Being overlooked is no fun. It makes you feel useless, unwanted and unloved.  I remember being a student at Walter Jackson Elementary in Decatur and being overlooked. It was field day 1974. I was eight years old. It was time to choose teams for a baseball game. You know where this is going …

Let me begin this story by saying, although my Granddaddy Carlos Ramsey was an incredible baseball player, the baseball gene was not passed on to  me. Not even one sliver of it. He was historic in these parts as a genius left-handed, southpaw pitcher. But sadly, his granddaughter Kelley was left behind in the baseball world. In my defense, I had an eye doctor tell me in my adult years that my lack of baseball skills wasn’t really my fault.  I have a depth perception issue with my vision. But try telling that to a group of sweaty kids on field day who just want a blue ribbon naming them “Field Day Baseball Champs 1974.” See how many of them care about your depth perception problems. 

We all stood in a line on the side of the baseball field and waited, sweat dripping down our backs and bugs swarming around our heads, until the team “leaders” called our name to join their team. Anxiously I waited, silently praying and pleading “Please Lord don’t let me be last!”  Name after name was called. The teams were building and I was still standing on the sidelines.  “Please, oh PLEASE!  Don’t let me be last.”  Shawna, Leslie, Billy, Art, Donna” … each child’s name being called until there were two people left on the sidelines.  Me and John.

Not my husband John, this was a different John. This was the shortest guy in our class who had broken his foot two weeks prior to field day and his leg as in a cast John.  Yep, it was down to me and the cast. The cast had a little rubber knob on the bottom of it and so John could run if he needed to. I was hoping no one but me noticed that little rubber knob on his cast. 

The “leaders” stood there in the sun, squinting and looking me and John up and down … I held my breath and kept praying.  “Kelley”, one said!  Oh praise be and let the game begin, I wasn’t last.  Never had I ever rejoiced over someone having a broken leg, but on this day in the spring of 1974 — I said a little prayer of rejoicing that John had a cast on his leg and that gave me a “leg up” so to speak.  Poor John with the cast was chosen last … and I skipped over to my team! 

There is a bag on the produce shelf that probably feels like I did on that spring day.  It’s left out most of the time, overlooked and forgotten. In fact, when I mention it to most folks I find out that they never have even tried this overlooked piece of produce. 

The parsnip is a grand vegetable. It’s often used in Irish recipes. I had never, to my knowledge, tried the parsnip until our trip to Ireland last year. The parsnip is a hardy root vegetable that has a sweet, nutty flavor.  It looks very much like a white carrot and you’ll find it in the produce section of the grocery usually close to the carrots.  It has a tough, woody texture when raw and must be cooked to soften it up a bit. 

Parsnips can be used in many ways. They can be added to soups or stir fries and are wonderful steamed, roasted or sauted. According to Darina Allen in her cookbook “Irish Traditional Cooking,”  in their valiant efforts to help the poor during the potato famines of 1845 and 1846, The Society of Friends encouraged the cultivation of parsnips which may have been grown in Ireland since early Christian times. There are many references to meacan in early writings, which scholars believe to have been parsnips. Traditionally parsnips are boiled and mashed with country butter. They are also delicious mixed with carrots, or cut into chunks and roasted, either alone or around a cut of meat. 

So toss some carrots and parsnips in a bit of olive oil, honey, salt and pepper.  Roast them for about 30 minutes on 350 degrees and enjoy a grand side dish. 

And just think you’ll be helping the poor parsnip not feel so alone and abandoned … like John and the cast … Slainte Y’all! 

If you would like to know more about local Irish cultural events, please visit the Irish Society of North Alabama’s website at www.shamrockalabama.org.   Also visit Kelley’s food blog “Slainte Y’all” at  http://kelleyusmith.blogspot.com for more Irish recipes with a Southern flare.