John, I'm not much of a salad eater, but your salads all look tasty. I might even like the limes.

It has actually been hot here the last few days.

One night, when I didn't want to turn on the oven, I baked a pizza on the grill. It was a large pizza so I started it on a pan. Let it bake for about one minute, just long enough to firm up the dough and then slid the pizza directly onto the grill.

Ready for the grill. Topped with favourite sauce, Bocconcini cheese, Italian sausage and fresh basil.

I've been eating a lot of Caprese Salads. One of our grocery stores carries Heirloom tomatoes. My favourite is the Black Krim.

Thank you.

Ann

stuffed and ready for batter and fry pan (I recommend if you do this, you seal them up (twist the tops, etc) better than I did. I lost a lot of the cheese!)

Also the first time I've worked with tempura batter (I don't fry much at all!)

We had cabbage soup and bruschetta to go with it. The cabbage also from my co-worker's garden, and tomatoes from two local farms, White Gate in East Lyme and Whittles in Mystic

(those grape tomatoes are oh, so sweet)

Dessert was a black and blue galette made from local organic blackberries and blueberries

Now I have cabbage soup for lunch all week :-)

Ann, I love how both your salad and your pizza look. Those tomatoes look way better than my grocery-story tomatoes! I think I need to convince DH (the grill is his domain) to cook a pizza on the grill!

Would love a slice of your Galette. Would go great with my morning coffee.

Dinner last night was Veal Piccata with a side of pasta.

UE, I keep opening this thread to look at your eggplant. I can almost taste it. On a trip to Texas, I had a side dish of lady cream peas with a flavor much like marrow beans. Is that the same variety as yours?

Bizzo, I've never eaten squash blossoms but I would be happy to try yours.

As I mentioned in another thread, both DH and I have been working at our library's used book sale the last couple of weeks so meals have been less than stellar. I did find and buy a few treasures. I love the cover illustration on this 1942 booklet.

Vegetables are pouring in from our neighborhood gardens. Strings of just-picked yellow and green squash, tomatoes, and herbs mixed with ham and sauteed shitake strips; a drizzle of Bernaise sauce and toasted almonds on top. I didn't realize until now how the food colors matched the placemats.

One night we had a picnic dinner of burgers, potato salad and baked beans made with the large dried limas and plenty of molasses.

That is a great book cover.

~Ann

Adam - I don't follow any blogs, I'll look at them when something sends me their way, but I don't follow any. But if I did, yours would be at the top of my list. I love your food and your writing. BTW for the life of me I still can't find Dietz and Weitz (or whatever) hot dogs anywhere. Other products of theirs, yes, hot dogs, no. Is it really worth continuing the quest?

Bizzo - For weeks now I've been meaning to try making lobster tempura. You may have set me over the edge.

Ruthanna - I think it was you who posted a soup recipe with marrow beans months ago? I mail ordered 10 pounds, but that's as far as I got. Thanks for the reminder.

Dinner last night was Bratwurst burgers on pretzel rolls. Yum. I ground boneless pork ribs in the KA and then mixed in fresh Bratwurst from the German butcher on the second grind. The 50/50 ratio was perfect. I made a beer cheese sauce to go with it, but it was terrible so I used mustard instead. No pictures as the rolls were delicous but unattractive. Even by my standards.

FOAS, I have a couple of soup recipes that are good for marrow beans. One has beer in the broth; the other has white wine. Remind me when you're ready for soup time and I can repost them.

FOAS, I don't follow any blogs either, I can rarely remember that they exist. When I think of it, I do check out Ann T's, Robin Kate's, Sol's and/or Carol's. The problem is that I seldom remember! Now I'll have to bookmark Adam's too, since I liked his Sichuan Eggplant so well.

Ruthanna, that looks like a very interesting book. I still have an old Ball Blue Book from the 60s but none that old, it's interesting to see the differences, isn't it?

I have a follow up tomorrow with the dentist and still have some trouble chewing, so Elery made broccoli cheese soup last week. Why does it seem so unseasonal to eat soup in the summer?

Makayla had made Chicken Cordon Bleu while she stayed with me and I didn't have a camera. We warmed some up that was leftover, and Elery took a picture with his phone, so here it is. It was yummy too:

Elery grilled shrimp yesterday and we had it with fresh kale from the garden and some marinated 3 bean salad, with fresh beans, also from the garden:

Tonight I had a tomato sandwich on white squishy bread with Miracle Whip. I used this nice Rutgers tomato, it was a toss up between that and the Cherokee Purple behind it:

I canned some fresh corn, 6 pints. I usually freeze it but with those chickens I put in the freezer and more coming in a couple of months, I need the freezer space, so it got canned, but not before I had a couple of ears for supper.

905 of the peach crop was lost to frost this year, along with the apples, cherries, pears, apricots and plums. A local orchard "found a few" and were selling them for $25 a half bushel, more than twice the usual price. I didn't buy a half bushel for that price, but I did buy a few to eat fresh with homemade yogurt for breakfast, and I canned 7 pints for Ashley who cannot be happy without home canned peaches occasionally, LOL.

