When we started talking about meatless Thanksgiving meals a few weeks ago, I didn’t think of a salad right off the bat. That’s probably because my family doesn’t let anything green touch the table on Thanksgiving, except the broccoli in the broccoli rice casserole, which is mixed with Cheese Whiz, so it doesn’t count.

However, I’d been willing to sacrifice one of our potato sides (just not the marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes) for this Nuevo Texas Waldorf Salad.

Forget the Waldorf you know, the mayo-bound one that’s plopped on cafeteria plates. This version is as crisp as the fall air, a cornucopia of apple slices, toasted pecans, crumbled blue cheese and a mountain of mixed greens tossed with a homemade rosemary vinaigrette and topped with a few fried wonton strips for extra crunch

Continue reading: Meatless Monday: Nuevo Texas Waldorf Salad

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

So, last Monday, I promised to serve up some warm, scrumptious, holiday-worthy, meatless meals over the next few weeks – meals that would be right at home on a Thanksgiving table – and someone asked a very good question: Why can’t vegetarians just make a meal out of the sides?

If this were the height of the summer, then a veggie plate would be a great option, but Thanksgiving sides are usually … not peak produce. They’re hefty. Starchy. Thanksgiving’s the one day when we all think it’s perfectly normal to have mashed potatoes, rolls, two kinds of sweet potato casserole, broccoli-rice casserole AND cornbread dressing in one meal.

Have you ever OD’d on cornbread dressing? It’ll make you wish you were the turkey.

Vegetarians definitely need their own Thanksgiving entree. Something warm and filling that tastes like autumn. Something that contains actual nutrients but is also a little decadent.

Something like this Sweet Potato Risotto.Â

Continue reading: Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Risotto

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Yesterday was one of those days when everyone I knew needed a hug, a nap and a bathtub full of macaroni and cheese.

The kind that comes from the Blue Box and doesn’t demand gourmet cheeses or a roux or panko.

The kind that’s orange.

I was about to give in and buy a box when I remembered Alton Brown’s recipe for Stovetop Mac-n-Cheese. A rich, creamy, intensely cheesy mac-and-cheese that barely takes longer than the powdered stuff – and you can identify everything in it. Bonus!

Continue reading: Stovetop Mac-n-Cheese

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

If you’re very, very quiet, you can hear the soft “boop boop boop” of boxes of Velveeta and cans of Ro-Tel being scanned in grocery stores across the nation today. And that can only mean one thing.

Break out the bobbleheads.

Find Hank Williams Jr.

It’s Tailgating Time.

I don’t know a blitz from a bump-and-run, but I get excited about football season, because that means good times and tailgating food. Chips and dips. Nachos. Grilled meat on sticks. Chili. Dogs. Chili dogs. Cheesy things. Fried things. Sandwiches that make you wish you had a second belly and a retractable jaw.

Since the NFL season starts tonight with the Saints and the Packers in Wisconsin, we’re kicking off the tailgating with a little Green Bay soul food: Grilled Beer Brats with German Potato Salad.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

I’ve had bad squash casseroles. Squash casseroles cooked by people who didn’t want anyone to know there was squash in there. Where they’d cooked the life out of the squash and mixed it with milk or eggs into a cardboard-flavored mush. Many a bumper crop of squash has been hidden this way, mixed with liberal amounts of sharp Cheddar under a canopy of Ritz crackers.

As Mommaw likes to say, “There’s nothing about squash that a little cheese can’t fix.”

But I like to see and taste the squash in my Squash Casserole. So, instead of cooking the squash until it falls apart, I slice it thin and sauté it in a big skillet with Vidalia onion slices until the onion is so soft you can see right through it. Those slices are combined with a punchy cheese sauce that bubbles up into a crunchy topping made out of crushed Ritz crackers, the panko of the South. Crisp, molten buttery perfection.

This is a casserole for people who want to taste the love that goes into a sack of homegrown squash. Preferably with two cups of cheese and a sleeve of Ritz crackers.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Every year, we celebrate Mommaw’s birthday with a trip to her favorite catfish joint. It’s an after-church place, where you wait in a wood-paneled holding area with other families, random toddlers and the busload of people from the senior center for your turn to walk under the plywood-mounted catfish above the dining room entrance and claim elbow space at one of the oil cloth-covered tables. There, the catfish is good, but it’s the mountain of fish-fry sides – white beans with relish, fresh coleslaw, fried corn, baked potatoes and hush puppies – that reels everyone in.

I’d like to say that I eat a healthy salad and some steamed vegetables with this meal, but those things would only take up room in my stomach that is rightfully reserved for those hush puppies. They own me.

People who think they’re “just” deep-fried balls of cornbread have never had good cornbread.

Continue reading: Squash Puppies with Roasted Jalapeño Mayonnaise

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Earlier this week, President Obama said it was time to “eat our peas,” and I’m all about it.

Especially if they come with Parmesan.

This is a great go-to side dish for those nights when you realize you don’t have anything green on the table. Just boil a few handfuls of peas (fresh or frozen), and add a tablespoon of butter, a handful of Parmesan, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of pepper.

The recipe is dead simple but perfectly balanced. The salty Parmesan coats the peas, countering their sweetness, while the lemon juice cuts through the richness of the cheese to keep this dish light and bright.

Besides, America needs more green. Might as well start with cheesy peas.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

I usually don’t make mashed potatoes when it’s hot enough to melt the bollocks off a brass monkey, but this recipe looked too good to resist.

Creamy Yukon gold potatoes mashed with scallions and lemon zest.

It might seem like a strange combination at first, but the lemon really brightens up the potatoes, adding some sunshine and citrus zing.

These mashed potatoes would be right at home with a summery main course, like grilled chicken or peppery brown sugar salmon. Or a re-enactment of Richard Dreyfuss’ big mashed potato sculpting scene in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Another summer favorite.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

I know what you’re thinking.

WHAT in the name of all things good and holy is the abomination in that bowl?

Remember last summer, when I told you about Mama’s Trashy-Good Orange Sherbet? This is another summertime frozen treat I grew up on: Frozen Pink Velvet Salad.

Oh, gird your loins. It’s Pepto-pink but powerfully alluring.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Many a vegetable has met its sad, sorry, “out of sight, out of mind” fate in my crisper drawer.

My intentions for them were good, but my laziness? It’s strong.

So, I’ve started grilling mass quantities of vegetables every few days and keeping them in the fridge, so they’re always ready to go. Making an omelet? Why not throw in some grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms. Need a quick lunch? How about some grilled vegetables and tzatziki in a pita? Add them to fajitas or pasta. Or, warm up the vegetables, and add some crumbled goat cheese for a big grilled vegetable salad.

It’s borderline luxurious.

© 2011 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.