Fried Green Tomatoes

I'm a little (ok, a LOT) jealous of my parents' garden right now. My beautiful Abe Lincoln and German Johnson tomato plants, lovingly purchased from the recent Birmingham Botanical Gardens' Spring Sale, WERE doing wonderfully. Growing taller by the day, putting out dozens of little yellow flowers, and then the aphids came. 

I tried to love my planet and be all natural - I doused the nasty little things in insecticidal soap. I tried remedies online involving herbs and tobacco juice and just about anything else I could find. Nothing worked. My tomatoes wilted. Leaves turned brown. Blooms dried up and fell off. 

Needless to say, my last garden center visit ended with me bringing home a giant canister of Sevin Dust. Sorry, Mother Earth. I almost had a Towanda moment on the aphids as I triumphantly scattered the dust over the plants and (oops) my bare feet. 

Anyway, my parents' garden is looking SPECTACULAR. The tomato plants are healthy and lush (Dad attributes a lot of this to Alabama's own Bonnie fertilizer, and, yes, I bought some when I went on the Sevin Dust quest). They've got tomatoes, lots of them, but they're still green. There's peppers and tons of cucumbers, too. Meanwhile, I've got a few peppers, but, sadly, no tomatoes. My parents' garden is DEFINITELY beating mine right now.

I took some of their best looking green tomatoes with only one thing in mind: Fried. Green. Tomatoes. 

Alabamians know all about Fried Green Tomatoes. And the Whistle Stop Cafe (which is actually the Irondale Cafe). And Fannie Flagg. So, needless to say, we know how to cook 'em, too :)

Slow-Cooker Pinto Beans

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart...

Y'all know the rest, I'm sure. As a Southerner, I like my fair share of beans. Sadly, unlike most Southerners, I do NOT like lima beans or butter beans, which are just GIGANTIC lima beans, but are kind of off-white instead of the standard "lima green". 

I LOVE black-eyed peas, any sort of "white" beans like navy beans or Great Northern beans, but I also love pinto beans. Some people associate pinto beans more with Mexican food (they're "the" bean in refried beans), but pinto beans are also a truly Southern dish. 

You CAN buy them canned, but most people prefer to buy them dried and control the seasonings. Plus, dried beans are way cheaper! As with my black-eyed peas, cooking dried pinto beans is easy as long as you soak the dried beans overnight, and remember to use your slow-cooker!

As always with Southern beans, the flavor comes from some good old-fashioned pork. Vegetarians and vegans can easily get around this by using something like a mushroom base or just omitting the pork completely!

Cajun Crab Dip

I have a shameful confession to make: I love imitation crab. Sometimes I even refer to it as "crab with a 'K'". In some recipes, I actually PREFER the "Krab" to real lump crab meat. Some maki (sushi rolls), especially the Americanized ones with cream cheese, just WORK with imitation crab. 

One of my all-time favorite "Krab" dishes is this weird, orange-y seafood spread/dip you can only get in the seafood section of most grocery stores. Publix has the BEST version of this dip - it's creamy, a little bit spicy, with a flavor that is pretty much impossible to describe. I'm sure some people spread it on bread and make little finger sandwiches, but I just scoop it up on buttery crackers and shovel it in. 

This is the Publix kind: 

My love of this trashy dip is so strong, I typically only buy it when nobody is around. One, so I don't have to share it, and two, so nobody finds out my shameful secret. However, it CAN be kind of pricey, so I figured that I would try to make it on my own, especially since another store (not Publix) recently had a good sale on their imitation crab sticks! 

Mine's on the left, the storebought kind is on the right. I think it has pimentos in it, too.

Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells

It's been HOT in herrre lately. We're finally seeing temperatures into the 90s, which means my days are spent getting heat advisory warning texts on my phone and coming up with unique excuses not to go running in this stifling heat and humidity. This weather also makes it REALLY easy to order takeout or eat leftovers; it's hard to WANT to cook when the weather drains every last bit of energy out of me. Here, it's not the heat that's the problem - it's DEFINITELY the humidity. 

Easy meals are the key - something that won't take long, or heat up the entire house (though you really can't avoid using the stove or oven 100%). In summer, I often forgo meat and try to use more fresh, in-season vegetables when possible - I also try to use up fresh herbs since I went crazy in the spring and planted, well, EVERYTHING. 

This is an easy recipe - pasta shells are stuffed with a cheese and spinach mixture (no meat!), then baked in a simple marinara. You can make your own marinara from scratch, or do like I did and take advantage of a B1G1 sale on jarred sauce. Serve with a fresh side salad, and make it a meal! 

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Tortilla Chips (Vegetarian/Vegan)

This fruit salsa is an amazing & colorful dish, perfect for parties or potluck. A fantastic twist on the standard tomato-based salsa, this salsa is filled with beautiful fruits and makes a fantastic appetizer or even dessert. It's almost like a hybrid of salsa and fruit salad! 

I've actually been wanting to post this recipe for a while, but have been waiting for all of the fruits to come into season. I was recently invited to a "Ladies Night" hosted by my dear friend and running buddy Amanda (who you may remember from the AMAZING quinoa salad post!) I decided to bring some wine and a huge bowl of fruit salad - I hit the produce market early in the morning, saw all of the amazing fresh fruits, and MAY have gone a little overboard while shopping. 

BUT, fruit salsa is like 'regular' tomato salsa - infinitely customizable. Feel free to use whatever fruits you like; just keep in mind that certain berries, such as blackberries, when sliced, will bleed color over the other fruits. Since I LOVE using blackberries, and usually have to cut them in half, I add them just before serving. This recipe makes a LOT of fruit salad, so feel free to cut everything in half - I made a huge batch since I'd be feeding a large crowd! 

Esquites, aka "Elote Salad"

Anyone who knows me personally knows of my love for El Barrio, a restaurant here in Birmingham that specializes in multi-regional Mexican cuisine. Don't expect to see a blob of refried beans the color of school chocolate milk or boring yellow rice with little peas in it - these guys do it RIGHT. 

The menu changes with the seasons, but ANYTIME I see the "Elote Asado" on the menu, I HAVE to get it. If elote sounds familiar, it's because I posted a recipe for it about two years ago, after the BF acquired a fancypants new gas grill. I'm absolutely OBSESSED with Elote, and could probably eat it every single day. I honestly CAN'T eat corn any other way now. 

Elote is so simple - it's sweet summer corn, grilled, then topped with anything from butter to mayonnaise to cotija cheese. It doesn't sound all that impressive, but the flavors are amazing together. Now, if you don't really feel like dealing with whole ears/cobs of corn, or, maybe you don't have a grill, you can make "Esquites", which is a Mexican corn salad, or, basically, Elote in a bowl. 

Instead of grilling the corn, the kernels are slightly charred in a skillet or wok on the stovetop. Then, the corn is tossed with all of the yummy (totally unhealthy but so delicious) ingredients that make elote so delicious. Easy!