Road Trip to Jekyll Island!

Dear Readers,

Thanks for hangin' in there over the past few days without your usual VV fix - I've been enjoying a little family vacation down on Jekyll Island - one of Georgia's beautiful coastal islands. We drove down there and surprised our 2-year-old and 4-year-old nephews. It was a blast.

This was my first trip to Jekyll. When I was young, my family would normally drive to Savannah, Georgia or Amelia Island in Florida during the summer - I can't believe we were missing out on this amazing place. Jekyll Island is a Georgia State Park. If you're into a laid-back, bare-bones beach scene (and I certainly am), then this is a great place to vacation.

But back to food . . . here are a few of the highlights from our road trip through Georgia!

We stopped for lunch on our way down in the town of Wrens, Georgia at an Amish restaurant called The Dutch House.

I'm here to tell ya, the Amish know what they're doing when it comes to food! Everything is fresh, from scratch, with high quality ingredients. Fried chicken, sweet potato casserole, and macaroni and cheese for me!

And a VV road trip through middle Georgia wouldn't be complete without a quick stop in Vidalia, Georgia - the sweet onion city!!

Sadly, their main street office was closed when we went by, but we peered in the windows anyway.

We also tried to stop by the Vidalia Onion Committee office to say hello to our friends there, but alas we gave up and hit the road for the beach.

Georgia shrimping season was at its peak when we arrived on the island, so there were tons of shrimp boats out and about, and lots of great meals filled with fresh local shrimp!

The island also has a neat little candy store that our nephews loooove to frequent. The Sweets Shoppe is housed in a historical building near the Jekyll Island Club, a historic Georgia resort frequented by the rich and famous during the 1890s. As you can see from the chimney, this used to be the Boiler House.

The little boys love these island-themed candies the best - they are white chocolate tinted with pastel colors and cast in the shapes of sea creatures.

And the nearby Jekyll Bookstore is home to a wide variety of cookbooks featuring recipes for Georgia coastal cuisine. It took great self-restraint on my part not to buy every book on this table:

One more store that's worth a stop is the Commissary. It features a collection of local gourmet food and gifts, including this tasty tin of cookies I bought for my parents to enjoy!

Thanks for letting me share a little bit of my journey with you. I'll be back to regular blogging tomorrow!!

Granny's Blackberry Pie

For years now, I've heard stories of my husband's grandmother, who passed away shortly before he and I met. Granny is a legendary cook - I wish I could find her secret recipe book. Although most of them were probably never written down.

One of her dishes that I've been wanting to re-create is her Blackberry Pie. My husband, who raves about this concoction every time a blackberry pops into our lives, was actually not very helpful in describing the dish to me. So I went to his parents. Granny taught my mother-in-law how to make many of her signature recipes (including her biscuits, which is another story altogether). So I played 20 questions with my extremely patient and helpful mother-in-law before attempting to make Granny's Blackberry Pie.

So here it is: my humble attempt to recreate a dish that my husband ate at his Granny's house when he was a little boy. I think my version doesn't have quite as much sugar as Granny's did. She would also strain the blackberries so that just the juice remained, but I kept the berries whole to add some more bulk to the filling. The crust is actually my Nanny's recipe, and I think I took some creative liberties in making the crust a bit thicker around the edges - Granny apparently just made a square and let the juices bubble up around the edges. The one thing they all remembered quite clearly, though, was the generous coating of cinnamon sugar on top - an extra little sumthin'-sumthin' that, in my humble opinion, make this dish a truly memorable one!

Granny's Blackberry Pie
from hubby's Granny

4 cups fresh blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
A pinch of salt

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons shortening
1 ounce (1/8 cup) ice cold water

1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x9-inch baking dish and set aside.

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blackberries, sugar, water, and salt. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer, and smash up the berries using the back of a spoon or other utensil. Continue to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken into a thin syrup. Pour the berry mixture into the prepared dish.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly and flaky.

Make a well in the center and pour in the ice water. Stir lightly with a fork until a loose dough forms. Then get in there with your hands to make the dough into a ball. If the dough won't come together, then add a few more drops of cold water.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a 10x10-inch square. It doesn't have to be perfect, just big enough to drape over the dish with the berries. Trim the edges, and pinch them to the edge of the dish.

Next, brush the egg over the crust. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle over the top. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the berries are nice and bubbly. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Vidalia Victuals WINNER!

I'm happy to announce the winner,
selected by you dear readers,
of the first annual Vidalia Victuals Contest.

Cooks Like a Champion
Caramelized Vidalia Onion and Goat Cheese Grits!!

Congratulations, Courtney!

Courtney's recipe got 217 out of the 719 votes cast in the contest, making her the winner of our Vidalia Onion Prize Package!!!

I must say, the hubs and I really loved this recipe. We even ate the leftover grits underneath some grilled shrimp for dinner the next night, with some corn on the cob on the side. It was pretty freaking awesome . . .

To see the results of all our wonderful entries, please click here.

I'd like to thank everyone who submitted recipes, who drooled over our finalists' creations, and who voted in this fun contest.

I also appreciate the support received from the Vidalia Onion Committee in beefing up our prize package with some fun Vidalia items! I encourage you all to check out the Sweet Times Recipe Contest being hosted by the Vidalia Onion Committee. Entries are being accepted through August 14, 2009, and they are giving away some big cash prizes!

Yellow Summer Squash Casserole

Yellow Summer Squash Casserole
from my mom

3 pounds yellow summer squash
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 more tablespoons butter
about 1/2 cup crushed crackers or bread crumbs

Wash and slice up the squash. Boil or steam until tender, drain thoroughly, then mash.

Add the onion, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, and pepper to the squash. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter, and then spread it over the top of the squash. Sprinkle with crackers or bread crumbs.

Bake in 375 degree oven for approximately 1 hour, or until brown on top. Let the casserole cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Spicy Southwestern Roasted Potatoes

Here's a hot and spicy side to go with your burgers. This one was inspired by Hayley, too!

Spicy Southwestern Roasted Potatoes

4-6 medium-sized red potatoes, cut into roughly equal sized wedges
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with the vegetable oil and the spices until they are completely coated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside. Serve warm.