I’m a ‘cold war’ veteran, too young for Korea and too old for Viet Nam, but whenever I’m out and about and I see a man wearing a WW II, Korean or Viet Nam, veterans, ball cap, I always stop, go up to him, shake his hand and thank him for serving and protecting our way of life.

Two days before Christmas, I was over in Brownwood finishing my shopping and spied a WW II/Korean veteran’s, ball cap and, like I always do, went up to the man and held out my hand. He took my hand and accepted my thanks, then, from out of his coat pocket, he removed a paper and handed it to me. On the paper was a poem that he had written, a brief description of why he wrote it and his picture. This surprised me and I told him about my blog and he said that I could put this on it if I wanted to. Everyone will enjoy this!

Robert W Hickey’s picture shows, among his medals, a Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. In WW II he served with the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division on Mindanao Island, P.I. and was wounded on 12 June 1945 at Mandog Crossing in the hills above Davao.

Right on the button, at 5:30 AM during the fall of 1972 in Arizona, I had stopped by to pick up a hunting buddy for a go at some gamble quail. The night before he had mentioned that breakfast would be ready at 5:30 so there I was.

Walking in I could smell bacon and a new, pleasant aroma that I couldn’t identify. Asking him, he replied, “That’s green chilies and onions. I picked up the recipe when I lived in El Paso.” I ‘picked’ it up that morning and it’s been with my family and I ever since!

Green chilies and onions enhance the flavor of almost any food. It’s wonderful served on, or with, steak, chicken, burgers, pork loin, over eggs, in soft flour tacos, jalapeno cornbread dressing or whatever! I’ve even quipped that it would be good on peach cobbler and ice cream!

It’s an easy dish to prepare, there are only three ingredients, but down here, in Texas, some work better than others. We prefer10/15 onions that were developed at Texas A & M, or Vidalia onions, however, any sweet onion will do. Paces or H.E.B.’s, Hill Country Fare , chilies are the best. H.E.B.’s come in a little larger can and any good butter will suffice.

It is an easy dish to prepare:

Take one stick of butter out of the wrapper and place in a skillet.
Open one can of chopped, green chilies and add entire contents of the can to the butter.
Peel one, fist size, 10/15,onion and slice, then spread over the butter and chilies.
Set range heat to medium and cover with a lid.
Stir occasionally and cook until the onions are done, approximately 10-15 minutes.
Serves two people.
For larger groups, double, triple or quadruple the ingredients.
If some is left over, it’s great warmed up and served on scrambled or fried eggs.
Enjoy!