Today we’ll share a few salad recipes and a soup recipe as well. Deb and I both have gotten to the point we like a salad at least a couple times a day, although most are straight veggies or some type of fruit salad.

It’s changed our style of eating, which basically before was…put it down in front of me, and I’ll take care of the rest! Honestly though, I still have my moments, but we both eat much better than we ever have in the past.

To be truthful…we can tell it too!

The salads we’ll share today are heavier than our regular routine, but dad-gum they’re still good! Once more, we’ll take a step backwards in regards to our calorie intake, but we both believe this doesn’t affect us too bad if done in “every so often” intervals. Kinda like rewarding ourselves.

I try to convince Deb that since “I’m considerably larger” than she is…maybe I ought to be “rewarded” a little more often!! For some reason or other, she doesn’t seem to be buyin that one??

Well, before I get in more trouble this morning than I normally stay in…let’s eat a dern salad or two! All are easy to make, and not very time consuming at all. Enjoy…

Macaroni Salad

• 2 cups cooked shell macaroni
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salad oil
• 2 tablespoons grated onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup stuffed olives, sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped pimento
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Dash of pepper
• 3 boiled eggs, chopped

Marinate macaroni in refrigerator in vinegar and oil for about 8 hours or so. Afterwards, (don’t drain marinade off), combine with the other ingredients and toss well. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Black-Eye Pea Salad

• 2 cans black-eye peas (fresh, cooked, if you have them), washed and drained well
• ½ cup chopped onions
• ½ cup black olives
• ½ cup pimento
• Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste
• ¼ to ½ cup Italian dressing (your taste)

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. Take out when ready to serve.

Fruit Salad

• 1 large can pineapple tidbits
• 1 large can fruit cocktail
• 1 small jar maraschino cherries, halved
• 1 (8 oz.) package shredded coconut
• 1 small (10 oz.) package mini-marshmallows
• 1 cup pecans, broken up or coarsely chopped
• 1 cup sour cream

Drain all fruits well. Mix all ingredients well then, stir in sour cream. Refrigerate overnight, and takeout when ready to serve.

Jellied Grapefruit With Pecans

• 2 grapefruit
• 1 package lemon jello
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup grapefruit juice
• 6 tablespoons chopped pecans

Dice your grapefruit into small segments and drain off. Dissolve jello into boiling water. Add grapefruit juice. Cool until just short of firmness. Add your grapefruit pieces and pecans. Place into a mold and refrigerate.

Potato Soup

• 8 slices bacon
• Flour
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• ¼ cup finely chopped celery
• 2 baked potatoes (leftover) or 1/1-2 cups boiled or ¾ cup of instant potatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Milk, best when used at room temperature

Cook bacon until crisp, drain on paper towel, and breakup. Add onion and celery to the bacon grease and sauté until onions begin to brown. Stir in flour to roughly the equivalent of the amount of grease in pan. Stir in 3 cups of milk, stirring until lumps disappear. Stir in potatoes and add your seasonings to taste. Add bacon pieces to your warming liquid. Don’t boil, but simmer until heated through.

You can add creamed corn and clams to make like a chowder.

You know, honestly I don’t enjoy in the least posting on political events. Yet in the same breath the time has come that maybe we all need to be shouting out over a government gone wild. It’s up to us, “We the People” to turn this craziness back around. That, or kiss your freedoms, your liberties, you’re right as an American to have the opportunity to grow and prosper, and by doing so creating a better way of life for not only you, your children, and even strangers.

The term “strangers” is used kinda loosely, but if you create jobs through running or operating a small business, that’s exactly what you’re doing. By doing so, “the strangers” become friends and business associates, family, so to speak.

Today, this, AND the “American Dream,” are fast becoming a past tense. We’ve been dumbed down as a society, just look at our educational system, we’ve been “watered down” as a society in general through the advocating of our elected officials to “turn a blind eye” in regards to the illegal immigration taking place in our Country today, and the literal stealing of our tax dollars through all these so called entitlement programs. Whether they be, for the “poor and oppressed,” or through the public sector workplace!

This morning I flipped on the local news, like a dummy because I KNEW better, and what’s on? The United States Postal Service is expecting to lose…over 18 BILLION DOLLARS…THIS YEAR ALONE!
They now want to cut Saturday delivery, shut down THOUSANDS of Post Offices across the Country, AND increase the price of stamps once again.

So, who suffers? How about you and I, the taxpaying American citizen! Less deliveries, less offices to use, and another increase for a dern stamp to mail your, how about your IRS tax return! LOL!

