Summer Salads

There are lots cooking in Carolina, especially with the heat index over 100 degrees. It makes one want to cook everything on the grill and makes me, more than ever; want an outdoor kitchen, especially for canning (plus a bread/pizza oven!). Anyway, we have been grilling out a lot: meats as well as eggplant, corn, etc.

We are big fan of breading with bread crumbs and parmesan and baking (as opposed to frying) to keep the fat down. When I saw a recipe in a recent Gourmet for breading and grilling, I tried it (if you can't take the heat....). You dip the meat (in their case, pork chops) into olive oil then in the breadcrumb mixture and put in on a hot greased grill. Leave it in the covered grill 4 minutes or so, depending on thickness. Turn, cover and leave until ready. We were surprised the coating adhered so well and seemed to hold in the moisture of the meat. Maybe it is also that the cooking time is so fast. We have tried it with chicken breasts and lamb (dipped in dijon then breadcrumbs and parmesan) and it is all so wonderful, especially with grilled corn.


We catered a party today for the Triangle Orchid Society's Growers Day. We decided on salads because it is a perfect summer lunch. We had Caprese salad, tuna salad with olive tapenade and pita points, potato salad with bacon, pasta salad with fresh and sun dried tomatoes, dried cranberries, and parmesan, oriental chicken salad and a Moroccan inspired lentil salad with feta, olives and mint. We provided lettuces and an array of breads if people wanted to make sandwiches as well as homemade dressing (Dijon vinaigrette, a sour cream/lime dressing (recipe is on the website) and a low-fat buttermilk blue cheese dressing) if anyone wanted a tossed salad. The guests seemed pleased so we were happy!

Today will be spent canning and freezing in the kitchen. Check out some of our recipes Swank Recipes Link

Relishing a breeze or cooler temperatures!

We hope you stay cool and cook outdoors or hire us to cook for you!

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