#southern pea salad

[strengthandsunshine]

This classic Old-Fashioned Pea Salad is the perfect cold and creamy potluck salad for every occasion! Vegan and gluten-free, this easy English pea salad uses eggless mayo, dairy-free cheddar, and smokey coconut bacon. A simple and quick allergy-friendly version of your grandma's go-to Southern holiday or cookout side dish!

Old-Fashioned Pea Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free) https://wp.me/p4UrDz-95C

[davidtennantpussytulpa]

up on my list of pettiest reasons ive blocked people is for making that fucking poll lol

[hartmanclay]

Beans - Vegan Black Eyed Pea Salad with Cilantro Enjoy this flavorful black-eyed pea salad, which combines cilantro, oregano, tomatoes, and lemon juice, as a side dish with any Southern meal.

[duc-tran]

Recipe for Vegan Black Eyed Pea Salad with Cilantro Enjoy this black-eyed pea salad with any Southern meal, as a flavorful side dish that combines cilantro, oregano, tomatoes, and lemon juice. 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 tomato - peeled seeded and chopped, 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 can black-eyed peas drained and rinsed, 1 clove garlic minced, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 slices onion minced

[exolymph]

Vegan Black Eyed Pea Salad with Cilantro Enjoy this flavorful black-eyed pea salad, which combines cilantro, oregano, tomatoes, and lemon juice, as a side dish with any Southern meal.

[saint-ambrosef]

newbie's guide to produce

for all my peers who were not taught how to shop for veggies and fruit on a budget and struggle to use them before they go bad:

(disclaimer: prices are approximate based on where i live in the Southern US. costs may be higher in your area, but the comparison of cost should still be valuable.)

cheap produce year-round:

roma tomatoes. if they look under-ripe you can leave them on the counter for a few days. keeps in fridge for about 2 weeks. $1/lb.

cucumbers. around here they're 50-60 cents each. go bad quickly though, about 1 week in fridge.

celery. two bucks for a head. starts to get sad after two weeks in fridge. only makes sense if you like to snack on celery or make soups often.

corn. whole ears are like 20cents each mid-summer, otherwise just get frozen. $1.50 for a lb.

peas. get these puppies frozen for $1.50/lb. good protein, too.

romaine lettuce. one head is good for several small salads, about $2 and lasts a week in fridge. the big boxes/multi-packs may seem like a better deal but not if it all goes bad before you can eat it.

onions. kind of a given but you can get regular yellow varietals for less than a buck per pound. will last for 1-2 months in pantry.

potatoes. you can get 5lb bags of russets for three bucks. sweet potatoes are a lil over $1/lb. last 2-3 months in pantry; if they grow sprouts, you can cut those off and still eat it.

bananas. dirt cheap. a small bunch (4-5) costs like a dollar. if they go over-ripe before you eat them all just get less or get a few green ones (p.s: you're allowed to break them off larger clumps).

radishes. $1.50 for a little bundle. greens get wilty after a week, roots will last 2 weeks (you can use both parts).

hot peppers. poblano, jalapeno, etc., are often quite cheap and you usually don't need very many anyways. few weeks fridge or counter.

cheap produce when in season:

summer squash. in summertime (duh), zucchini and yellow squash are like $1.25/lb. only last a week or so though in fridge.

winter squash. actually in season in fall, these are your butternuts and acorn squash. less than $1/lb then. lasts in pantry for months.

green beans. in warm months they can be on sale for $1.50/lb! last 1.5-2 weeks in fridge? (kinda depends on the shape they're in)

kale. it's a cool-season green that commonly is on sale in colder months. $1.60 for a big bunch, about 1.5 weeks in fridge before it gets seriously wilty. (can be eaten cooked or raw!)

apples. fall/winter, usually at least one variety on sale for $1.25/lb. last forever.

oranges. most citrus are winter fruits. $1/lb. will last forever in your fridge.

strawberries. spring. at their peak, i can find them for $2/lb. otherwise they are too expensive.

watermelon. $8 for big 10lb melons. they can take up a ton of space though and need to be refrigerated once cut/ripe.

cantaloupe. another summer star! $1.50 each on sale. they will slow ripen in the fridge but you do have to keep an eye on it.

pineapple. $1.50 in summer time. might be ripe even when still a bit green, ready when they smell noticeably ripe.