Other than that, I've been busy canning. 13 pints of 3 bean salad, 12 pints of bread and butter pickles, 9 pints of sweet pickles. 2 jars of pickled onions for Mother, half a dozen jars of blueberry jam because it's my brother's favorite. Those peaches and corn, and 5 jars of a new recipe, peach BBQ sauce. It's got some hot peppers, Elery loves it and it's too hot for me, so it's probably pretty hot, LOL. Oh, and 5 quarts of his beloved pink half runner beans., as well as 10 pounds of blueberries in the freezer. So, I've been staying out of trouble. (grin)

Annie

Ann's piccata makes me think I need to add chicken piccata back into our rotation...

Last night we had a special treat for DH, one of his FAVORITES... we've dubbed it a "Northville Rueben"... a Rueben sandwich with creamy coleslaw instead of kraut, and Thousand Island dressing instead of Russian. Charlie's Deli in Northville Michigan (6 & Haggerty) sells a mean "Northville Reuben" (we stole the name from them) although they use Russian dressing. Here's ours:

I served it with tempura dill pickles and Frito Scoops. Comfort food of a type at our house!

Annie, Makayla's Chicken Cordon Bleu is better looking than the one I saw recently by America Test Kitchen.

Ruthanna, scrolling from the bottom up on this thread, I can instantly recognize the beautiful dishes you always make.

Ann, a wonderful tasty looking Veal Piccata dish.

unorthodoxepicure, as always, fantastic photos of scrumptious meals.

- - - - - - - - - -- - - - -
A couple of recent dishes.

Live tilapia with roasted elephant garlic, topped with fish roe.

Pulled pork and chayote, brown rice.

dcarch

I went out today and worked in the garden, then came home and cleaned the pool. Dentist appointment and I voted. Leftover cheese/broccoli soup was supper.

Annie

Everything looks good, but it is your home grown tomatoes that does it for me.

Dcarch, your pulled pork looks delicious.

Bizzo, great looking deli plate. That would be comfort food in our home too.

Homemade perogies for dinner.

Filled with potatoes, cheddar and fried onions. Served with more fried onions and side pork. And a little sour cream. Froze three dozen to take to Matthew.

Jude, why don't you copy your new chicken recipe to the New Recipe Review?

Bizzo, that's a fine looking sandwich.

Dcarch, I haven't seen whole tilapia for sale around here yet. What's in the sauce?

I had lots of tomatoes and basil on hand so when I pulled up a fresh tomato sauce recipe for gellchom, I decided to make that tonight. We also had a spinach and mushroom salad.

Ruthanna, Whenever I am in an Asian store, I would buy live Tilapia from their tank. It's not expensive, about $3.00 a lb. The sauce is a basic scallion ginger sauce with Shiso leaves blended in.

Lovely pasta with tomato sauce. My garden is pumping out lots of maters. I will be making your recipe this week.

dcarch

Last night was steak on the grill (DH exhibited fine skills!), mashed potato, and chard. I've never had chard, and decided I don't really like it... I hate to admit it but it tastes too "green" for me. But for those of you who do this was a good recipe I got from the weight watchers web site.

2 TBSP slivered almonds
1.5 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup uncooked shallots, chopped (I used green onion)
2 pounds uncooked Swiss Chard, fresh, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide pieces
2 TBSP golden seedless raisons (I used brown)
2 TBSP water
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1TBSP red wine vinegar

Set large nonstick pot over medium heat. When hot, toast almonds, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 3 minutes; remove from pan, chop and set aside.

Heat oil in same pot over medium heat. Add shallots; cook, stirring often, until light golden, about 4 minutes.

Add Swiss chard to pot and increase heat to high; cook, tossing, until chard wilts, about 3 minutes.

Add raisins, water, salt and crushed red pepper; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in vinegar. Transfer to a serving bowl; sprinkle with toasted almonds. Yields about 3/4 cup of Swiss chard and 1 1/2 teaspoons of almonds per serving.

Here's dinner plated:

And the steak was perfect temperature!! I had leftovers for steak sandwiches today, and more set aside for tomorrow!

One thing that I sometimes add is one thin slice
of GOOD garlic baloney, (it's hard to find), that's
my personal version of 'BLT'. I had one of these for
breakfast, but the tomato wasn't completely ripe,
but I could wait no longer. I'm still drooling..OMG!!!

Ruthanna, I wish my tomatoes would hurry up and ripen so I can make a fresh tomato sauce.

Today's dinner was pan roasted halibut with a lemon beurre blanc sauce and oven roasted potatoes.

Dcarch, that's why I've probabaly never seen them here. We have a variety of ethnic markets but no Asian ones that I know of.

Bizzo, I'm sorry you didn't like the chard. There are lots of other greens out there to try.

Last night was soup and sandwich night - chicken corn soup and grilled cheezies. They're open faced grilled American cheese sandwiches. After the bread side is browned, the whole thing is flipped over and the cheese is fried until it's crispy but still soft and melty under the crust. Our kids used to love them.