Do you guys know why our Postal system is failing? Government intervention, government subsidies from you and I, and unionization! There’s absolutely NO care or concern to make this business profitable. Why would there be?

The more these guys spend, the more support they get from Uncle Sam, who again, is actually you and I. Redistribution of wealth you ask? 10-4 says I!

Look at it from a realistic standpoint a minute or two…UPS, Federal Express, and there’s others who do the same thing as the USPS. THEY…make money! If not…they go out of business! Sounds familiar doesn’t it. It does to me, because if our business loses money for any length of time…we go out of business! That’s how it works…in the private sector, but NOT for the public sector. NO, NO, they continually are bailed out by We the People, their “bottomless pit!

This has been going on in the Postal Service for YEARS now! It’s stealing people, and that’s exactly what it is! How long before we finally stop and say, “NO MORE! What you guys are doing to us IS CRIMINAL!” Yes, that’s exactly what it is. If any of us ran our business like our government runs theirs…we’d go to jail. Simple as that, then be made a mockery of by the attorneys who prosecuted us.
You want to see more fraud…ask that ALL credit card receipts be made public that government employees use for “official business.” I’m sure all our jaws would drop open!

They talk about Bernie Madoff?? Yes sir, ole Bernie was a crook through and through, and deserved much more than he received, BUT, if you compare what Bernie stole, and again it was sinister, to what our government is STEALING from We the People daily, they make Bernie look like a complete amateur!

Back to the USPS…they want to make ALL these cuts to OUR services, BUT increase OUR COST for these services! Hmmmm…

I haven’t heard of any cuts being made to their salaries, their vacation time or pay, their health care benefits, their retirement packages, nothing! YET, private sector business has been implementing such cuts for some time now. I have a brother-in-law who took, along with other employees, a 50% pay cut! This was done to keep the doors open of the company they worked for!

PLUS in regards to the USPS…you can’t just fire them! Oh no! Think about that for a minute. You can’t fire an employee for not doing their job, insubordination, not coming to work, and it goes on and on, and on! This IS our government, and what they represent today.

Before I stop this morning, let’s look at a couple numbers. I know I’m preaching to the choir in regards to many of you, but here they are anyway…and these are 2009 numbers.

Postal Service is paying 45,000 hours of “standby time” every week…

The “Federal Times,” reports the Postal Service is paying 45,000 hours of “standby time” every week—- the equivalent of having 1,125 full-time employees sitting idle, at a cost of more than $50 million a year. Guess who pays for that?

Postal Union officials estimate that 15,000 employees have spent time this year in so called “resource rooms” where they read books, do word puzzles, or sleep—-and get paid for it.

The Cato Institute says the Postal Service is experiencing serious financial woes because 80% of its financial woes are tied up in labor cost. The main cause, once again, is that the Postal Service is so heavily unionized they can’t fire non-productive workers, lay-off workers when needed, or even cut back salaries or wages. On top of this the American Postal Worker Union operates under government protection. This is but one example.

So once more, THEIR solution is to cut services, shut down offices, and charge us more for stamps. Man…why do we tolerate such actions?? Private sector business has to adapt…public sector business just reaches deeper into OUR pockets, but sacrifice nothing in regards to…them!

We’re losing our Country as we know it, my friends! Ya better wake up!

Well, let’s go on and fire the dern cook stove off. ..Deb will probably be able to light it off my head this morning! @@##..!!??

Cream Cheese Chicken

• 6 chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and pounded
• 2 (8 oz) packages of sour cream
• 4 tablespoons dried or fresh chives, snipped
• 6 strips bacon
• 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
• ¼ cup cream sherry

Divide cream cheese into 6 portions. Place 1 portion in the center of each chicken breast. Fold, or roll breast around cheese and wrap 1 bacon strip around each stuffed breast. Grease an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 13 inch baking dish with oil. Pour in cream sherry. Place chicken breasts fold side down in dish. Bake on 325 for I hour or until breasts are done.

Cyndi Wright

Carrots Jo Ann

• 1 pound carrots, fully cooked
• ¼ cup liquid from carrots
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons horseradish
• 2 heaping tablespoons minced onion
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Dash of paprika

Cook carrots until done. In a bowl mix carrots, mayonnaise, carrot liquid, horseradish, onion, salt, pepper, and paprika well. Place in a casserole dish, and cover mixture with bread crumbs. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until browned.

