Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Finger Lickin’ Dead Giveaway Results and Some Fried Okra

RileyAdamsFoodBlogPostpic_thumb_thumb[3]
First up, I wanted to thank everyone for entering my Finger Lickin’ Dead giveaway. There was a great response to the contest. The randomly picked winner was Darlene Peterson. Congratulations!

Thanks everyone! I wish you all could have won. Hope you’ll consider picking up a copy of the book:

Download the book on Kindle:
http://amzn.to/kh7MAp
Mass market paperback: http://amzn.to/lfUE2N
Fried Okra
I may lose some of y’all today! I think that okra is one of those things, like grits, that make people wonder about folks in the southern US.
But okra is what’s growing in everyone’s gardens down here. It will absolutely grow like wild. It loves the heat, it loves our crazy soil, it just enjoys the South.
And, if you fry it, it’s heavenly with some corn on the cob and some sliced tomatoes for a tasty supper on a hot day. :)

Fried Okra

Ingredients
Sliced okra (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Salt and pepper
Cornmeal
Canola oil
Directions:
Heat oil in cast iron pan.
Combine cornmeal and dash of salt and pepper in a Ziplock bag.
Dip the okra in the buttermilk.
Toss the sliced okra with the cornmeal mixture in the bag.
Place okra in the frying pan and turn it as it cooks to prevent it from burning.
Cook until the okra turns a golden brown.
Drain and serve.
Hope you’ll enjoy a traditional Southern side! And—do you have a regional delicacy that may make others turn up their nose a little? :)
Riley/Elizabeth
Delicious and Suspicious (Riley Adams) Finger Lickin’ Dead—June 7 (book 2 of the Memphis BBQ series!)

Congratulations to Julie Hyzy on the release of Grace Interrupted, the second in her Manor House Mystery series.
Click here to read a review from
the Chicago Sun-Times
Click here to order the book.


Congratulations to Wendy Lyn Watson on the release of A Parfait Murder, the third in her Mystery A La Mode series.
Click here to read a review from A Criminal Element.
Click here to purchase the book.
Click here to visit Wendy's Web site and
read on to learn how to enter her contest!


Wendy Lyn Watson's
new mystery A Parfait Murder features a story line about the Lantana Round-Up Rodeo Queen Pageant. To celebrate, Wendy's giving away a little cowboy couture: a leather and rhinestone cuff, and a "rodeo queen" keychain.
Eligibility: This contest is open to everyone living in the U.S. and Canada. One entry per person, please.
How to Enter: Send proof of purchase of A Parfait Murder (either a receipt, or a picture of you holding the book), by e-mail to wendylynwatson@gmail.com. Put the words "Parfait Giveaway" in the subject line.
Entries must be received by 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on Friday, June 17. Wendy will randomly select one entry and announce the winner here on the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blog on Saturday, June 18. She will contact the winner via e-mail. If she does not receive a response within 7 days, she will draw a new winning name.

14 comments:

  1. Oh I miss being able to get fresh okra....*whine*. LOL. As all of you know by now (ad infinitum, ad nauseum) I'm a Texas girl. My dad grew okra in his garden every year and I got SO spoiled with having it fresh. Now up here in Illinois, all I can get is frozen and well, it's just NOT the same, but it'll do in a pinch. Thanks for the shout out to one of my favorite veggies, Riley!

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  2. Shel - I'd offer to mail you some okra, but you'd probably be better off with the frozen. :)

    I'm a fan of fried-just-about-anything, and fried okra is right up at the top of the list. (My relatives were more inclined to pickle okra, which is good, but .... FRIED.) Thanks for the recipe, Elizabeth!

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  3. Riley, I'm totally crazy about okra. We may have the only garden in New England growing the stuff. I like to saute a little chopped onion and green pepper with mine and serve with Tabasco sauce of course.

    Lucy (aka Roberta)

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  4. Riley, I've got friends in the south that swear by okra. Especially fried. Great recipe, and congrats to Darlene Peterson for winning your book. She's in for a treat.

    ~Avery AveryAames.com

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  5. I've loved okra for years, ever since it was served at a banquet -- totally unheard of around here (Ontario, Canada) before that. I can, fortunately, buy it fresh at the supermarket. Thanks for the new suggestions for cooking it.

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  6. Shel--I'm not real sure it would like to grow in Illinois as well, but with Lucy growing it in NE, who knows?! Maybe it would be worth the experiment. :)

    Wendy--Pickling is good, but there's just something about a little grease, isn't there? Gotta love that fried food!

    Lucy--Mmm! Onion and Tabasco! That's wonderful-sounding. And it's so cool that you're growing it in New England (where I'm sure you ARE the only ones with it in your garden!)

    Avery--Thanks so much! And we all love it here, but that may be because we were raised on it!

    Erika--I LOVE that it was at a banquet in Canada! Must have seemed either really exotic or really odd. :)

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  7. I've sampled okra and enjoyed it, but I've never tried to grow it. I'm barely keeping up with my tomatoes, peppers, basil, and beans. (BTW, cilantro is a bear to grow!). But maybe next year I'll try planting okra to see what it does up here in the Land of Lincoln. Thanks for this, Elizabeth!

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  8. The Mid-Atlantic states are boring. No one ever talks about the East coast region like they do about the South or Mid-West or California! So I can't think of any regional foods. I think we make foods from all over the world's regions, LoL.

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  9. You can never go wrong with fried okra. We sometimes include sliced green tomatoes in ours when frying. Delicious Southern food.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress
    Freelance Editing By Mason

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  10. Julie--I'd love to hear how it does! It sounds like you've got a big garden on your hands already, though!

    Laura--That makes it interesting, too! A little bit of everything.

    Mason--Love the idea of green tomatoes in there! Yum. :)

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  11. Elizabeth, I've eaten okra but I have never cooked it. It's probably too late to plant it this summer, but I bet I can find some at the farmer's market. I'm trying this recipe! Thanks!

    ~ Krista

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  12. Okra!!! Dang, girl, if that's not a little "South in my mouth" (as you often say), I don't know what is. Big thanks for an authentic recipe. As for "a regional delicacy that may make others turn up their nose a little," I've got one for you.

    Growing up in Western PA we had something called "chipped ham," which is a cheap, pressed ham that’s chopped razor-thin at the deli. Fry it up with ketchup (yes, just ketchup) and you've got BBQ chipped ham. Sounds vile, but it was good! Our version of a Sloppy Joe. Even our school cafeteria served it. I haven't tried it lately. Maybe with some fried okra... :)

    Eat with joy!
    ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  13. Krista--Maybe if you found it pretty far along and already flowering? But ours are fairly big right now--growing like kudzu! (Too bad kudzu isn't a delicacy...that stuff really IS all over the place...)

    Cleo--That actually sounds tasty to me right now! And with a little fried okra on the side, it would be *perfect!* Ha!

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  14. HappyReading to Darlene...........

    even tho i didn't win, Riley, i ordered my copy earlier this week from Borders!!!!

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