The Summer Vegetable Supper I Grew Up On

A Meal Straight From the Garden

When I was growing up, we had a big garden in the summertime. And sometimes supper wasn’t built around a roast or a chicken — sometimes it was just a good old vegetable meal. A table covered in fresh squash, corn, green beans, potatoes, sliced tomatoes, and a skillet of cornbread. And let me tell you, nobody ever left that table hungry.

I don’t have my own garden anymore, but we are so blessed with good fresh vegetables available to us, and I still fix this meal at least once or twice every summer. And you know who loves it almost as much as I do? Darren. Especially those fried potatoes and onions — out of everything we cooked today, that’s the one he was waiting on.

Speaking of those potatoes — a few weeks back we took a trip down to the beach, and we ate at a restaurant called Lambert’s, the home of the “throwed rolls.” They really do throw the rolls to your table! But they also have what they call pass-arounds, where they come by with big bowls of side dishes, and one of those is fried potatoes and onions. When we tasted ours today, Darren said it tasted just like Lambert’s. I’ll take that.

I’ll be honest about one thing: Darren is still not sold on green beans cooked the Southern way — what I lovingly call “cooked to death.” But that’s exactly the way I remember them from growing up, and to me, they’re perfect. You cook them the way your family loves them.

I dare you to find a better meal than this. You can go to a five-star restaurant and order the best steak in the world, but there is just something about these homegrown vegetables that is hard to beat.

The Recipes

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Cook Time: About 1 hour 15 minutes (much of it hands-off) | Serves: 4–6

A note before we start: make the coleslaw first so it can chill, and get the green beans simmering early — they cook low and slow for about an hour. Everything else comes together while those two do their thing.

Simple Coleslaw

Ingredients:

• ½ head green cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• ½ small sweet Vidalia onion, finely diced
• Just under ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

1. Add the chopped cabbage, carrot, and onion to a large bowl. I like my onion diced up pretty fine, so I use my little chopper — it does it in quick fashion.
2. Add the mayonnaise right into the same bowl — no separate dressing needed. Start with just under half a cup. It’s going to get juicier as it sits, so don’t overdo it.
3. Sprinkle in the sugar, salt, and pepper. The sugar isn’t enough to make it sweet — it just takes the bitter edge off the cabbage.
4. Stir it all together, give it a taste, then cover it and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Those flavors get stronger and better the longer it sits.

Southern-Style Green Beans

Ingredients:

• One 38 oz can Italian green beans, drained
• Fresh water to cover
• ½ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon (chicken flavor)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onions
• 1 heaping tablespoon bacon grease

Instructions:

1. Drain the canned beans, then add them back to the pot with fresh water to cover. You may wonder why in the world I do that — the fresh water plus a little Better Than Bouillon means they’re basically cooking in chicken stock.
2. Stir in the bouillon, salt, garlic powder, dried minced onions, and that heaping tablespoon of bacon grease. We cannot forget the bacon grease.
3. Bring it up to a boil, then drop it to a low simmer for about an hour. We like them cooked long and slow here in the South — yes, “cooked to death,” and that’s exactly how I remember them.

Fresh Skillet Corn

Ingredients:

• 1 quart bag fresh-cut sweet corn from the freezer (or about 4 ears, cut and scraped)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2–3 tablespoons milk (or heavy cream for an even richer corn)

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, then add the corn — thawed just a bit if it’s from the freezer.
2. Add a touch of salt. This corn has so much flavor on its own, you don’t need much.
3. Pour the milk right into the middle and let it cook down until most of the juice has cooked off but the corn is still nice and creamy. Stir every so often — you don’t have to stand there and baby it.

The make-ahead tip: This corn reheats beautifully. Make it a day or two ahead, store it in the fridge, and warm it in the microwave right before supper — it tastes just as fresh as the moment it left the skillet.

