It's Summer Now!

Summer Dinner and Summer Fun Day

 

Another great weekend - good food (and lots of it) and a Saturday packed with fun. Saturday my husband planned a full day of fun things for us to do. Starting with breakfast - bloody mary bar and monte cristo sandwich. Then early afternoon at the zoo, which I hadn't been in years followed by a relaxing couples massage then home to get cleaned up and prepare dinner. That evening we had some friends over for dinner and then we went to an outdoor concert in a neighboring city. Today we played bocce ball (I won!) then I did some light yard work and cleaned the house. It was a relaxing and fun filled weekend (but also managed to get some house things accomplished). I really feel like summer has finally begun - summer foods, yard and garden are looking great and the weather is finally sunny and hot. Looking forward to Independence Day week - I took the 5th off just to make it a long weekend. My husband still has to work so I'll probably use the day to get some gardening done and lay in the sun.  

 

Summer Dinner

For dinner Saturday night I made pulled pork sandwiches and a corn bread layered salad. Perfect combination for a quick, easy, delicious summer dinner.

 

Cornbread Layered Salad

Ingredients:

• Small loaf of cornbread sliced into chunks (I bought a really small loaf of cornbread in the bakery section of the grocery store, but if you are really ambitious you can make cornbread muffins and use those)
• 1 can pinto beans (rinse really really well)
• About a cup of corn (I used frozen but you can also use 1 can, or you can use hominy instead of corn)
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 or 2 tomatoes - diced
• 1 orange bell pepper (or 1/2 orange and 1/2 yellow or you can use green too but I like to use orange or yellow to make the salad more colorful)
• Ranch dressing
• Croutons 
• Can also add bacon (I planned on adding bacon but forgot until I got to assembling and then it was too late to make it)
• Lettuce (you don't need much lettuce because the salad is so packed with other ingredients, I think I used about half a bag of mixed salad greens) 

 

 

Layer salad - if you have a trifle bowl use that because then you can see all the colors and layers!

Here's how I layered mine I'll list from the bottom up-

1. Cornbread chunks
2. Cheese
3. Dressing (drizzle so its all over but not a lot because you will add more at the top too)
4. Beans
5. Corn
6. Lettuce
7. Tomatoes
8. Peppers
9. Cheese
10. Dressing
11. Croutons (and bacon if you are including bacon as well)
     

 

Pulled Pork

I've made pulled pork twice in my life and I'm pretty sure I've mastered it. I use pork shoulder and there wasn't one big enough for 4 adults so the butcher told me to use a pack of pork ribs rather than buy a whole other pork shoulder. That turned out great! You want to buy about 1 lb of pork per adult for this. I also prefer to serve the pork without the BBQ sauce already mixed in for two reasons: 1. everyone likes a different amount of BBQ sauce so then they can add their own and 2. the pulled pork I make is so amazingly juicy and good that you really don't even need BBQ sauce at all.

 

Ingredients:

Pork shoulder (and pork ribs if needed) - 1lb per person

1 can beef broth

1-2 teaspoons of liquid smoke

salt and pepper

 

BBQ sauce

Buns

 

 

Steps:

1. Salt and pepper the pork
2. Place pork in crock pot
3. Pour in can of beef broth
4. Add a can of water
5. Add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (you really do not need much of this, its a very powerful flavor, I used about a teaspoon but if you really really like the flavor you can add 2 teaspoons)
6. Cook until pork is done - it took me about 5 or 6 hours on low
7. When pork is done lift out and set on a plate and pull the pork off the bones until its all shredded and no more bones - I also pull off some of the big fat chunks at this time too.
8. Then you can cool and refrigerate if you made this ahead of time. Otherwise put back in the crock pot and set to lowest setting or "warm" until you are ready to eat. I served it with BBQ sauce but like I said I don't mix any into the meat itself.

 

 

 

Yum! Here was my monte cristo I had for breakfast! So good! Ham, turkey, cheese sandwich served on french toast and with a strawberry marmalade to dip it in. Just rich enough, just savory enough- so good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I want to make this sometime. Maybe I'll try next weekend. It seems like a perfect brunch item because of the french toast and ham/turkey sandwich.  

 

 

Ahhhhh - nothing like a bloody mary filled with fun toppings of your choice. I don't do spicy foods or drinks but I can still make a bloody mary fun enough to drink!

