Recipe for "National Soul Food Month"

The term "Soul Food" has become synonymous with the African American culture, but it seems to me that every ethnic culture has their own version of "Soul Food".  These type of dishes come from a desire to comfort the eater.  They also come from the fact that supplies are meager because of the lack of ingredients available or the financial means are lacking.  This reminds me of the old saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention."  This is exactly what Laura wrote about in her "Little House" books.  Her family, sitting on the poor side of life, made meals from what was at hand - that was their "Soul Food".

Throughout the years I have experienced similar conditions effecting my meals.  By definition, "Soul Food" is food prepared to satisfy, not only your hunger or appetite, but to give you comfort having eaten it.  That is what I've tried to do in concocting this recipe. This recipe is simple and made from those ingredients at hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 slices of day-old bread
• 1/3 Cup of buttermilk
• 1/3 Cup of sliced onion (may be rough chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 can (10 oz.) Stewed Tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup of Okra (fresh or frozen - breaded or plain)
• dash or so of hot sauce

Directions: Lightly toast the bread and then cube it.
Place the bread in a bowl and cover with the buttermilk.
In a pan, add the oil.  Over medium heat, saute the onions.  Add the Okra and Tomatoes (with all the juices).  Cover the pan and heat thoroughly. (about 5 minutes)  Stir the bread and buttermilk into the mix and hit it with a little hot sauce, to taste.  Heat through and serve immediately.

This recipe makes about 2 servings.  I made some chicken-fried steak fingers to go with this, but you could use any other dishes you'd like, or just eat it by itself - whatever satisfies your soul!  :)  After eating this, I thought that it could be improved by adding some crumbled bacon on top! (Bacon always comforts my soul!)

The trouble I had was to come up with a name for this dish.  If you make it, perhaps you could suggest a name, please include that here, in a comment.  Thanks.

I have other recipes in the blog archives which could be classified as "Soul Food" - I hope you'll look at those as well.  And be sure to sign up as a follower of my blog, if you haven't already done that.
Thanks!  The Old Man in the Bib Overalls