Ruthanna, your pasta dish looks especially tempting.

Ann, I don't need to tell you how good your meals always look! But I will anyway.

We've had 3 glorious days of rain on and off. We need it so bad. This has been the driest summer in over a decade and the farmers are really feeling it. So there goes our food prices.....up!

With the rain came comfortable, cooler temperatures. Perfect excuse to make meatloaf, roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Our friend brings me zukes, tomatoes and cucumbers out of his garden. I've made him 2 zucchini-chocolate cakes in return. I don't know what to do with zukes, really.

So I shredded one and put in the meatloaf for some extra fiber and veggie. Hubby loved it, so now I know what to do with some of the shredded ones in the freezer over the winter.

Eggplant Parmigiana Stacks. Why do I prefer them? Because I get all the gooey, cheesy, savory qualities of classic Eggplant Parmigiana, but I also get some crispy edges!

UE, that's a great presentation of the eggplant.

I had been hungry for veal after seeing FOAS and Ann's photos but we went out to our favorite local Italian restaurant and had I had some very good veal marsala with no cooking involved.

The book sale is over so I'm back to making normal meals. Last night we had baked flounder and split an awful stuffed baked potato I bought from a new vendor at the farmers' market.

For the last couple of nights, our teatime treat has been what we call nutsy peach pie. It was the first time I made it in my new oven so some of the pecans in the topping were overly crunchy but still edible.

I cooked the Victory Relish for our co-op yesterday and sent it over to someone else to package.

Great looking food everyone!!!!!!

I cooked a pork roast today. I sure have been hungry for one. Yesterday I cooked extra sweet corn, just so I could make fried corn tonight to go with it.

I think I may have found a way to use some of the cherry tomatoes that my plants are producing. Tonight's salad was Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Thyme and Mozzarella. It's from a new cookbook I bought in the spring, "Tender" by Nigel Slater. The cookbook is a really good read.

I also tried out a new (to me) recipe for Peach Crumb Bars. I had enough peaches to try it after making jam.

I have a couple of days of baking ahead of me for Thursdays farmers market but hey.... gotta make something to snack on!

Nancy

Ruthanna, I have to share your Grilled Cheese sandwich method with Matthew. I think he would love it. Love the name Nutsy Peach Pie.

What was wrong with the baked potato?

Jasdip, Looking at your meatloaf has given me a craving. Might have to add it to the menu this week.

Adam, Just how I like my eggplant parmigiana - stacked.

A few of our meals this week.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Pollo alla Marengo

Scones with fresh red currants.

Tex Mex - Pork Chili Verde over cheese filled homemade flour tortillas with black beans, guacamole and homemade salsa.

Leftovers for breakfast with scrambled eggs.

Last night was a momentous occassion. My son agreed to eat spaghetti. Well, not the first bowl because my wife cut it for him, but the second bowl. Even more shocking was my daughter. Not only did she actually take a molecular sized bite before declaring, "I don't like it!" but a few minutes later (after I ate her serving) she said, "I do like it, can I have some more?" If you had any idea what terrible eaters they both are - in particular my daughter - you'd understand why I'm still glowing about it this morning.

So here's the famous meal, Smitten Kitchen's "Naked Tomato Sauce" that ynnej posted a while back, topped with some turkey meatballs I threw together. The kids wouldn't eat the meatballs but hey, one think at a time! Sorry for the sunset lighting...

Nancy roast pork, mashed potatoes and gravy is a favourite of ours, as is the fried corn.

Ann, you had a great variety of meals!

Congrats on getting the kiddos to eat pasta FOAS.

I tried a new recipe that Sara from Everyday Food puts in my mailbox every day. It has chipotle peppers, fresh tomatoes, rice and chicken, so I figured it had to be good.
We just loved it! And it's all done in one pot. Beauty!

One pic of it in the pot, (steamed the lens) the other on the plate.

Jaspid, I'll have to come back to look at your photos. Apparently Photobucket is down.

Spanish Tapas

Garlic Prawns and Pimentos de Padron.

Roast Chicken Dinner

Afternoon Tea

Individual Meringues filled with whipped cream and strawberries.

Ann T, those perogies do look very neat and tidy, mine are always all differrent sies, so are my ravioli, I just can't get them consistent. Not patient enough, I guess.

FOAS, finally your kids ate the pasta. Feed on the small victories, LOL, they happen seldom during times in our kids' lives. The tuna looks perfect, BTW.

