I've been in the mood for some fabric crafting and sewing.  Plus, I've been doing some bread baking.  I often give loafs of bread away when I make an abundance and that made me think of this post when I showed you how to make a bread cozy to use when gifting bread.  But, I had just had a conversation with a friend about how many people there are out there that do not know how to sew! I thought it might be fun to come up with a no-sew version of the bread cozy.  So, I did and I'm really happy with the way it turned out! 

     My husband and I recently went over to our son and his wife's house for dinner.  We all felt like having something light yet tasty that would keep us cool during this miserable part of the summer.  My DIL, who is no slouch in the kitchen, decided to make some balsamic glazed chicken which was to die for!  Knowing that she likes avocado, I decided to bring these Pico De Gallo Stuffed Avocados as the side salad.  

      Actually, because they live about 40 minutes from us, I put together the Pico De Gallo, but brought the avocados whole and assembled everything at their house.  I didn't want those avocadoes turning brown.  Because the salad has fresh lime juice in it, once they are assembled, that keeps everything a brilliant color.  

       The Stuffed Avocados were a hit!  They have that south of the border flavor without being too spicey and the blend of the creamy avocado with all of the other ingredients in this salad was perfect.  I could hardly wait to come home and make this recipe again and share it with you. 

      I had seen recipes similar to this on line, but of course I had to put my own spin on it. 

• I used green chilies in my recipe because that is about as hot as my husband and I can stand.  Feel free to use whatever pepper is your favorite.
• I added beans to the mix because they make this a bit more hearty.  It would make a delicious main dish rather than a side.  As a matter of fact, you will probably have leftover salad that you can eat the next day for lunch, or add another avocado to make six serving.   The first time I made this I used white beans, because that is what I had, this time I used black beans.  Kidney would also be good.
• Cumin is one of my favorite seasonings to get that Mexican Food flavor.  The little I put in this recipe really hits the spot! 
• I used chopped yellow onion in this recipe.  Chopped green or white onion would also work great. 

      This salad is so easy to put together and is light and refreshing for summer.  If you have some nice avocados, I hope you give it a try, I'm sure your family will love it! Click on the recipe below for a printable version! 

     My husband and I often enjoy trying to do things as they were done in earlier years.  It is like a fun challenge to us to see if we can do things like our ancestors might have done them and it feels like as we learn do do these old skills, we are somewhat prepared for hard or difficult times that could come.  I guess you could say that our gardening and preserving are skills like that.  Skills that we were taught when we were young and continue to use today.  But, sometimes we come across other ideas that are even less known and we just have to give them a try! 
     So, when I was able to get a bounty of fresh corn, my husband asked me if I had ever tried parched corn.  Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind, I felt like I had heard of it, but didn't really know what it was.  I decided to do some research and this was a project that my husband and I worked on together. 
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      In earlier days, farmers didn't have freezers to preserve their corn, as I did here,  parched corn was one method of preserving corn that also provided a snack for their travels or while they were out working.  I remembered that I had read about it in books like The Little House on the Prairie, where they talk about a parched corn tradition at Thanksgiving.  It is also mentioned in Ruth 2:14 in the Old Testament!   
      Parched corn is made from dried corn and then it is pan roasted and seasoned.  It is crunchy, but not hard like an old maid in popped corn and thus stores well on the shelf. Some have referred to it as homemade corn nuts!​

     To parch the kernels, you will need a heavy skillet.  I prefer my large cast iron skillet.  Begin to heat the skillet on the stove over medium heat with just a bit of oil spread over the bottom of it.  You don't want the corn to be submerged in oil, so basically just grease the skillet with oil thickly. 

     Spread the kernels in the bottom of the hot skillet in one layer-Then, you are going to stir and shake the kernels for about 5 minutes until they puff up a bit, you will hear popping sounds, and the kernels will begin to brown. 

     You can season the kernels as they parch, or wait until you remove them from the skillet. I seasoned mine with flaked, smoked sea salt.  Other people I've seen online have sweetened theirs with brown sugar.  I wondered if a ranch seasoning would be good. 

     My kernels didn't pop up very rounded.  I understand that some varieties of corn do.  But, they are crunchy and I can understand why people in the days of Laura Ingles Wilder would have found them to be an enjoyable snack food.  The fresh corn taste is very strong and I think if I try this again I would try it with the brown sugar.  

     Interestingly, our 3 ears of corn only produced enough parched corn to fill less than half of a pint jar full. 

     If I had enough to actually fill a jar or two, I would use my hand held food saver to pull the air out of the jar to store it and make it shelf stable. (You need these jar attachments to go with it.) With this small amount that I have, we will probably just eat it or I think it might be a nice addition to trail mix! 
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    What do you think?  Have you eaten parched corn?  Do you think you will give it a try?  
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