Summer

I was thinking this morning about summer and how wonderful it is. I love the hot weather, getting up early in the morning and working in the garden, making plans for new flower beds and new vegetables I want to try next year. I love the sound of tree frogs, homemade ice cream, watermelon, fresh veggies, swimming, star gazing on beautiful clear nights, picnics, drive in movies, lightning bugs (which you don't see much anymore), sitting under a big shade tree and feeling a cool breeze, wearing sundresses. I love watching the farmers around us cut and bale their hay. I love the look of baled hay sitting in the pasture. Parades are also a part of summer fun along with county and state fairs. Oh, I can't forget thunderstorms and gentle rain showers and all the BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!

Summer is a wonderful season and I love it and I think it's my favorite until the next season starts.

I have been working in our orchard the past two weeks. My husband has been repairing our picket fence and I have almost got it all painted. It is really looking nice. For the past 8 to 10 years our orchard has been the home of our two chocolate labs, Max and Murphy. Murphy died a year ago on the 4th of July and Max died this past April. You know how dogs are, they wallow out places and lay in your flowers. I just never did much while they were alive. I have been transplanting iris that belonged to my mother and some lilies. I have also been transplanting monkey grass that had taken over some areas. I picked up a great old porch swing at a garage sale. It is so big that I can stretch out on it. It needs some minor repair and I'm going to paint it. It hangs from one of the pecan trees in the orchard and it has a great view to the west. I'll be able to swing and watch some beautiful sunsets. :)

PEACHES FROM OUR ORCHARD

You can't tell from these pictures but these peaches are the size of softballs and they taste wonderful. I have three peach trees and the peaches on the other two trees are not near this size. These are probably the best tasting peaches I have ever eaten. It's interesting how they came about. A good friend of mine, who lives in Texas, got these trees from her compost pile. She wasn't sure what they would be like. A bird must have dropped the seeds because she didn't put any seeds in the compost. I wasn't sure in the beginning if I wanted to take a chance on what I would get.

It's been a delightful surprise to take a chance and have such wonderful peaches! They come from such a wonderful and dear friend.......they had to be good. :)

Big Pot of Brown Beans

One of my favorite meals in the summer as a kid was a big pot of brown beans, fried okra, fried potatoes, cornbread, sliced garden tomatoes and sweet onions and our neighbors wonderful home made chow chow, oh! and I almost forgot sweet ice tea. I know things are not this way today but when I was growing up, we only had ice tea in the summer and we drank hot tea in the winter. When the weather started getting warm, I couldn't wait to go barefooted and have my first glass of ice tea. :)

Well, the tradition is still being carried on. I don't look forward to going barefooted:) but I still love brown beans and all the fixins and so does my family. I hear a lot of woman commit that they don't know how to fix flavorful brown beans they always say "my beans are bland." This is my recipe for brown beans and everyone seems to like them.

I buy fresh brown beans. I get them at the old farmers market down town or at the family owned grocery store where I shop in Chickasha. The night before I cook them the next day, I wash them and put them in a big pot and cover them with water. The next morning I pour off the water and cover them again with water and put them on medium heat for about 30 minutes. I pour off that water and wash the beans off in a colander. Put the beans back in the pot and cover them with water and add the following ingredients.

2 medium onions - cut in chunks
7 cloves of garlic - minced
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 ham hock

Cook on medium heat adding water as the beans cook down. It usually takes about 3 hours for the beans to become tender. Soaking the beans over night and buying fresh beans makes a big difference from buying package beans at the store. It cuts the cooking time in half.

Lavendar Ice Cream

Meryle Streep is one of my favorite female actors. So we rented "It's Complicated" and in the movie she owns a bakery/restaurant. She makes lavender ice cream in the movie. I hadn't thought about lavender ice cream before so I pulled out an old herb cookbook that I bought from a local herbalist and there was a recipe for lavender ice cream.

I experimented on my family Sunday and made the lavender ice cream for dessert and everyone really loved it. Truthfully, I wasn't sure I would like it but I love the fragrance of lavender and have made some cookies out of lavender before and liked them. It was a big hit and it has a wonderful flavor.

