Samma Spot: Mayfest Monday and BBQ fixins

Happy Monday everyone...... I'm gonna get to the BBQ fixin's recipes shortly but first I wanted to let you see decadence. We went to Mayfest yesterday, my first, and lo and behold....FLETCHER's corny dogs!! Just when you thought you could only get one at the Texas State Fair in October....tada I got a mid year treat.

Also please note...this picture is a fine example of why I don't allow my hubby to take pictures of me....how unflattering can you get????? At the moment, I was in heaven and didn't care.

This one is a tad better of me...only after a little cropping.

I'm happy...I just ate a corny dog!!

To sum up... I like the Mayfest. Not as snooty as the Ft Worth and Southlake arts festivals and it has corny dogs :0)

Here we go... BBQ fixins:

Cole Slaw

Baked Beans

Potato Salad

Banana Pudding

Let's go easy first:

Cole Slaw

This is so simple and it's my super secret recipe.........from the cole slaw bag! haha

Cast of characters:

1/2 cup mayo (or miracle whip)
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp ground celery seed

Mix the sugar, celery seed and milk into the mayo. Add the cider vinegar and whisk until smooth. Add the sauce to the bowl of prepackaged cole slaw mix. Stir well and chill!

Super Easy!! Now onto the Baked Beans. A little harder but OH SOOOO GOOOD and worth the extra time!

Baked Beans
This is a Pioneer Woman recipe and OMG!!!
Prepare yourselves...there is bacon and grease involved......ok, let's roll.

Cast of Characters:

8 Slices of Bacon (halved...on side note it was requested that the next time I use a little more bacon)
1 med. onion, diced small
1/2 med. green pepper, diced small ( I used a whole one..I like green pepper)
3 lg 28oz cans pork and beans
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp dry mustard

Adjust your oven rack to the lower middle position and start preheating that baby to 325 degrees.
Fry the bacon in a large pan (seriously you will need the room). I used a big dutch oven.

Fry all the bacon until you have 1/4 cup of drippings released and the bacon is chewy cooked. I meant to take a pic of the bacon but I actually cooked mine to crisp done. It was ok, but next time I will take the bacon out before crispy. You'll see why in a bit. DO NOT EMPTY THE BACON GREASE!!

Ok, just remove the bacon to paper towels to drain and set aside.

Add the green peppers and onions to the drippins and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. I actually cooked mine about 7-8 minutes as I like my onions and peppers super tender.

This is them at about 5 minutes and this is where I let them cook too:

Just a little browner and a tad more tender.

Now add the beans and the remaining ingredients to the pot....see I told you that you needed that big pot!

Mix all this up and let's let it cook until it just starts bubbling around the edges and you get a nice simmer. Go ahead and tast them if you like, they should be warm but not hot.

Now we are gonna take this big mess of beans and put it into a BIG ovenproof casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam or greased...I sprayed, I figured we were working the grease enough already!

Top with the bacon and slap that deliciousness into the oven!

It's gonna bake for about 2 hours...it will be nice and bubbly and the sauce will resemble pancake syrup. Remove from the oven and let thicken and cool a bit before serving.

You can see how thick it gets here:

This post is LONG today!! We are only halfway done!

Let's get that potato salad going:

First you need about 4 pounds of these guys all cleaned up like so:

You can see, I don't really waste alot of time cleaning up those potatoes. I like 'em a little roughed up. Now just dice up those potatoes and get them going in a big pot of salted water until they are tender. Now.... I would love to tell you how long that should take, but let's just say I was "chatting" with my company and kinda forgot the potatoes were cooking... technically we had mashed potato salad as they got REALLY tender. When those are tender but still have some shape, dump then into a colander and let them drain while we work on the other stuff.

Remaining cast:

1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mayo or miracle whip
Squirt or two or yellow mustard
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
3/4 tsp pepper
3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1/3 cup pickle relish

opt.
celery - cubed small pieces (I did add)
onion - diced small (I did not add...sorry Mama- remember my Mama loves onions!)

Stir together the mayo, mustards, pepper and salt in a small bowl. Add the potatoes, eggs, celery and pickle relish to a big bowl then mix in the mayo sauce. Mix it up really good being careful not to make mashed potatoes like me and tada.......last side dish finished!! Just need dessert!

BANANA PUDDING!!!

This really is my super secret recipe but because I love ya I'm gonna share it!!

Cast of characters:

1 can eagle brand milk

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

3 cups milk ( I do use whole milk for this)

Lg. box instant vanilla pudding

1 box vanilla wafers

3 or 4 bananas (sliced)

Lg container Cool Whip (sorry Mr.Cool Whip... I accidentally left you out of the photo)

In a large bowl whip the cream cheese and the Eagle brand until smooth. Add the milk and the pudding, stir until mixed. Add the container of thawed cool whip and beat until smooth.

Attempt to refrain from eating this out of the bowl....because we need to assemble the pudding. It's hard I know and I confess, I did eat some :0)

In a big bowl of your choice layer the cookies

then a layer of bananas, then a layer of pudding. Then layer of cookies, layer of bananas and layer of pudding. Keep layering until you run out of room or ingredients (depends on your bowl size).

Pop that baby in the fridge to chill and then bring it out for dessert and enjoy the creamy goodness of good old southern banana pudding!