Photo by Wouter Supardi Salari on Unsplash

Produce lovers, rejoice! For those of us in the more southern climates, many of our produce stands have or are in the process of reopening. My local market reopened a couple of weeks ago and while they desperately want fresh products from our local farmers, currently we are receiving produce from farmers down in Florida. 

So I went on my merry way of collecting Florida strawberries, romaine, onions, potatoes amid some other things  and prepared for check out.  After arriving home I found a bag of 6 corn ears in my box. I did not put this in my box. Nor did I watch the check out guy place it in the box.. so I can only assume it was previously in the box when he grabbed it from the stash. I'm not a big corn gal, so I put my items away and pondered what the heck I would do with it. (I grew up with corn, but it's never liked me, so I have a tendency to avoid it). 

Fast forward a week. I'm staring into the abyss of the fridge trying to figure out what in the world I could make for the return of our outdoor evening worship service with an added tail-gate/ food feature. Since burgers and dogs were being served, I decided to google corn recipes. Y'all So. many. recipes. Corn Salad, Cornbreads, Corn puddings, Corn.. well you name it. 

Wanting to use what I had in the house, I found a recipe I liked and modified it. I'm big on using what you have in the house .. sometimes you can't substitute products, but often veggies and herbs/ seasonings can be switched out. 

Modifications I made: 

• Use the produce you have available, especially if something looks like it's not going to last much longer. Bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, etc can all be interchangeable. Each is unique and provides its own flavoring, so you may have to tweak the sauces or spices. You could always add cucumbers or squash too!
• I ended up using some frozen tomatoes along with the fresh ones. I had already cut the frozen ones up into the proper size, so strained them so liquid wouldn't be as plentiful.
• I added bell pepper. The original recipe did not call for it. 
• I used a yellow onion in lieu of a red.. I know it changes the flavoring slightly, but again- use what you have!
• I used oregano and thyme instead of basil. Most spices in this family will work- just taste test as you go! 
• I used a Bavarian mustard rather than Dijon. It changes the flavoring slightly but it was still great!
• If you don't have local produce yet, this would still make a great side for family meal nights! Grab your frozen veggies and go for it!