Sunday Dinner, July 6, 2008

I don't know how anybody else feels, but this seems like the second or third Sunday in a row now. When a holiday falls in the beginning or end of a week, making it a 3 or 4 day weekend, it seems like every day is either Saturday or Sunday.

Anyway, plans are in the making for Sunday Dinner here at Diane's Place. You may or may not be overjoyed that I'm cooking again this week. Totally your call, now isn't it?

If you should squint just right at that graphic on my Sunday Dinner button you might perhaps notice that there's a chicken on that covered casserole dish. There's your clue to the entree this week: Homemade Chicken with Jasmine Rice.

And I'm also cooking a big pot of pinto beans with bacon, a big cast iron skillet of my homemade cornbread, and some garden fresh sweet corn that I'm going to cut off the cob and fry.

Don't be scared now, fried corn is really good, a true Southern delicacy, and not nearly as scary as it may sound. You just shuck the corn as you'd normally do for corn on the cob, but instead of putting the corn in boiling water to cook, you slice the uncooked corn off the cob, then put it in a skillet with a little oil, butter or bacon grease, or a combination of any or all of those three. Add a tablespoon or two of water, then fry and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste and serve, or you can thicken it with a little cornstarch and water if desired.

Good stuff! My Mama loved fried field corn, and as she'd say, "It'll make you hip up and pop your Thomas!" Whatever that means, but it sounds funny. ;-)

What's for Sunday Dinner for you this week? Just share your plans/menu in the comments if you want to participate this week.Right this moment I'm cooking some of that corn I mentioned for our supper tonight, but I'm leaving it on the cob. Gotta use it or freeze while it's still fresh, you know. I'm also fixing some of my TEXAS HASH for supper.

After supper I'll put the beans and the chicken on to cook for Sunday's dinner. After the beans cook I'll refrigerate them overnight, then warm them after I get home from church while the rice is cooking for the chicken and rice.

After the chicken gets done I'll debone it and tear it into bite size pieces, then put the chicken and broth in the fridge for the night, in separate containers. After the rice finishes cooking in the broth I'll stir the chicken into it and let it all heat together.

In the meantime I'll be baking my cornbread and cooking the fried corn. It should all get done about the same time if I do my job right.Lamar and I spent the 4th with Jessica, Jason, Emmy, Cecil and Sue. Jessica cooked dinner and supper for us all and it was really good. For dinner Jessica cooked fried boneless pork chops, garden fresh corn on the cob, garden fresh green beans, garden fresh oven fried yellow summer squash and biscuits.

For supper Jessica made my MEXICAN CHICKEN CASSEROLE. It was all really good, and we all had a great time together playing with Emmy and just visiting together. I was still so full from dinner that I didn't eat much of the casserole.

Between dinner and supper Emmy took a nap, so we left Jason there playing his computer game on his laptop and went to the mall and a few other places. Emmy was napping so we left her with Jason.

Actually, Jessica, Lamar, Sue and Cecil went to a few other places. I made myself at home at Barnes*&*Noble with a book and a cup of coffee and stayed there the entire time.

Later in the evening we all loaded up and went to watch the fireworks display at the local fairgrounds. The skeeters were out in force so we had to fight them off, but the weather was great otherwise and we had an ideal spot to watch the fireworks. We had some blessed rain on the morning of the 4th but it was mostly clear and a little cooler than average for the evening, about 72ºF.

Emmy was sleepy and cranky by the time they started the display at 9:30 pm, so after the first 10 minutes or so the new wore off the experience for her. She spent the last 15 minutes of the fireworks display in the car with Cecil, playing with all the knobs, handles and doohickeys and was asleep in her car seat before we got out of the parking lot on the way home.

All in all, a perfect 4th. Food, family and fireworks. It doesn't get much better than that. I hope y'all had a great 4th as well.As usual, I still have to study my Sunday School lesson and I also have chicken to pick off the bones in a bit and corn to shuck and cut off the cobs.

Time to wind this up and wish y'all a blessed Sunday. May God meet all your needs, and may you have enough to share.