summer

Amie's Margarita Recipe

Pitcher margaritas built on frozen limeade, lemon-lime soda, tequila and a bottle of Corona.

“I prefer diet 7-Up or Sprite, not so sweet, and I usually just fill the limeade can twice from a 2-liter bottle instead of using canned soda.”

Angel Food Custard

Angel food cake split into three layers and filled with a stovetop vanilla custard lightened with whipped cream.

Barbecue Roast

A soy sauce, garlic and mustard marinade for beef roast, left on at least a day before broiling.

Beer Can Chicken

Whole chicken rubbed with paprika, salt and brown sugar, then cooked upright over a half-emptied can of beer or soda.

Berries' Stars

Puff pastry shell filled with a lemon and condensed milk cream, covered in strawberries and blueberries, with baked pastry cutouts on top.

Berry Dessert

Four bags of berries layered with melted butter, sugar and dry Jell-O, topped with dry cake mix and baked an hour.

“Deb notes she uses sugar-free Jell-O and sometimes swaps in Splenda for the sugar.”

Best Blueberry Muffins

Muffins with cooked-down blueberry jam swirled into each top, finished with lemon sugar or an optional butter streusel.

Bloody Mary Mix

Twenty pounds of tomatoes blended with peppers, carrots and spinach, simmered two hours, seasoned hard, and pressure-canned.

BLT Macaroni Salad

Elbow macaroni chilled in a chili sauce and mayonnaise dressing, with lettuce and bacon tossed in at the last minute.

“This cold salad is the best I have ever made. It will fly right off of the table. This is perfect to take to parties or get-togethers.”

Blueberry Cobbler Texas Style

Batter poured over butter melted in a hot 13x9, dolloped with mashed lemon-sugar blueberries and baked until the edges crisp.

Blueberry Pie

Half the berries are cooked down and mashed, then bound with grated apple and ground tapioca under a double crust.

“I use Splenda for the sugar — 1 cup for blueberry pie. For sour cherries, 1 cup Splenda and 2/3 cup sugar.”

Broccoli Salad

Raw broccoli tossed with bacon, red onion, raisins and whole cashews; the sugar-vinegar mayonnaise dressing goes on just before serving.

Caramel Ice Cream

Sugar caramelized dry in a skillet, then built into an egg yolk custard with scalded milk, cream and vanilla.

Cheesecake-Stuffed Strawberries

Hollowed strawberries piped full of no-bake cheesecake filling, dipped in graham crumbs and drizzled with melted chocolate.

“I used this box mix and it came with the graham cracker crumbs. This was good, but next time I think I'd try making my own filling - just to compare. I also used white chocolate for drizzling because I had some on hand, and I used just 1 block of the bark-type chocolate from Kroger for the milk chocolate drizzle.”

Cinnamon-Rhubarb Muffins

Sour cream and melted butter muffin batter with cinnamon and diced rhubarb, meant to be finished with cinnamon sugar.

Coleslaw

Bagged slaw mix tossed with a mayonnaise and sour cream dressing sharpened with vinegar, grated onion and celery salt.

Coleslaw Sweet and Tangy

Shredded cabbage salted, briefly microwaved and spun dry, then tossed with carrot and a chilled cider vinegar and celery seed dressing.

Cucumbers

Sliced cucumbers and onion held in a sweet-sour dressing of mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar.

Dilly Beans

Whole green beans packed upright in pint jars with garlic and dill, covered in boiling vinegar brine and water-bath processed.

French Vanilla Ice Cream

Eggs, milk and sugar cooked into a stirred custard, then cooled with cream and vanilla and held overnight.

Frosty Fruit

Orange juice concentrate, lemonade mix and canned fruit frozen in plastic glasses and served slushy.

Fruit Salad

Sugar and cornstarch cooked with water until thick and clear, sharpened with lemon, and poured cooled over cut fresh fruit.

“I like to use watermelon, pineapple, nectarines or peaches, strawberries, grapes, orange sections, etc.”

