Two Frugal Chicks

 We harvested our peas yesterday.  Peas are one of those crops that take up a lot of room and really don’t produce that much.  I planted a whole pack of peas and didn’t end up harvesting enough for one dish.  They really are super good though, and really sweet.  We ate a bunch raw as we were picking, pods and all. I ended up making a pea salad.  Nothing fancy or gourmet,  but we like it just the same.

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I make at least 2 extra slices because I can’t resist eating some)

4 C. cooked peas (I steam them)
1 C. shredded cheddar
1/2 C. diced red onion
3/4 C. ranch dressing

Run cold water over the cooked peas to cool them off.  Drain in a colander. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve.  Super easy, surprisingly good..

My parents are southern folks.  We grew up drinking sweet tea, put salt on our watermelon, peanuts in our cokes and ate Charles Chips by the barrel full. Fried chicken was a weekly occurrence with sides of mashed potatoes and pan gravy, white bread, homemade bread-and-butter pickles, tomato and cucumber salad, and wilted lettuce.  My  mom used to keep a can of bacon grease next to the stove and she’d use it for adding flavor to a pot of green beans and potatoes, making wilted lettuce or just for frying. This was, of course, before we knew of the dangers of saturated fat, sleeping in the back window of the car, or riding your bike behind the bug spray truck.

Since my garden has produced an unreasonable amount of leaf lettuce this year, and my folks were coming over for dinner, I thought this would be a great time to make wilted lettuce.  This recipe is my mom’s classic version (although the bacon grease is now substituted with vegetable oil).

8 cups of leaf lettuce
2 T. sugar
Salt and Pepper
1/4 C. thinly sliced onion
1/4 C. vegetable oil
2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled

Wash and spin the lettuce and put in a large bowl along with the onions.  Sprinkle the sugar on top of the lettuce and add the salt and pepper.  In a small pan, heat the oil until medium hot.  Remove the pan from the heat and being very careful, pour in the vinegar – it will spatter!  Pour the hot oil/vinegar mixture all over the lettuce, add the bacon and toss.

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I’ve made my own mustard for years. Sometimes I use beer, sometimes champagne vinegar, sometimes I’ll add honey or brown sugar. It’s easy and you can make it as spicy or sweet as you like. I buy my mustard powder and seeds at Pacific Food Importers (PFI) in SODO. We are big mustard fans in this house.Thanks ATK Here’s a how to link 

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