Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes
Summer arrived yesterday.
I hooked up a mister around my chicken yard to help keep the birds cool. Getting 3 eggs a day these days. Woo hoo! Although the last “rooster” that my guy swapped out laid an egg the other day. He called to tell me. Apparently the Light Sussex are late bloomers but he was fooled. She has huge wattles and was getting honky in the mornings. Ah, well, the new hen has made her way into the flock and all is well here.
Dinner last night was barbecued pork chops marinated in an Asian inspired marinade. I cut down a recipe intended for POUNDS of pork chops to make just enough for two large chops, but didn’t actually measure anything. It had soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic, brown sugar… I’ll have to work out a good smaller recipe. I grilled them and served with some rice and salad (from the garden) and it was a nice dinner. I was interrupted by a daughter’s dead car battery so they got a longer marinade time, which was a blessing. But I had the salad ready and the rice going in the rice cooker so once we got back home I just grilled the chops and everything else was ready.
Today it was even hotter than yesterday I think. We went with a Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner. Cucumber and some of the lettuce was from the garden. We have some leftover for a lunch tomorrow. Perfect if we have ONE lunch leftover these days it seems. My eldest daughter’s summer job at a kids’ camp feeds her lunch (all organic and healthy stuff–very cool!) so it’s just my youngest and I home for lunch. And next week she starts cosmetology school. Not sure if she’ll be packing lunch or coming home at this point. It’s just 5 miles way but I suspect the lunch break might be short.
I need to revise my menu ideas for hot weather suddenly. Salads, grilled foods, cold soups, quick cooking stuff like pasta. Garden is providing radishes, lettuce, sugar snap peas (but probably only another few days), lemons and a few holdover oranges (which I used in a carrot and orange salad the other day).
What are your favorite summer meals? We like:
- quiche
- breakfast for dinner (pancakes or scrambled eggs and maybe sausage)
- grilled meats with rice (beef kebabs, lemon-herb chicken, etc. )
- salads with grilled meats (often leftover over from above! )
- Pannini sandwiches of some sort
- egg salad sandwiches, BLT sandwiches once the tomatoes ripen, etc.
- Pasta with fresh tomatoes soon…
- Hamburgers – make your own hamburger buns for an awesome burger dinner!
- Tacos – I just bought a tortilla press (affiliate link) and yum! I’m predicting lots of use this summer! So easy. I just cook them in a cast iron skillet.
Please share some favorite summer dinner ideas in the comments below!
We do a LOT of grilling in the summer months. I like to grill an extra piece of meat and some vegetables (grill woks rock!) to add to dinner salads later in the week. The extras also make great sandwiches with the addition of cucumber, lettuce and tomato slices. I like poach a turkey breast or chicken allowing them to cool in the liquid. Do this in the AM, when temps are still cooler. Turkey for salads, sandwiches or a cold plate with some cucumber dill sauce on top. We tend to make more cold pasta, grain and potato salads for easy no-cook meals when the temps really soar.
I can’t wait to read about your tortilla press. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting one.
HD – Will you let them out at 6:30am? Now I want an automatic coop door so I don’t have to get up early every bloody morning!
I want to live at your house and eat all your food. Um, I’ll clean the chicken coop in exchange and collect the eggs and feed the hens, Deal?