Let's Be Like Southerners!

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." 

Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it. When Southerners travel up north, they often order "tea" with their

meals and get unsweet tea without ice. When we order tea,no matter where we are, we expect sugar and lots of it poured over lots of ice. "Sweet iced tea" is the way you'll often hear us describe it. "Would you like a glass of sweet iced tea?" Or ... we may just say, "Tea?" You should know what that means ...

For the record, "sweet iced-tea" is always best served on a hot day and in Mason jar ... 

"Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk. Personally, I never took to buttermilk, but my mother swore it was "so gooood" especially when served with some hot apple pie. 

Do you have a favorite "sweet iced tea" recipe? Here's a good one: Southern Sweet Iced Tea

Let's Read Like Southerners!

God, Me, And Sweet Iced Tea

About the Book: In the South, nothing is more refreshing than a glass of sweet iced tea. Nothing, that is, except experiencing God in those small, everyday moments.

God, Me, And Sweet Iced Tea is a deeply personal collection of spiritual treasures designed to help readers experience new mercies each morning. Seasoning with insight and grace, this tender devotional points to the divine presence of God in everyday moments. Whether purchased as a personal resource or given as a heartfelt gift, God, Me And Sweet Iced Tea will help readers develop a daily habit of turning to God in those quiet moments of reflection.

About the Author: Rose Chandler Johnson, a Southern girl from a tiny Georgia town, is the author of the devotional blog, Write Moments with God. A devoted Christian and mother of six, she has been a teacher of English and French over the last 20 years. She looks forward to continuing her writing ministry in the years ahead.

Personally from Eva Marie: I met Rose Chandler Johnson at a writers conference about a year ago. I gave a keynote speech and happened to mention something about my hometown in the process. The mention had not been planned ... it was one of those "God Things" we like to talk about.

As soon as I was done with my talk, a woman about four-foot-nothing came sashaying down the aisle toward me, shouting, "Eva Marie! Eva Marie!" She sounded like an old neighbor calling over the fence. I thought to RUN ... but I stood firmly planted ... and was so glad I did. Turned out, she and I grew up not 15 minutes from each other nearly our whole lives. But it took a writers retreat outside of Chicago, Illinois to bring us together.

Throughout the rest of the conference, if you saw one of us, you saw the other. Or near about. She shared with me the hopes of seeing this book in print ... and lo and behold. Here it is.

I encourage you to draw near to God (always) with a little help from this book. Grab those ice tea moments along the way ... you won't be sorry.

A Little Something Extra:

19 Southern Sweet Tea Recipes: Southern Living  

Monday Musings on All Things Southern

Last week, as I was writing about catsup bottles, I found myself having to deal with the little squggly red line under the word "catsup." Meaning, this is not the way you spell it.

Well, I knew it was. So, I looked it up. And lo and behold, you will not believe what I found. There was actually a Supreme Court case on this issue. Ketchup v. Catsup.

If you don't believe me, read about it here: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ketchup_v._Catsup

Hey, now. A true Southerner will go to war over how to spell catsup ... er ... ketchup!

[ Tell me what you think and enter your name in the weekly drawing for a book from my bookshelf. Last week's winner is Donna Tinsley! Donna, send me an email with your mailing address and whether you prefer fiction or non.]

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

As my mother lay dying in Mission Hospital (Asheville) in May 2010, a friend of ours came for a quick visit during those rare visitations one is allowed when a patient is in intensive care. Sharon, our friend, picked up Mother's limp hand, placed it in her own, and stroked her arm. "Betty," she said to Mother (who was unconscious but, I believe, hearing), "you have the softest skin."

My brother quickly replied, "She makes her own body and face lotion."

"Well," Sharon said, "whatever it is, it's marvelous."

After Mother died, I found several whipped topping tubs still filled with what she called "The Recipe." So light and fluffy, you'd think it was whipped topping. I placed a little in a small glass jar (Mother kept things like small medicine containers and, in particular, empty Vicks VapoRub containers just for this kind of thing), and sent it to Sharon.

I'm nearing the end of what was left and will soon, for the first time, make my own. It truly is marvelous and I want to share it with you.




Betty Blue's Emu Oil Beauty Cream
(Please note, I have no idea where she got this. This is just my name for it.)

