Summer Cooking

Trying a new receipt? Have old standby? Or a funny summer cooking story? Share them here! Ric

We have a family picnic coming on Sunday, and I got volunteered to cook again. I don't mind and really enjoy it. In my opinion good food and good company make a celebration memorable.
Originally We had enough leftovers from Julie's Birthday bash to feed everyone, but then we had to scoot down to my dad's place for in Florida for 3 weeks and Jamie's family and friends descended like a horde of locust to take care of our house, pool, and freezer. LOL So I moved to plan B. I decided I'd like to make Cuban roast pork for the reunion, must have been in Florida too long! So I just finished boning a 20# pork loin and mixing a marinate. It's back in the fridge till it cools off enough outside to open the house and slow roast it. Here's what I used:

4 cups lime juice
4 cups orange juice
6 Tbs. fresh Cilantro
3 Tbs. ground cumin
2 Tbs ground caraway
8-10 bay leaves
1 Tbs sea salt
1Tbs fresh cracked pepper
1 Tbs ground thyme
20-25 garlic cloves

Put the roast and 1/2 of the marinate in a bag and refrigerate for 3 hours or so, turning frequently.
Roast at 300*F for 2 hours and check to see if done, should be falling apart, or internal temp. 160*F
return to oven for 15 minutes. Cool and pull!

I never tried this one yet , so I'll let you know if I'm still a part of the family Sunday evening, or being shunned. Ric

Sounds great! Coinkidink, I picked out a Cuban recipes book from the discard rack. Should have a good beans and rice recipe, or ten.
I'm not cooking much these days. Visiting Mom, going to my silly part time job and various family things making it hard to plan and execute meals. (I don't suppose anybody happens to have a spare Toyota van transmission they aren't planning to use? sheesh!!) I made a 2 lb batch of sloppy joes and tried to talk them into self serve, with limited success. I think they like it better when I just mix the browned beef with bottled chili sauce. A pan of lasagne with 'quick cook' noodles is a more tempting leftover. I just add a cup or so of water to jarred pasta sauce, and be sure each layer of noodles is wetted down.
Tonight treating ourselves to Mexican. Tomorrow probably do a chicken cacciatore kind of slow cooker thing. Salmon cakes go well here with Old Bay Salmon cake seasoning mix in a packet. Then there's always hot dogs (Hebrew National is our choice)

Hebrew National is one of the number 1s in the US according to Readers Digest. The pork came out really good and juicy, out of a 20# loin I didn't have 2 cups left. My reputation survives unscathed. LOL I think tonight will be something very easy, tortellini and clam sauce or some such. Ric

When hubby is not working crazy hours he does most of the bbqing. Have a great brisket recipe...I need to find out from him which cookbook it's it....he puts it in the smoker...YUMMY!!!!

Very easy grilling zucchini recipe
sliced zucchini
butter
salt and pepper
ice cubes

Individually wrapped tin foil packets..grill till tender

I am too hot to feel like cooking, I guess. Or thats my latest excuse.
Tonight kind of busy, I bought a cut up fryer and put it in a 13 by 9 and sprinkled with grill seasoning. Cover w foil bake 300 for 1 1/2 hours. then call home and tell hubby to take foil off and turn to 350 till brown. Not too bad, not anything really great but it was cooked almost just right, Needed a bit more browning.

Made baked sweet potatos the other day, wrapped in foil and put in oven, good with the pork chops I did in the slow cooker with more grill seasoning.

We're due for some pasta tomorrow I think.

Why the ice cubes, Jen?

Ric, that pork sounds delicious... but what did you do with the other half of the marinade?

Jim grilled some fabulous chicken tonight, just a quick marinade with Italian dressing plus a little extra red wine vinegar.. His latest "thing" with chicken is that he's figured out a better way than trying to deal with unevenly thick chicken breasts. You could pound them, but this is even easier. I trim off the really skinny parts (slice those up for a stir fry) of the breasts and tenders, and then I cut the thicker portions into big chunks.

The cubes of chicken get marinated or seasoned, and then Jim strings them together on a kebab skewer. It's now essentially a large column of chicken, evenly thick, and he grills it "until it looks right." Timing depends on the temperature of your grill, but he says it's a lot easier to get it cooked evenly this way.

