Recipes and meals spring- summer 2013 MidAtlantic & friends

LOL http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/om-nom-nom-nom

that was soo cute!
Now I have to do Dictionary.com and find out just what meme means.

Tonight's dinner: fresh Asparagus and something else. I may have to start freezing some.

Braggart.

LOL!

Leftover pasta and sausage sauce into a baked mini penne dish. Spinach.

LOL Jill. I miss spoke (snicker, snicker), we actually ended up running an errand for our garden club plant sale setup tomorrow and ate at Taco Bell. I just can't give up all bad things.

Jim grilled some delicious chicken, and we had simple sides -- rice with a little parmesan and french-cut green beans.

I've been cutting chicken breasts into cubes for the grill lately... Jim marinates them (tonight, in italian salad dressing fortified with a little extra balsamic & garlic) and strings them on a kebab skewer. He says it's much easier to grill a "stick" of chicken and have it come out evenly cooked/moist.

I like Taco bell too once in a while.
Yum O on the chicken. We've never mastered bone in chicken on grill.

Try chicken under a brick -- it is the best ever.

I do have plenty of bricks!

Seriously. There are a million variations -- here's one: http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/grilling-mistakes

Chicken curry. I can prep this morning, and the two DSs can make while I'm at work.

I LOVE chicken curry....

we used all recipes dot com, chicken curry II, FWIW

Yum.

I'll bring it over here, more appropriate. I like to take 4-6, 6-8" stems of spearmint and bruise it by folding it in wax paper and using a rolling pin. Then I just drop it in a pitcher of tea as it steeps, I just love how refreshing it taste. I usually just leave it in the pitcher til it's empty.

Today's gonna be a good day to cool off with that Ric.

So, what goodies were part of your Memorial Day weekend?

Here we enjoyed two cook outs. One featured ahi tuna, with curried quinoa and brocolli as sides. Yesterday was sage pork sausage patties with asparagus and sweet corn.

Yum!! Mine sounds boring in comparison.

Sat. Burgers and dogs. Baked Mac and cheese. Some of gita's pickles. Fruit salad
Sun. Don't remember it was that spectacular
Mon. We both ate when we felt like it. So we grazed on what was in the frig. I was busy gardening and Jeff was cleaning out the garage to get ready for his next project(making 14 heavy duty classroom tables) and working on the kitchen door and doing something at DS's house to get ready to put in some AC units. It was 7 when I came inside for the final time. I did take a break in the afternoon to catch up on DG.

Today should be better. A couple, who are moving to AL are coming over for dinner. Spaghetti and ? Salad. I have to take a friend with a broken ankle to the doctor today. So, I don't know how much time I'll have to make a dessert.

Fresh Strawberries!

I'm not necessarily recommending this, but I remember in my grad student days enjoying whole strawberries dipped in sour cream and then in a bit of brown sugar! Messy but good. Didn't eat yogurt back then or worry about sugar intake either.

Anyone remember that old chilled desert made by layering vanilla wafers? Was it with vanilla or butterscotch pudding and sliced bananas?

Oh, YES, fresh strawberries. I need to get some today!!!

I loved when mom made nana pudding with vanilla wafers and she used vanilla pudding.

Hm. DS made tabbouleh (lebanese grain salad with olive oil, lemon, tons of parsley, chopped tomato) and DH actually liked it. Mark is generally not the most adventurous eater.
Yesterday grilled chicken, pasta salad, cole slaw, watermelon- and two kids ended up with impromptu other plans.
Today = grilled chicken, pasta salad, cole slaw, watermelon...LOL

Cole slaw was not very good- one of those really dense hard as a rock cabbage heads. The Asian store sells 'Korean cabbage' which is a flat head and kind of loose, and sweet and crispy- makes great coleslaw.,

Heehee.

Napa cabbage? I like that for coleslaw or stir-fry too.

Yesterday made a bit of BBQ pork with potato salad and a green salad. Might have some fish with cilantro butter on it with asparagus and sliced tomatoes.

Poke chops, boiled'n browned taters, and asparagus tonight.

I love my crocks pots. I have 3 (different sizes) and use them for everything from breakfast to desserts. (not everyday, but often) You can find more recipes than you'll ever make by just running a search for "crock pot recipes" or "slow cooker recipes". I did run across this the other day. This woman buys her stuff, then divides everything she needs for a crock pot meal into a freezer bag and freezes. When she leaves for work she drops a bag's ingrdients into her 5 qt. crock pot and comes home to supper ready. I think this is a great idea, but I'd also add ingredients to the bread maker, set the timer and have hot fresh bread ready too. LOL

Check it out - 40 meals in 4 hours-

http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

Do your own but if interested here is her shopping list

http://whoneedsacape.com/crockpot-freezer-cooking-master-shopping-list/

Debbie

So, what's on the menu for the 4th of July??

Maybe those Primal Grill and similar cooking shows should do some 'rained out' segments?
All weather grilling!