Betty Land

Eight Layer Salad

• 1 head of lettuce
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 package frozen green peas, uncooked
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 4 ounces grated cheese
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Break lettuce into bite size pieces and layer in a glass bowl. Layer other ingredients on lettuce in order given. Let set 24 hours covered in the refrigerator. Toss 10 minutes prior to serving.

Sharon Heard

Pear Bread

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pears, cored and peeled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream butter, gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients; add to egg mixture alternately with yogurt. Stir in pears and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Bake on 350 for 1 hour.

Mary Lou Grupp

Before we sign off this morning, let’s take a quick look at a REAL Cowboy. I think we’ve posted this before, but Deb and I saw it again last night and both got another laugh from it! Here’s hopin you guys do too!

A Real Cowboy

He’s a sport, ain’t he??

You guys have a great day and God Bless you and yours, and our Country as well! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

I know you guys must think we’ve lost our minds with three consecutive posts on…dern salads! But, there is a method to my madness…I think!

In actuality Deb and I are in the middle of a cookbook we’ll be putting out here before long. It’ll be a lot of recipes, and a lot of storytelling, jokes, and basically, just having a good time doing it. With that in mind, going through our old posts, we were very lacking in regards to having many types of salads.

So, we’ve spent the morning listing many of our old salad recipes. Well, when we post, we use WordPress, and I really like the look of the finished product from this. So, if I was going to use WordPress, shoot, I thought I’d just go ahead and post them on site as well.

By doing this, I guess you could say…I’m killin two birds, with one stone. Lazy is another way to describe this too! LOL!!

Anyway, if you’ll bear with us, this will be the last salad post…for a while! But a dern ole salad is good, and good for you. So check em out, and see if there may be a few you’d like to try out!

Thanks, guys!

Copper Penny Salad:

• 2 lbs. carrots, skinned, and sliced thin
• 1 (10-3/4 oz.) can tomato soup, undiluted
• ½ cup salad oil
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• ¾ cup vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 green pepper, chopped fine

Boil carrots, approximately 15 minutes until tender-crisp. Drain and when cool add remaining ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate overnight. Makes approx. 2 quarts. When carrots are gone, any leftover sauce may be used as a dressing for tossed salad.

Seven Layer Salad:

• ½ head lettuce, shredded
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup purple onion, chopped
• 1 (17 oz.) can English peas, drained
• 1-1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 slices bacon, cooked, and crumbled

Layer vegetables in the order listed in a 2 quart bowl. Spread mayonnaise evenly over the top. Sprinkle salad with remaining ingredients in order listed. Cover tightly and chill at least 8 hours.

Macaroni Salad:

• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
• 8 oz. box of elbow macaroni, about 2 cups dry
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced green pepper
• ¼ cup diced onion
• ¼ cup chopped green pickles

Cook macaroni until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. In large bowl mix together mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Toss in remaining ingredients mixing as you go, and chill to blend in flavors.

Potato Salad:

This is one recipe we don’t like a ton of different things in, but, that’s just our taste. Feel free to mix in whatever your heart desires…

• 8 potatoes
• ½ cup Miracle Whip
• ¼ cup mustard
• ½ cup chopped sweet pickles
• 1 large diced onion
• 6 hard-boiled eggs, diced

Peel and dice potatoes and boil until done. Boil eggs until done, Deb always lays her eggs on top of her potatoes, and boils them together. Once done, peel your eggs and dice them. Drain potatoes and add Miracle Whip, sweet pickles, onion, and eggs. Mix in really well. Salt and pepper to taste.

• 1 can red beans, drained
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 can whole corn, drained
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Dash of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons salad oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 cup diced celery
• Pepperoni
• Olives
• Cherry tomato

Combine beans, corn, onion, salt, pepper, and oil. Cover and marinate in the fridge at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, add celery, and vinegar; mix lightly. Serve on lettuce leaves, and garnish with pepperoni, olives, and tomatoes, as desired.

Broccoli Salad:

• 2 or 3 bunches of fresh broccoli
• 1 pound of bacon, fried, drained, and crumbled
• 1 large purple onion, diced
• 8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 or 3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Wash broccoli and break into bite-sized pieces. Put broccoli, the cooked, drained, and crumbled bacon, diced onion, and grated cheese in serving bowl. Whip together mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Pour over mixture and toss to coat. Serve chilled.

Black-eyed Pea Salad:

• 2 cans black-eyed peas (wash and drain well)
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ½ cup black olives
• ½ cup pimento
• Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste
• ¼ to ½ cup Italian dressing

Marinate overnight and serve.

