I have NO Groceries, it's Suppertime, it's Raining and I'm Not going to the Store!

Thursday night's supper came to be out of sheer desperation! I needed to go to the grocery store because I was  low on... well, EVERYTHING! But it was pouring rain, windy and cold and I refused to get out in it! I began a frantic search looking in every cabinet, the refrigerator and the freezer at least a 100 times for something, anything! I nearly did a cartwheel when I finally spotted 2 cans of salmon in the very back of one of my cabinets! Salmon patties!!... Yes, salmon patties...woohoo!

Now I normally fix grits with stewed tomatoes as the side for salmon patties but remember, I was out of most everything and of course that included grits and stewed tomatoes! The rest of the meal came together by using what I had on hand and let me tell you....I was a big HIT! I finished things off with my Banana Bread with Citrus Glaze...MmmmMmmm!

 Easy, healthy, quick, inexpensive, delicious and a happy family...yep, it's a keeper!

Salmon Patties with Black Bean and Tomato Salad
(Trust me, it tastes better than it looks in this picture!)

Patties

2 cans of salmon

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs, divided

Salt and pepper to taste

Lettuce

Mix all ingredients together(except lerttuce), using 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and shape into 8 patties

Dredge each patty in the rest if the bread crumbs until coated

Fry in canola oil on medium heat until golden brown and crispy

 Black Bean Salad

1 can of black beans, well drained and rinsed

!/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Feta Cheese, to taste

1/4 cup onion, finely diced

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together until combined

To Serve

Place one patty on top of a bed of lettuce

Top each patty with a big scoop of the black bean salad

I served  fruit on the side....delicious!

Banana Bread with Citrus Glaze

4 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 stick of butter, softened

1 1/2 cups self rising flour

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir butter and sugar together until well blended

Stir in flour, eggs and vanilla 

Add bananas and stir just until blended

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake @350 for 50 minutes

While the bread is baking, mix up the glaze

 Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

4 tbsp. milk

1-2 tbsp. lemon juice or orange juice, according to your taste

Whisk together until smooth

Pour the glaze on the banana bread as soon as it comes out of the oven

Serve warm and enjoy! Nothing is any better than a warm piece of homemade banana bread:)

My wonderful family...they are my heart! My husband Dave, daughters, Noelle and Kala and my son, Chase.

Easter Ham Vegetable Soup and Jiffy Skillet Cornbread

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Kelly C. Murray

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I baked a ham for my family’s Easter supper and I had a lot of left-overs! I love left-overs and I love to think of creative ways to “reinvent” them. I decided to use the ham and bone to flavor a pot of vegetable soup. I know, vegetable soup isn't exactly Spring food but it was still a little cool here in South Carolina so I got away with it. The soup turned out great and we liked it better with the ham than the usual hamburger or beef stew meat. I used frozen and canned veggies and a carton of beef stock to make it extra easy!! I love easy, simple and quick  BUT it has to taste delicious and homemade.This soup was exactly that! Served with my Jiffy Skillet Cornbread, it was a hearty meal that we all enjoyed.

Easy Ham Vegetable Soup

Small ham with bone(if you don’t have any left-overs)

1-32 ounce carton of beef stock

1- 32 ounce can of stewed tomatoes

1- 5 ounce can of tomato sauce

I  large bag of frozen vegetables for vegetable soup

I small bag of frozen okra if your bag of frozen vegetables doesn’t contain any

Now here’s the easy part….throw everything in the pot and bring to a boil. If the soup seems too thick, add a cup of water. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes and that’s it! If you aren’t using left-over ham, you will need to cook your soup longer, perhaps all day to give the ham time to get nice and tender. When the soup is ready, use a fork to pull ham from the bone and stir the ham pieces back into the soup.

*Serve  the soup over rice(if you like), a big wedge of Jiffy Skillet Cornbread on the side and sweet tea! Now you can’t get any more Southern and comforting than that!

Jiffy Skillet Cornbread

Melt a half to a whole stick of butter(I usually use a whole, yep I will admit it) in a cast iron skillet in the oven. While the butter is melting, mix the cornbread according to the package directions. Pour over melted butter and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This will be the best cornbread you’ve ever had! Crispy, crunchy, buttery edges and moist center…oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I hope you and your family will enjoy this homey, comforting soup as much as my family did!