Nancy, everything looks delicious. Well, of course, except that Photobucket will let me see it all except the pork. I'll try again later.

ruthanna, that's an interesting way to make grilled cheese, I'm going to try that myself, I always think sandwiches just have too much bread!

lbpod, I've never had garlic bologna, I've never even heard of it. We used to get bulk bologna in rings and Grandma would fry it, and I liked it, but I haven't done that in years.

jasdip, that chicken and rice looks delicious, and so does Ann T's Mexican meal, but the leftovers really look good. I love meals where there are leftovers, it's a whole 'nother meal. (grin)

OK, so what's for dinner? My ex-secretary stopped for lunch and she loves salad, so I made Cathy/Mustangs' fig and proscuitto salad with spring greens and baby spinach. Kim said it was "awesome". Yeah, it was too, and I'm not crazy for salads but that one I like. I made some homemade pasta with herbs from the garden and tosssed together a kind of prima vera with red peppers, zucchini, fresh kale and broccoli and chicken breast, and some of Sol's honey rolls. We were too full for dessert, a blueberry peach tart with a short bread crust. I only got a picture of the tart, LOL, we were hungry and yakked about everything until she had to go back to work.

I tried to post pictures of the tart but I've already forgotten the sites to shrink the pictures, so I'll post them later. Right now I have corn in the canner so I don't have time to mess with it!

Annie

The crust was the best part, shortbread with a good strong vanilla flavor.

I also made Ann T's raspberry bars for my Mother last week. She's the raspberry specialist in the family and said the bars were delicious, but needed twice as many raspberries and some coconut, LOL. She's a big fan of the raspberry/coconut Zinger cupcakes, so now she thinks all raspberry desserts need coconut. She might be onto something, I think it sounds good, so I'll try that next time, but this time we ate them with raspberry ice cream:

I also baked a birthday cake for Elery's granddaughter and spent some time playing with fondant. I don't quite have the hang of making the strings of pearls with the silicone mold I go, and I need more practice on draping, but the birthday girl liked it:

So baking cake and canning corn, that's what I've been doing instead of dinner!

Annie

Ann - Still wanting to try those prawns you get. The tea picture, I'm assuming that's one of your boards? Love it; what kind of wood is that?

I just got done with another delicious CF-inspired (indirectly) lunch. On the poached egg thread Grainlady linked to an NPR article which linked to a recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara With Deep-Fried Poached Eggs. Yep, poached egg breaded - with egg of course - and the "sauce" for the spaghetti was bacon fat, another egg, and parmigiano cheese. While I was at it, "inspired" by the other egg thread and to keep it extra unhealthy, I topped off the meal with a few drags of a cigarette, even though I quit several years ago.

Marinated Grilled Flank Steak & Baby Bellas Drizzled with some garlic butter, of course.

jude

Ruthanna, a well made baked flounder on a well presented fish shaped plate. Your grilled American cheese sandwiches did inspired me to make one for a snack.

Nancy, sweet corn and roasted pork, what a delicious combination.

Ann_t, lovely meals as always, especially the Spanish Tapas.

Annie, I would not mind having that raspberry bars for dinner.

FOAS, sinfully good Spaghetti Carbonara With Deep-Fried Poached Eggs. My Spellcheck keeps on changing "Carbonara" to "Coronary", LOL!

Jasdip, nice team work your roast beef and your DH's potatoes.

unorthodoxepicure, Very appetizing flank steak,
------------------------------------

Sous vide pork tenderloin on risotto and pan fried watermelon rind.

Soft shell crabs are in season, got a few jumbo sized ones.

dcarch

dcarch, those raspberry bars were very good. How could raspberries and dark chocolate be bad? I'll definitely double the raspberries next time, though, and I'm thinking Rob's version with orange marmalade would be really good too. Meanwhile, you're having something I've never tried, softshelled crab. I've never even seen one, but one of these days....

UE, that steak looks perfect.

jasdip, I really like sweet potatoes. I also like regular white potatoes. I think I'd really like the mixture.

Jude, your supper sounds perfect to me, there's no such thing as too many vegetables.

Anyway, dinner. I have fresh tomatoes and corn on the cob. I spent the day cleaning the pool, breaking the lawnmower (darned, I hate it that I didn't get to mow the lawn, LOL)) picking and canning beans and making the first batch of salsa. Also visiting my newest "baby":

Yes, finally, a nice big healthy bull calf and my Bossy Cow is a very good Mama, so she even keeps an eye on me.

Annie

Cold dinner platter last night - sparkly tongue souse from the butcher, horseradish sauce, caponata & pita, red beet eggs.

DH and I go to YMCA three times weekly and on those days for lunch try to do fish. Fridays lunch. Shirl36

Last night I had some spur of the moment company. Sherry (Sheshebop) and her DH were up in my neck of the woods on a camping trip. It was great to see them, they hadn't been able to make it this way in a couple of years. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

Here's our dinner. I made croissants in Sherry's honor. I have made them before for her and found out then they are one of her all time favorites.

We started with roasted tomato salads..

Had to have croissants with salad..

Our main dinner was bacon green bean bundles... I also made roasted sweet potatoes with a maple syrup glaze but for got to take a picture...

Meat was pork tenderloins, using a recipe I found on Pinterest that was on my to do list... they turned out very good with a nice spicy flavor..

Nancy

Watermelon is sweet near the center, it gets not very sweet near the rind. There is a lot of rind on a watermelon to throw away.

The not-so-sweet rind, the white part, is perfect for cooking.