pears. fall season, sometimes into winter. $1.20/lb. last 1-2 weeks on the counter or forever in the fridge.

pomegranate. in winter time they can be found for $2 each. tricky to peel though.

peaches. and nectarines (which are just fuzzless peaches). $1.25/lb in summer and will last for weeks in your fridge.

eggplants. summertime veggie, you can get for $1.50 when they're on sale. otherwise a bit pricey. keep in fridge for 2 weeks.

mid-range produce:

cabbage. three bucks for a 2-lb head but you can get a lot out of it. will keep 3-4 weeks in the fridge but any exposed cut sides will start moldering after a week.

mushrooms. white button or baby bella. $1.50 for 8oz. keep in mind, mushrooms halve in size after cooking. ~2 weeks though.

avocados. if you live in the South like me, small hass varietals are 60-80 cents apiece in winter. ripe when it gives just a little to squeezing (you can't go off color alone).

broccoli. fresh is $1.70ish per head and lasts a week in fridge. frozen is $1.50/lb but might be kind of mushy.

most greens. spring mixes, spinach, arugula, etc can really vary in price but often fall into a few bucks at least per bundle/package. in a fridge's humidity drawer they last 1-2 weeks.

kiwis. i love them but they're a bit pricey for their size. 50 cents each. their keep depends on how ripe they are at purchase.

expensive produce:

asparagus. one of the most expensive veggies. sometimes in spring you can get it for $2/lb (a steal but still a bit much). lasts 1.5 weeks.

brussel sprouts. same as above.

red or yellow bell peppers. they are used sooo often in recipes and it annoys me. often $1.50-2.00 each. last a long time in fridge.

caluiflower. three bucks for a head. yikes!

green beans. when they're not in season, they are like $3/lb.

snap peas. same as above, except they never seem to be on sale.

raspberries. go bad in 3 days and cost an arm and a leg. sometimes when they're in season you can get them for like $2 per half-pint as a treat.

blueberries and blackberries. even when they're in season, they're still $2 per pint.

grapes. they can sorta be affordable in the fall season for $2/lb, but otherwise they're double that. and usually you have to commit to buying several pounds. last 2 weeks in fridge.

plums. i love them so so much but they're only in season for like 2 weeks of the year it seems and they're like $3/lb.

inexpensive accoutrements: (for garnishes, seasoning, etc)

limes. 25cents apiece. they'll start to dry out after 1 week on the counter so keep them in the fridge unless you will use it soon.

lemons. usually 50cents each for the small varietals. keep same as above.

green onions. less than a dollar for a bunch, and you can easily regrow a few times at home if you stick the white rooted end in water by a window.

cilantro. 50cents. will last WAY longer (1-2 weeks) if you keep it in a mug of water in the fridge.

parsley. 85cents. same as above.

obviously sticking just with popularly available produce across the country. it's not an exhaustive list but can give you a bit more perspective on what produce you should be focusing on if you're trying to work with a tight grocery budget. good luck!

[nevermorgue]

Okay but what about modern Amnabel's group food preferences?

cracks knuckles. Alright, let’s get into it.

Annabel Lee - complicated. Annabel likes to have the upper hand in every situation, even in casual afternoon lunch outings. She will adapt to almost anything put in front of her. For example, if she goes to someone’s house and they serve tea and scones, she will claim that they are her favorite. Are they? Who knows. She will play it as if whatever is given is something she enjoys immensely, creating the illusion that the world seems to cater to her- that she got lucky that it was her favorite meal. She does this ALL. THE. TIME. “Oh, they are serving pie. That is one of my favorites.” No it is not. She is just making it seem like it is to create the look that “Wow, how lucky for her. The world seems to love her- they’re serving her favorite food!” You get it? She says it’s her favorite for convenience sake. This is why Prospero brings her so many varied pastries when he can. He’s trying to figure out what she actually likes.

As for what she actually likes: She has a pretty varied palette. She does prefer food that is considered more “common” as it tends to have more flavor, and she absolutely loves American food far more than what she had at home. Is the type of person to eat popcorn one piece at a time, but then resorts to shoving 4-5 pieces in her mouth when she’s invested in whatever she’s doing.

Keeps up appearances by ordering what is expected of her. Teas, light foods with small portions.

- packs snacks throughout her school day like grapes or small cheese cubes. Dainty, barely filling little things.

- She loves spicy foods. Hot curries, salsas, she loooves the burn.

