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Southern-Style Green Beans

1 pound green beans

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ medium onion, sliced

1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

Remove the tips from the beans and break the beans into pieces 1 to 1½ inches long.

Wash and dry the beans.

Heat the canola oil and olive oil in a large skillet. Cook the sliced onion for 3 minutes.

Add the green beans, mushrooms, and salt.

Cook slowly, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until tender. When the beans are done, there should be very little or no liquid left in the skillet.

Serve hot as a main dish or as a side dish.

SERVES 2 AS A MAIN DISH, 4 AS A SIDE DISH. Serving size: 1 cup as a main dish, ½ cup as a side dish.

California Green Chile and Cheese Pie

1 frozen single piecrust

1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

One 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained

1 cup half-and-half or light cream

3 large eggs

1⁄8 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the piecrust just until pale golden, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Sprinkle the Jack cheese and ½ cup of the cheddar cheese over the bottom of the partially baked crust.

Evenly distribute the chiles over the cheese.

Beat together the half-and-half, eggs, and cumin, if using, in a bowl, until blended. Pour over the chiles.

Sprinkle evenly with the remaining ½ cup cheddar cheese.

Bake on a sheet pan or cookie sheet for 40 minutes or until the center of the pie appears set when the pan is gently shaken. Let stand for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

SERVES 6. Serving size: One slice.

This pie can be separated into 6 slices. Served with green salad, it makes a light yet filling supper.

Corn Pudding

1 tablespoon melted butter

2 15-ounce cans whole kernel corn

4 eggs

½ cup half-and-half

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Using the melted butter, grease a medium casserole dish.

Drain the corn as completely as possible.

Whisk the eggs together briskly in a large bowl, until blended. Add the half-and-half and continue to blend.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Add the flour, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and pepper to the egg mixture and stir well. Add the corn and mix together.

Pour into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Serve hot as a side dish or as a snack.

SERVES 4 OR 5. Serving size: ½ cup.

Consider the richness of the ingredients. Enjoy a small portion.

Hundreds of cookbooks line the walls in my country kitchen. I can sit at the table and reach the books. Since I have read each one at least one time, I do not make a selection. I simply choose whatever book my hand falls on. When I look up, it is to find that my stomach is making unpleasant gurgling sounds, my saliva glands have been hard at work, and two hours have passed.

I rarely follow recipes from one cookbook at a time. I will study three recipes for the same dish to see how three different cooks would prepare the ingredients. I might select ideas from one, and then add my own innovation. The end results are not always successful, but the chances and changes, more often than not, offer a wonderful dish that I doubt any of the original cooks would recognize. Experimenting can breathe new life into vegetable dishes that will satisfy even the most discriminating palates.

Enjoy!

Crudités with Vinaigrette

5 small red potatoes

¼ teaspoon salt

½ pound asparagus (tough ends snapped off)

½ bunch broccoli, cut into small florets

6 small carrots, peeled

10 edible-pod peas, strings removed

6 scallions, including green tops, chopped

½ pound small (1 to 1½-inch diameter) button mushroom caps, cleaned with damp towel

4 or 5 small inner leaves from 1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and crisped