Labor Day is an American national holiday designed to recognize the achievements of workers and their accomplishments. This day also traditionally marks the end of the summer season as well. (We, in the deep South know better.) I think it is the perfect time to serve those vegetables left in the garden such as peppers, zucchini, peas, beans, okra and corn. I have decided to grill a steak, hamburger, or a piece of fish and serve these side dishes using what is left in the summer garden.
Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad
Serves 6
6 medium zucchini, diced (You can use different summer squashes; mix them up to give more color.)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound orzo
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 cups corn kernels (from 6 ears of corn)
1 small red onion, chopped
1 Jalapeño seeded and diced
1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
4 ounces feta, crumbled (2 cups)
Place zucchini in a colander and toss with salt. Place colander in sink and let sit 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a pot of boiling salted water, cook orzo according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking; transfer to a large bowl.
In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 4 minutes. Add to pasta along with zucchini, 3 tablespoons oil, onion, jalapeño, and lemon zest and juice; season with salt and pepper. Stir in basil and feta. Will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Three-Pepper Slaw
Serves 4
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 medium bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 2 green), stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 celery stalk, halved crosswise and thinly sliced lengthwise
¼ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add bell peppers, celery, and thyme; toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
I did this recipe from Frank Stitt’s cookbook, Southern Table. At that time I sautéed a piece of white fish and placed on top of the succotash. The succotash was so good we ate it as a salad the next day. A piece of grilled fish or meat would be great in top of this lady pea succotash.
Lady Pea Succotash
Serves 4
½ small red onion, cut into 1-inch-thick slices
1 cup cooked lady peas (or substitute pink-eyes, crowders, or cranberry beans), ¼ cup pot liquor from the peas reserved. We grow both Pink-eyed Purple-hulled and Whippoorwill peas.
2 tomatoes, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
2 ears corn, husked, boiled for 4 minutes, and kernels off the cob
½ small shallot, finely chopped
4 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
4 sprigs dill leaves, coarse shopped
A few chives, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling is desired
To make the succotash, prepare a hot grill or preheat the broiler. Grill or broil the onion slices, turning once, until lightly charred on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Let cool, then cut into ¼ -inch-dice.
In a large bowl, combine the charred onion, peas, tomatoes, corn, shallot, basil, dill, and chives. Stir in the sherry vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the olive oil, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Set aside.
This can be served at room temperature or heated through before serving.
This a great little find for an okra recipe. Found it in Southern Living, August 2011 issue. It would be great for an appetizer.
Nutty Okra
4 servings
1 lb. fresh okra, cut into ½-inch pieces (1 16-oz.) package frozen cut okra, thawed, may be substituted
1 tsp. salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 cup all-purpose baking mix
½ cup finely chopped salted dry-roasted peanuts (Pulse in the food processor)
½ tsp. pepper
Peanut oil
Toss okra with salt, and let stand 20 minutes. Add egg white, stirring to coat. Stir together baking mix and the next 2 ingredients in a large bowl. Add okra, tossing to coat; gently press peanut mixture onto okra, shaking off excess.
Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a Dutch oven or cast-iron skillet; heat to 375 degrees. Fry okra, in batches, 2 to 4 minutes or until golden; drain on paper towels.
Have a good weekend. We’re looking for some much needed rain here.
Schools throughout the county will now share in more than $55,000 distributed Wednesday by local legislators, Sen. Jimmy Holley, R-Elba, and Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia.
The money was given on a per-student ratio, with Covington County Schools receiving $27,847; Andalusia City Schools, $11,917; and Opp City Schools, $15,604, for a total of $55,368.
“This money does two things,” Holley said. “The state education budget was not enough. These funds are to be used to fill the void due to lack of funding. It addresses the subject of teacher supplies, while addressing the needs of some special projects that didn’t get funded in the budget.
“I, like Rep. Jones, felt like the impact of this money needs to be felt in the classroom,” he said. “Now, it will.”
Jones said the funds given represented the discretionary funding given to the legislators during the first three quarters of the fiscal year. Schools should receive one more allocation by Oct. 31, the end of the fiscal year.
“We call this general purpose money to be used directly for purchasing school supplies and to make up the difference where there is a specific need,” Jones said.
The first stop made by Jones and Holley was to Andalusia Elementary School, where the men distributed checks totaling nearly $12,000.
Students in Mrs. Black’s second grade class – like others throughout the county as Jones and Holley made stops at Straughn and in Opp – had one thing to say after the presentation: “Thank you!”
AAA forecasts 31.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Those traveling in and through Covington County should obey the traffic laws as area law enforcement will be out participating in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign.
Earlier this summer, Governor Robert Bentley announced the count was to share in a nearly $68,000 traffic enforcement grant to facilitate traffic initiative.
As part of the initiative, area law enforcement began targeting impaired drivers Thursday and will continue their increased patrols to the end of the Labor Day holiday travel period on Monday.
AAA reports the traffic numbers are a 2.4 percent decrease from the 32.3 million people who traveled one year ago.