Depending on what you are trying to make, you can include some red and it will be sweeter.

The texture for the rind after cooking is also variable from soft to crispy, depending on your preference. The longer you cook, the softer it gets.

You should always peel off the thin green skin, which is very tough.

You basically cook it about the same way as with broccoli, pan fry, roast, bake, or steam.

You can cook it faster by microwave it first.

dcarch

If I had to eat commercially raised meat, though, I'd give it up. The way the animals are raised, fed, treated and handled is offensive to me. The only way to be able to continue to eat chicken, beef, etc., is to raise it myself, be certain it's healthy and well cared for and finally killed in the fastest and most humane manner possible. I won't even truck the animals to a slaughterhouse, I pay a man extra to come to the farm and do it there, so there's no trucking in trailers, holding in unfamiliar pens or barns. And I still cry every single time.

I could never eat Bossy Cow or Red Cow, any more than I could eat Copenhagen (my saddle horse). Sigh. I make sure that neither I nor my kids or the grandkids make pets of the animals destined to be beef but everything else on the place are absolutely pets, from the cows to the laying hens. I know, not much of a beef farmer, am I?

Annie

FOAS, that deep fried poached egg looks spectacular. I just might have to try that this week. I know Moe would love it. The board is Big Leaf Maple (Western Maple).

Adam, perfectly cooked steak. OOOH and all that garlic. So good.

Dinner last night

Spicy Wings

and homemade fries.

Nancy...I would really like to know what you put on those lovely pork loins.

Wondering what the green part of watermelon tastes like...in my experience it tastes like nothing unless pickled and spiced.

Welcome, Shirl! Nice to see a newcomer jump right in, even if she makes me feel guilty about NOT going to the gym.

Nancy - Dinner with Sherry looks great. Remind her about this place; would be nice to see her post more often again.

dcarch - You've had me curious about your watermelon rinds for a couple years now. Among other places, I've looked at recipes on watermelonrind.com (IIRC - if not exactly that, something like it.) But I think we look at watermelon slightly differently. I rush through the sweet red part in anticipation of getting down to the harder, less sweet, perhaps slightly bitter sections where it starts to get white and green. To me that's the best part, and that's what I gnaw on for a bit.

Dinner tonight was yet another CF-inspired meal. As Pam and Teresa were reminiscing about a past Philly get-together, I was googling Beck's Cajun Cafe's "Train Wreck." Pictured below are leftovers in the process of getting wrapped up. I made homemade French bread figuring on splitting a loaf with my wife, but we both barely got through half of our halves. It was really good, but fill-ING!

FOAS, it's nice to have a sandwich like that just sitting in the fridge waiting for lunch time to roll around.

Jsutt, you made a wonderful birthday dinner for Sally. I'll have a piece of that pie please!

LindaC, I'll just post the recipe for the pork tenderloin. Next time I make it I'll have some grilled fruit on the side, it would go well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Island Pork Tenderloin (adapted from Gourmet Cookbook)

For spice rub:
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 pork tenderloins (2 lbs total) trimmed
2 tbsp olive oil

For Glaze:
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp Tabasco

Stir the spice rub ingredients together in a small bowl and rub all over the pork. Heat oil in ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over medium high heat. Brown pork, turning occasionally, about 4-5 minutes total. Remove from heat, but leave pork in skillet.

Stir together brown sugar, garlic and Tabasco in a small bowl. Pat the mixture on top of the pork. Place skillet in the oven at 350. Roast until thermometer inserted diagonally into the center of each tenderloin registers 140 degrees, about 20 minutes. Let pork stand in skillet, loosely covered with foil for 10 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our dinner last night was very simple. Burgers. We rarely go to a fast food place but sure do enjoy our own fast food.

Instead of fries though, we had corn fritters.

Nancy

This is a core of blue cheese, wrapped in salmon, wrapped in bacon, deep fried. Working up a dish for tuna night but salmon was cheaper for a first experiment. Anyway, if I get the bacon fully crisp through and through, the salmon is overcooked. This will be worse with tuna, since overcooked tuna is cat food. I want the fish nearly raw.

I may try half freezing the fish and cheese, then wrapping with bacon and into the deep fryer. Make sense? Don't bother?

What cheese would go well with tuna? Or is there a better filling? I want something tangy or sweet, contrasting with the salty savory bacon.

Marinate the tuna?

Roast Pork Sirloin with corn pudding.

Italian dinner starting with

an Eggplant, tomato, pesto puff pastry tart

and grilled boneless chicken breasts

with Spaghetti Carbonara.

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

The tomato is wrapped in proscuitto, drizzled with olive oil and baked for 15 minutes.

and beef tenderloin fillets in a green peppercorn cream sauce with Parisienne potatoes and fresh steamed and buttered green beans.

We enjoyed the ultimate Southwestern Surf & Turf: Ancho-braised Beef Shanks and Shrimp Cocktail à la La Mansion del Prado, with a side of Cauliflower-infused Chipotle Garlic Mashers.