Fried Potatoes and Onions

Ingredients:

• 3–4 medium potatoes, skin on, halved and thinly sliced
• ½ sweet Vidalia onion, sliced
• A couple spoonfuls of bacon grease plus enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat the bacon grease and oil in a large skillet — enough to cover the bottom pretty well.
2. Add the potatoes and onions, season with salt and pepper, and then leave them alone for 5–6 minutes. That’s the secret to crispy: don’t stir too much.
3. Flip them with your spatula and let the other side get brown and crispy too. Nobody wants a pale fried potato.

Fried Squash and Zucchini

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow squash, cut in bite-sized chunks
• 1 zucchini, cut in bite-sized chunks
• A few good spoonfuls of self-rising cornmeal mix
• Oil for frying
• Pinch of salt
• Splash of white vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put the squash and zucchini chunks in a bag with the cornmeal mix, close it up, and shake. You just want a light coating — not a heavy breading.
2. Heat a good amount of oil in a skillet until it’s nice and hot. Use a slotted spoon to shake off the excess cornmeal as you add the squash, and don’t crowd the pan.
3. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the top, then add a small splash of white vinegar. You’re not going to taste vinegar — it just brightens everything up and cuts through the heaviness of the oil. Trust me.
4. Let it cook well before you move it around, then give it a gentle turn and fry until golden with the lightest crispiness on the outside.

Corn Pone (Skillet Fried Cornbread)

Ingredients:

• About 1 cup self-rising cornmeal mix (enough for 4–5 pones)
• Hot water
• Oil for frying

Instructions:

1. Put your cornmeal mix in a small bowl and add hot water a little at a time until the batter is pourable — it should look similar to a regular cornbread batter. If you get too much water, just add a touch more cornmeal.
2. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet, then spoon the batter right in like little pancakes.
3. Fry a few minutes on each side until golden and crispy — you can lift an edge to peek, just like a pancake. Drain on a paper towel and taste one while it’s hot. If it needs a little more salt, now’s the time to sprinkle it on.

Some people call these Johnny cakes, some call them corn pone — whatever you call them, they’re delicious.

Don’t Forget

Slice up some fresh tomatoes for the table. Some people like a little salt on theirs, some don’t — but that fresh tomato goes perfectly with the corn. And don’t do what we almost did and forget the coleslaw in the fridge! Raise your hand if you’ve ever done that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use fresh green beans instead of canned? Absolutely — that’s what we had growing up out of the garden. Snap them, cover them with water, and use the same seasonings, but plan on a longer simmer (closer to 1½–2 hours) until they’re good and tender.

What is corn pone, exactly? It’s a simple skillet-fried cornbread made from cornmeal mix and water, fried like little pancakes. No eggs, no milk, no oven. Some folks call them Johnny cakes or hot water cornbread — same idea, and a perfect partner to a vegetable supper.

Can I use canned or store-bought frozen corn for the skillet corn? You can, and it’ll still be good — but if you can get fresh sweet corn and cut it off the cob yourself (don’t forget to scrape the cob!), you are missing out if you don’t try it at least once. That’s where all the creamy, fresh flavor comes from.

Do I have to make all seven dishes? Not at all! Every one of these stands on its own. Pick two or three to go alongside whatever you’re cooking — though I will say, there’s something special about the whole spread on the table at once.

What’s the best way to time everything? Coleslaw first (it needs to chill), green beans second (they simmer an hour, hands-off). The skillet corn can be made ahead and reheated. That leaves just the potatoes, squash, and corn pone for the final stretch — and the potatoes mostly fry untouched while you work the other two skillets.

Can I make this meal without bacon grease? You can substitute butter or oil anywhere I used bacon grease, but if you cook bacon at all, start saving that grease in a cup by the stove. It’s the secret flavor in so much Southern cooking.

I hope this meal brings back memories to you the way it does to me. And if you’ve never had a vegetable supper, I hope you’ll give it a try — I think your family will love it too.