“AAA is projecting a decrease in the number of Labor Day travelers as some Americans react to recent economic uncertainty and increasing air fares,” said Clay Ingram, AAA Alabama spokesperson. “While automobile travel is expected to increase slightly, if recent declines in gasoline prices continue through Labor Day, we could see an increase in last-minute holiday weekend travel.”
The decrease in expected travelers is a result of a mixed economic outlook, consumer uncertainty regarding the overall economy, and recent downturns in economic factors that affect discretionary income, which is particularly relevant to the travel and tourism industry.
Locals awaiting a gas price decrease may get their wishes after the Labor Day holiday, Ingram said.
Throughout the holiday weekend gas prices won’t change much, he said.
“But after the holiday, we should see prices start to drop significantly,” he said. “This is the time of year when our demand starts to drop significantly, and it is already much lower than it was last year, so we should be in line for some decreases throughout the fall.”
Just how much of a decrease is unclear, Ingram said.
“It’s tough to say how much, but when you consider that our prices are roughly a $1 per gallon higher no than they were at this time last year, and our demand is about 3 percent less, it would appear that we might have a lot of room to drop.”
Statewide prices vary greatly, with some stations as high as $3.74 per gallon, while others are as low as $3.29 per gallon, Ingram said.
Locally, prices average $3.51 per gallon in Andalusia; $3.65 per gallon in Florala and $3.48 per gallon in Opp.
Last year, gas was $2.46 per gallon in Andalusia; $2.59 per gallon in Florala and $2.46 per gallon in Opp.
Ingram said it’s very important for motorists to price shop for the cheapest gas along their normal travel areas.
“That would be a tremendous help in getting our gas prices lower,” he said.
Triple digit heat indexes have pounded Covington County nearly all summer long, creating a huge demand for air conditioning. But it hasn’t been enough to surpass output records for local utilities companies.
Local generator, PowerSouth, said they are ready to meet peak demand this summer, which hasn’t happened yet.
“We are well positioned to meet the energy needs of our distribution systems this summer when demand is at its highest,” said Damon Morgan, PowerSouth vice president of power supply. “Sufficient generating capacity, purchase power agreements and demand side management resources are available to help manage expected peak usage.”
This summer, PowerSouth has forecasted a peak of 1,897 megawatts, but hasn’t yet reached it, compared with the 2010 summer peak of 1,997 megawatts, which occurred on Aug. 1.
The summer peak, which is the highest point of demand during the season, usually occurs between June and August between 4 and 6 p.m.
Peak loads are measurements of the average total electric demand by consumers for the highest one-hour period.
One mega-watt of electricity can serve about 800 to 1,000 homes, Morgan said.
Between PowerSouth’s existing generation and long-term and short-term contracts, the company has approximately 2,429 megawatts of resources available to help meet summer peak demand, Morgan said.
“Due to our high residential load, extreme weather is the dominant factor when it comes to producing electricity during times of high demand,” Morgan said. “High temperatures could produce peak loads this summer that rival those of recent years.”
Morgan said that even though forecasters show overall growth in electricity consumption slowing as a result of the economic slowdown, most consumers will continue to utilize the most energy during times of extreme temperatures.
Andalusia Utilities Department Office Manager Cathy Alexander said with heat indexes more than 100 degrees, it’s been a tough summer to keep cool, and she suggested consumers try tips to cut down on their power bills.
“(You can do) simple things like keeping curtains and blinds closed to keep out the heat and making sure that doors are not left open to let the heat in,” she said. “It’s hard to turn up that thermostat, but the longer that those air units run, the more energy that is used.
“When my children complain it’s hot in the house, I tell them to go outside for 30 minutes and come back in, it feels really good then,” she said.
Covington Electric Cooperative spokesman Mark Parker said CEC strives to educate its members about the benefits of making wise energy choices and implementing energy efficiency practices through a number of ways.
“One of the best communication resources we have is our magazine Alabama Living, which allows us to communicate directly with the membership on a monthly basis,” he said. “Several energy efficiency articles and advertisements are published each year in the magazine.”
Parker said CEC also provides energy saving tips online and through radio advertisements.
“Every CEC office has free energy saver guides available in the lobby areas, and we will mail those to members upon request,” he said. “Another service the co-op provides at no charge to our members is a free energy audit.”
During the energy audit, a member service representative comes to a member’s home to evaluate the home’s energy usage and identify problems and make suggestions to improve efficiency.
“Electric bills can be greatly impacted by the weather and that’s why energy efficiency and usage awareness is so important,” Parker said. “When we experience extreme highs like we’ve seen this summer, air conditioning units are going to run longer. Most of the bill inquires we receive can be directly correlated with temperatures.”
Here are some no cost energy-savings tips.
• Change your air filter regularly.
• Set your thermostat to 68 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer.
• Keep electronics and small appliances unplugged when not in use.
• Keep showers to five minutes.
• Reduce the water temperature on you water heater.
• Turn lights off when you leave a room.
• Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher and clothes washer.
• Only heat and cool rooms that you use, close vents and doors to unused rooms.