Today I'm making sourdough bread again! I was given some dry starter from a Ravelry member and I've revived it, fed it, and began the bread yesterday. I'll bake it later this afternoon.

I'll be so glad when soup weather is finally here!

Teresa

As always this thread inspires me and lays a guilt trip on me!!! What great looking meals.

We have had a ton of company at the cottage this year and to tell you the truth I'm "companied" out! Mind you I have had some great fun trying new recipes and new ideas.

Last week we had a huge "smokefest" with our company. Ribs, wings, baked beans, slaw ....all the usual suspects. New additions were smoked trout, smoked oysters and smoked mac and cheese. It was quite the hit but WAAYYYY too much work!

The week before that I hit a home run with a sorta " Bouillabaisse " dinner. To die for and very easy. I used a white wine, leek, saffron, shallot, garlic broth in the bottom of a large pot with a steamer plate on the bottom. I then layered in, at various time intervals, small red potatoes, clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster, chorizo and corn.

When done I dumped the entire mess onto a large deep sided serving tray and let everyone help themselves. Lots of homemade baguette to sop up the broth....so d@mn good and really easy!

Also had a build your own grilled pizza night and a corn roast and an appetizers only dock party. Like I say I'm done! LOL

Tonight is grilled burgers, sliced field tomatoes and sweet corn.....it will soon be gone and that is a sad thing.

I've been waiting for the romas to make Tomato Pie and tonite I did. My word, is it ever good. I used Ruthie_tx's recipe, using Frank's hot sauce. I did cut down the mayonnaise to 1/2 cup from 3/4, and it made no difference to the setting up or anything.

I've cut the tail end of the romas into the quantity needed to make another pie, asap.

I could turn Southern quite easily. This is a specialty of the south. Except for the grits and the heat! I'm going to start saying Y'all, bless your heart, and fixin' to do something or go somewhere. LOL

Ann, Happy Anniversary to you and Moe, and I wish you many more happy years together.

I've not been cooking, we've been mostly eating hospital food while we were with Elery's Dad. He's doing better now and I'm home, but while we were gone we ate Chicken Crepes at Mimi's Cafe, we had Mexican one day and I tried something new, Goetta. It's basically minced pork mixed with oatmeal, sliced and fried. It tasted like pork loin, I had it with eggs for breakfast.

Other than that, it's been Chick Fil A, hospital cafeteria and what passed for breakfast at the La Quinta. Cooper went along, I don't think he even wants to see McDonald's again, as he had chicken nuggets a couple of times, and burgers other times, and leftovers a couple of times.

Ugh. Back to cooking.

Annie

Ortho, fall will come soon enough, we've had a few cooler days lately, in what has been a high temp, record setting summer.

Teresa, soup weather will be coming.

Sharon, it has been a busy summer around here too. Everyone that could come north has... Our last big summer weekend is coming up.

Jasdip, that Tomato Pie is calling me. Enjoy the tomatoes, they are coming on strong here too.

Annie, sure glad Elery's father is dong so well. Welcome home. Canning season is still going on... so jump in! I made my second batch of sweet relish today.

Tonight's dinner was filet, lobster tails and eggplant.

It was rich and I couldn't eat it all, so I guess it's leftovers for tomorrow.

Nancy

Unorthodox, your beef shanks are incredibly enticing! I love your meals and photography.

Ann, congratulations on your 33rd year! I just love the look of your roasted potatoes. I keep wanting to try making them, then I forget, till I see yours.

Chase, you had a low-country boil! That sounded fantastic. Your whole summer sounds like a string of activity. You'll need to go back to the city for a rest!

Lord have mercy, Jasdip, that tomato pie looks evil. Not sure AnnT,et al could top your picture. Almost had me drooling on my screen. And honey chile, bless your heart, you can come on down south any time.

I'm fixin' to make some more of that Peach Jam on a Cold Morning today. Peaches are about over for this year.

Nancy, Fillet, Lobster and eggplant. What is not to like about that. Yum!!

Picked up fresh halibut on the way home from work and made fish and chips. I had a craving thanks to the other thread.

We pass blackberry bushes on our walk so picked enough to make a cobbler. Served it with a vanilla cream sauce. Like a white caramel sauce.

So, what's for dinner? I had French toast for breakfast and I canned beans instead of dinner. I have a bushel of tomatoes that need to be done next and Elery's Dad has been moved to a rehab facility, so we'll be going there next weekend.

Eventually I'll get back to cooking, all these delicious dinners are making me anxious to cook something.

Annie

Last night she made a rack of lamb with a hoisin sauce.

We took the bones plus one un-eaten piece and made lamb stock, boiled it down to 3 cups, strained it and today she used it to make lamb stew.

I looked at the recipe, it was pretty standard with the addition of orange zest. We substituted the stock for some of the wine.

Tommorrow, I'm thinking lamb omelettes with the remainder of the rack.

