In Season Recipes

Blundin....

I am so glad you liked the soup, everyone in my family loves it too.  I think the possibilities are endless on things you can add to it, and experiment with different kinds of cheese.  

I made both your eggplant and the pasta salad.  My husband and I loved both.  The pasta salad was so fresh and light, it was perfect for a summer day.  I baked the eggplant mixture in the crust and topped with a little mozzarella and let it melt.  It was amazing!  My daughter also got in to it and said to put it on the list!

 I also have a wrap that I make all the time you might like.  We have a very low carb/high fiber wrap that I love, it is soft enough to fold with out breaking and has a wonderful flavor.  I spread it with a soft spreadable white cheese, we use Laughing Cow, but you can use any kind.  I then sprinkle with dried cranberries, walnuts and thinly sliced granny smith apples. You can use any apple but I like the sour with the nuts and cranberries.  I then top with a cranberry-walnut dressing.  Wrap up and enjoy.  It is very simple, healthy, and a good light lunch.

Keep the ideas coming, this has been great.  Thanks again....Laura

Just stumbled upon this thread.  Just commenting so I can mark as a favorite.  Plan to try the greek pasta dish today.  I will add a recipe after I eat!

Blundin what a beautiful yard you have!.....And fresh cherries are my favorite!.......

The Cherries sound amazing....I was raised with a black cherry tree in my backyard...We had to pick them before the birds got them...It was always so fun to be up in the tree!

Tonight for us is sandwich night....I bought a roasted turkey breast and I am going to put it on whole grain bread, with whole cranberry sauce and brie.  Not sure what the side will be, some kind of veggie.   

Hope you are all well.....Laura

Girls, all your receipes sound delicious.  I've printed them out and will be sure to try them. 

One of our favorite summer dishes is grilled pineapple.  Just take a fresh pineapple, slice it into long pieces and throw it onto the grill for a few minutes each side.  They are so fresh and delicious. 

Enjoy the evening.

Blundin,

I don't know what keeps that salad crisp...must be a scientific reason. You can use low fat mayo..works just as well or the lite. It is so good!! Al the resipes here sound so good. Nice to make soemthing different and new.

Have a great day.

Has anyone ever made watermelon/feta/olive/onion salad?  It's surprisingly yummy and fresh.

Oh, wow -- that salad looks soooo good!  I'm making it tonight!  Thank you!

As far as fast & easy summer meals, don't forget impromtu stir frys, which can often be done with whatever you have in the frig or garden, if you have one.  I had a small uncooked tenderloin filet (natural beef from Whole Foods) leftover from Father's Day, so last night sliced it paper thin and I did a stir fry with sliced sweet onion, sliced baby portabellas (both good for us now, and I had both on hand), and some fresh green beans (the only thing I had to pick up, which are in season here now and so good).  I seasoned with a bit of low-salt soy sauce mixed with some garlic and just a bit of natural brown sugar, then also threw in some sesame seeds.  Served over brown rice, and both DH and I thought it was quite good, especially for taking almost no planning.    Deanna

Editing to add 2 ingredients I noticed I left out -- crushed ginger (comes in a little jar -- quicker than fresh -- and Five Spice Powder (my wonder flavoring for stir frys).

Mmmmmm!  I will try the watermelon salad as well.  Sounds good and looks great!

The rhubarb cake will be tried as soon as my oven will be repared, it broke down before my vacation and it has been surprisingly difficult to get an electrician to take a look at it.  Hope I don´t need to buy a new one

Tonight I served pesto-pasta salad which my children love, very simple to prepare.  For 300 g pasta you use 3 diced tomatos, 1/2 diced cucumber, 1 diced red pepper and 150 g sliced ham, cut to pieces as well.  Combine with cooked pasta.

Mix togather 200 g of green pesto, 4 tbsp of extra vigin olive oil, 1 tbsp of balsamic and ground black pepper.  Blend well with the pasta salad and serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Love to you all.

May I join?

If you like tomatoes, here's a simple tomato salad.  We have a bush that's just bareing it's little head off right now.

2 cup cherry tomatoes

Olive oil

3 tablespoons buttermilk

1 tablespoon fresh basil

1 tablespoon fresh oregano (sp?)

1 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

Rinse and dry tomatoes, then cut in half.  If larger, then quarter. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Add buttermilk, and spices.  Let sit on cabinet for 1 hour at room temperature, then refridgerate until ready to serve. Add pepper.

Made this and my very picky husband loved it!!  Of course, to use up the rest of the buttermilk, I just had to make a pound cake.....so there goes the "healthy" part of the dinner!

Enjoy!

Jennifer

What a great thread!!

About as fancy as strawberries get at our house is sliced up on a little ice cream or frozen yogurt. Mostly it's: pick one out of the bowl, pull the top off with your thumbnail and eat. We freeze a ton and use them for smoothies all year. The goal is to have enough to last until next June! I adore picking strawberries.

The greens are going crazy now. We make croquettes out of fresh greens - usually chard (now), sometimes collards, kale, a mixture (in the fall)... Take a huge bunch of greens and steam them down (remember that collards and kale take a while). Then chop them roughly and let it cool a bit. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix up an egg, a piece of broken up bread, some garlic, red pepper flakes, coarsly ground - actually little chunks - nuts (we use walnuts usually), maybe some cheese - feta or moz. Sometimes we'll throw in some various herbs or arugula from the garden. Toss this all together with the chard and then grab a handful and make a patties out of it on an oiled stove-top griddle. Brown each side, they don't need to be cooked for long. We still haven't come up with a really good sauce for it but tend to use my DH's all-purpose mix of Pickapeppa and Franks hot sauces. Would be happy for suggestions.

This one is great for all summer long - NOT "diet" by any stretch of the imagination. I make it for many occasions (including my last chemo treatment when I took it in for the oncology unit staff) and everyone always oos and ahs and thinks I'm such a great cook! Really simple tho!

Combine 1-1/2 C flour, 1/2 C sugar, 2/3 stick butter and a little salt (I forgot to write down the amount - y'know, some) until crumbs are formed. (I do this with my fingers but a pastry cutter works well too - just not as much fun!)

Set aside 3/4 C of the crumb mixture.

Press the rest of the crumbs into a buttered (or parchment papered) 9" springform pan covering the bottom and about 3/4" up the sides.

NOTE: I tend to 1-1/2 or double the crumb recipe because, well, I just like the crumb stuff a lot and found that the amount called for just barely covered the pan.

Cut up (bite sized pieces) 5 cups of fruit (for a summer solstice party this year I did strawberries, cherries and blueberries. Love using peaches for it too. I've never done apple but that could be interesting.) Mix the fruit with 2 T tapioca, 1/2 C sugar (more or less depending on how sweet the fruit is already), 3/4 t cinnamon and 1/4 t nutmeg (I'm always generous with the cin and nut) and arrange the mixture in the shell.

Bake 450 F for 20 minutes

Sprinkle on the remaining crumbs

Bake another 20-25 minutes more or until crumbs are golden brown.

When I made it recently I doubled the crumb and it was really too much. At the last second I pressed it into 2 small Pyrex bowls, sprinkled on some herbs and, on one put olive paste and grated parm/reg and on the other put grated gruyere and cheddar with some sun-dried tomato pieces. OMG! The sweet/savory thing was fantastic. Nice surprize.

Blundin...that looks awesome!  I'm so glad you liked it!!!