Snow makes you crave bread and milk

February 28, 5:20 PMCharlotte History ExaminerAnna Looper

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Snow is coming, maybe, perhaps, probably not, or maybe whole heaps. The South is so unpredictable. I’ve been reading the updates at the Raleigh Weather Examiner. Allan Huffman has been studying the weather for over 10 years. He is witty and reports reliable weather information. He announced the possibility of snow in our area before the experts at Duke Power. Duke power is usually the first to send out notifications of any local weather event.

Did you get your bread and milk? The South closes down after two flakes of snow. Two is all you need on the roads. Too many flakes and there are crashes. Some flakes drive their car in to a tree just because their brain switches off at the mention of snow. Other flakes head for the ditches in anticipation of the first crash. A flake is a flake be it person or frozen water.

Don’t forget the Nabs and plenty of comfort food. The Mountain Times reported about the year 1960 when it snowed every Wednesday in March. I remember my brothers being home from school and driving my mom batty. I was only two but I remember.  I remember they were home for a month.

We had a big old Coca Cola sign that was about 5 feet in diameter. We drug it to the neighbor’s house. She had a great sledding hill in her backyard. 5 or 20 of us would pile in the sign and head down the hill. One of the kids would have run behind us pushing hard as he could so we would go faster. It was so dangerous and we loved it.

There was a creek at the bottom of that hill and normally the sled would jump it. When it didn’t, we went home wet and got a scolding that lasted us till the next day and we did it again. Food always taste better after a day of sledding. It’s just too much trouble to stop sledding and take all those clothes off for lunch. We would sled right through lunch and hold our bladder till bursting.

The boys would take a short hike to the woods for their potty breaks but us girls nearly died. My boots have trekked snow through the house more than once cause I cut the bathroom break too close. Mom would holler, rant, scream, and threaten us with no more sledding days if we kept messing up her floors.

She made homemade soup on those days. Our appetite was huge and the spoon scraped the bottom of the big old pot. There was plenty of meaty ingredients. You would lay around afterwards moaning and groaning. Good old fashioned cornbread accompanied the meal, sweet tea was gulped by the gallons, and dessert was most always chocolate cake.

Snow days are a treat in the South. Fix something good to eat and celebrate. What are you fixing? Here is my mom’s homemade vegetable soup recipe! Let me know how it taste.

Homemade Soup

Stew beef 

2 large cans Veg All  vegetables

1 large can chopped tomatoes

1 large chopped sweet onion

Combine stew beef in a pan with salt, pepper, and the onion all chopped up.  I use Smart Balance oil to brown the beef. You don’t need much oil.

Brown and add to that the vegetables and that can of tomatoes. Cook for several hours until the meet is tender.

Serve with sweet cornbread!