Ann, your fish and chips always look better than any fish and chip shop. I know just what you mean about using mayonnaise in my tomato pie. For that reason, I kept putting it off. But do make it, it's delicious. The mayonnaise is essential, and you don't taste it at all.

JohnLiu....fantastic pics and meals. I'm sorry about your
MIL. Every time I see pics of lamb posted, I'm so tempted to try it. Yours looks delectable.

Lots of fairs and festivals going on here. We went to the Hamburg-er Festival in Hamburg PA yesterday. With about 40 different burger stands, we had a meatless dinner last night.

Fluffy corn pudding, sauteed watercress and spinach. I love cooked cress and picked enough to make Green Goddess dressing tomorrow.

For a change of pace from "summer foods", we had oven baked Greek beef stew one night last week. I'm still cranking out peaches - Peach crisp and peach mousse last week.

Had apple and Brie leftover after making omelettes.

ruthanna, your meatless dinner looks delicious to me, especially that corn pudding.

Ann T's fish and chips always look perfect. Mine are often not that pretty. Well, maybe they're never that pretty, LOL, You know I love halibut, one of my favorite fish.

I've been remiss, still no pictures. The girls came over with the Grandkids and my Mother came along. Elery grilled ribs, I made potato salad, baked beans, Sol's honey rolls, some fresh Royal Burgundy beans from the garden cooked with a couple of slices of our home smoked bacon. We did the "cheater" baked beans, much like Chase does, and added some bacon to that too.

Grandma's blueberry crisp and a Hot Fudge Pudding Cake made great desserts, with vanilla ice cream.

I was too busy taking pictures of Makayla in the pool and Madison making a mess of my living room to think about taking pictures of the food, LOL.

Today I'm canning the first ripe tomatoes, it's taken a long time to ripen this year. I'd like to try a batch of KatieC's Smokey Chipotle catsup too.

Annie

Today, I am grilling 2 chicken halves, (yup, both from
the same chicken). I've been marinating them in
'Good Seasons' salad dressing for the last 24 hours.
I'm planning on putting them on the gas grill, using
indirect heat, (the meat on one side, and the lit burner
on the other). I'm planning on dusting the halves with
garlic salt before grilling, because I know that the
grilling process will wash off most of it, but leave
the garlic flavor. Wish me luck. No pics, 'cause my
camera and my 'puter don't play well together.

Today I had an appointment with my dentist. Yeah, again. Tomorrow morning Bud is having his adenoids removed, so I thought it was a good day to make chicken noodle soup. Forget that it was 92F, I pulled a chicken from the freezer and started rolling noodles. I'll take some to Bud tomorrow, he'll need some spoiling I think:

I also made whole wheat and cheddar rolls, but my kitchen was just too hot and they rose far too well and too quickly, then collapsed just a little. They still taste good:

I had a small visitor, she quietly read her new book about farming, she likes the page with the big red tractor. That's my girl!

Ashley wanted something sweet and since the kitchen was already hot and the oven was on, I made lemon bars:

I've been hungry for beans and vegetables, so Elery made a brown rice and black bean concoction over the weekend that tasted far better than it photographed:

We had salmon with that, glazed with maple and a few chives pulled from my herb garden:

It was time to buy maple syrup anyway, so I got a gallon of Grade B from Cook's Sugar Bush, it's going to be baking weather soon. The big jug won't fit anywhere in my small and old refrigerator, though, so it all gets transferred to canning jars...

Annie

After being closed for three weekends for the county fair, the local farmers' market was wild this morning but I did get stocked up for a while. Dinner tonight was unadorned calves' liver, roasted asparagus and a cold salad of kidney beans, zucchini, tomatoes and avocado.

Here's the recipe, with changes made for you!

Wheat-n-cheese Bread

� 3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
� 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
� 2 pkg. active dry yeast
� 2 tsp. salt
� 1 cup milk
� 1 cup water
� 1/4 cup honey
� 3 Tbsp. oil
� 1 egg
1 1/2 cup crumbled cheddar cheese

PREPARATION:
In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, the yeast, and salt and mix well.
In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until a thermometer reads 120-130 degrees F (warm)
Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose four to form a firm dough. Add cheese at this point.
Sprinkle work surface with flour and knead dough, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth and satiny. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until double in bulk.
Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll or press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust.

Annie

Poor Bud. He will need to be spoiled today.

Ruthanna, I love calves liver. I haven't had it in a long time. Need to check with the butcher and see if it is available.

Tagliatella with Pork, Garlic and Basil meatballs.

I'm glad you fooled "some" people who thought you'd dry out the chicken, LOL

Ann, I babied Bud. For about a minute, then he was over it. We built Monster Trucks out of legos and had a popsicle, then he was tired of being fussed over. Sigh.

Ruthanna, the rice and beans were one of my favorite meals in a long time, they just tasted good to me for some reason.

Ovenbird, you are so welcome!

Annie

Lemon Chicken - Asian Style

Wizard - Filet and lobster tails.. Eggplant.. Outstanding. After a meal like that, I might as well die. Nothing can top it.

