kayb

I've been to dinners where a specific ingredient was highlighted in the appetizer, entree and dessert. One I particularly remember was peaches -- sliced peaches with balsamic reduction, gorgonzola and proscuitto as an appetizer, a peach sauce (complete with a grilled peach half) with pork loin, and an astonishing peach-topped cheesecake for dessert. Similar menus I've seen and sometimes tried in restaurants include tomatoes, and avocado. Rice is probably one of the most versatile things to do double duty, I think. I often make extra rice when I'm cooking it for dinner so I can make calas, the delightful little New Orleans rice fritter, for dessert. Recipe here. Japanese mochi makes appearances in both savory and sweet versions. Of course, when sweet corn is in season, I have been known to go back and get a second helping of THAT and call it dessert, too.

ElsieD, I just saw the thread had bumped up, and I just posted my pimiento cheese recipe there. It's very much a Southern thing, and every Southern cook has his/her own recipe for pimiento cheese as well as for deviled eggs. There are about as many ways to make it as there are people who make it, but I can promise to you that I have never used Cheese Whiz in mine!

I have been making pimiento cheese for more than 40 years, and while there are some versions I like as well as my own, there are none I like any better. Mine uses 8 ounces extra sharp cheddar -- and I generally use Kraft from the grocery store, eight ounces of Velveeta, a 4-oz jar of drained pimientos. The dressing is 1/2 cup Hellman's mayo (the full-fat variety, please); 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1/2 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt; 1 scant tsp sugar; a pinch or two of cayenne pepper, enough to satisfy your own heat craving. I generally stir the pimientos up in dressing, and pour the dressing over the grated cheeses and stir until it's combined. This one of the three things I make for which I must have Velveeta, the other two being the canonical RoTel cheese dip and mac and cheese. Fortunately, due to its highly chemicalized nature, that stuff lasts forever in your fridge. Love pimiento cheese on a Ritz cracker or just on white bread for a quick sandwich, but my two favorite applications of it are either on a burger or on a bacon/tomato/pimiento cheese sandwich, which is something I've been eating with great regularity since tomatoes have come in season.

Those creamed tomatoes look awesome. Looked up the recipe. May have to try this weekend.

Bacon, tomato, pimiento cheese sandwich. One of the greatest summer pleasures.

Two places I've always loved on trips to Chicago are the Ashkenaz deli on Cedar, but I see from a recent Yelp review that it's closed, which is sad. And I dearly love the Original Pancake House on Bellevue. Their corned beef hash topped with over easy eggs is a thing of beauty. Been a while since I was up there, but I always loved eating at Bistro 110, Shaw's Crab House, and Hugo's Frog Bar.

If you do decide to go through Birmingham either en route to or from, highly recommend the Hot and Hot Fish Club in the Five Points/UAB area. Can't testify to Wintzell's in Montgomery, but the ones in Mobile and Fair Hope are wonderful. I know the chamber of commerce guy in Columbus if you need any other recommendations or assistance.

Oh, wow....what amazing meals and dishes. I'll take some of either Dejah's or scamhi's steak, with Anna's mozzarella-stuffed baked cherry tomatoes (what a great idea; never thought of it, but will assuredly do it, and whoever had those delightful watermelon cubes with the cucumber. That would about hit the spot. It's going to be leftovers tonight; burgers from a couple of nights ago, warmed in gravy, will become hamburger steaks; leftover potato salad and squash casserole. I may bestir myself to cook the last of the asparagus.

I love a ripe tomato more than just about anything in the world, but my No. 1 daughter won't touch them. I craved them and ate them constantly for the last four months I was pregnant with her; I think I burnt her out in utero.

Shelby, SOOOOO envious of you for the peas! No one around here grows them; guess if I'm going to have any,I'll have to grow my own. I seriously think this fall, I'm going to put in some raised beds, spend the winter composting them and getting them ready,and planting next spring. I want tomatoes, peas, asparagus, maybe squash, cucumbers, maybe melons. If I had room, I'd plant corn and beans.

I love tarragon sauteed or steamed with any fresh green veggies, especially sugar snap peas and green beans. Also good with tomatoes, and corn. But in the event that you also have tarragon-on-steroids, start with a LITTLE BIT and work up! And you KNOW I was happy about American Pharoah! He got a good start at Oaklawn!

This should have been good, but wasn't. I had leftover roast chicken, and made a crust of grated russet potatoes, grated onion, an egg and some crumbs (as if I were making latkes). Pressed that into a pie plate, and baked it until the edges were lightly browned. Put the chopped chicken and some chopped asparagus in a cream sauce (cream cheese, milk, grated Parm) and added some tarragon. Either my tarragon is nuclear strength tarragon, or I used too much. It overpowered the entire dish. I only used about a tablespoon, minced. But any of you Green Goddess dressing devotees, if you can tell me how to send you tarragon, I have a gracious plenty of it. This, however, was quite excellent. A simple squash casserole -- yellow crookneck squash and sweet onion, cut up and steamed lightly, then mixed with egg, milk, grated cheddar, cracker crumbs, salt and pepper, spooned into a casserole dish, topped with more cheese and crumbs, and baked. Very simple, very good.