Ada - Also keeps up appearances, but obviously not the same way Annabel does. She will pretend to only like more expensive things, but she honestly thinks such things are too bland. She’s a southern girl used to flavor and savory dishes.

- LOVES cheap frozen dinners. She would rather die than admit this of course. Like think those frozen mac and cheeses you put in the microwave.

- She can and will force herself to eat something she doesn’t like, especially if Annabel/Prospero is eating it.

- Hates squid. Calamari? Yuck.

- She likes to comment on things she eats like she’s doing a shitty food review on Youtube. The only person that listens is Will, but you can’t really tell that he’s even paying attention.

- Loves celery

Prospero - This man has a sweet tooth, but he knows how to keep it tamed. He has a very balanced diet and makes sure to make every lunch or breakfast filling enough to last him through morning classes.

- Salad man. He will put so much shit into a salad. He’ll make days worth of salad and sometimes he and Annabel will just eat the whole thing in between classes.

- His favorite dressing is balsamic vinaigrette.

- Very rarely eats fried foods. Corn dogs are cool and he’s more likely to eat one of those rather than something else fried

- For snacking he always gets the things that are called “thins” or “light”, and he is very strict when it comes to the “no eating three hours before sleeping” rule.

- This man hates cashews

- I HC prospero as a mama’s boy idk i get the vibe. He grew up having homemade pasta and refuses to eat it if the restaurant isn’t like locally Italian.

Montresor - Big on steak. Big on potatoes. Big on veggies when they’re roasted or oven baked or anything where they’re mixed up and peppered and cooked. Dude will eat a raw carrot for fun though

- crunches loudly on chips. he does it on purpose.

- has a surprisingly shitty spice tolerance. It’s not BAD, but his face will get red and he tries to play it off.

- Likes messy finger foods like ribs

- Licorice kind of guy. specifically red.

- Prefers green apples over red ones

- really likes blue cheese, especially for his wings

- cannot STAND marzipan anything

Will - Peaches peaches peaches peaches pea-

- Prefers simpler foods. Basic ham and cheese sandwiches, a bag of chips…normal and boring.

- gets overwhelmed when served anything more complicated than what you’d get at an Applebees. He doesn’t really think he nor his body are suited to eat such things. They’re TOO delicious and he isn’t worth it.

- He loves cheesecake brownies. He’s literally only had them twice in his life but he would go insane if he ever saw any for sale anywhere

- The drinks he gets at coffee shops are considered “girly” to Montresor, so he only buys them when he’s alone. Like fruity refreshers and stuff.

- He would like a lot more food if he actively attempted to try new things, he just has no desire to treat himself.

- eats wheat thins for fun

- Only eats 1 singular fruit for breakfast or just skips it all together.

- would probably start crying if he ate a soup. it’s warm and filling and it makes him feel like a waste of space. the warmth settling in his stomach reminds him that he’s real and he hates it.

[mossheartlesbian]

Catholicism is fucked but southern catholics kind of went off with Friday fish plates. Catfish, mac and cheese, potato salad, peas, bread, AND pound cake???? 💖💖💖💖💖

[gr8female-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Carla Halls SOUL FOOD Hard Cover Cookbook Comfort American Cuisine African Flare.

[insipid-drivel]

Traditional Southern US Foods To Make You Question Reality (Or Salivate Aggressively)

I know that many people are aware of the fact that Southerners from the US like to deep fry things that have no business being deep fried. But did you know that the older “iconic” Southern foods are even more disturbing or esoteric?! You’re about to find out! Here are some recipes that my old Southern family survived on and felt compelled to pass on the oral emotional trauma down the generations:

-Pickled Okra. If you don’t know what okra is, it’s basically a suspiciously phallic vegetable that produces absurd amounts of slime. If hagfish knew about okra, they’d sue for copyright violation. It’s used a lot in Southern cooking as a healthy vegetable that grows in abundance and is often incorporated into various recipes using its plant-slime for texture. A lot of Southerners will eat okra on its own or, most popularly, pickled. They’re also popular fried, but I refuse to eat any form.

-Black Eyed Peas and Ham Hocks. This one is actually pretty good, although I’m neither a huge fan of black eyed peas nor of pork. Leafy greens like kale or collard greens are often thrown in for added texture and nutrition. Black eyed peas are actually beans, and the recipe came about because both the ham hocks and beans require a very long cooking time at a low temperature and tend to finish cooking at the same time.