All I know is, this is some of the best, juciest, perfect chicken he's ever pulled off the grill! Tonight we ate it with pesto rice and a salad.

the only thing with chicken my hubby ever figured out is,
KFC
LOL

I seriously need to see what I have in the freezer. It isn' that big a freezer but I tend to impulse buy and then forget what I have. and then think I have nothing for dinner

"Why the ice cubes?" so they don't dry out.

OK, guess it's easier to wrap ice cubes than water in foil packets!

Jill, I used the rest of the marinate to roast it in! Ric

Oh, I get it! I'll bet the marinade makes everything wonderfully juicy when you pull the pork, too. I'm assuming you put both halves of the marinade into the roasting pan... Hey, would this work well in a crock pot? Or do you need the browning from oven cooking? (I don't think I can get 20 pounds of pork into my crock pot... but I could try a half recipe!)

I'm almost back on my feet, so I'm thinking about things I could cook up that would freeze for multiple meals and tide us through the next treatment cycle. :-) Not that Jim hasn't been doing a fine job of keeping us going, but I know he'd like to be off the hook for meals for a bit. LOL

be off the hook for meals for a bit. LOL
wouldn't we all !

Jill, a crock pot should do fine, especially since I slow roasted mine. Since mine was so big it took like 41/2 hours till it pulled. I basted mine twice while checking it, also I didn't pre-trim mine since I always roast mine fat side up. The fork test usually works well, stick it with a fork and twist, if you come back with a forkful it's done.
Someone gave me a fresh head of cabbage so I just had to get out a corned beef to put in the crock pot for tonight.
Sally, the corned beef was one of my impulse buys, at St. Patty's Day, Giant had them for 97 cents a pound, with a bonus card, I got 3. LOL Ric

This recipe was requested recently on another thread where I'd mentioned making mega batches of spaghetti sauce... although I also freeze herbs to make this in winter, I think it qualifies as a summer recipe since it's the season for fresh herbs! Stock up the freezer... :-)

Here's our spaghetti sauce recipe. You can certainly make this in reduced amounts... my mother-in-law makes it in a big frying pan, and we used to make it in a crockpot. But since it freezes well, we've taken to making it in the Nesco roaster, 16 quarts or so at a time. It's only a little more preparation time than making a crockpot batch, and it gives us several month's worth of sauce (we do spaghetti probably once a week).

NESCO Roaster batch of Spaghetti Sauce


8-12 Bell peppers (red, about 2 pounds)
3-4 large onions (about 1 pound)
3 102 ounce (6 pounds, 6 ounces) cans crushed tomatoes in sauce (big cans from Sam's)

6 pounds ground beef, browned and crumbled (no need to drain if you use lean meat)

1 ½ cups fresh basil, minced
3/4 cups fresh oregano, minced
6 Tablespoons fresh thyme, minced (or 2 Tablespoons dried thyme, crumbled)
3/8 cup crushed fresh garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
sugar to taste (2 Tbsp)
beef boullion paste (2-3 tsp, use in place of salt)

I use either fresh herbs (pack down the measuring cup, amounts are meant to be generous), or I mince herbs in the food processor, add some olive oil, and freeze for winter batches.

Peel and core the onions, chop roughly, and then mince in a food processor. Put in a large saute pan and simmer over medium to med-high heat. Core and seed the bell peppers, chop roughly, and mince in a food processor. Drain the liquid from the peppers into the pan with the onions and simmer until reduced. (This gives you all the flavor from the peppers without thinning your sauce.)

Meanwhile, put the canned crushed tomatoes, herbs, and spices into an 18 quart Nesco type roasting pan, set to "slow cook" or about 225-250 degrees F. A little sugar will bring out the flavor of the tomatoes, and using beef bouillon paste (or cubes) instead of salt adds beef flavor to the sauce. When the onions have cooked down, add them and the peppers to the sauce.

Brown the beef and set it aside. Crumble it thoroughly when it cools. The sauce should simmer several hours before you add the ground beef; that way, the flavor of the beef won't all cook out into the sauce.

If you've got a leftover glass or two of red wine in the bottle, toss it in. Taste the sauce and add a bit more sugar or salt/bouillon if needed.

