From Vivian E.
This sweet, creamy soup was a total surprise to me the first time I tried it! It’s delicious served as a soup, but it’s also tasty over rice. –Mellyn 
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Author Archives: Mellyn
Frito-Bean Salad
–From Evelyn Z.
This zesty salad is perfect for potlucks and picnics. The chips provide an unexpected crunch that ensures your bowl will always leave the party empty! –Mellyn
Taco Soup
When I was a new stay-at-home mom, a friend fixed this recipe for lunch. Twelve years later, I still think it’s the best taco soup I’ve ever eaten! The original calls for 1 pound of ground beef. When I make it with meat, I usually double the other ingredients so we have leftovers. –Mellyn
Corn
Corn on the cob is one of my favorite things about summer! Slathered with butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper, it’s truly one of the most delightful foods of summer. My children have all been fans of the cob at an early age. We have lengthy video of our first daughter eating a cob of corn nearly as big as her head. And my youngest, at the age of 2, got into a knock down, drag out fight with a fellow toddler over who got the last piece of corn at dinner one night! Clearly fresh corn is something to write home about.
Black Bean and Corn Salad
Summer salads are tasty all year round — especially if you live in the warm South like we do! This one is quick enough to make at a moment’s notice and tastes even better left over. –Mellyn
Baked Beans
We have a favorite baked bean recipe that uses canned pork and beans. This work-in-progress version is my attempt to use dry beans instead of canned ones, without sacrificing the flavor we love. I’ll continue to update it as I refine it! Thoughts or suggestions are welcome!–Mellyn
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Mom’s Barbecue Beef
Growing up, Mom made her Barbecue for all of our family get togethers. This is our food storage version. –Mellyn
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Bean and Potato Hash
This hearty skillet dinner is easy to cook up, tasty and satisying. Of course, our family eats it with ketchup! –Mellyn 
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Chili
A friend gave me this recipe years ago. It’s still our favorite chili — mildly spicy with just a hint of sweet. My husband likes to dress it up with tobasco sauce. –Mellyn
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Ketchup by the gallon!
Growing up, our family ate more ketchup than the rest of the town put together. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one! In fact, we bought ketchup in #10 cans, and that should tell you something!
Pineapple-Honey Chicken
Adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff
My family has been loving this delicious crockpot chicken recipe! We hope your family will enjoy it, too! –Mellyn 
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Grandmommie’s Mexican Squash
I remember my great grandmother making this squash recipe at a large family gathering. I think it was the first time I tasted zucchini and liked it! Since then, I’ve developed quite an appetite for this prolific vegetable, and it’s on our table year round! We don’t use a lot of Velveeta at our house, but it stores reasonably well (for about 6 months at a time) and provides some variety when my kids get tired of the same veggies. –Mellyn 
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Moroccan Skillet Chicken
–From Robin T.
This is one of the first meals our family ate at Robin’s house. She served it with mashed potatoes and toasted Italian bread. I think we all had seconds! –Mellyn
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Twirly Italian Chicken Soup
The flour in this soup gives it a creamy texture without the additional calories of cream, and the oregano and basil give it an Italian flavor that my family finds irresistible! The Hobbit (our curly-haired youngest with the appetite of a hobbit!) eats 2 or 3 bowls of this every time I serve it! –Mellyn
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Zucchini Tortilla Casserole
–From Andrea M.
Andrea shared this recipe with us last year when we were literally drowning in zucchini! It quickly became a family favorite. By changing the kind of beans and veggies you use, this can always look like a new dish. –Mellyn
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Continue reading Zucchini EVERYWHERE!
Zucchini…I’m convinced it’s one of nature’s most amazing plants. When we arrived at our new home early last summer, a friend shared 5 zucchini/squash starts with me. I planted them in my garden and eagerly anticipated fresh zucchini and squash.
What I didn’t anticipate was the crazy way zucchini can be not-quite-ready one afternoon, and the size of a small country by the next!
We had zucchini coming out of our ears! I hid zucchini in everything we ate for weeks. I grated it and froze it for bread, used it to stretch the fruit in jams and even heard you could substitute it for cucumbers in your pickles and can it in pineapple juice and it’d taste like pineapple! Although I never had a chance to try the last two options on the list, we grew enough zucchini to feed my family almost more than we could stand and supply 2 or 3 other families to boot!
What I learned last year is that I want zucchini seeds in my food storage! Zuccs may not be considered a powerhouse food nutritionally (although they do have vitamins and minerals in them…especially Vitamin C), but if you were in a situation where you needed a few plants to feed a lot of people, zucchini would be among my top picks!
In keeping with the knowledge that many of you are growing zucchini and would prefer to use your garden crop, rather than freeze-dried (who wouldn’t?!) I’ve offered ingredient info for all things fresh, in addition to all things food storage, in this week’s recipes!
Unfortunately for my family’s zucchini cravings, we don’t have a garden in our new location. In fact, when I went to the store to buy some zucchini to photograph for this post, there wasn’t any in the entire store! So while all of you gardeners are wondering where to hide the stuff, count your blessings! We’re paying too much for it at the grocery store, IF we can even find it, and dreaming about last summer….–Mellyn
Best-Ever Minestrone Soup
–From Melinda E.
Melinda shared this delicious soup with our family, and we’ve been making it ever since! It really is the BEST Minestrone Soup ever. Filled with delicious fresh ingredients when you can get your hands on them**, it also cooks up beautifully with shelf-stable ingredients. Melinda said it’s very forgiving –if you’re missing an ingredient, no worries. It still tastes great! Since she served it to us with scones and honey on the side, we always do the same. –Mellyn
Parmesan Garlic Potatoes
I grew up on a farm, so we always had fresh potatoes at our disposal. During the summer we ate new potatoes with white gravy and peas. In the winter, there was always a stock of spuds in the basement, so I was a little resistant to the idea of potato pearls. However, living away from the farm, I’ve come to appreciate them as a different food. I still make most of our mashed potatoes from “real” potatoes, but in a pinch, or when I’m just too tired to deal with peeling, slicing, boiling and mashing, potato pearls are a nice alternative. I like them best with garlic (thanks, Amy!) and lots of Parmesan cheese! –Mellyn 
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups potato pearls
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- Reconstitute potato pearls by heating 4 cups of water to near boiling and dumping it over the potato pearls.
- Fluff with a fork.
- Add garlic and parmesan cheese.
- Serve.
Parmesan-Honey Pasta with Beef
Adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff
A friend shared this awesome crockpot pork roast recipe (see link above). We liked it so much, we had to find a way to make it food storageable. Drum roll, please…If you’re short on time or pork roast, you can now get the same tasty sauce in a skillet meal that cooks up in minutes. –Mellyn
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Barbecue Chicken Pizza
My family doesn’t really like me to mess with their homemade pizza, so it was with a little trepidation that I placed this new version on the table. I’m happy to report that all of my fears were unfounded! They gobbled it up and came back for seconds!
–Mellyn