-Deep Fried Chicken in Motor Oil. No, this is not a joke. Prior to the era when detergents that induce vomiting to prevent ingestion were introduced into things like gasoline and rubbing alcohol, gasoline and motor oil were used for a lot of things in the South. Gasoline was used as everything from hair pomade to laundry detergent. For want of large quantities of other food-based oils in times of severe poverty, motor oil used to be a viable option as a frying oil because it 1) Basically air-fried the food you put in it without absorbing into any of it, or so I’ve been told by older relatives and 2) You could use it in the truck engine after you were done and save money on both food and vehicle maintenance. I feel that it should go without saying, but don’t try this one at home ffs.

-Peanuts And Coke - To be clearer, I mean the actual soda Coke, but in the South “coke” is commonly used as a general term for all sodas. This one comes from practical purposes from people (usually men) who worked as miners. To keep coal dust and other gross crap from getting on a packet of peanuts (this was before energy bars were a thing), pouring them into Coke not only added flavor to them, but kept the peanuts from getting dirty. Peanuts and coke later evolved into what we now recognized as Boston Baked Beans!

-Succotash. I’m including this one not because it’s necessarily an unusual flavor profile, but because a lot of people don’t know what the hell it is aside from being Yosemite Sam’s catchphrase. It’s essentially a cold or warm salad built on a foundation of corn and lima beans (this is essential because the two form a complete protein when eaten together). Succotash is supposedly one of the foods served at the first Thanksgiving between white settlers and Native Americans. It’s usually accompanied with additions like bacon bits and sun-dried tomatoes.

-Chicken and Dumplings. Not a gross one (in my estimation) but a very anthropologically revealing dish! If you come from an old Southern family that immigrated from England and/or France, the way in which you prepare the dumplings in chicken in dumplings reveals where your ancestors came from! Unleavened dumplings (no yeast), or “slickers”, are traditionally considered to be passed down from origins in Southern England. Leavened dumplings (”floaters”) indicate the opposite. For those who don’t know, it’s a stew made from white gravy and pepper full of shredded chicken and wheat dumplings. Other ingredients can be added or removed based upon the family or person making it. It’s a Southern mainstay, especially during times of economical crisis.

-Chipped Beef, aka “Shit On A Shingle”. “Chipped” beef refers to “dried” beef, which was a very common staple protein before the advent of Spam. To hydrate the dried beef and make it into an edible meal, it’s cooked low and slow in white gravy and pepper and served on toast. It’s... food.

-Dutch Babies - No, we’re not going down the road to cannibalizing infants from the Netherlands. Dutch babies are actually awesome and tasty, and are a very simple pastry recipe that takes the concept of a pancake, a crepe, and a popover and bastardizes the shit out of them. Traditionally, the pastry is made in a Dutch Oven (aka a large, flat-bottomed cast iron pot, often with metal legs so it can be placed directly onto a campfire or into an old fashioned wood stove), and can be either eaten with fruit, syrup, and a dusting of powdered sugar, ungarnished, or you can fill it with whatever suits your fancy, like jam.

-Beignets (pronounced “ben-yays”) - Possibly Manna from Louisiana’s version of heaven. Beignets are another Southern mainstay of patisseries, although they’re most closely associated with Louisiana. They’re amazing light, fluffy pastries that are like lighter, crispier versions of doughnuts that are aggressively coated in powdered sugar. Speak ill of beignets and I will fight you.

-Po Boys - Another Louisiana favorite, the name comes from “poor boys”. History has it that the first official use of the recipe and name came out of New Orleans in 1929, when a large-scale strike held by streetcar drivers left many people low on money and hungry. Benny and Clovis Martin, aka The Martin Brothers, began giving their shrimp sandwiches away for free to picketers, calling out, “Here comes another poor boy!” when they’d spot a hungry driver coming up to their shop, and the brothers fed the strikers for free until the strike’s end. They’re most often served on French bread or hoagie bread and feature deep-fried, spiced shrimp covered in Cajun spices, lettuce, tomatoes, and a little bit of (spicy) mayo.

-Shoo Fly Pie- You may have grown up with the song “Shoo, Fly, Don’t Bother Me!” and this is where it comes from. Shoo Fly Pie, as I recall was originally invented by the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish and was adopted by many Southern families as a cheap and easy dessert that didn’t need a lot of refrigeration to keep well. The primary ingredient in the filling is thick black strap molasses (hence the name), and it tends to taste like sugar that is also on fire.

