Tag: fall

A few months ago there was a guest “take over” on the Garden & Gun Instagram page. If you are aren’t familiar with Garden & Gun it is a southern cultural magazine, not actually about guns. It is the only magazine I still subscribe to and look forward to receiving in the mail. Anywho, the guest created a “Reels” and showed a copycat version of a recipe he serves in his restaraunt, Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad. I had to watch it several times to make sure I got the ingredients all listed correctly. He doesn’t really provide amounts for the ingredients, so in the recipe below I have listed the amounts as I use them. For months I have used this recipe from a post-it note inside my spice cabinet. I am glad to finally have it down, officially on my blog, should something catastrophic happen to my post-it note!

If you follow me on Instagram (@ BelleAntiquarian) then you know a lot of times in my Meal Plan Monday posts I say that I meal prepped Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad. This is one of my favorite things to prepare ahead of time to have for lunches and snacks. It is SUPER healthy and actually tastes better after a day or so.

The fresh ingredients that you will need for this recipe are celery, a bell pepper, and parsley. A lot of times people think of parsley as simply a garnish, so they omit it from recipes. The parsley adds a really important flavor to this dish, so be sure not to skip on it! Also, I just want to point out that there is no onion in this recipe. Did you know that a lot of times when people get food poisoning from picnic food, it is actually from the onions? Really!

You’re going to want to do a small dice on the pepper and celery. If you are using the Fullstar food chopper that is all the rage right now, use the smaller dice attachment. And if you don’t have the Fullstar, I recommend getting one. It can be easily washed in the dishwasher.

This recipe calls for canned black eyed peas. Not all canned black eyed peas are created equal. In this case, the recipe called for no-salt, canned black eyed peas, which I have never been able to find. This brand, Hanover, has the lowest sodium content that I can find. I also prefer this brand for this recipe because the liquid in the can is not thick and drains easily. (I use a different brand when not using them in a recipe.) You’re also going to need some Chow-Chow. If you aren’t from the south, Chow-Chow is a relish. Oddly enough, when all of the Covid shortages were happening, Chow-Chow was one of those items that you could not find anywhere. I can still only find it at one local grocery store, and I’m not telling where so that I can get it when I need it. HA!

Below you will find the complete recipe, which you can print or save to Pinterest for later. I usually double this when meal prepping and keep it in an airtight container. I hope you enjoy it! Please be sure to let me know in the comments if you like it as much as I do.

Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad

• Servings: 2-4
• Time: 15 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A fresh and flavorful salad with earthy black eyed peas.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

• 1 bell pepper, small dice
• 1 stalk of celery, small dice
• 1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 can of low sodium black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup of Chow-Chow
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Dice the celery and bell pepper (small)
2. Chop the parsley (fine)
3. Drain and rinse the black eyed peas.
4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
5. Cover tightly and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour, best if overnight.

I’ve never been a busy hostess. For many years Ken worked nighttime 12 hour shifts. He also worked a rotating schedule with only one full weekend off a month. On top of all of that, he worked most holidays. That meant that hosting friends for dinner on a Saturday night was almost always out of the question. When he did happen to be off at night or on the weekend, we had household things to get done and family time to spend together. Over the years I found that my way of showing hospitality to people was not to bring them to me; it was for me to reach out to them. Sometimes extending hospitality means reaching out to show people how much we care and appreciate them.

…it’s the small things, the size of a mustard seed, that ultimately move mountains.

Cory Booker

I’ve delivered meals to a lot of people over the years, usually when someone is sick. But my favorite way to reach out with hospitality is to treat people out-of-the-blue, “just because.” This week I mixed up a giant bowl of a fall snack mix, and I put it into bags with tags on them. Ken took them into work on Monday and handed them out to his coworkers. There wasn’t an occasion or reason – It was just because sometimes Mondays stink, and who doesn’t love a little treat on their desk?

I’ve seen pictures of similar mixes on Pinterest and Instagram. I’ve actually never looked up or used a recipe. I just mix up a bunch of things that I think taste good together.

Here’s what I like to mix in:

• Brach’s fall mix candy corn (It’s the bag that also has the mallow pumpkins and assorted fall colors in it.)
• A jar of dry roasted peanuts.
• A bag of mini pretzel twists.
• A “share size” bag of M&Ms. (We like to use the caramel or cocoa flavors in the fall mix.)
• Chocolate flavored Chex Cereal (Not the whole box.)
• Caramel Popcorn (We like “The Mix”.)

You can use more or less of the ingredients so that you have the proportions the way that you like. You can add or omit items that you want in the mix. (This time around I didn’t have caramel popcorn, so I used Teddy Grahams.) This is great to set out at a party or to put into bags like I have.

I think there’s an assumption that in order to show hospitality we must invite people into our homes. And that is wonderful way. But it’s not realistic for everyone. If you really want to “invite people in” and show them kindness, sometimes a little gesture can open the door.

Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa

I was looking for a “fall” type of banana bread, and I found a great one that I want to share with you! This recipe from A Latte Food was a winner for us because it didn’t call for nuts. Many banana bread recipes use walnuts or pecans, but we are a nut-free household. Ken doesn’t eat gluten, but he wouldn’t have eaten banana bread anyway, so no big deal there.

The maple syrup in the glaze was the touch of “autumn” I was looking for. Sometimes I substitute the vanilla extract in the glaze for imitation rum extract, and that is a delicious fall flavor, too! But here’s the great thing about this recipe – it’s fantastic even without the glaze! If you want to skip on some of the sugar, skip the glaze and just make the banana bread.

Something that I like to do with baked goods or desserts is to split the recipe in two, and share the second one with a friend or neighbor. Not only do I feel like I am showing some hospitality to others by sharing goodies, but I am also keeping it out of the house so that I won’t overindulge!

A great way to share is to bake into foil pans with a lid. This is great because no one has to worry about returning a dish to you. I put this bread into a pretty bag with a tag. It’s the little touches that will make the recipient feel special and let them know they are cared for.

Maple Glazed Banana Bread

• Servings: 12 slices
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: moderate
• Print

A flavorful banana bread with maple glaze.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

Bread
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3-4 medium ripe bananas
• 2 tbs. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Maple Glaze
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract *OR* imitation rum extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease two 8×4 pans.
2. In a small bowl, mash bananas, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture, beat until mixed.
5. Add the mashed banana mixture to the large bowl with the butter, sugar, and eggs.
6. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
7. Slowly add a little of the dry mixture to the wet mixture until it is all incorporated.
8. Bake at 35-40 minutes (for two 8×4 pans) until cake tester comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Move to a wire cooling rack.
Maple Glaze
10. Melt butter, maple syrup,vanilla (or rum) extract, and cinnamon over low heat. Once melted together, pull the pan off the heat. Sift in powdered sugar, and whisk until fully combined. Allow to cool for 8-10 minutes so the glaze can thicken.
11. Once the glaze has thickened, give it a quick stir and pour it over the breads.
12. Allow the glaze to harden completely before cutting into slices.