 

 

Flowers just outside the zoo

 

 

The conservatory - we didn't go in but I just love how it looks

 

 

I love flamingos - its so weird how they bend their legs!!!

 

 

Huge tortoise - he looks surreal!

 

 

And of course penguins - they are just funny animals.

 

I love the zoo - all the animals and flowers. I couldn't believe how much it changed since the last time I was there. They have added so much. Most of the animals were just sleeping so they were kind of boring, but still fun to see them all. My husband and I both couldn't get over how big some of the animals were - like the polar bear and the gorilla. It said the gorilla was like 350 lbs! If we thought they were big I can't imagine what they look like to kids.

 

 

Great Weekend!

What a great weekend! Started out with having my niece and a friend over for some drinks and apps Friday night, Saturday saw Bill Cosby with a friend, Sunday was so nice outside my husband and I sat out on our deck almost all afternoon and enjoyed the sun and for dinner grilled some steaks. With all the rain this year our yard is almost a swamp so yard games and playing with the dogs in the yard was out but that was ok because it was nice to just sit on the deck and enjoy the sunshine.

Apps Friday Night

1. Meatballs with creamy cilantro dip
2. Tortellini bites
3. Garlic Garlic dip with pretzels, sun dried tomato wheat thins, crackers, veggies (this was a Tastefully Simple dip so I won't include the recipe below)
4. Strawberry Bruschetta
5. And my niece brought brownies topped with pretzels and caramel (omg! so good!)

 

Meatballs with Creamy Cilantro Dip

You can put in the extra work to make your own meatballs but I just use the Simek's frozen meatballs. I microwaved them and then put them in a crock pot with a little water.

Dip - 2 cups plain yogurt (I used Greek), 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, onion (1/8 to 1/4 of a cup depending on how much you like onions), and salt. Mix all ingredients together and chill until you're ready to serve. --- about 1 cup chopped cilantro (forgot to include the most important ingredient when I first posted this)

Tortellini Bites

Cook digiorno cheese tortellini until done, rinse with cold water
Put on toothpick with provolone cheese and salami
Place in container and drizzle with Italian dressing and chill until ready to serve
For serving, I put them on a plate and shake off the extra dressing

Strawberry Bruschetta

Slice a baguette into about 1/4 inch slices, brush olive oil on each and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes (you them them to just begin getting golden brown and toasty)
Take out of oven and top with sliced strawberries and goat cheese
Bake again for about 10 minutes or until cheese begin to melt
Take out and drizzle with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette
Put on plate you are going to serve them on and then top whole plate with fresh basil

For both the cilantro and the basil I used a pair of herb scissors - these are possibly my favorite kitchen tool - you MUST get one if you don't have one already. It saves so much time and makes the herbs just perfect for topping and mixing.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday I grilled steaks - and I make my steaks just like my dad because 1. he always made them the same way and I must have watched him 100 times and 2. they turn out perfect and are sooooo good so why change it up?

The cut of meat was ok, not great so I tenderized them before grilling. I use McCormick Meat Tenderizer - Unseasoned. Rinse the steaks off, prick them all over with a fork, then sprinkle the tenderizer over them. I leave them out for 30 min to an hour - until they are room temp. Then rinse off all the tenderizer and season. For seasonings some salt and McCormick Montreal Steak - ALWAYS! Never anything else. This is the perfect steak seasoning. My husband always says I make the best steaks - even better than when he orders a steak out at a restaurant.

We had strawberry goat cheese salads with our steaks. The dressing takes a few extra steps than just opening a bottle but its worth it!

Dressing - 2 oz shallot (or reg onion, but then use less), 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 oz champagne vinegar (I didn't have this so I used a tsp or 2 of red wine vinegar, probably not supposed to be a substitute for it but that's what I had), 5-6 oz neutral oil (which means like a vegetable or canola oil but I didn't read the recipe closely and use olive oil - still turned out just fine) and salt.

In a blender  or food processor puree all until smooth, then add the oil while running slowly if using a blender, or add and mix a little more. Taste and adjust.

Toss greens with dressing, then dish up and top with goat cheese and sliced strawberries.
You can add toasted pecans or almonds instead of croutons but I didn't have any to toast.

I work from home on Fridays now which is not only nice because I don't have to drive to work, get dressed or do my hair but also because then the dogs get to play all day rather than being kenneled. This past Friday Sister seemed to want to help me with my work.