-Green Tomato Pie - Oh yeah. You may have heard of “Fried Green Tomatoes”, but green tomato pie is a classic. It’s made either sweet or savory, but usually sweet, and is most commonly made at the end of the tomato growing season as a means of making use of green, unripened tomatoes that won’t reach full ripeness before the season changes and they start to rot on the vine.

-Tumbleweed Stew - This time the name is as literal as it sounds. In some cases, families devastated by the Dust Bowl and Great Depression were left eating whatever they could find that wasn’t lethally poisonous, including tumbleweeds. Luckily for them, the Navajo and Pueblo peoples had been cooking with tumbleweeds for generations. You can find a recipe for authentic tumbleweed stew that’s as close to Native tradition as I, a non-Indigenous American can find, Here.

-Bacon Grease - Yeah, just the grease. Bacon grease is largely used in pretty much any recipe you don’t have salt for. Bacon grease/fat is also used for curing cast iron cookware (the most popular traditional Southern cooking vessels because a good cast iron skillet can last for generations). Aside from using it as a replacement for salt and other flavorings when money is tight, an essential part of kitchen maintenance comes in the form of keeping your cast iron cookware cured with grease. It keeps your food from picking up iron flakes and prevents rust from forming. Be very careful about asking how your food is prepared if you are vegan/vegetarian, Kosher, Halal, or otherwise cannot consume pork or certain other animal products if you’re eating in the South.

-Ambrosia Salad - Quite possibly the most unhealthy salad on this planet that remains a must-have at any Southern family gathering, it consists of canned fruit salad, mandarin orange wedges, marshmallow creme (bonus points if you use Cool Whip), mini marshmallows, and the bitter tears of doctors.

-Boiled Peanuts - A lot of people lose their minds about this one, but yes! Peanuts are legumes, and boiling them tends to convert their texture to being similar to water chestnuts. They absorb the flavor of whatever you put in the water, including very hot spices. No, you don’t eat the shells.

-Pickled Pigs/Chicken/Calves Feet - Picked-anything is a very Southern way of preparing food, but pig’s and chicken feet in particular are a cultural mainstay. From a background of such intense poverty, Southerners couldn’t afford to throw out “unappetizing” parts of animals and had to get clever with how to make them palatable.

-Grape Dumplings - Another recipe that originates with Native Americans that my own grandmother learned from the residents of the Reservation near where she was born in Oklahoma. Using unleavened dumpling bread, families would boil the dough in grape juice with a little extra flour for thickening and allow the juice to render down into a sort-of coulis. It tastes better than it looks.

Enjoy your next meal, y’all!

[icleanedthisplate]

Rotisserie Chicken w/Side Salad, Peas, and Tomato, Cucumber, & Onions. Tom’s on Main. Yazoo City, Mississippi. 3.9.2023.

NOTE TO SELF: This was not a rotisserie chicken, but a frozen chicken cooked with rotisserie seasoning. But it wasn't bad. A good old plate of Southern cooking that's not homemade.

Currently ranked 5th of 14 March meals.

[dreamslogs]

January 5, 2023: Log #87

☁️Weather: Cloudy with a high of 67, low of 51, humidity of 69%, feels like 63

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

🦋10:45 AM: Wake up, drink coffee & eat breakfast on the couch while watching booktube

I ate a chicken biscuit

💜12:45 PM: Do my morning routine & get ready for the day

🦋1:30 PM: Sit on the couch & drink my daily kombucha and eat lunch while watching The Fabulous

I ate a Southwest Salad and green juice

💜4:00 PM: Talk to my parents for a little bit as they get home from work

🦋4:30 PM: Eat a snack

I had chips and salsa

💜5:00 PM: Continue my Five Nights at Freddy’s lore hole I started yesterday

🦋7:30 PM: Eat dinner and talk to my parents (I’m so done with this dinner Southern people cook so much)

I had chicken, peas, mac and cheese, and cornbread

💜9:30 PM: Catch up on some kpop variety

🦋11:00 PM: Scroll tiktok for a while

💜12:30 AM: Get in the shower & do my nighttime routine

🦋1:15 AM: Read Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark for a little bit

💜1:40 AM: Spray my calming melatonin spray and scroll social media until I fall asleep

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

🖋️Thoughts on the day🖋️

Today was chill, I just got to hang out. But oh my god The Fabulous?? I was not expecting to see Minho have a kissing scene like that!! I was so shocked lol. I am once again at mercy of fnaf content today. My phase is definately back. My parents want to take me to dinner tomorrow before I head back to class so that should be nice.

