I'm sorry to have been MIA here, but boy was this a hot and busy weekend. Ever seen people move a pick-up full of compost, by 5 gal. buckets, over 100', in the heat? Not pretty!
But, we had a dinner I enjoy tonight:
Before dinner:
Pimiento Stuffed Celery w/ Olive Slices
V-8
Dinner:
Melon Bowls
Smothered Barbequed Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Biscuits
Buttered Baby Carrots
For melon bowls, cut cantaloupes and honeydews in half. Remove seeds and scoop out contents with melon baller. Take 1/2 cantaloupe, now empty, per person, and refill with 1/2 cantaloupe balls, and 1/2 honey dew balls. I think the 2 colors look pretty together. Serve chilled at the beginning of the meal. I know that it's said that you should eat melon alone, but this was something my grandmother served every Sunday dinner, once in season, and we are okay.
For the chicken, I make a bowl of homemade barbeque sauce....and I do love the stuff
, layer the chicken (Either skinned legs, or wide, skinless, chicken breast strips.) in a baking dish with slices of fresh ginger, then pour the sauce over it. Bake.
I make the carrots as I do fresh green beans, sans the lemon juice. Cook, drain, put back in the pot over low heat to dry. Add a little butter and cook for a few minutes. Serve. With green beans I put lemon juice and butter in the pot with them once they are dried on the heat.
I mashed the last of the chives I salvaged before the heat, from the garden, into the mashed potatoes, and added a little parmesan, as I just had a small piece left. I'd kind of eaten a few curls from it one of the hot days I didn't feel much like eating....with crackers.
While I don't always succeed, I try very hard to make Sunday dinners special, and complete, no matter what we do during the week. And, usually, we have chicken. Growing up we had Sunday dinners at my grandparent's home for years, and I have always considered it special family time.
I hope it's cooling for everyone affected by the heatwave, and drying for everyone who's getting more rain than they need!
