Bake dry

From Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island, Emily Meggett, says: Creamed Chicken is one of the meals from my day that you don’t see a lot anymore, but you SHOULD. In those days we needed meals that could sustain us. We all did laborious work, and these fast-food dinners they’ve got out here now just wouldn’t cut it. This dish here has substance. The mushroom and herb sauce turns this simple cooked chicken breast into a hearty, flavorful dish. Serving it over grits, toast, or rice will have you full for the evening. If you’d like to prepare this dish as a casserole, see my tip below.

Dry rubbed ribs from Palmetto Creek Farms comes from the book titled From Field to Feast. This is simple to prepare and absolutely delicious. The ribs are oven baked in heavy-duty foil packets you make and seal around the ribs, great for folks who don’t want to fool around with a grill or smoker. I saw the temperature, “250 degrees” and thought I must have made a mistake. But no, the book really says “250 degrees for 2- to 2-1/2 hours.”

And for all you okra lovers, Okra Creole is from Southern Living All-Time Favorites. Fry up some bacon, drain it, crumble it all up and set it aside. You use frozen okra for this recipe and combine canned diced tomatoes, corn, onions, and seasonings and cook it in the bacon drippings and a little water for 15 minutes or so. Serve this lovely stuff over rice and top it with crumbled bacon.

Emily Meggett says you can usually find good broccoli year-round. Her Broccoli with Cheese Sauce looks very tasty.

Oriental Rice is raw rice with onion soup, mushrooms, and water chestnuts, all canned to make it extremely convenient to put together and stick in the oven for an easy dish for your family’s supper. We found this recipe in Paths of Sunshine Cookbook.

Spinach Salad is a favorite for many of our readers. This one is from Savannah Style and looks fit for a special occasion.

EMILY MEGGETT’S

CREAMED CHICKEN

Recipe from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking by Emily Meggett

For the Creamed Chicken:

6 to 8 boneless, skinless

chicken breasts

4 ribs celery, roughly chopped

2 scallions

Seasoning salt to taste

1) Make the chicken: In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, bring 4 cups water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the chicken breasts, celery, scallions, and seasoning salt. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. To see if the chicken is done, insert a knife in the thickest part of one breast. If it’s still pink, continue to cook until you can see the cooked color of the meat all the way through the chicken. 2) Once the chicken is cooked, drain, reserving 1 cup of the broth with some celery and onion to use later for the sauce. Set the chicken aside, and allow the chicken to cool for 20 to 25 minutes. 3) Once the chicken has cooled, cut the chicken into small pieces. Set aside.

For the Cream Sauce:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup milk, whole or 2 percent,

or chicken broth from cooked chicken

1-1/2 cups white mushrooms, plus more if desired, cleaned

and chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

4) Make the cream sauce: In a 12-inch skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Once melted, add the flour and stir to combine. Stirring the mixture constantly, add the milk or the reserved chicken broth. After thoroughly mixing, bring this mixture to a boil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until thickened. Carefully add the cooked chicken without breaking up the pieces. Add the desired amount of chopped mushrooms, stir gently, and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the parsley and chives.

TIP: This may also be served as a casserole. If preparing this as a casserole, pour the chicken and cream mixture into a greased 9- x 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle the top with parsley and breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbling.

PALMETTO CREEK FARMS,

AVON PARK,

DRY-RUBBED BABY BACK RIBS

Recipe from Field to Feast

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup ancho chili powder

(dark Mexican chili powder)

4 teaspoons coarse salt

4 teaspoons smoked paprika

4 teaspoons cumin

4 teaspoons cayenne

4 (2-pound) slabs loin back ribs, membrane removed (ask

your butcher to do this for you)

For the rub:

Mix brown sugar, paprika, ancho chili powder, salt, smoked paprika, cumin, and cayenne in a small bowl, making sure to break up chunks of brown sugar.

Put ribs bone side up on sheet pan. Season each slab with rub on both sides. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, loosely covered.

Heat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut four (12- by 12-inch) square sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Put a slab of ribs, meat side up, on a sheet of foil. Fold ends to make loose packet around each slab; seal. Put packets on sheet pan. Bake 2- to 2-1/2 hours. Check ribs for doneness by gently pulling on bones. When they begin to pull away from meat, they are ready to serve.

OKRA CREOLE

Recipe from

Southern Living All-Time Favorites

3 bacon slices

1 (16-ounce) package frozen

sliced okra

1 (14-1/2 ounce) can diced

tomatoes

1 cup frozen onion seasoning blend

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon Creole seasoning

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Hot cooked rice (optional)

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings. Crumble bacon, and set aside.

Cook okra and next 6 ingredients in hot drippings in Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Top with crumbled bacon. Serve over rice, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

EMILY MEGGETT’S

BROCCOLI WITH CHEESE SAUCE

Recipe from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking by Emily Meggett

3 stalks broccoli, or 1

pound frozen broccoli

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup milk, whole or 2-percent

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese,

mild, medium or sharp

Pinch of salt

Paprika

Wash the broccoli and cut into florets. In an 8-quart pot, bring 4 quarts water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the broccoli, and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and set the broccoli aside. Make the cheese sauce in a 2-quart saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Be very careful not to burn the butter. Once the butter is melted, stir in the flour, then slowly pour in the milk. Stir the mixture constantly until it’s smooth and thickened. Add the cheese and salt and stir until melted and smooth. Pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli and garnish with paprika. Serve immediately.

ORIENTAL RICE

Recipe from

Florida Federation of Garden Clubs

Paths of Sunshine Cookbook

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup long grain rice, uncooked

1 (10-ounce) can onion soup

1 can water

1 (6-ounce) can mushroom

stems and pieces

1 (6-ounce) can water chestnuts,

thinly sliced

Melt butter in casserole dish, set aside. Mix: rice, soup, water, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Pour into casserole with melted butter. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking for 15 additional minutes.

SPINACH SALAD

Recipe from Savannah Style,

a Cookbook by The

Junior League of Savannah, Inc.

1 pound fresh spinach,

washed and drained

2 apples, peeled and diced

8 slices bacon, fried and crumbled

1/2 cup almonds, slivered

and sautéed in bacon grease

2 green onions, sliced

Dressing:

1 cup oil

3 tablespoons sugar

2-2/3 teaspoons dry mustard

5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon

cider vinegar

Blend dressing thoroughly and toss lightly over salad.