Margarita Pie

This is an easy summer pie recipe that can be made ahead of time.  Keep one in your freezer for surprise guests.  Tracey Patrick Blanchard shared this refreshing pie recipe.  Thanks Tracey!

1 and 1/4 cups crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

Mix ingredients together and press into glass or ceramic pie pan to form the crust.

1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice
1 envelope lemon lime unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 and 1/2 cups Cool Whip or whipped cream

Mix all ingredients together and pour over pretzel pie crust.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in freezer until ready to eat.
Remove from freezer about 30 minutes before serving.  Add remaining Cool Whip or whipped cream on top before serving

Licuado de Melon – Refreshing Watermelon Drink

It’s summer and time to enjoy the delicious taste of watermelon.  Looks like this summer is going to be a super hot one.  This watermelon drink is super refreshing and so easy to make.  You can make it the day before.  Serve chilled.  Thanks Céire!

• 1 small watermelon or half of a large one
• juice of 2-3 limes or more to taste, make sure to have some of the lime pulp
• about 1/4 cup honey, to sweeten
• up to 4 cups of chilled water

Cut the watermelon into chunks, discarding seeds.  Place chunks in a large sieve, over a bowl, and use a wooden spoon to press/mash fruit, extracting the juice.  Stir in the lime juice and sweeten with honey.  Serve chilled.

Mama’s Homemade Lemonade

I remember the first time I helped my Mama make lemonade.  First you should know, my Mama prepared 3 meals a day, set the table for each meal and the family ate together at the table.  She also squeezed fresh orange juice for our breakfast.  Need I say………Awesome Mom!  So, one hot Louisiana summer day were going to make homemade lemonade.  I remember saying, “That’s going to take a lot of lemons!”  I thought you would make it like orange juice….wouldn’t that have been tart!  We laughed and laughed  that day.  Those are the sweet memories you keep forever.  So on this Mother’s day weekend, I’m making homemade lemonade and thinking of my sweet Mama. 

1 cup sugar and 1 cup water:  Prepare a simple sugar syrup by heating sugar and water in a small pan. Continue to heat, till the sugar is dissolved completely. 

4 – 6  Lemons – (about 1 cup of juice)

4 cups cold water

While the sugar dissolves, extract lemon juice from 4 to 6 lemons.  You can use a juicer, but I use a use a wooden citrus reamer. Now mix the lemon juice and the simple syrup in a jar or pitcher. Add 4 cups of cold water. 

That’s it – very simple.   This makes a little over 1 quart of lemonade.  You could double the recipe easily.  I usually pour my lemonade into an old mason jar with a clamp closure – it looks vintage, keeps the lemonade very cold, and fits well in the refrigerator door.  A really neat idea – if you are having a few people over for a crawfish boil, cookout, etc., you could put your lemonade in individual mason jars with lids and keep them in a bucket of ice. 

Margarita Shrimp

This is what’s for dinner in the Bryan household tonight.  These shrimp are great as part of a meal or on a salad.

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (about 4)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tequila
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lb uncooked shrimp (about 30), peeled (tails left on) and deveined

In a medium bowl mix all ingredients and add shrimp-stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 8 hours to marinate.  If you are going to use these shrimp for a salad, reserve 1/4 cup of marinade to toss with the salad before you add the shrimp.

Drain shrimp and discard marinade.  I cook these on the grill, but if you want you can broil in the oven.  (Spray broiler pan with cooking spray, broil 4 inches from heat for 5-7 minutes, turning once, until shrimp turn pink.)

Sweet Iced Tea with Mint

One of summer’s standard beverages is sweet iced tea, especially in the South.  My grandmother used to add mint to her ice tea – it’s so refreshing!

Brew 12 cups of water and 6 individual (not family size) tea bags.  To the hot tea add 6-8 mint leaves. Stir and let it sit about 5 minutes.  Then add 1-1/4 cup sugar, juice of 1 orange and 1-1/2 tablespoon lemon juice or 1/2 lemon.  This is especially good if you chill your glasses.  Remove the mint leaves before you refrigerate.