Ruthanna - I'm only allowed to eat calf's liver (or chicken gizzards, East Texas Hotlinks, pickled pigs feet or pickled pork rinds) when my wife is out of town. She took the kids for three weeks this summer to NJ/NY to visit family. While they were getting their fill of ziti, pizza and Wo Hop, I was able to indulge. But your liver looks a lot better than the stuff I cooked for myself.

John - Apples and brie. Mmmm.






Garlicky Cilantro Chicken & Sopa de frijoles y chiles (Chile Bean Soup)

Dinner in Foil

Ruthanna - Can you talk about the Greek stew?

Yesterday I went to Epicurious to look something up. I have no idea what, because I got sucked in by a picture right on the home page. I knew I just had to make this steak sandwich on sourdough bread, with roasted tomato, mint, cilantro, watercress, etc. Prime sirloin is on sale this week so I used that rather than ribeye. It was SO good. I might have to roast and freeze some tomatoes while they're still available so I can recreate this once the season is over.

UE, I enjoyed reading your blog. Our youngest daughter bears the same curse but it hasn't materialized yet. There is a similar recipe for a Hobo Dinner in one of my WWII cooking booklets but it's cooked in a coffee can.

FOAS, I've been making this baked stew since high school and that was a long, long time ago. The smell of the steam when you remove the lid is intoxicating. It can be baked a day or two ahead of serving and be reheated in the microwave.

GREEK BEEF STEW (2-3 servings)

1 lb. lean beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. butter
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 bay leaf
1 small stick of cinnamon, broken into 2 or 3 pieces
1/4 tsp. whole cloves
2 Tbs. dark raisins
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 Tbs. water
1/2 can (6 oz. size) tomato paste
1 Tbs. wine vinegar
2 tsp. brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. dried mint, crumbled or 1 1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh mint

Season meat generously with salt & pepper. Melt butter in Dutch oven or heavy casserole. Add meat and turn to coat on all sides with butter. Arrange onions, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and raisins over top of meat.

Mix remaining ingredients and spread over casserole contents. Do not stir. Cover very tightly and bake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaf and cinnamon sticks and stir sauce gently when serving. Serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

If you have any leftover cress and mint, you could make some of the now-dethroned former queen of salad dressings - Green Goddess. I made it this weekend and served on top of cold poached salmon.

GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (packed) fresh watercress leaves
2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 tablespoon (packed) chopped fresh mint
2 to 3 tsp. tarragon vinegar
2 tsp. oil from anchovies or 2 anchovies, chopped
1/4 teaspoon Cholula or other hot pepper sauce

Mix all ingredients in blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin out with a little milk if needed. Pour into container and chill until serving time.

I'm making soup today so your steak sandwich will be the star of Wednesday's soup and sandwich dinner, if I can wait that long.

Our weather has cooled and I have been thinking about fall. Yesterday I just had to have a braised pot roast. It was cooked in wine and we enjoyed one of our favorite dinners. Fresh green beans and homemade chili sauce.

Nancy

FOAS, that is one great looking steak sandwich.

Nancy, you make the best looking gravy.

Tonight's dinner was inspired by Adam (unorthodoxepicure).

I made a version of his Gold Coins - Crispy pork stuffed eggplant. Just a few minor adjustments to how I seasoned the pork and I used my favourite Asian chili sauce.

Moe and I both love eggplant and the combination of eggplant, pork and tempura was amazing. Moe declared it a keeper.

Ann, I've never tasted anything quite like your Gold Coins. I would love to try them.

Tobyt, your corn chowder looks so appetizing.

A couple of dinners this week:

Grilled ham with plum glaze, roasted potatoes and one of our favorite vegetables - brussels sprout leaves

Marinated and grilled short ribs, brown arborio rice with shitakes, steamed cabbage and carrots, and zuchinni relish.

Crispy Pork Stuffed Eggplant
Also known as "Gold Coins"

Pork Filling
1/2 pound finely ground pork
1 inch piece ginger grated
2 to 3 cloves of garlic minced or grated (Use a Microplane to grate)
1 chopped green onion
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt
white or black pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Saute a small piece to test for seasoning.

Eggplant

Japanese Eggplants or small purple or white eggplants

Peel eggplant. Cut into 1 inch slices. Make a horizontal cut in each round, stopping short of cutting all the way through. Stuff a little of the pork filling between the slices.

Tempura Batter

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and pepper
Soda Water

Spicy Asian Chili Sauce

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 or 2 tablespoons of garlic chili sauce
1 or 2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce.
minced ginger
minced garlic
1 green onion minced
sesame oil

Mix all ingredients together. Adjust to suit own taste.

Heat Peanut Oil to 375�F

Mix dry ingredients. Add enough soda water to make a thin "pancake" batter.

The eggplant is twice fried. Fry in stages, 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Dip stuffed eggplant into flour and then into batter. Slowly place in hot oil and fry until golden. Turning once. About 4 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Just before serving, reheat the oil and fry each piece for another one to two minutes until golden brown. Serve with spicy chili sauce.