Rice Salad:

• 1 (6 oz.) package long grain wild rice
• ½ cup Miracle-Whip or mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ to ¾ cups red, yellow, or green 1 inch pepper pieces
• 2 green onions, sliced in 1 inch pieces

Prepare rice, and cool. Combine salad dressing, oil, black pepper, and onion pieces. Mix well. Add pepper pieces. Mix lightly. Serve at room temperature on bed of lettuce with deviled eggs or other supplement, if desired. Colorful and tasty.

Marinated Tomato Salad:

• 3-4 good sized tomatoes, peeled, and cut into wedges

Marinate:

• ¼ to ½ cup white vinegar
• 4 or 5 large green olives, finely chopped
• 1/8 to ¼ cup olive or corn oil
• ½ clove, finely chopped
• Juice of 1-1/2 lemons
• Dash of thyme
• Dash of oregano
• Dash of sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour marinate over tomato wedges. Seal. Marinate for at least 1 hour. Invert container several times to coat well.

Well today we won’t be firin off a dern cook stove, but we’ll be makin up some salads…fruit salads.

Deb and I both love salads, and fruit salads rank right up there with our favorites. Down here when it gets so hot, man, a good ole fruit salad is mighty hard to beat. Just chill “them bears” off, and boy is that refreshing!

But it really makes no difference to either of us, fruit salad, or vegetable salad either one. Both can be refrigerated, plus both are nutritious as well. They’re very versatile in the number of ways you can prepare them, and in reality…if you like it, chunk it in!

With our citrus season beginning to get into full swing, we’re really enjoying our fruit salads, and the juice they supply us with as well.

You know that we’ve been juicing 20-25 fresh fruits and vegetables each morning. Since the citrus is coming in we’re using that as an additive to our daily juicing. We’ve been adding 2 grapefruit, 4 hamlin oranges, along with 3 tangerines. This really gives our other juicing’s a big flavor boost, plus it gives a good mega-dose of Vitamin C along with all the other nutrients we’re getting. We love it!

Well, let’s get started…

Frozen Banana-Pineapple Salad:

• 2 cups sour cream
• ¾ cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
• ½ cup pecans, cut fine
• ½ cup cherries, cut fine
• 1 large ripe banana, cut in small pieces
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Mix all ingredients and put in mold or glass baking dish. Freeze overnight. Remove from freezer a short time before serving.

Fresh Apple Salad:

• 8 cups chopped, tart, red apples, unpeeled
• 1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained (reserve juice)
• 1-2 teaspoons poppy seeds
• 1-1/2 cups toasted pecans

Dressing:

• Reserved pineapple juice
• ¼ cup butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup mayonnaise or ½ cup reduced calorie mayonnaise and ½ cup plain yogart

Make dressing. First combine juice, butter, sugar, and lemon juice in saucepan. Heat to boiling. Combine cornstarch and water to smooth paste. Add to hot mixture; cook till thick and smooth.

Chill completely before stirring in mayonnaise and add to pineapple, and apple. Add pecans last.

Cherry Salad Supreme:

• 1 (3 oz.) package raspberry gelatin
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
• 1 (3 oz.) package lemon gelatin
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
• ½ cup whipping cream
• 1 cup tiny marshmallows
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Disolve raspberry gelatin in I cup boiling water; cool slightly. Add cherry pie filling and stir. Turn into a 9x9x2 inch baking dish. Chill until partially set.

Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup boiling water. Bear together cream cheese and mayonnaise. Gradually add lemon gelatin. Stir in undrained pineapple. Whip cream and fold into lemon mixture with marshmallows.

Spread atop cherry mixture. Top with chopped nuts. Chill until set.

Cranberry Salad:

• 1 package cranberries
• 1 orange
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup celery, cut fine
• 1 cup nuts, chop fine
• 1 large package strawberry or lemon jello
• 1-1/2 cups hot water

Grind cranberries and orange; add sugar and let sit. Dissolve jello. When cool, add all ingredients. Crushed pineapple (drained) may be added. Pour into mold.

Fruit Bowl Supreme:

• 1 (11 oz.) can mandarin oranges
• 1 (8-1/2 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 (8 oz.) carton Cool Whip, thawed
• 2 cups Baker’s Angel Flake Coconut
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• ½ cup milk

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill about 1 hour. Serve as a dessert or a salad. Makes 12 servings.

