Visiting Tifton

I left the office in time to drive to Tifton, GA, for dinner with some of the members of the Wiregrass Quilters Guild. Even though it was early spring, the azaleas were in full bloom in South Georgia, so beautiful!



My hostess, Caroline Benefield, had invited a few ladies over for dinner, and Margo Martin brought a really good baked bean dish. I asked her if I could have the recipe to share on my blog, and she photocopied her recipe card for me (it has the notation "very good" in a corner, and I can attest to that!). The recipe pushes my limit of 5 ingredients, but I don't count ingredients in cans or bottles! Thank you for sharing, Caroline. :-)

Ranch-Style Baked Beans
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 lb ground beef or 1/2 lb ground beef + 1/2 lb sausage
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
2 (1 lb) cans pork & beans
1 (1 lb) can kidney beans, drained
1 Cup catsup
1/2 Cup cold water
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar

Brown the meat in the oil. Drain off the fat. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix and bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did!

I was happy to also have time to stop and have dinner with Suzanne Leimer, who owns Suzanne's Quilt Shop in Moultrie, GA. Suzanne has been one of our customers for a long time. I design the blocks for the online Patchwork Parties, and Suzanne's has been one of the 12 participating shops since the Party began in 2006. We talk on the phone, but it's all business, so I really enjoyed our visit.

Unless you live in the area, or are a fan of wild Burmese chickens, you probably don't know about the town of Fitzgerald has the largest population of these birds. They roam the streets at will. The Wild Chicken Festival, with antique cars, crafts and a rattlesnake roundup was the same weekend I was teaching in the area.