-10 more minutes until vegetables have browned a little and onions are translucent.  Once veggies are cooked, add in chicken broth.  Add in sliced chicken, and bring to a boil.  Turn down temperature to a simmer.  Cook for 5-10 minutes.  Add in noodles, if wanted, and let cook until noodles are done.  If soup needs thinning, add some water, and check the seasonings.