Country Supper

Tonight we have pictures of our meal! The boys-all 4 of them-looked at me like I was a kook for taking pictures of my meal...little did they know, I'd been taking pictures of the ingredients and the cooking process, as well!

We had what we call Silver Dollar City Mix. At SDC, they make a similar dish in a huge -I'm talking probably 4' across-iron skillet-I just use my regular sized one. They also put lots of stuff in theirs that I may or may not have on hand. The beauty of this meal is that you can put in or leave out anything you like or have on hand-or don't like/have on hand! It all starts like this:



This is smoked turkey sausages, a bell pepper-I had green tonight, but red and yellow are especially good in this, a yellow onion, and some red potatoes. I use turkey sausages because they don't have a casing and are healthier, but you could use kielbasa, Italian sausages, whatever you like.

Put your iron skillet (or any other good sized skillet you like to use) on medium heat and drizzle olive oil in it. Let it heat while you peel and chop, but keep a close eye on it. Peel the onion and slice it and the pepper, and put it in the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let it do it's thing while you prep the potatoes. It looks kind of like this at this point:




While the peppers and onion sweat, peel and chop the potatoes. I like a course chop, with big pieces of potatoes, but you can slice them thinly, if you prefer. Put the potatoes in the pan with the pepper and onion, which should be nicely caramelized by now. Put a lid on the skillet and let it cook while you mix up the cornbread.



For the cornbread:
2 cups cornmeal MIX
2 eggs
a splash of milk-about 1/4 cup or so
2 T. oil, divided

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put 1 T. oil in a skillet or other baking pan, making sure to cover the entire surface. Put the pan in the oven and let it get hot while you mix together the remaining ingredients. When the pan is hot, pour the cornbread mixture into the pan and put it into the oven.

I like to use my cast iron biscuit pan:



When you put the cornbread in the oven, cut up the sausages in 1/2 inch or so slices and add to the potatoes, pepper and onion. Let the sausage warm while the cornbread bakes. I like to open a can of navy beans or pintos, drain and rinse them, and then warm them in a pan or in the microwave, seasoned with a little salt and pepper and some beef broth.

I keep salad made up in the fridge most of the time, so it's easy to put it all on the table together, along with tall glasses of sweet tea! Here's my dinner tonight:



Right after I snapped this, I put ketchup on my potatoes, ranch dressing on my salad and butter and honey on my cornbread! Now that's a good country supper! Enjoy!