Summer Salad is one of our old family favorites. I could eat it every day while produce is fresh. A visitor named it, saying that it tasted like Summer to him.
Each of us has our own variation, but this is the basic salad:
Fresh, ripe tomatoes
Cucumber, preferably the small “pickle” size
Green onions
Oil and vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh dill, minced…..a lot of it
Now, I’m basically lazy, so I use Italian salad dressing on mine. I like the “Robusto” varieties with lots of seasoning and garlic, or Paul Newman’s Italian Dressing. We cut the veggies into bite sized pieces. My salad tends to have more tomato and cucumber and less onion, but you can vary the proportions to suit yourself. Add the pepper and the dill and then cover it with salad dressing. I tend to have a heavy hand with the dressing, and a lot of it gets thrown out. Actually, you could use it as a merinade the next day if you saved it.
It’s possible to use broccoli flowerettes, or even raw cauliflower in this salad. I occasionally omit the onion and substitute the broccoli. NEVER leave out the dill. It’s the magic ingredient.
Chill the salad for a bit before serving. Enjoy!
Daily Archives: June 30, 2003
Did I pass??
I was visiting Red Eagle’s blog and found this test. This is supposedly my personality based on my birth date:
Sensitivity
Full of charm
cheerful
gifted
without egoism
likes to draw attention
loves life
motion
unrest and even complications is both dependent and independent
good taste
artistic
passionate
emotional
good company
does not forgive.
Well……some of it is close….. I’m not sure that I understand “without egoism” and “likes to draw attention” being compatible…..but I won’t quibble. Frankly, I think it makes me sound a lot better than I am! *G*
Dill
I haven’t talked much about the fact that I am interested in herbs. I have a lovely raised herb garden that DH made for me the year after we built our home. I’ve always used culinary herbs, and now I’m learning medicinal uses as well. I moderate an herbal group on YahooGroups, and they have been teaching me fascinating things. Red Eagle has given me instructions on how to share pictures with you, so I hope to post some of them in the coming week.
Despite the fact that I have a fifteen pound black cat by the name of Ed…..my gardens are the home of endless chipmunks. Right now, they are making a home beneath my thyme and sage. You’d think with Ed, and the neighborhood cats, and the dog, and an occasional hawk, that my gardens would be safe, but that’s far from the truth. One year, the chippies gathered up seed from dill plants that I had allowed to go to seed in the veggie beds, and they transferred them to the flower beds along the front walk. Since then, I have had annual infestations of dill!
This week, we pulled 90% of the volunteer dill from the flower beds and brought it into the kitchen. I stripped off the leaves, and we culled the leaves from the stems. Then I minced the leaves and spread them over two jelly roll pans. I heated the oven to about 110 degrees and let the dill gently dry for several hours. If the dill has been in moist ground it might take 4 to 6 hours to dry it out. I have three bottles of dill stored away now, which will easily keep me for the next year, and I still have fresh dill to put in my salads.
It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to be able to grow and store my own herbs, and Dill is the easiest of those I work with. Look for a recipe using dill in the next post.
Chili Sauce
I have an old family recipe to share with you. With tomato season coming up, you want to be prepared with great ways to use them. This is called “Chili Sauce,” but the name belies it’s use. This piquant sauce is best used with pork roast or other meats. It is thick and chunky, like a salsa, but that’s where the similarities to salsa end.
Chili Sauce
12 to 14 pounds of ripe tomatoes
2 bunches celery, chopped
3 onions, chopped
3 green bell peppers, chopped
She Lives!
Well, I’m back to my computer! We had a wonderful visit with the girls, and with my youngest sister. When I left you we were debating about movies. We ended up choosing “Bruce Almighty,” and it’s a pretty good movie. Jim Carey is not my favorite actor, but this was one of his more restrained efforts, and we enjoyed it.
Friday morning we took the girls to exercise with us. Then we went to Sci-Tech and strolled through the science museum. The girls seemed to enjoy the outdoor activities the best. I think they needed the chance to let off steam. That evening we went to the local arcade and let the girls loose to play games. Kate chose the games that gave her the greatest return in tickets for prizes. Becca caught on to what she was doing and searched for her own “winner.” She ended up shooting basketballs. She played game after game, racking up the points and tickets. My arms hurt watching her, but she had a blast!
Saturday we needed to play things by ear because of weather. DH drove into Chicago to sail, and we followed by train in the middle of the day. The girls discovered that “A Taste of Chicago” was on, and asked to go. We did about 2/3s of it before everyone was stuffed (chocolate dipped strawberries, corn on the cob, etc…). The next stop was Navy Pier. We shopped for a bit, saw the IMAX movie on Baja, California, and then had dinner at Joe’s Be-Bop Cafe (again, this was the girl’s choice!). We shopped one last time, and then headed for home.
Their mom drove up on Sunday. We had a family gathering, playing cards and cooking together, doing a little more gardening. Monday morning, my sis helped me with some heavy weeding in the herb garden while the girls packed up for the trip home. It’s very quiet here now.
I think everyone had a good time. I sure did. Now I need a week to recover! *G*