This 4th of July, I got an itch to make some down-home Southern food.  Adam and I don’t have any food-bringing parties today, but we have big plans for tomorrow and Saturday – putt-putt with our beautiful niece and a party with the Biels tomorrow and backyard shenanigans with my girl, Nina, on Saturday. Both the Biels and Nina are looking for folks to bring some good side dishes, and I thought that these two favorites fit the bill.

Being the perfectionist that I am when it comes to food, I researched a double butt-ton of recipes before deciding on how to put together our side dishes. My recipes are amalgams of some of the highest rated recipes on the internet.

Since both pimento cheese and coleslaw require mayonnaise, I figured I’d go for the gusto and create homemade mayo to make the recipes even better. Besides, it doesn’t take long to make homemade mayo, and it tastes so much better than the stuff you buy premade and is better for you, because you choose the oil you use – and I’m not a fan of soybean oil, which is what most commercial mayos are made with.

Rae’s Homemade Mayonnaise

Yields 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• ½ c. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 c. extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Get out your food processor and put in the sabatier blade. (That’s the “S” shaped one that spins towards the bottom.)
2. In the processor bowl, place the egg yolks, rice vinegar, dijon mustard, and salt.
3. Turn the machine on (not on pulse, but in the “on” position) and as slowly as you can, start to drizzle in the oil, drop by drop until the mixture starts to look like mayonnaise, then a slow steady stream of oil can be added.
4. Turn off the food processor.
5. Use a flexible spatula to scoop the mayonnaise out of the bowl and into a container that is suitable for the refrigerator. If properly refrigerated, homemade mayonnaise can be used for 2 weeks.

Rae’s Pimento Cheese 

Yields 4 cups

Ingredients

• 8 oz. Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese (in block form)
• 8 oz. 2% Sharp Cheddar Cheese (in block form)
• 8 oz. Neufchatel cheese (⅓ Less Fat Cream Cheese)
• ½ c. homemade mayonnaise
• 8 oz. (2 small jars) of pimentos
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper

Preparation

1. Get out your food processor and put on the shredding disc.
2. Cut your blocks of cheddar cheese in half length-wise.
3. Turn the food processor to the “on” position and, using the feed-thru hole, put in the long, thick strips of cheddar cheese, in order to shred them.
4. Turn off the food processor.
5. Empty the food processor bowl into the large bowl of your stand mixer, making sure to get all the freshly shredded cheese.
6. In the stand-mixer bowl, add all the remaining ingredients (neufchatel cheese, mayo, pimentos, and seasonings).
7. Beat at medium speed using the paddle attachment until the contents have homogenized.
8. Empty the stand-mixer bowl into a container that is appropriate for refrigeration.
9. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Rae’s Coleslaw

Yields 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1 bag (16 oz.) of bagged coleslaw mix
•  ⅔ c. homemade mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• ⅓ c. white sugar
• 5 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 4 tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp poppy seeds

Preparation

1. Get out a big ole bowl.
2. Put all the ingredients in it.
3. Stir til it’s coleslaw.
4. Put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and stir before serving

Hope you all enjoy!  Happy Independence Day!