Fried Zucchini

I love Summer and all it has to offer in the garden. My MIL brought over zucchini squash this morning and the kids could not wait for lunch. My squash are about a week away from being ready to pick but my MIL's are going strong. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:
4 zucchini squash-slice into 1/4 inch rounds
3 cups all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil

Place sliced squash in a bowl and salt, let sit until you see water form on slices. Now put flour, salt and pepper in bowl with squash and flip squash around in the bowl to coat evenly. Now heat oil over medium heat, when heated add squash so they do not touch in the pan. When browned on one side flip and cook until golden brown. The kids like to eat their pieces with ketchup.

Canned Garden Green Beans

I was weeding my garden and was so surprised when I found my green beans ready to be picked!! I grow Kentucky Wonder bush beans and boy do they produce a bunch of beans. I canned 6 quarts and will have about 10 more before the green beans give out. As I have said in past posts, how much I love opening my jars in the Winter and eating something really yummy from my garden. Warms me up on a cold winter's day. Well we are far from that on this hot Summer's day. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:
1/2 bushel green beans
6 quart jars with rings and flats
Boiling water
Salt

Clean and snap your greens beans. I snap mine at about 1-2 inches but snap as you like your beans. Prepare your jars by pouring boiling water into them and pouring it out, Now pack your jars tightly with green beans and add 1 t salt to each quart of green beans. Now is the time to fill the jars with boiling water. When you can like this it is called "cold pack" canning, meaning your beans are not cooked first. Now place your flats and rings in a pan and simmer for about 5 minutes, now place on top of your jars and close. Now place jars in your pressure cooker and process for 20 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Be sure to date your jars so you will know when you canned them.

Raven's Birthday Cake

Raven's birthday cake went from chocolate cake with butter cream to a banana cake with peanut butter-butter cream icing and then to a cake with 2 chocolate layers and 2 vanilla layers with butter cream. Can you tell Raven is my daughter??? I hate making decisions and so does she. I cannot believe it was 15 years ago tonight, 8:11 to be exact, that little Raven was born. She will be my baby forever but my is she growing up. Her 15th birthday cake is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today. Actually I baked it yesterday and iced it today.

Cabbage Rolls

I had some cabbage left from making kraut and wondered what to do with it. Cabbage rolls sounded good so that is what I made. It was a hot and humid day so it was a little warm with the oven on but the cabbage rolls were enjoyed by all. I know my grandmother cooked every night without air conditioning and I cannot imagine how hot she was. I get so hot cooking with the air conditioning that I don't think I would be cooking much without it. That being said, you cannot grill every night. I used cabbage from the garden and I think it really tasted great. I am a big cabbage fan but fresh from the garden really is better than store bought. But of course use what you have. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek

Needed:
2 heads of cabbage
3 pounds ground round
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cloves garlic-minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 cups of cooked rice
2 eggs

Core cabbage and place in a large soup pot with 2 inches of water in the bottom. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, remove from pot and let cool completely. Now mix together the following ingredients, ground round, eggs, rice, 1 can tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic, mix very well with your hands. Separate the cooled cabbage leaves and fill with about 1/4 cup of meat filling and roll ends in and roll as you would a burrito. Now pour the other can of tomato sauce in the bottom of a roasting and place cabbage roll in pan. Once pan is filled pour diced tomatoes over the top of rolls and cover with either a lid or parchment lined foil. Cook at 350' for 1 hour.

Oven "Fried" Chicken

This is my husband's favorite way to eat chicken. The way I make this "fried" chicken is to really season the crumb mixture. I hope you give this a try before it is too hot turn on your oven. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:
4 cups cornflakes-crushed
2 T garlic powder
1 T cayenne pepper
2 T salt
2 T pepper
1 whole chicken-cut up

Mix together cornflakes, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a large Ziploc bag. Once mixed well add one piece of chicken at a time to the bag and shake. Bake chicken on a parchment lined baking sheet at 425 for 35 minutes.

Okie Steak AKA BBQ Baloney

Nothing is better with potato salad than Okie Steak. Give it a try instead of hamburgers the next time you grill. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek tonight. Better get it done quick because the summer thunderstorms are brewing.

5 pound stick of baloney-sliced 1/2 inch thick
Grill
Barbecue sauce of your choice.

Grill on each side then slather with sauce. Place "steak" between hamburger buns and eat!!

Ransome's Birthday Cake

Ransome decided he wanted a guitar cake this year and I thought to myself, how hard can that be??? Well let me tell you finding the pan was the easy part of this cake and it was not all that easy. After the cake pan was found, the flavor was picked and said flavor was baked into a guitar shape so the real work could begin. See I don't know a guitar set up from a radio set up, see the problem?? Thank goodness Sean and Raven were here to assist me. My hand is still sore from all of the squeezing and my mind is sore from thinking. I hope you think this cake is as cute as Ransome did on his big day. Cannot believe he is 8!! Time sure does fly. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek tonight.