It a very simple recipe. If you have a favorite homemade vanilla ice cream recipe you can use that and add one to two tablespoons of crushed lavender flowers to it. I used one tablespoon yesterday but next time I will probably add a little more.

This is my recipe for vanilla ice cream.

6 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 quart of half and half
1 can Milnot
2 cups sugar
2 quarts of milk

Add everything together in a bowl and whisk and pour into ice cream freezer.

Summer Greek Salad

I love this salad. It is so good I could make it almost every night if my husband would go for it. He likes it but not as much as I do. The great flavors of garden tomatoes with the garden cucumbers and the sweet red peppers with the salty olives and feta cheese is a wonderful combo in my taster.
The recipe calls for cube Feta cheese but all I had was crumbled but the cube would make a more striking presentation with all the colors you have going in this salad.

1 red pepper, large chop (size of nickle)
1 yellow pepper, large chop
1 medium red onion, cut in half and slice
3-4 medium tomatoes large chunks
1 small jar of Calamata olives, pitted
6-8 ounces of cube Feta cheese (I used 4 oz. crumbles and it was fine)
2 medium cucumbers, cut in half and sliced

Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano (pinch the oregano with fingers as you put in liquid to release more of the flavor) fresh oregano in this can be to strong.

Whisk all ingredients together. Pour over salad and toss gently so you won't break up the cheese.

Summer Produce

One of my favorite things, just like everyone else, is garden tomatoes. The recipe for Stacked Tomato Napoleons is so full of fresh flavors. It makes my mouth water thinking about it. The Garden Stuffed Yellow Squash is a family favorite. I've made this for years and it does take a little more time to make it but it is well worth it. Again, just a myriad of fresh flavors.

The recipe for the stuffed squash calls for bacon. When I made it I forgot to put it in the mixture so I laid it on top of the squash in the picture. It is really good without the bacon too.

Stacked Tomato Napoleons

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon snipped fresh thyme
freshly ground pepper to taste
3 cups of Romaine or Mescalin mix
3 medium tomatoes
3/4 cup loosely packed basil
4 ounces of Feta or Gorgonzola cheese
3 semi thick slices of red onion
4-5 slices of bacon crumbled (optional)
Small container of red and yellow cherry tomatoes

In a small bowl, whisk together the first 6 ingredients and set aside.
Arrange lettuce on a plate. Cut off a think slice from the bottoms of each tomato so they will stand and not tip over. Thickly slice each tomato into thirds horizontally. Place bottom third on top of greens. Top this slice with some basil leaves, some cheese and a little dressing. Place middle slice of tomato on first layer, add more basil, one slice of onion, bacon and drizzle a little more dressing. Place last slice on top more cheese, bacon and drizzle more dressing. Garnish with a small basil leaf on top and extra red and yellow cherry tomatoes on top of the greens.

When I made this it was raining and all I had was iceberg lettuce(don't stone me) but I didn't want to get out. I also didn't have any red and yellow cherry tomatoes so I cut several tomatoes into small chunks and put those on the lettuce. It was still really good.

Garden Stuffed Yellow Squash

6 medium squash
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Wash squash and remove ends. Place in steamer and steam for 10 minutes until tender but firm and then cool completely. Cut squash in half horizontally and remove pulp leaving a firm shell. Cut up pulp and add remaining ingredients. Place in a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon mixture into shell.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

The Herb Garden Cookbook by Lucinda Hutson

I was introduced to herbs in my late twenties. I was at a friend's house and she had made some mint ice tea and I loved it. That began my quest for knowledge regarding herbs. Since that time I have taken gardening classes regarding herbs and some cooking classes regarding herbs but one of the best things I found was Lucinda Hutson's book on The Herb Garden Cookbook. I found her book years ago at the library. I keep a notebook on things I am really interested in and I had checked out her book (really several books on herbs but hers was the best) and I was going to take notes from her book for my notebook. I literally started writing down the information I didn't want to forget and after several hours I realized I was going to be coping the whole book so I went and bought the book. I have used it all these years. I'm sure there are other wonderful herb books out there but I love this one and I love her. I saw her at one of our garden shows and she is very creative and a marvelous source of knowledge.