Monday Manners: Southern Vegetables and Salads

 Fried Okra:  One of my favorite Southern veggies!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We arrived back in town from south Georgia yesterday, late afternoon.  Needless to say, today involves laundry, errands, cleaning up and catching up!  After eating some delicious Southern cooking this past weekend, I couldn’t resist adding the newest list to my compilation of Southern foods, that I found on Wikipedia.  Here are the Southern veggies and salads.  Are these all familiar to you?  What is left off the list?

 We eat ambrosia every Thanksgiving and Christmas at my in-laws.  It’s a Southern tradition.
  • Limpin’ Susan – a traditional Low Country dish made with okra, rice and black-eyed peas
  • Macaroni and cheese – usually prepared with fresh eggs and baked en casserole
  • Mashed potatoes – called “creamed” in some regions
    • Rutmus – potatoes boiled and mashed with turnip bottoms and butter
  • Okra – flour-battered and pan-fried or boiled, stewed, or steamed
  • Onion – Sliced Vidalia, whole green onion, and onion rings
  • Peas – often cooked with chunks of ham or onions
  • Potato Salad – usually made in the South with egg, mayonnaise, prepared mustard and pickle relish
  • Purloo – a traditional Low Country dish made with ham, bacon, peppers and okra
  • Ramps – wild leeks popular in the mountains
  • Red beans & rice – the rice is often some kind of dirty rice, a longstanding favorite in Louisiana
  • Seven-layer salad
  • Swamp cabbage (heart of palm)
  • Summer Squash – often cooked down with onions or fried like okra
  • Tomatoes – sliced ripe, also eaten at breakfast

  • Sweet potatoes – often “candied” with butter and brown sugar
  • Tomato aspic
  • Vidalia onion – a sweet onion grown only in the state of Georgia, sold and popular throughout the South (Of course my husband’s grandmother would say that they should really be called Metter onions because that’s where they truly originated – Metter is one small town over from Vidalia, and that’s where she’s from.)  🙂
  • Wilted lettuce– with dressing, an Appalachian speciality
  • Yams: see Sweet Potatoes
Happy Monday!  Hope it goes well for you!  We meet W’s preschool teachers for the first time this week, and I get my permanent cap on Thursday, FINALLY!  This temporary one is about to drive me crazy! 
Article Credit: 1
Photo Credit: 1, 2, 3, 4

13 thoughts on “Monday Manners: Southern Vegetables and Salads

  1. YUM! Of course I love the Fried Okra, Mac and Cheese, and the Fried Green Tomatoes!

    Effie taught Amy how to make healthy "fried" okra. And Amy taught me. Made some yesterday and it was so good…you just use cooking oil, spray butter, and cornmeal and put it in the oven. Tastes just as good as the real thing! Might have to try it with the tomatoes as well!

  2. Our okra plant is out of control. We are pickling okra this week…mmm, mmm!

    I love your list. I think it sums everything up. My Mamaw makes Watergate salad which I suppose would be similar to ambrosia. Of course, Watergate salad isn't a southern specialty either. LOL

  3. Oh wow!! You are making me hungry!! Fried green tomatoes are my absolute favorite too!!!!! I think the best ones I've had were at Lulu's in Gulf Shores. YUMMM!!!!!! 🙂

    Also, I love getting the carrot salad from Chik-fil-A. I may have to get some now that you reminded me!

  4. Yum!! Whats funny is, my family (And extended family) eat most of those things anytime we have a family gathering. Ambrosia is the best! And fried okra is a staple. 🙂

  5. My favorite is the Hoppin' John. We have a southern style restaurant up here in Chicago that makes these and even my m-i-l who is a 100% southern belle said they were some of the best she has ever had! I would love to learn to make those. Delicious!

Comments are closed.