The Simple, Wanna-be Cook Goes Country

Today began with taking my granny to her monthly doctor's appointment.  Since she was a good girl and didn't cry, I took her to a local drive in for lunch. After traditional fast food bliss, she and I wanted something completely different for dinner, and thanks to our local produce stands, we were able to have half-runner green beans, new potatoes, fried green tomatoes, cornbread, and homemade blackberry cobbler.  Yummy!

My contributions were the tomatoes and cobbler:

Simple Blackberry Cobbler:
When I was about six, I would climb the hills behind my house to pick berries for my neighbor's cobblers.  I would bring my basket into her kitchen where she always asked if I had been eating the berries.  I would shake my head and say, "Nooooooooo", even though I was covered in sweet, purple evidence.  If you go picking, be careful since blackberry bushes seem to attract copperheads.  This recipe came from my neighbor's kitchen to my mother's to mine.
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 stick butter
About two-three cups fresh blackberries

1.  Mix sugar, flour, milk and melted butter together until smooth.
2.  Pour mix into a baking dish that is buttered, floured, or sprayed with oil.
3.  Sprinkle berries over the top

4.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about an hour or until the top is golden brown and the cobbler is bubbly.

Doesn't get any easier or better than this


Simple Recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes:

Make a batter from 2 cups flours, 1/2 cup corn meal (or panko crumbs), salt, pepper, and just enough milk to make it smooth.
Dip your tomato slices and fry.  
Some time ago, I Googled how to keep fried foods crispy and read that you should put fried food in a colander.  Place it over a paper towel on a plate and let the oil drain.  Whoever posted this, thank you!  Perfect for fried green tomatoes.  

The colander in this picture is about sixty years old and actually not a colander at all.  My granny bought strawberries in the 1940s and kept the plastic container.  This is the only colander she has ever used.