Summer Meals

katharina

What's your favorite meal to serve when it's too hot to spend much time cooking?

I like things like pasta salad best for those days... well, if my husband can't bring pizza or hoagies home, that is.

SageMother

We usually rely on big salads during the summer months. We will barbecue a few turkey brats a couple of times in July, and the hubby makes a killer potato salad to go with them!

Laughingmouse

Potato salad is one of my biggest summer weaknesses.

We like to have a lot of spinach salads and finger foods during the summer months. When we can avoid cooking, we do!

katharina

My! Now you're talking some seriously good eating! Does your husband have any secret ingredient or technique he'd care to share?

heretoday

We like to boil up a few giant artichokes in the kitchen, and we'll sit out on the porch and eat them with melted butter as the sun goes down. A very chilled white wine hits the spot.

katharina

Would you believe (you probably will if I tell you I'm in a little town on the east coast ) that I've never eaten an artichoke? 'Tis true. Do they have a taste like any other veggie, or a unique taste?

heretoday

Well, let me think. Artichokes do have a taste all their own, but if I was to try and break it down it tastes a bit like asparagus, broccoli, and/or green beans.
It has a richer , and perhaps not such a "green" taste.
One part of the artichokes you can enjoy are artichoke hearts. They come in little glass bottles and are marinated with "Italian" type herbs. These are totally wonderful in a salad (bleu cheese or better yet, rocquefort dressings are a personal fave), and if you like you can eat them as is. Give them a try...

katharina

Ah! Well that sounds like something I'd enjoy for sure. For as many years as I've been buying groceries, I know that they're not carried in my area. Maybe I should talk to management... but I guess they'd have to know that more people than just one would be buying artichokes.

heretoday

Maybe because lots of West Coasters dearly love artichokes is the reason you guys have been deprived of them? Sorry bout that! We can even find perfectly fine jars of artichoke hearts in the grocery outlets...maybe you could ask your store manager about ordering some, predicated by the fact that they should be easily found on the net, all the west coast stores have them.
Your efforts will be paid off when you get a jar of these succulent treats. You can eat them right out of the jar if you like. You can even put them on Hoagies (we call them subs here, short for submarine sandwiches). The left-over oil in the jar makes a fine salad dressing ingredient as well.

katharina

That must be it. I'm sure some of the bigger areas around here would carry things like that. And I'll have to remember to check when we go on vacation. I like checking out the local grocery stores sometimes for new and different items.

heretoday

I like to do that as well! I usually bring back a bag or two of stuff I've never seen before, to my husband's consternation.

katharina

A kindred spirit! I am so serious about this that I always run into a Winn-Dixie in Georgia's Golden Isles (Brunswick area) to buy Brunswick Stew.

Maybe I shouldn't put this idea in your head or your husband will throw stuff at me but lately I've been shopping online with my daughter for things from other places but sold in America. We found a Polish grocer a few weeks ago and are enjoying the order now. We want to do Britain and Germany next. Germany will be a repeat order when they get enough stock back.

Twiceshy

I haven't had an artichoke in years, mainly because my husband isn't into dipping anything into butter.

I've always wondered who figured out how to eat them!

katharina

Ah... I guess he doesn't like lobster then either with the butter dipping thing. I can think of better things to dip lobster in anyhow... that never made a lot of sense to me.