We hope to have grilled sage pork sausage w new potatoes, roasted cauliflower with oodles of garlic cloves, cole slaw and something green and red with two sungold tomatoes each for garnish. If weather poor, we'll just do above as foil packets!

Had a pork shoulder in the slow cooker all night layer of onion on the bottom and generous layering of 'rub' and half cup of water. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM its good. I just pulled it in a 13 by 9 for later heating.
Classic Macaroni Salad by Hellmans
Corn on the cob
Mixed veg saute squash cabbage tomatoes okra.
Oh I have beans to pick I think. and blueberries.

Yum!!! We will be going to DS's for a BBQ with a couple new families that have been coming to church. Probably hot dogs and burgers. I'm bringing marinated green beans and chips.

I also tried a recipe using dry angel food cake mix mixed with lemon pie filling. That's the only ingredients. of course I had to test it. YUM!!!!

What time did you say dinner was Sally?

I'm thinking some of that guacamole that Catbird brought to Casual Thurs would be good....

Seriously, if anyone is doing 'ribs' and invites us, we'll be wearing the new

Rib Stain Camo t shirts !!!

Heehee.

Oh my. DD helped me pick another quart or two of blueberries. She said. DO you have to freeze them before you make pie? I said No ....hey we can make a pie.! I have ready crust...

Put in oven, wandered to the yard..DD was in the house at take out time..
Dropped it. Huge blueberry slop on throw rug.

Poor thing! She shrugged it off.

Next step= making pie crust lesson.

Pie 2 is in the oven now.

The portion left in pie plate 1 was soooooooooooo goooooooooood.

I'm a big big fan of those pilsbury refrigerated crusts... half the time, what I make wouldn't be as good, so I'm happy to settle for something easy that's on average like my homemade!

We had a pretty evening after all last night, so Jim grilled burgers while I heated beans (we add a teaspoon or so of dry mustard, a tablespoon-ish of dark molassass, a schlorp of ketchup to a can of baked beans, heat on stovetop until thickened). Nuked some corn, too. Just the thing before heading into town for fireworks!

For lunch yesterday, we did English muffin pizzas... Wegman's "chunky" pizza sauce turns out to be pretty good! Added pepperoni, pre-cooked mushrooms, onion, peppers, and topped off with an italian cheese mix before putting in the oven. Oh -- important -- must pre-toast the muffins enough to be a bit crispy (don't have to be brown), or you'll have soggy crust.

Joyanna said, let's make pizza with chocolate and marshmallows! So we made dessert pizzas with our pre-toasted eng. muffin crusts, also. Mini chocolate chips nestle perfectly in the nooks & crannies. A layer of sliced strawberries followed (optional -- arrange them prettily, like a flower), and then mini marshmallows were dotted on top. They went into the toaster oven for about 5 minutes at 425', until the marshmallows were golden and the chocolate was melty. YUM

We had a pick-up 4th of July party - a lot of fun was had by all beating the heat by floating in the pond and sitting under the shade umbrellas. I did a quick head count - 30 people for a spur of the moment thing! We had grilled chicken strips, teriyaki thin sliced steak, hamburgers, the most wonderful fresh fruit, raw vegetable platter, pasta salad, deviled eggs, and desserts. Yum Yum. Heading down to the pond now to grill the rest of the chicken strips and finish up the left-overs.

Sounds great Teri, and refreshing.
Jill, it sounds as though Joyanna has a "somores" syndrome. LOL
We went to a picnic on the 4th and I ended up being the griller, lots of goodies. Teriyaki kabobs, chicken, burgers, and dogs with about an inch and a half of rain starting after I cleaned the grill.
This evening was grilled country sausage, baked potatoes, and chopped salad.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2013 8:58 PM

Just saw this thread; if ViburnumValley is still following it, here's another gizzard-lover. I cook them low and slow in fat or oil as in confit de gésier, which is a French dish, and they're great on a bed of mixed greens with some balsamic vinaigrette. I have a couple of packages of them in my freezer and I really should cook them up. The first time I saw them on a menu I thought it sounded awful but then I tried them and I'm a convert!

I love all the talk of the great foods you guys are having, I got hit with the flu on July4th, and have had an unplanned 4 day weekend because of it. Finally feeling better and trying to decide what I want to eat tomorrow.

Well gal, I got hooked on organ meat as a little kid and haven't been able to shake it yet. I have butchered mostly anything and when we did hogs we'd scald, scrape, and half them the night before we cut to let the meat firm up overnight. Usually late Nov. early Dec. so we had deer bones to add to the kettle meat. One of the first things out of the kettle were the kidneys, strung on a wire (to find them), rolled in kosher salt and served with Bloody Marys for breakfast. It was a treat for anyone showing up early enough. One of my favorite Hors d'oeuvres is either fowl livers or scallops wrapped and broiled with good smoked bacon. Can't do with GOUT them! LOL
Thank God I'm a country boy.

Robin, so sorry you were down for the celebration. How 'bout some chicken soup. If your feelin' wild and crazy add some oyster crackers. Hope your soon 100%.