[littlecarnet]

As much as I say I hate summer (bright sun hurts my eyes and I sunburn too easily), I do love the many things it brings.

June is the time I hang up my wind chimes and wind bells, it's a childhood summer sound to me, and soothing to fall asleep to. I start hearing crickets outside my window in the evenings, and I'll spot geckos running across the walls near the outdoor lights trying to catch moths and lacewings.

When I lived with my parents, June meant BBQs, and we'd dine outside almost every night, weather permitting. We'd usually get wet under a fine mist or lounge in the pool as the food cooked, then gather around a traditional circular grill table from Aswan. It cut the chill on our skin as we sat on low seats and took our pick from the many meats, vegetables, and fruits grilling in the center. My mom would make her homemade chai or smoked pear tea too. BBQing outside would last til the end of October, since the southern part of the region had very mild falls and winters. We would make special foods during celestial events like a super moon or meteor shower. My favorite special food to eat is a sweet soup made with white snow mushroom, dates, and peaches. It's full of collagen too, which is nice for the summer heat. Keeps your skin nice and dewy, your nails strong, and your hair shiny.

I still keep the BBQ tradition alive even though I live on my own. I have a smaller grill, but I'll cook and eat outside for most of the summer and early fall. I live in the north, so around the end of September it starts getting too cold. Though I do make bonfires in December to January, or attend one if the many bonfires and lantern festivals during that time. I've added my own traditions too, such as June being a seafood month, mostly mussels or octopus. Lots of fish tacos and crispy dried hiney glazed anchovies. I'll rotate all my teas to summer flavors like mint, hibiscus, anise, and barley. I like drinking Italian sodas like pomegranate, mulberry, and peach, or drinking floral waters like rose or lavender with honeysuckle as a slush. Rose petal iced tea or blue butterfly pea tea is a summer staple in my pantry. Sometimes I'll make a dried fruit tea, which is exactly what it sounds like. I boil unsulfered dried fruit and honey til it makes a small concentrated batch, usually half a cup, add a gallon of water to it, and stick in the fridge. Its like a light flavored fruit juice without much sugar. My mom kept a big pitcher of it during the summer, but it never lasted more than three days. Everyone drank it all. XD

During the summer my house becomes very fragrant. Its the time to dry fresh herbs, sort through last year's herbs to toss out any expired ones, and restock certain ones I use up the most. I use these in cooking, beauty, teas, incense, and medicine, they're essentials. I'll spend a weekend labeling, restocking, grinding, and storing them. Ill take the time to make oil infusions or balms with beeswax to restock my first aid. My counters get absolutely crowded with little glass jars, tins, and amber vials. It almost resembles an old world apothecary, which it kinda is. I'm not against modern medicine, as I'll use aspirin if I need to and I get physicals every year, but because of where I live, it's hard to just go to a pharmacy to pick up things, so I have to make my own stuff. I believe diet plays an important part in health. I'll eats lots of things that I know how lots of what my body needs. I tend to be prone to iron deficiency anemia, so I'll be sure to eat lots of foods that are iron rich with something made of citrus. My favorite is a strawberry and mandarin orange spinach salad, or oysters with a bit of lemon juice.

I'm also allergic to many cosmetics and soaps, I'll develop a really bad rash sometimes, so I make a lot of my own things with soothing ingredients like rose, calendula, aloe, and green tea. I love making lavender and mint witch hazel toners in the summer, putting them in the fridge, and spritzing myself with it. Instant cool down while also keeping my pores clean of sweat and oil. I'm usually pretty good about using a parasol or staying out of the sun during the hotter times of the day, but every year it seems I'll forget once, and get so sunburned. My cure is using cotton pads soaked in green tea to cut the redness, and a mix of calendula and aloe to soothe the pain and add moisture back into my skin. To heal over the next few days, some primrose oil or cotton pads soaked in a concentration of rose hip tea.