... now, I know you folks who know we plant out 2 or 3 dozen tomato plants each year are wincing when I say to use canned tomatoes in the recipe above. We've tried it with fresh, but we think using fresh herbs in this recipe makes a huge difference... fresh tomatoes, not so much as you'd think. So extra tomatoes get made into roasted tomato sauce, instead. :-)

Fresh tomatos are so watery when I blanch and freeze them! They collapse to a tiny stringy pile with water all around when I thaw them. I'll roast them this year.

I freeze extra tomatoes when I only have a few and toss them in the next time I do a batch of roasty sauce... they seem to have more substance than you describe, but maybe that's because I don't blanch them first? If you freeze half or whole tomatoes, it's easy to slip the skins off as they thaw. (I learned that trick from somebody here at DG -- no more blanching for me!)

Super tip!!! My shcedule is much more geared towards the --throw that extra tomato in the freezer and deal with it later-- system .
Heard a lady yesterday on her cell phone
"Yeah, I'm gonna roast that for dinner--put it on my deck for an hour "
lol
Tempted to wrap a sweet potato in foil, throw it on my deck all day and see what I get! Or on my dashboard ! Cripes!
I find the author Laurie Notaro very funny in her Idiot Girl books--she lived in Phoenix and joked about the extreme heat there. Like this.

there's a thought, I could set up the crock pot on the deck this afternoon and not even have to plug it in... LOL

No cooking tonight! Friends showed up to use the pool and brought all the fixin's for tacos. Hurrah for having a pool. Ric

A fresh tuna salad sandwich, soft cheap white bread, with potato chips as a topping in the sandwich- Extra crunchy fat and salty!

There are some things that just require soft white bread, no matter how much we might otherwise be "into" whole grain!

For me this week, it's cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. I slice them super thin on my mandoline and then pile them high in the sandwich for wonderful crunch.

It's also time for refrigerator pickles. I've got some fresh pickles going now that are just in vinegar & sugar; they won't last long, but they don't need to, as we'll eat them up.

I mentioned on some other thread the cucumbers we sliced up last week and dressed with 1/2 cup or so of sour cream plus 2 or 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and a heaping tablespoon of fresh snipped dill weed. Incredible fresh flavor!

Sally's Super Sandwich Sprinkle Scalloped Spuds
(it's all about the marketing)
Freshly dug potatos washed and sliced, parboil about five minute to just tender., drain. Layer in a casserole with julienned ham and good sprinkles of Penzeys Sandwich Sprinkle and sprinkles of flour to help thicken. Pour a can of evaporated milk over, cover. Bake until they have to eat cuz somebody is always having to go somewhere. Put shredded cheddar all over the top and let it melt while you badger somebody to set the table. Green beans on the side.
I imagine you get the idea enough from that. Was surprisingly good, maybe the fresh potatos maybe the Penzey Sandwich sSprinkle spice.
Hm I should try sending it to Penzey, maybe they give a tiny treat to recipe submitters.

Ric---
I just found this Thread....HOW can I miss it????? You wrote:

Put the roast and 1/2 of the marinate in a bag and refrigerate for 3 hours or so, turning frequently.
Roast at 300*F for 2 hours and check to see if done, should be falling apart, or internal temp. 160*F
return to oven for 15 minutes. Cool and pull!

Roast ONLY for TWO hours at 300*????? A 20lb. pork loin???? Is that right?
I can see, maybe, 12hrs......Is that big a chunk of meat really done in 2 hours?

Jill--
Your description of fresh cuke salad with sour cream and vinegar and fresh Dill is the way we (from Latvia) have always done it....YES! it is fresh and yummy!!! Who needs salad dressings???

I also used to make sandwiches for work lunch with all kinds of veggies on them--radishes, mushrooms, cukes, lettuce--and, buried somewhere in it--ONE slice of lunch meat....for flavor.
They were about 2"-3" high and SO yummy--and low cal---Everyone was so jealous.....

Gita

I'm glad I'm not the only one who piles sandwiches high with "salad!"

Sally, what a great recipe title! And the actual recipe sounds good too, LOL. We're big Penzey's fans, and I think we have a little stockpile of "Sandwich Sprinkle" going because when we stop in Jim always buys a bag "because I'm not sure if we're almost out of it or not." He does actually sprinkle it on sandwiches. It was originally marketed as "Crouton Seasoning." :-)

Gita, it ended up being 41/2 hours, size does matter! LOL Ric

Ric - You are a hoot!!!! Thanks for the laugh. In fact, Sally had me giggling a few times reading this thread too.

