Salad and Dessert

Dessert First. This is a recipe from my sister. It's called Fall Cake, but it is good all year round. I always serve this to my book club when it's my turn to be hostess.

Pauletta's Fall Cake

2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
22 ounces mandarin orange sections


Glaze
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
6 tbs butter
6 tbs milk

Remove excess liquid from oranges, but do not completely drain. Beat until well blended and oranges are broken up. Bake in 9 x 13 pan, 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Glaze: combine all glaze ingredients in a sauce pan. Boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly. Make holes in hot cake with fork. Pour hot glaze over cake. Serve with whipped cream.

In all of my recipes, when I say salt and pepper I mean freshly ground black pepper and either sea salt or kosher salt. It really makes a difference.

Sweet Potato Salad
I first encountered sweet potato salad at a restaurant in Boseman, Montana when we were on our way to the Rotary International conference in Calagary. I love sweet potatoes. My dad says they are so nutrious you should eat them everyday.

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup diced celery
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste

1. Simmer sweet potatoes in simmering salted water about 10 minutes until tender. Remove from heat and drain well. Combine sweet potatoes, onione, cranberries and celery. In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and spices. Pour over potatoes and toss well. Season to taste. Makes six servings.

Panzanella
Another great use for day-old French bread. It's a long time until we get tomatoes, but my herbs are up and great. Fortunately, we have good homegrown tomatoes coming up from South Carolina already. I eat this salad at least once a week all summer. Sometimes we add little balls of fresh mozzarella cheese. My husband isn't a vegetarian, so he'll add slivers of ham or dry salami to this salad.

8 cups dry bread cubes
5 large ripe tomatoes, diced, including the juice
medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 medium red onion cut into thin strips
dozen fresh basil leaves, slivered
2 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Toss bread cubes and tomatoes well. Add onion, cucumber, basil and oregano. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to mix. Drizzle olive oil evenly over the salad. Toss well. Drizzle vinegar over the salad. Toss to mix, Serve at room temperature.


The Great Tomato Book by Gary Ibsen and Joan Nielsen is a great source of information on growing your own tomatoes. The authors give with tips for successful planting, seed selection, soil preparation, designing a garden, trellising techniques, watering, organic fertilizing, and saving seeds. There are even tomato recipes. I'm growing six different varieties this year. My favorite tomato is Brandywine, an heirloom variety that is intensely delicious.

Broiled Parmesan Tomatoes

I've set out about half of my tomato plants. The rest are still a bit too small to plant in the garden yet. I have two big healthy tomato plants in my new upside down tomato growers. They look really odd, but I think this new way of growing tomatoes will be successful. It's a long time until we get any tomatoes out of the garden, but here's a tomato recipe. When I have a good tomato crop I don't can the extra. I skin them and freeze them whole. They taste better than canned. I didn't have enough tomatoes last year to bother freezing them. I had a freezer full of chili peppers though.

Broiled Parmesan Tomatoes
A recipe inspired by Paula Deen

18 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled or three cans whole tomatoes, drained
Salt and pepper
1 stick butter
Tablespoon finely minced fresh parsley
Tablespoon finely minced fresh basil
1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

If you have nice ripe tomatoes, you can peel them by plunging them into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Drain them and cool them quickly in ice water. Skins should pull off easily. I f good ripe tomatoes aren’t available in the market yet use the canned ones.
Place tomatoes in a lightly buttered casserole dish. I use my long glass lasagna dish. Sprinkle with them with salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Top each tomato with a pat of butter. Sprinkle Parmesan over the tomatoes and broil for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are heated through and the cheese is melted.

Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style is Paula's new cookbook. It's just full of good stuff.