A food repeat, just in time for Memorial Day! I would love to know what you are cooking for the holiday. I meal prepped boneless chicken thighs yesterday, so I’ll probably have that with some sort of vegetable sides. Maybe I’ll make zucchini noodles with marinara sauce.
PS: If you are interested in trying it, I’ll post the video I more or less replicated to make my chicken (below.)
Back when I originally posted this, I quoted what our friend Menagerie said:
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?
Here’s the recipe for boneless, skinless, chicken thighs that I made yesterday. The grilling glaze is a great idea, but does include ingredients that most people don’t have in their pantries. I do, so I prepared it like she does, but added a bit of ras el hanout. I also substituted garlic powder, because I was too lazy to grate fresh. My whole house smelled like Morocco!
Recipe for the grilling glaze:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
1 Tbsp Za’atar
1/3 cup oil
2 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane zester
Put everything into a squeeze bottle with a clipped tip (to make sure sesame seeds can go through) and shake well (reshake before each use). Keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. If making it in a bowl, mix everything thoroughly with a fork except for oil. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Whisk before each use.
Za’atar is a dry spice mix, usually including oregano, sumac, marjoram, thyme and sesame seeds and maybe hyssop. If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, try a bit of honey instead.
Stella's Place 
I’m going to have to find a middle eastern restaurant! Th3e are great ones in NO, but I’m afraid to go to those neighborhoods.
Fruit and simple veggies I can do.
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We have many here in the Detroit area. Grocers too.
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Stella, Conner’s “garden” in the Green Stalk is coming along so well. Soon he will have tomatoes galore, and some strawberries too. We have basil and they sent us some mini carrots when we ordered the second planter. Those are already doing well too.
His mother makes an excellent tomato pie, using this recipe. We add another cup of cheese, usually Gouda. The secret is in draining the tomatoes. Leave no liquid! This is my favorite summer recipe.
Okay, except for the squash, and the okra. And strawberry shortcake and the…
https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/savory-tomato-pie/
I’ll be tied up with other things tomorrow and probably won’t cook, but I hope to check back and find some good recipes!
I had forgotten my farmer’s market musings.
We were never sure exactly which week the farmers would come rolling in with all their bounty. It sure was exciting when they all came. It seemed like all the ladies in town would swarm the stalls, and you knew they’d be busy for a week freezing and canning.
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I never heard I’d tomato pie til I moved to Louisiana, and never made it til I had a jillion tomatoes. Thx for the recipe, I love smoked Gouda..
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I also make a quiche from Paula Deen that’s is easy and very good.
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Spinach pie. Been making it for 50 years!
Buy or make a Regular sized Pie crust
Melt together 4 oz grated cheddar cheese and 4 oz cream cheese. Cool a bit. Quickly stir in 4 beaten eggs. Steam 10 oz chopped spinach, or thaw and drain the same amount. Stir in with 4 chopped green onions. Pour into the pie shell and bake for about 30 minutes, or til it starts to slightly brown. I like it best at room temperature or cold from the fridge.
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I am definitely trying this. I love spinach just anyway you can eat it!
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Czar made big pots of stewed tomatoes with okra, onions and celery, and stewed tomatoes with zucchini, tomatoes and celery. Great leftovers and almost no calories!
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My son turned me on to grilled okra. You shake in a bag with a little olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, and grill until charred. It needs to be black. Delicious!
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People in Louisiana and Mississippi do magic with okra, onions, celery, and tomatoes!
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Mix in large bowl:
3 lbs yellow squash
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup bisquick
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In separate bowl mix mix and beat
4 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp of Italian seasoning
Add to first bowl and mix
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Author notes she add her favorite cheese to top.
Two of my sister in law are raving about this recipe. I’d sure try it today if I had any bisquick. Not too sure homemade mix would work well, although there are recipes out there for it.
I might change the seasoning on it too.
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Yum. Love yellow squash, too.
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One more. I don’t know if this is a Southern thing or not. Years ago I went to a fall festival and they had a seniors’ church group serving delicious home cooked meals to raise money. I’d never heard of cornbread salad before, but I had to try it.
I spent a number of months perfecting my own recipe, but I don’t make it a lot anymore. This link has the basics. I do not add pecans. I do add celery, chopped green onions as well as red, and a little sour cream in the mayo. Salt, pepper, celery seed, and whatever seasonings I’m in the mood for. I may top with chopped egg, also if I’m in the mood.
You can add chopped ham or rotisserie chicken leftovers and just make it a meal. It seems strange at first but it’s so good. Day old crumbled cornbread is best.
https://cherryhillcottage.typepad.com/cherryhill_cottage/2008/01/cornbread-salad.html
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I used to make Bread Salad, like this recipe. Used up stale French bread and tomatoes when I had lots of them. Czar and I loved it.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16226/mid-summer-italian-bread-salad/
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I have fallen completely in love with gardening and the ability to harvest and the learning process of preparation. Recently we harvested beets and canned them and they are beautiful. Now I am harvesting basil and have learned the versatility of pesto. My green beans and tomatoes aren’t far behind for harvesting . This has been so entertaining for my wife and me and so many wonderful veggies to enjoy and to preserve for winter.
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In Utah we made pickled green beans, and loved them.
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