Well, it’s Memorial Day weekend! Over the next few months there will be lots of get-togethers; picnics, reunions, graduations and other types of potluck events. What are your favorite summer dishes?
Last year about this time, our friend Menagerie said this:
We need a summer recipe post. I’m craving summer salads with chopped vegetables. Maybe fruit dishes as well. We get so many delicious fresh fruits and vegetables and I’m looking for new ides on how to fix them.
Maybe that could be one of your summer posts, maybe even combine it with stories. I don’t have lots of memories from my childhood, but I do remember cookouts, family reunions, a few church events, trips to my friend’s grandmother’s house for a big family lunch after church, then all the kids played outside for hours. Churning ice cream. Watermelons that my dad kept cold in his big walk in freezers at the farmers market. Selling peaches on a stall at the market when I was about ten or twelve. The excitement of the first days when the truck farmers would show up with their pickup beds full of corn, panel trucks loaded with all kinds of homegrown vegetables.
The farmers and their sons would often stay in their trucks until they sold all their produce, occasionally even their wives and a small child or two would stay too.
I guess summer will always take me back to the farmers market I grew up on.
Sorry, I got off on a trip back in time.
I have a lot of memories about food too – especially family gatherings.
- Reunions at the farm, at my Aunt Flossie’s house and at our house one year too. Flossie’s baked beans, my mother’s potato salad, lots of corn on the cob (roasted or boiled), and fried chicken and ham.
- Hamburger cookouts, with all the trimmings.
- Trips to the state park to swim, cooking breakfast and lunch over a charcoal or wood fire.
- Road trips with a picnic along the way, usually at one of the “Dodge Parks”.
- Sunday dinner at the farm. Fried chicken, and whatever vegetables were ready in the garden. New peas and potatoes, cucumbers and onions sliced in vinegar, tomatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, pickled beets, cucumber pickles, homemade chili sauce.
- Lovely summer desserts, usually involving fruit. Strawberry shortcake, angel food cake stuffed with strawberries and whipped cream, cherry pie, rhubarb pie, peach cobbler, apple crisp! My mother’s applesauce cake, made with home canned applesauce, raisins and nuts, and topped with her “penuche” (brown sugar) frosting. And just plain fruit – watermelon and cantaloupe, all kinds of berries, cherries, peaches and plums.
Now I’m hungry.
What do you remember? What are your favorite summer recipes, especially those with the bounty of the season – lots of lovely veggies and fruit?
Stella's Place 
Yum! BEst form of year for food, even better than the holidays for the freshness and choices. Here’s a favorite.
https://southernbite.com/corn-salad/
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Looks and sounds delish! Ima make it for the church picnic in 2 weeks.
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Here’s a berry smoothie recipe. I never use sugar though, only honey. This recipe would be good with any berry, and really good with peaches too.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/215184/blueberry-smoothie/
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For all the tomato lovers. This is something my family loves so much.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/tomato-pie-recipe-1914134
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I love tomato pie!
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A lady in Scotland made this for me and it was fab! No recipe, just “do it by ear” she said, lol.
Hull and slice some nice ripe strawberries, sprinkle a little sugar over them, then pour over a little bit of good balsamic vinegar. Add a good sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper, and let it macerate in the fridge for at least an hour. Good with a bit of pound cake, and maybe’s a bit of whipped cream. It sounds weird, but it is so good! I’ve always liked black pepper on cantaloupe, so it wasn’t too weird for me. How in the world someone thought up this recipe is a mystery, but THANX!
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I’ve heard of strawberries with balsamic vinegar before, but I don’t think I’ve ever put pepper on them! I’ll take your word for it that it’s good.
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I make a fruit salad. I chop up pretty small at least 6 fruits, apples, banana, pear, peach, orange, berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, whatever.
Then add some chopped up walnuts or pecans, or another nut. Maybe some shredded coconut and raisins.
Eat it like that or put some plain yogurt, fruited yogurt, or even vanilla yogurt on as a dressing. Sometimes, I top it all with a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese. Makes a good meal.
The only problem is not ending up with a huge amount.
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I have the same problem with not ending up with a huge amount of anything I make. I tell myself every time to scale it down but somehow never seem to mange to do it.
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My favorite winter fruit salad is bananas, orange sections, pineapple and (sometimes) mango. In the summer, I usually like my fruits one at a time. The past couple of weeks, the fresh pineapples have been absolutely sweet, juicy and delicious! It must be their season.
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I just finished making a bunch of chocolate covered strawberries for a get together tomorrow 🙂 !
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Just found this on Pinterest. I want to make this immediately. Unfortunately, it would involve a trip to the store. It sure looks delicious.
https://www.withpeanutbutterontop.com/cajun-lime-chicken-avocado-corn-salad/
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Yum!
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My daughter brought back oranges from Florida! I have fresh strawberries, blue berries and raspberries so I’m making fruit salad for lunch. Yummo!
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Nothing like Florida oranges!
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