Cooking with Sam: Satisfy your hunger

The weather is getting nice, and I know everyone wants to start planting – but unless you want to replant, or cover and uncover, until it gets warm, please wait.

Sometimes the cold will stunt the growth of good plants but the fun of the flower garden is watching things grow and replacing the ones that don’t make it.

When the ground is warm is the best time to plant, but we have to plant, cabbage, onions and English peas early.

Enjoy the flowers, fruits and vegetables of your labor. Now let’s talk about adding a few pounds on.

Pan-fried Potato/Cabbage Patties

3 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed

½ head of cabbage, cut up in ½-inch squares

1 teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning

2 tablespoons bacon drippings

Dipping sauce: 1 cup sour cream, pepper to taste, two pinches of garlic, two pinches of Italian seasoning and green onion tops.

Boil potatoes, drain and mash. Cook cabbage in water; cover 15 minutes and drain. Mix potatoes and cabbage together with seasoning. Shape into patties. Fry in hot bacon drippings in skillet on medium heat, turning often until crisp on both sides.

To make dipping sauce, mix all ingredients together.

Fried Carrots

4 slices of bacon

1 pound fresh carrots, scraped and sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of pepper

Fry bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove and set aside. Add carrots and onion to bacon fat, sprinkle with seasoning and cover and cook slowly until just barely tender. Uncover and cook, turning occasionally, until carrots are slightly brown. Crumble bacon and add to carrots.

This makes a great side dish.

Slow Cooker Cherry Cobber

½ stick butter

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

5 biscuits, baked and torn

Two 21-ounce cans of cherry pie filling

Mix butter, sugar and cinnamon. Put half of the biscuits in a slow cooker. Pour half of pie filling over and sprinkle with half of mixture. Repeat layers. Cook on high two hours or low four to five hours. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. Serves 10-12.

Orange Candy-Coated Pecans

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind

3 cups pecan halves

Cook sugar and water to soft-ball stage. Add juice and rind and beat till it begins to thicken. Add pecans. Stir until sugar-coated. Dip onto wax paper to cool. Makes about 48 pecans halves.

Easy Millionaires

2 14-ounce packages vanilla caramels

1 tablespoon evaporated milk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 bar paraffin

8 cups chopped pecans

Melt first four ingredients over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. Stir in pecans. Drop onto greased wax paper. Cool. Makes four dozen or more.