Ada’s Potato Salad

You can eat this potato salad cold or warm.  4-5 servings

 5 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 boiled eggs, separate the yolks from the whites

Seasoned salt

Sweet Pickle Relish

¾ cup Blue Plate Mayo

Tartar sauce

Lemon juice

¼ cup chopped onion, optional

 5 regular Idaho potatoes – not bakers – regular size.  Peel and cube in pot of water, boil until tender.  Drain and add to a bowl.  While the potatoes are hot, break up with a fork lightly – you want them sort of chunky. 

 Now here is where you have to use the amount you like.  Add sweet pickle relish, seasoned salt, 2 egg whites chopped (save the yolks). 

In a separate bowl, mash the 2 egg yolks, add approx ¾ cups mayo (we use Blue Plate), 1 squirt tarter sauce (it comes in a squirt bottle), small amount of chopped onion – about ¼ cup (onions get stronger each day),  and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.  Pour this mixture into the potatoes, relish and egg whites.  Mix lightly – you don’t want to mash your potatoes.

 HELPFUL HINT:  When you have boiled eggs in a dish and refrigerate the dish – you put lemon juice so that it won’t smell funky when you open it up the next time.

Cucumbers and Purple Onions in Vinegar

Every southern family has this in their refrigerator in the summer.  And I mean EVERYONE.

In a large jar, add about 2 cucumbers (depending on size) sliced – not paper thin, but like bread and butter pickles and 1 purple onion cut in wedges and separated.  Peel your cucumber or run a peeler down the sides for a stripe. 

Alternate the cucumbers and onions until the jar is full.  Fill jar with water and vinegar 2:1 ratio.  You can use apple cider vinegar if you want, but I use white vinegar.  Add a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper to taste.  I would start with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.  Put the top on tight, shake it up, and refrigerate.  In 30 minutes, open it and taste, if too salty, pour a little liquid out and replace with water, if not salty enough, add a little salt. 

 You serve this right out of the jar with EVERYTHING.  Especially great with fresh vegetables.  So refreshing!  Will keep for days in the frig – that is if it lasts that long.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

4 ears corn, in husk

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

In a small bowl, combine butter, lime zest and juice, chili powder, garlic and salt and pepper; set aside.

Carefully peel back husk from the ear, without detaching from the bottom, remove silk from corn, fold the husk back around the ears and soak in water for 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure to weigh down the ears so that they are fully submerged.

Preheat a grill to medium, indirect heat. Remove ears from water, drain, open husk, dry ears with paper towel and spread butter mixture evenly on corn. Fold husk back over corn and grill, turning often, for 35 minutes (change heat to medium-high for the last ten minutes of grilling). You can wrap corn in foil for 15 minutes and then unwrap and put over open flame for 15 minutes.

Roasted Roma Tomatoes

So simple – so easy – very low cost.  There are lots of versions of this recipe out there, but I like this one the best.

1 good handful fresh Italian parsley

1 good handful fresh Basil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

8 Roma tomatoes, halved

1 ½ cups Ricotta Cheese

Ritz crackers, crushed or seasoned bread crumbs

Kosher salt

Olive oil

 Wash and half Roma tomatoes.  Then gut out the inside of each half with a spoon.  Sprinkle a bit of salt inside each tomato.  Lay the salted halves face down on paper towels. 

 Chop your herbs and garlic, mix with the Ricotta cheese.  Add salt, pepper to taste.

 Fill each tomato half with a nice heap of Ricotta mixture. Press each ricotta filled tomato half face down into the bread crumbs and place face up on a baking sheet.  Drizzle each tomato with olive oil.

 Bake 400 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.

Crunchy Cole Slaw

Talk about easy – plus delicious!

 1 bag Cole slaw mix (large) the kind with carrots and cabbage.

2 oz sliced almonds

4 oz sunflower seeds, if already roasted you do not need to re-toast

2 packages of Oriental Ramen Noodles

 

Toast almonds and sunflower seeds at 300 for about 5 minutes – watch closely.

Optional:  You can toast the Ramen noodles too if you want.

Mix all above ingredients together except the noodles.

Dressing

3/4 cup oil

3 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoon white vinegar

2 – dry packet seasoning from noodle package

Mix all together.

 Before serving, crush Ramen noodles and mix into cold slaw and pour dressing over all.  You don’t want to add the dressing and noodles until you are ready to serve – the Ramen noodles will get soggy.