In the late summer, I start canning things, mostly fruits. I go through fig jam pretty often, its a daily thing I like in yogurt or on some bread, so I preserve whole figs in jars then crush them when I need them. I sometimes crave strawberries in winter, and it's not always easy to go down the mountain just to buy them out of season, so I'll make jams from the ones I've grown, foraged, or were given to me. Finding wild strawberries is like the holy grail for me though! If you've never had them, they're like candy! They're tiny, but the flavor is so concentrated, nothing like how store bought ones are. I mix them with rose jelly sometimes and use it to top ice cream, or drizzle on pancakes and crepes.

I also make a medicinal jelly made from three different citrus fruits: Sweet lemon, yuzu, and grapefruit, their pulp is preserved in honey, ginger, and clove. It's my go-to for vitamin c during the winter and to help with coughs or sore throats. I just mix a teaspoon in hot water, and sip. Another one is a goji berry jelly with honeysuckle, it's so delicious by itself but I make only enough to use for a month. Goji berry can get very bitter over time as a jelly, kmething to do with the oils in it. I use it for a daily sipping tea to get my vitamin c. There's a lot of pine nut trees in my region, and after I gather enough to send to my mom and brother, I use my portion to make pine nut butter! Fresh ones are loaded with oil and are usually very soft, they crush so easily into a butter. I'll pair it with pine needle tea, which is a good medicinal tea for the winter too.

During the monsoon season, I'll either join my dad's mother to forage for mushrooms (there's many in the southwest that are edible with few poisonous lookalikes...still gotta be careful!) But for my own paranoia, I honestly like growing my own. She'll give her batches of oyster mushroom mycelium, and all I do is put them in a glass jar or clean plastic shoebox, them let them grow. I'll get a nice bunch within a week, sometimes multiple crops if the mycelium was really healthy. I'll use them in soups, stir fries, and freeze them for the winter. Last year I grew so many that I had to give them away to my neighbors! It just kept coming almost every other day for that month. Mushrooms grow extremely fast!

And that's what summer means to me. Lots of things to do, lots of things happening, and traditions I'm very fond of.

[jediaxis101]

Looks something like this American Government Food Stamps, value $500 per month, so that money cannot be spent on anything other then Food...

Anyway An American coloured woman had this Food Stamp of $500 per month and and she's complaining she spent $500 in 2 weeks

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Now how about in Australia ($500 American is $750 Australian)

Aldi-Berg Short Cut Bacon 200g $4.39 Aldi-Berg Hot Dog Frankfurts 500g $2.79 Aldi-Westacre Dairy Wrapped Cheese Slices 432g $3.99 Aldi-Ocean Royale Southern Blue Whiting Fillets Skin On 1kg Price$10.99 Aldi-Sweet Valley Fruit Salad in Syrup 825g Price$3.29 Aldi-Portview Tuna Chunks 185g Price$1.79 Aldi-Farmdale Full Cream Milk Powder 1kg Price$8.49 Aldi-Sunnyvale Table Spread 1kg Price$2.99 Aldi-Market Fare Garden Frozen Peas 1kg Price$2.59 Aldi-Market Fare Broccoli 500g Price$2.99 Aldi-International Cuisine Beef Lasagne 2kg Price$11.99 Coles White Bread | 700g$2.40 Coles Oats Rolled | 900g$1.65 Coles Pure Australian Honey | 1kg$12.50 Coles Simply 2 Ply Toilet Tissue | 18 pack$9.00 Coles Soap Laundry | 4 pack$2.80 woolworths Natures Organics Fruits Shampoo Balance Apple Fresh 500ml $2.00

I made up a shopping list in Australia. Let's see how much this all is?

$86.64

$86.64 x 4 = $346.56 a month

Well that came well under the Food Stamp price limit and with some money to spair!!

Coles Free Range Eggs 6 Pack | 300g $3.75 Aldi - Dentitex Advanced Whitening Toothpaste $2.29 Aldi - Dentitex Interdental Pro Toothbrush 2pk $1.89 Aldi - Hedanol Paracetamol Capsule Shaped Tablets 20pk 0.75c Aldi - Essential Health First Aid Strips Plastic 100pk or Fabric 50pk $1.99 Aldi - Laundrite Laundry Powder 4kg $4.99

The Extra's comes too - $15.66

So all up the price comes to - $102.30

So for 4 weeks equals - $409.20

$409.20 minus $750 = $340.80, so lots of money to spair!!

You could use the left-over money for meat and fresh fish 🐟 also kitchen wear...