Bacon, tomato (love those sandwich-sized tomatoes, so just one slice makes a great sandwich) and pimiento cheese sandwich. Homemade pimiento cheese (preserve me from the grocery store stuff!), homemade white sandwich bread, lightly toasted. And a leftover vanilla custard with fresh raspberries.

I may possibly -- just POSSIBLY -- have put too many blueberries into this batch of blueberry muffins. But they were the first blueberries of the season, purchased at the farmers' market this morning before 8, and sitting on my plate with an excessive amount of melted butter by 9. Oh, well, consider them a blueberry cobbler in a muffin tin. After all, nothing succeeds like excess, right?

Things are really picking up at the market. Today's haul: Ripe tomatoes, green tomatoes, new potatoes, green beans, radishes, the last of the asparagus, eggs, cucumbers, broccoli, green onions, romaine, and BLUEBERRIES! (There are blueberry muffins in the oven as I type. Blueberry cobbler later.) I passed up zucchini and yellow squash, as I still had some in the fridge. Didn't get peaches, either, as I had run out of cash and didn't feel like going to the ATM and coming back. I'll go back Tuesday evening and get them.

All these meals spoke to me -- Norm's meat loaf (I DO love a meat loaf!), MM's steak and veggies (and that dessert -- would never thought of purple basil with fruit), FauxPas' tomato tart, and liuzhou's prawns with pasta. I'm going to try that tomato tart this weekend at some point. Last night was a quickie dinner, and no photos -- small sirloin tip steak, diced, stirfried with onion, tomato paste, lemongrass and curry powder, and then simmered briefly in an added can of coconut milk. Overdid it a bit on the curry powder; result, served over rice, was quite tasty, but a little fiery for my taste.

Not a huge hot dog fan, but do like them occasionally, grilled or roasted on a stick over a campfire. Soft white bun. Mustard, sweet relish, The bacon wrapped dog with cheese in the middle sounds good; I may try that for my next cookout. I love a mini-corndog (sold as "corn pups" at the corn dog stand) -- they have about the right proportion of corn to dog. Must have with lots of mustard, preferably honey mustard. And it's cocktail sausages (Little Smokies, from your supermarket sausage case) AND meatballs in the jelly and barbecue sauce in the crockpot, though I personally prefer raspberry jam and bbq sauce. The same Little Smokies, wrapped in half a crescent roll triangle, become the canonical "pig in a blanket," and are a favorite weekend breakfast to this day at my house when the kids are here.

Here in Arkansas, Heifer International has set up a "food hub" which both supports small farmers by buying their produce, and offers healthy food to lower-income consumers who might otherwise find it unobtainable. It's a fairly new program, but it's showing signs of taking off. Details here. I'm fortunate that I'm acquainted with one of the producers, and I get my chickens directly from him. I get four at a time, whole chickens, frozen; they're between 3 and 4 pounds and he charges me $12 apiece for them. Slightly more expensive than grocery store, but well worth it to me, and truthfully probably NOT that much more expensive if you take into account what you're paying for the additional saline solution they're injected with before they're packaged for sale.. His are tractor chickens, and I don't know the breed, but they have a very smooth skin, not the "goosebumps" you're accustomed to seeing on chicken skin. Great taste, and it seems to me that a smaller portion serves to satisfy than with supermarket chicken. I generally roast them whole.

Such gorgeous meals, everyone! The "mutton bunny," particularly (I had to google it, too), and the idea of a shepherd's pie with smoked fish just intrigues me. Do you use the peas and carrots as well, or just the fish and herbs and bechamel?This may be calling my name.

You inspired me. I'm about to have cottage cheese and honeydew for lunch.

So very sorry to hear about your father. Y'all will be in my prayers.

mm84321, I'm fascinated by the hay technique. Did you soak the hay first? Did it generate a lot of smoke? btbyrd, thanks for those links. I'm thinking if it's a big smoke generator, it would be simple enough to remove to the grill outdoors.

This morning's haul: Yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, cucumbers, eggs, raspberries. We'll have blueberries and blackberries in the next two or three weeks, and corn should be in around the end of June. New stuff will be coming in thick and fast for the next six weeks. My favorite time of the year!

Fascinating. Thanks!

Hands down, my favorite place in Atlanta to eat is Murphy's, which is also a bakery and wine shop. I have never had a meal there that did not make my eyes roll back in my head. American/Continental cuisine, from burgers up to Chateaubriand. Great wine list. Just stunning. It's in Virginia Highland (at the intersection, if memory serves correctly), so convenient to Emory. There's a Thai place down from Murphy's a couple of blocks that was good, but I don't remember the name. Liked the Tom Kha soup served in a little donut-shaped dish with a tea light candle in the middle to keep it warm. About a bajillion restaurants up and down that stretch, including the Majestic, on, I think, Ponce de Leon, an OLD diner that has primo breakfasts.