Mostly what we have been eating for a few weeks is zucchini casseroles. If actually felt weird the two or three nights that I didn't serve it. Sally, your mentioning already using some potatoes has me thinking...that we could probably dig up a few and use them too. Guess I should wait until the store bought ones are gone though. I think with our first potato harvest I will make a large pot of green beans with the new potatoes. Most of the time I just season the pot with beef boullion and everyone seems to like it.

If our tomato crop does anything this year, I can live off of tomato sandwiches. I am glad to hear that others freeze tomatoes also because many years ago I tried canning a few things and remember that it is a lot of work and several things spoiled so it is not something I have continued with over the years. If you can't freeze it, I won't be preserving it.

Anyway.....Critter, you asked Ric what he did with the other half of his marinade. Just thought I would mention something that John read in one of his grilling books and something he has become quite adamant about. He read that while the raw meats are soaking in the sauce, they are shedding a lot of bacteria, so in essence if a person uses the marinade they were soaked in they are possibly setting themselves up for a sore tummy. I go along with him on this because it doesn't seem important enough to quibble about.

Sally, I know that I have been missing in action for a long time but I haven't heard you mention working part time until now. What are you doing if you don't mind saying? I am also interested in hearing more about the Penze Sandwich Sprinkle Spice.....never heard of such a bird and wondering what section of the grocery store I might look for it in? With herbs and spices maybe? It sounds interesting.

Food is a topic that I could talk all day about. Thanks Jen for the zucchini idea. Might try that before the crop is gone for the year.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and eating some delicious things.

Ruby

I think that's true about marinades becoming contaminated, but if you boil them for a good 10 minutes you'll kill any baddies. That's what we do with Jim's kebab marinade, and then I thin it down with beef bouillon (it's pretty intense) and add corn starch to thicken it for a nice sauce over rice.

ooh, you're in for a treat if you don't know Penzey's. I found them first as a mail order place, but they have more retail stores now (they started out in Wisconsin).. closest one is still a fair drive from us, so I may place a summer order with them online.

Here's their website. They have loads of great spice mixes, not just the sandwich sprinkle but a bunch of different grilling ones. :-)

http://www.penzeys.com/

I love the Tuscan Blend too, and many spices are a great deal price wise. the Italian Dressing base I don't like as well as Good Seasons though; have you tried it, Jill? It's occurring to me that I could just as easily and more cheaply make pasta dishes with my own pasta and some seasonings, than a little box of premeasured pasta salad/ pasta side dish.
Tonight with lasagne, I cut up zucchini into chunks tossed it with olive oil and sprinkled with Sandwich Sprinkle and roasted it in the oven, um say 375 fo half hour.Sandwich Sprinkle is a blend of fine ground salt, pepper, garlic and some herbs . Bet it would be awesome on a tomato

Ruby--in September I saw a job opening for library page at my local library branch. The pages put away books and keep everything shelved in its right place. I felt I should get started back to work, and stake out my claim on some time committed to me and family needs. And I love books! Its just minimum wage, I don't even know if I get a boost a few cents after one year or anything. The budget is very tight right now. But I like it, its therapeutic to go and focus on numerical order and alpha order for four hours, they are kind of flexible in scheduling.

We like the Italian dressing base but probably use it more for marinating chicken than as salad dressing. "Sunny Paris" blend (shallots & tarragon et al.) is fabulous with cream cheese on a bagel or in a cucumber & cream cheese sandwich, also wonderful with eggs. Jim has been using their new "Greek Seasoning" in his kebab marinade... I like it on lamb, although we got a sample of their "Lamb Seasoning" which is also excellent.

I have a large top drawer in my kitchen island that's full of spice jars, thanks largely to Penzey's. And that doesn't include the baking spices or the dried peppers that are in an upper cupboard.

Their kosher salt is priced well, and their cocoa is out of this world (I get both dutched cocoa, for hot cocoa or fudge sauce and their baking cocoa). They also have double strength vanilla that's outstanding (pricey, but vanilla is high priced everywhere now). Oh, and cinnamon! Vietnamese cinnamon that's a must for cinnamon rolls (sweetest and strongest I've ever tried), and also Ceylon cinnamon ("true" cinnamon) that I use in Tex-Mex cooking as well as in oatmeal... try making a batch of brownies from a box mix, using 1/4 cup of Kahlua, 1/4 cup baking cocoa, and 2 teaspoons Ceylon cinnamon. Decadent!

LOL, I think they should give me a discount on my next order, don't you?

Jill, I don't think I've heard of Penzeys before, I ended up with a $20 order even after the discount and freebies. LOL Ric
http://www.retailmenot.com/view/penzeys.com

Thanks Critter for the link. I see that Ric beat me to it. I will definitely check it out.

Thanks for telling me about the job Sally. Sounds good. I wouldn't mind working around books all day either....they don't talk back. hahaha Sounds like a good deal to me.

I currently have both of my sons and my hubby looking for jobs. I am hoping this coming week will open something for each of them. Tucker just filled out an application and left it here for me to review. John hasn't worked outside of home for several years. He has made a bit of income with car repair and he owns and operates a roll back towing truck which helps out too. None of the above is very steady and the economy has really hurt us this past year. He is looking for something part time so that he can still have time to goat farm and garden. hahaha

My older son interviewed with Coke Co. last week and should know something by mid week. I hope he gets this because it sounds like something he would be good at. I will just continue to live on my "retirement" income, which isnt't a whole lot.

Way off topic, sorry. Okay here is a question for all of you herb lovers and users. I often use Thyme when cooking but always use what I have purchased at the store. I have several varieties growing and some of it is blooming a lot at the moment. If I want to harvest some of it to dry, what do I do with the bloom? Do I have to wait to harvest it until it is no longer blooming, or harvest before it gets ready to bloom? There are some other varieties that I can get but the blooming ones are what I have the most of. I am hoping someone can tell me the best time to harvest Thyme. Thanks everyone. John was mentioning names of chatters to contact and I told him that probably Critter would be the Thyme expert. I may be wrong and will take hints from anyone. Thanks folks!!!

Hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend....tomorrow is Monday.


Ruby

Some herbs get bitter when they bloom, so taste before you harvest/use. I've found that I can cut back a little further than the bloom, and the new growth will again be tasty (and as a bonus, the cut stem will probably branch for double thyme LOL). Tasting is also good because some thyme varieties are more ornamental than tasty, but the low-growing English thyme that I think you got from me is pretty good.

It's a pain to strip all those tiny thyme leaves from the stems, so if I need a lot of it (like for a Nesco roaster batch of spaghetti sauce) I just use dried thyme. Penzey's french thyme is amazingly good. If you put thyme stems in the freezer in a bag, you can often shake most of the leaves loose from the stem once it's frozen.

Ruby--

I know this is not the time of year--nor the best time at all--but has John tried HD or Lowes?
He has a lot of experience and could work the Contractor's Desk or any other related area.....Lumber?

He needs to talk up his experience to get a decent pay.....But, nothing is decent right now as a starting salary...
The bigger/busier the store, the more chance he has to get a higher starting wage. Might be between $8-$10/hr....
depending on the area and the store.

Also--part time people can choose the days they work (NOT the hours of those days!)--but they HAVE TO work one of the weekend days. HD's are open 6AM -10Pm Mon.-Fri, Sundays--8AM-8PM. SO! any of those hours.
Contractor Desk is closed on Sundays....at least in my store.

To break a myth--HD DOES NOT offer, and never has, an employee discount....

They DO appreciate older people and will gladly hire seniors for their experience and reliability.
They treat their employees well--have good benefits--and if they have to fire someone--it was their own fault....this applies mostly to "hot-to-trot" younger crowd who have no concept of responsibility...people who steal or otherwise compromise their job.

Right now is NOT a hiring time. Now is the "cutting hours:" time....Dead period.....
It will pick up again by end of October or so.....The coming of the "Holiday Season".....

For Spring--the hiring starts end of February--early March.

Consider it--yopu will never know what other connections might come from working for a HD....

Gita (been there 12 years now).....

Roby, good thoughts there from Gita. It is very tough out there. Best wishes for the Coke job for your older sweetie. (Then he can get us all barrels for rain barrels LOL)

You have my sympathy. My oldest is trying to find something for end of summer. For Tyler if he can stand an entry type job, (some of us don't have a choice) there may be some turnover in august when some college kids leave. Be sure to chat with anyone you may know or run into. My son's first job was gotten because I went thru his brother , a casual acquaintance, instead of listening the thr girl at the counter who said "we aren't hiring"
Then be sure to be ready for Xmas hiring, like Gita also said
Another job I've wondered about is the people who restock magazines. I could do that! but how do your ever get hired ? Its not like there's an office there to apply at~~ More products seem to be restocked by company people rather than store employees. A nephew had a job like that with Vitamin Water. Tyler would probably rather die than ask, but if you see guys in a store doing stocking, you might ask, and one might be in need of more people.

State of Maryland for eample, VA must too, has a site o f job listing.Two I considered for Scott were, summer, mosquito control spraying, or emerald ash borer inspection, both outside jobs. Two more things you won't see unless you search for them.

Like YOU said--Books don't talk back! I am not even supposed to help people but refer them to Info Desk. after all, Info people are trained to really answer, and various topics can be shelved in different areas depending on exactly what the asker is interested in. .

But on cooking, hey great thyme tip critter, about freezing it. I never could see picking those tiny leaves off!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I gotta git me some Sunny Paris, I love tarragon. I had a plant once but it died.
Time to retrieve my bagel I set in the toaster a half our ago LOL, can you say crunchy

Sally---

I used to talk to the ladies that restocked out magazines at HD---but they keep moving the magazines around and I no longer am close to that area;.....

Anyway--they removed all the past Month's magazines and just tore off the cover. That was needed as proof.
The rest of it went down the trash chute.
I DO believe it is a separate job--NOT connected to HD or the magazine publishers....You may want to look into it....

Would your son ever consider a lawn Care business???? Just mowing lawns for people?
It might include the purchase of a professional lawn mower--the really wide ones--and maybe an open tow-behind trailer to transport it.
Mowing a single lawn can fetch from $30-$50 in a residential area---depending on size....Do you edge also? Do you have a blower to clean away all the grass-clippings? Do you also mulch???? Lots more $$$$$$

Lets say--your son can do 4 lawns a day---that could be $200-$300 . NOT bad!
So many seniors need help with all this!

How about hauling trash to the landfill? How about giving rides to the elderly to a Grocery Store--and carrying all the groceries inside. How about some small odd-jobe around the house? Pet walking....Pet sitting.....

Seasonal is good!!!!! Shoveling snow (besides--it will build up his abs...).....
If you put your mind to it--i bet you can think of a lot more "jobs" that he could do just to make some $$$--and without any long-term obligations.

Let HIS "fingers do the walking" in neighborhood publications or to advertise services he would like to offer----like the "Pennysaver".

Speaking of Penzeys, the first I heard of them was on the "America's Test Kitchens" program where they were taste testing spices and Penzeys won all of them hands down.

I will try the pulled pork recipe for my get together in August!! This thread will eventually get me all the recipes that I need for this event. I will post what I already have decided on and get more suggestions here. Since I make all the food myself and don't have anyone in my family nearby to help with the cooking, my DH (who is NOT a foodie) cringes when I ask for suggestions.

I think that you guys are all just what I needed for help!!

Made one of Holly's favs, Greek pasta salad, I'll post my receipt . Be forewarned it gets a little pricey, but none should go to waste.
I start with :
12oz pkg of tri-color rotini, I cook mine al dente,with garlic, basil, oregano, white/black pepper and a Tbs of olive oil
I add (after cooled):
6 oz of smoked sun dried tomatoes, I use Calif. Sun Dry but those in olive oil work as well.
12-16 oz pitted and sliced Mediterranean olives in oil from the deli not canned
12 oz crumbled Feta, I use feta with basil and tomato, or fresh grated
8 oz of Gazebo Room Greek salad dressing and marinate
Toss together and chill, Yummy Ric

That pasta salad sounds great!! I'm always looking for recipes without mayo in the summer.

Terri, I've read that mayo helps retard bacterial growth due to some of its ingredients and ph. I don't, but some people keep opened mayo in their pantry rather than their fridge, to me that's asking for trouble. Ric
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25267057