15 oz. baby lotion
18 oz. Aloe Vera lotion or gel
8 oz. Vitamin E cream
8 oz. petroleum jelly
1/2 oz Emu oil (or you can use 1 oz.)

Mix with a hand mixer.

[Don't forget to comment so you'll be entered in the weekly contest!]

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

Another recipe from Miss Betty's* Daily Diary Cookbook...I remember Mother making this...


I don't know who Ethel is or was. For some reason, the name is resounding within me as being the first name of one of the State Trooper's wives of which Mother was a part in those days.


Or maybe it's Ethel Mermann. LOL

Ethel's Punch

Ingredients

1 gallon water

4 lbs.sugar

3 T almond flavoring

1 T vanilla

1 large bottle lemon juice

3 large cans pineapple juice

2 quarts gingerale

Directions

Mix ingredients together making sure to add the gingerale last.

Makes 50 5 oz. servings.

(Miss Betty was my mother. These are the recipes I found in her penmanship, written in a Sexton's Daily Diary from c. 1955.)

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

Another recipe from Miss Betty's* Daily Diary Cookbook

This was everyone's favorite! Mother could make divinity like nobody's business! I must warn you though: even though you now have her recipe, you will never make it as good as she did! :) I know this for a fact because everyone who got the recipe always came back and said, "I made it just like you said, but mine just isn't as good as yours!"


So, here it is...especially wonderful at Christmas!

Divinity Candy

(typically just called: Divinity)

Ingredients


2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1 cup nut meats (pecans)
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup water


Directions


Bring water to a boil. Add sugar and Karo syrup and boil until stringy. Beat egg whites until stiff and gradually add sugar/syrup mixture while continuing to stir quickly. Add nut meats and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. This recipe is best done in the winter when the weather is not hot and humid.




(Miss Betty was my mother. These are the recipes I found in her penmanship, written in a Sexton's Daily Diary from c. 1955.)

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

Another recipe from Miss Betty's* Daily Diary Cookbook...I remember Mother making this...


Oven Fried Chicken


Ingredients


1 Fryer cut into serving pieces
1/2 cup butter or margarine
Flour
Salt
Pepper

Directions


Put butter or margarine in bottom of baking pan. Place in 400 degree oven and melt. Mix flour, salt, pepper in a paper bag. Add a few pieces of chicken and shake until well coated. Place in pan, skin side down, in a single layer. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered. Turn chicken skin side up and cook 30 minutes or until tender.


(Miss Betty was my mother. These are the recipes I found in her penmanship, written in a Sexton's Daily Diary from c. 1955.)

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

Another recipe from Miss Betty's* Daily Diary Cookbook

Chicken Brunswick Stew

Ingredients


Onions - 3 or 4
Corn - 1 can
Butter Beans - 1 can
Rice - 1 lb.
Tomatoes - 1 can
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
Ketchup - 1 bottle
Vinegar - 1/2 bottle
Irish potatoes - 3 or 4
Salt to taste
Mustard to taste
2 Hens - cooked and cut up

Directions


Boil the chicken until very tender in enough seasoned water to make 1 pint of broth. Save the broth and cut  the chicken into small pieces. Cook the canned tomatoes in the olive oil until they thicken. Make a roux with the flour, shortening, and onions. Add to the roux the broth, rice, tomatoes, chicken, potatoes, corn, butter beans, ketchup, vinegar and mustard. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook for one hour, adding more broth if needed. Serves 6.


(Miss Betty was my mother. These are the recipes I found in her penmanship, written in a Sexton's Daily Diary from c. 1955.)

Wednesday's Recipe of the Week

After more than a year since her death, my brother and I went through Mother's recipe books. She had used Sexton "Daily Diaries," a common, thick book with wide lines I remember specifically from the 50s and 60s. I'm not sure of the date of the one I brought home because the cover is missing, as if January 1 and 2. But January 3 was a Saturday, so quite possibly from 1959.

Her first recording was for Spoon Bread, a staple in the South.

Enjoy; Betty was a "real good cook!"

Ingredients
1 cup corn meal
2 tbs. butter
1 pint water
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold milk

Directions
Stir corn meal into salted boiling water. Stir 1 minute and remove from heat. Add eggs and beat in cold milk. Beat again and pour into hot buttered baking dish. Bake 25 minutes at 450.