Favorite Summertime Recipes

[bcomet]

I am thinking grilled shrimp, grilled everything, okay, baked, broiled.

Bring it!

[Holly]

Yum! Cold stuff recipes, no cooking involved:

Black bean salad, with black beans (naturally), brown rice, chopped avocado, and diced tomato -- for people like me who think boiling water is too much work.

Plus my grandmother's summertime tunafish salad:
Tuna, mayo, diced celery, raisins, and chopped apples.

[bcomet]

Holly,
How do you prep the black beans? How long do you soak them?

Grilled Shrimp

Use very fresh shrimp or prawns, raw, and divined, and peeled (tail optional).

Also, fresh water shrimps that have been cracked open with the shell are amazing, like mini-lobsters. Again, buy very fresh.

I put them in a low pan and spray the shrimp with Pam Olive Oil and coat them with Chef Paul Prudhomme's seafood magic, both sides. No oil! No bad calories. Just yumm.

Then, it's a couple of minutes under broil or (skewered) on the grill, turned half-way.

I use Hidden Valley buttermilk dressing (with a bit less moyo than the mix calls for) as a dip for these. I have these cute little chicky bowls that I put a little personal dip in for each plate and you can measure it to be certain about the calories. (There are about 110 in two TBSPs so I keep mine to four TBSPs when I'm making a whole meal of it. That still keeps my total calorie count for a half-pound of grilled shrimp and dip to about 460 calories).

Okay, there ARE calories in the dip, but it balances out, does not wreck my diet, and, there is NO oil on the shrimps, so it's a nice, neat-o trade.

And I love me my shrimp!

[Mira]

Lemonade. I always want Lemonade in the summertime.

With lots of ice and a frosted glass.

Mmmmmmmmm.

[Holly]

Holly,
How do you prep the black beans? How long do you soak them?

Well, I was going to lie to you and say "Overnight, and then cook for 30-40 minutes"... BUT, if you are lazy like me, open a can of organic black beans and save yourself the trouble, ha ha.

[bcomet]

haha

--->lazy<--- like it simple, fast, delicious

I want some iced lemonade too.

is there deck service?

[Quill]

But Holly, don't you have to cook the rice?

Summer foods:
Watermelon
Sun tea
Avocado with salsa (halve, remove pit, fill with salsa)
Grilled cheese with 9-grain local bakery bread
Veggie platter: sliced peppers, radishes, tomatoes, canned olives

Dinner when I'm more ambitious:
Farmer's Market local zucchini, eggplant, onion, and seasonings, sauteed in oil
local veggie-flavored pasta, boiled
local grass-fed beef Italian sausage, baked
Combine, sprinkle w/Parmesan, and enjoy

[cheekychook]

Jamaican jerk pork bbq, hot the first night and then cold, sliced thin, w/garlic mayo on sandwiches.

My mother-in-law's potato salad (when I was first married it took about 3 years before I finally coaxed the real recipe out of her)---red potato, white vinegar, chopped hard boiled egg, bacon, pickles, mayo, salt and pepper. (The secret is you boil the potatoes whole, slice them while still hot, then sprinkle the vinegar on them WHILE THEY ARE WARM and let cool to room temp before putting in the other ingredients.)

Triple berry pie---strawberry/blueberry/blackberry---yum.

Eggplant parmesan made with grilled eggplant (hot the first night then cold on crusty I
talian bread the next day)

Fried zucchini marinated in balsamic vinegar.

Tomato sandwiches---fresh ripe local tomato, mayo, salt and pepper on handmade artisan bread.

Homemade pesto (usually cold on 3 cheese tortellini mixed with tomato chunks or grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella).

Fruit salad made with whatever combination of melon/berries/stone fruit looks best, served plain or with a dollop of creamcheese/marshmallow fluff dip.

Sweet tea.

Now I'm hungry.

[Watcher55]

Gazpacho - My ultimate Summertime quickmeal/post-run refeul.

INGREDIENTS
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 purple onion, finely chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper (or green) seeded and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
6 or more drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (omit for vegetarian option)
4 cups tomato juice
METHOD
Combine all ingredients. Blend slightly, to desired consistency. Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to blend.
Serves 8.

Like revenge, it's a dish best served cold.

[Holly]

But Holly, don't you have to cook the rice?

Hi, Quill, Yes, darn it... but in a rice cooker that turns itself off. I've burned a lot of pots to a creepy black crisp and wised up to rice cookers. Did you know that eggs will explode when the water boils out of the pot? (I was writing at the time...)

Wow, the rest of that food sounds mouth-wateringly (new adverb!!) yummy. I want to eat dinner at your house, bring my two dogs, and put my feet up.

[Holly]

Homemade pesto (usually cold on 3 cheese tortellini mixed with tomato chunks or grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella).

There's nothing better than homemade pesto, especially if you made it yourself (or helped in a pesto-making marathon with friends). Pesto is from the gods. To heck with spreading it on anything. Just stand barefoot in front of the refrigerator on a 90 degree day and eat it out of the bowl like a savage.

[Mira]

Mmmmm. I love pesto.

Probably not as much as you, Holly, since I don't like it on it's own. But slathered over noodles, oh how wonderful.

And it's so easy to make - I've even made homemade pesto, and I can't cook anything.

[bcomet]

OMG, I've created a MONSTER!!!!!

I LOVE it!

More! More! More!

[Watcher55]

Not a dish, but at least the prep is easy. Go to Baskin Robbins. Tell the teenager behind the counter a joke. Ask for a prepacked carton of Jamocha Almond Fudge.

[ClaudeNougat]

Yes, NO cooking involved! Here's a great variation on the CAPRESE, that old favorite mozzarella and tomato salad: instead of slicing them, CUBE them, and swirl around good virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and of course basilico...

The cubed salad is easier to serve, faster to prepare and tastes just a little different...yummy!