We appreciate you guys stopping by to visit with us, and God Bless! Also, Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Well, I guess you all know who’s fixin to be makin his rounds, huh? I was gonna advise one and all you better be good, but shoot, if you haven’t been up till now, I don’t guess there’s any need of changing anything around this late in the game.

Man, we’ve got an excited herd of grandkids runnin around. Bless their hearts, they’re tryin their best to be good, but I don’t know…they might just have too much of their Nana in them to help it! We’ll have to just play it by ear, I guess!

Anyway, if you guys are anything like our clan, and I have to bet ya’ll are, we’ll be putting on a feed bag up at my Mom and Dad’s. Good night at the food that woman puts on a dern table…but I ain’t complainin one bit!

With that being said, ole Deb and I been tryin our best to curb our eating some, and salads are a pretty good place to start. So today, this is what we’ll be sharin with you guys…rabbit food! At least 3 outta 4 have some type of meat in them, so in regards to salads, we’re probably cheatin some…

All three salads come from a cook book of a man I used to love to hear talk, he’d always be tryin to “jerk your chain,” which was entertaining, but the man could do wonders with a cook stove!

His name…Justin Wilson, and this cook book is, “Justin Wilson’s…Homegrown Louisiana Cookin.” It was published by MacMillan Publishing Company.

Take a look, we’ll believe you’ll like these…I guarroantee it!

Pork Salad:

This can be served as a salad, or served on a lettuce leaf as a side dish…

• 1 pound raw pork, or leftover cooked pork, torn into pieces
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt to taste
• Louisiana hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper to taste
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• ¼ cup chopped celery
• ½ cup chopped bell pepper
• ½ cup chopped onion

If you’re using raw pork, place it in a 4 quart saucepan, cover with water, and stir in the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and hot sauce. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the pork is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the pork from the broth and let it cool. After the pork has cooled enough to handle, pull it apart into small pieces.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the mayonnaise, and olive oil until creamy and smooth. Beat in the vinegar until well blended and smooth, then stir in salt and hot sauce. Add the celery, bell pepper, and onion, and stir to mix well. Add the pork and mix again. Serve on a bed of lettuce, as a sandwich filling, or stuffed into a tomato.

Peach and Pepper Salad:

• 5 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
• 2 medium-sized bell peppers, sliced
• 2 Hungarian wax peppers, sliced
• 2 medium-sized sweet onions, sliced
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• Salt to taste
• Ground cayenne pepper or Louisiana hot sauce to taste

In a large salad bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix together. Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve cold.

Fish Salad:

• 1 pound boned cooked fish
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup finely chopped dill pickle or drained dill relish
• 1 cup finely chopped bell pepper
• 2 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Louisiana hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Crumble your fish into a medium-sized bowl, making SURE that all the bones have been removed. Mix the onions, pickle, bell pepper, and eggs. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, salt, hot sauce, wine vinegar, and mayonnaise.

Pour over fish and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Wilted Bacon Salad:

• 4 slices of bacon
• 6-8 cups torn greens, such as romaine, parsley, spinach, or any leaf lettuce
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cup vinegar
• ½ cup water
• Salt to taste
• Louisiana hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper to taste
• Croutons (optional)

In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until crisp. Remove and crumble; reserve the bacon drippings. Combine the greens and onions in a large salad bowl and toss lightly, then top with the bacon. Slightly heat bacon drippings in the skillet (be very careful not to heat the drippins too much or the grease may splatter when the water is added), add the vinegar, water, salt, and hot sauce; stir and mix well until heated through. Pour over the greens, toss, sprinkle with croutons, and serve immediately.

We can’t close out today without a Justin Wilson tale…

One day I was in Johhny Guitreau’s barroom saloon cocktail lounge restaurant general store with some of my friend’. A fallow walked in holdin a jug on his han’ and strode up to dis frien’ with me. He said, “Hey my frien’ won’t you take a drink from my jug?”

The stranger brightened considerably, then announced, “GOOD, now hold the gun on me and make me taste it too!”

Well, in the spirit of Christmas, we have to put up this video. It was sent to us by our friends from Mobile, Bill and Sandy. Deb thought it was just too cute, and if you have small children or grandchildren, I guarroantee they’ll love it.

I can’t wait to send it to Shelby Lynn! I don’t know how many times Red will have to sit there and replay it for her! This being the case…I LOVE IT!

Deb asked me later, “Did you think the video was cute?” I replied that no, actually, in the true spirit of our post’s title today, I was thinkin more along the lines of a…lamb salad!! Jus kiddin Mississippi!

You guys have a great day…and God Bless! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb