Grandpa's Home Cooking

Jalapeño Corn Casserole

  
You've all seen a dish of corn, so I decided to give you a different picture. When I think of corn, I think of my visits to corn fields near San Juan Ostuncalco in Guatemala. Here women pat out their staple corn food, tortillas. The Mam Indians I've visited in the Western Highlands of Guatemala actually grow their corn right up the side of a mountain. It's true. You should see it for yourself. It's back breaking work from sunup until sundown. Plowing is done by hand with a tool that is similar to a hoe, but larger. It's primitive out there, but not so primitive that you can't find a bottle of Pepsi, as seen in the picture. The Pepsi will not be cold. I could tell you more stories than you want to hear, but hopefully I've put you in the mood for a taste a Jalapeño corn casserole.

Ingredients:

• 2, 15 1/2  oz cans Green Giant Sweet corn, drained of juice
• 1, 8 oz container of onion & chive cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2-4 Jalapeño peppers, deseeded and chopped into small pieces

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients and mix as well as possible with heavy wooden spoon. Pour the mix into a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Stir the corn and serve the dish hot.

I got this recipe from my Sister-in-law, Maryanne, and it is delicious!

Here is a picture of corn growing near San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala:

Breakfast at the Mabry Mill in the Meadows of Dan, Virginia

Grandpa and daughter Marta know how to chow down. While Mom slept in, Marta and I slipped out of the Inn and went to the Mabry Mill restaurant at the Meadows of Dan. There was a long line of people waiting from the front door out to the driveway at 7:50 a.m., both Saturday and Sunday. The dining room opens at 8:00 a.m. You bet, we were there both days for a big breakfast. It was a chilly 34 degrees, but we didn't mind because we knew we were in for a treat.

Marta ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuit, grits, and apple juice. Dad ordered hot coffee, eggs over medium, sausage, wheat toast, and grits, plus one great big pancake for Marta and I to split. We cleaned our plates:-)

As we returned to the Woodberry Inn, Marta looked through the window of the Inn and saw Mom having the fine continental breakfast with innkeepers Shep and Angie. We wheeled into the first parking space and joined everyone. I had a little more hot coffee and Marta sipped some of Mom's orange juice. Mom loves her morning Cheerios and she was content to have the chance to sleep in before heading up front for her breakfast.

Already beautiful, the sunny days warmed to the mid-70s and we enjoyed the Blue Ridge Mountain vistas and the colorful red, orange, and yellow autumn leaves that were still on the trees.

The Mabry Mill restaurant closes for the winter at the end on October (and reopens in April), but the Blue Ridge Mountains continue to be beautiful and the Woodberry Inn is open all year. You can bet we'll return in the winter. The beautiful pines will still be green and the mountain vistas will still be breath-taking. And, if you arrive early on Friday, make sure you visit the Country Store at Floyd, VA on Friday night, 'cause the mountain folks will be jammin' with their fiddles, guitars, and banjos. You're likely to find music around and about because Floyd, VA is on Virginia's Crooked Music Trail.  http://www.thecrookedroad.org/. The Woodberry Inn http://www.woodberryinn.com/. Mabry Mill http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrid=40045.