Fruit Salad - WW

Canned and fresh fruit tossed with dry sugar-free gelatin, which thickens the juices; keeps two weeks in the refrigerator.

“WW 3 points each serving.”

Fudgsicles

Instant chocolate pudding and milk frozen into homemade pudding pops.

German Potato Salad

Warm potatoes and bacon dressed with a sweet-sour vinegar sauce thickened with cornstarch, served warm.

Hawaiian Fruit Dessert

Sweetened cream cheese and Cool Whip whipped with lime, frozen in a springform pan, then piled with strawberries, kiwi and pineapple.

Lemon Icebox Pie

Condensed milk and lemon juice baked just until set in a graham crust, chilled several hours, then covered in whipped cream.

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins (Mackinac Island)

Sour cream muffins studded with frozen blueberries, brushed with melted butter and finished in lemon sugar.

Pampered Chef Fruit Pizza

Sugar cookie crust spread with sweetened cream cheese, covered in pineapple, mandarins, bananas and strawberries, then sealed with a cooked strawberry glaze.

Peach-a-Berry Cobbler

Peaches and blueberries thickened on the stovetop, then topped with spoonfuls of soft batter and baked until the crust sets.

Popsicles

Jell-O and Kool-Aid dissolved together with sugar and water, frozen in paper cups with a stick.

Potato Salad

Five pounds of potatoes and hard-boiled eggs folded warm into a cooked vinegar-and-egg dressing finished with Miracle Whip.

Raspberry Crush Punch

Raspberry Kool-Aid and frozen lemonade concentrate with whole frozen berries, topped with 7-Up just before serving.

Raspberry Sorbet

Strained raspberry puree stabilized with Sure-Jell and corn syrup, with part of it frozen solid before churning.

Recipe Number 2

An unnamed frozen pudding pop: instant chocolate pudding stirred with cream, milk and sugar, then frozen.

Recipe Number 3

Chocolate drink mix, beaten eggs and milk stirred together and frozen — another unnamed variation on the pudding pops.

Rhubarb Crisp

A soft batter spread over raw rhubarb, dusted with sugar and cornstarch, with boiling water poured over so it makes its own sauce.

Salmon Strips

Strips of salmon fillet rolled into pinwheels around cream cheese, chives and shrimp or crab, then grilled or baked briefly.

Seven Fruit Salad

Canned peaches, oranges and pineapple with cherry pie filling, strawberries, grapes and blueberries; serves ten.

Sour Cherry Cobbler

Buttermilk drop biscuits baked separately, then set over jarred Morello cherries thickened with red wine, cinnamon and almond extract.

Stars and Strips Berry Trifle

Pound cake and raspberry jam cut into stars, layered in a trifle dish with sugared blueberries, raspberries, vanilla custard and whipped cream.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Freezer ice cream started from strawberry Jell-O dissolved in boiling water, then beaten eggs, cream and vanilla, topped off with milk.

Sun Dills

Cucumbers covered in a raw brine of water, vinegar, pickling salt, garlic and dill, then left in the sun about three days.

“For a 2 quart jar I use 2 1/8 cups water, 1 heaping cup of vinegar, scant ¼ cup pickling salt, scant ¼ head of garlic, and a small sprig of dill.”

Sweet and Sour Baked Beans

Four kinds of beans baked with bacon and onion rings cooked down in brown sugar, dry mustard and cider vinegar.

Sweet-Sour Cucumbers

Sliced cucumbers steeped in a shaken quart-jar brine of vinegar, sugar, celery seed and mustard seed.

Talley's Homemade Ice Cream

Gallon-batch custard base thickened with cornstarch and churned in an ice-and-salt freezer, with variations for chocolate, peach, strawberry, banana, coffee and berry.

“For the small batch, Deb notes she uses 1 cup whipping cream and skips the evaporated milk altogether.”

Thirteen Bean Salad

Thirteen-bean soup mix simmered until just tender, then marinated overnight in a sweet-sour oil and wine vinegar dressing with red onion and peppers.

Tomato Salsa

Chopped tomatoes, onion and pimento olives dressed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, left to stand half an hour.