Sunday Dinner

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Gouda and Lemon Thyme Gougères 

with Peaches

Tomato Based Gazpacho 

with Lump Crabmeat Salad Garnsih

Lemon Yogurt Mousse with Blueberry Sauce

Sunday dinners are a little different now.  My son, Jack, is a recent Mizzou graduate and getting ready to move into his own world in Madison, WI.  My daughter, Emma, is finishing up her last year at Tulane and my youngest , Mabelle, is sixteen; therefore she is barely seen or heard from.  So, it is pretty much me and my husband and the two black black furry creatures lurking under the table at dinner time.  I'll have to fill you in on our newest family member another time.  On to the menu and recipe...

It is HOT here in Illinois!! I mean, it seems like it was 50° F just a couple of weeks ago and now the heat index is over 100° F. 🔥 That means, it is a "no oven or stove" Sunday dinner. Ok, I did turn the stove on for a few minutes for the blueberry sauce.

The feature of tonight's menu is the dessert, Lemon Yogurt Mousse.  I like to think of it is as a no-bake, cold summer soufflé. A little bit of the fresh blueberry sauce is spooned into the bottom of each ramekin and then the light and airy mousse is spooned on top of the sauce. There is a nice tang from the addition of Greek yogurt to the mousse and the lemon adds a zesty (pun intended) punch.  As for the Greek yogurt, I have had equally good results using whole, 2% or 0%.  It just depends on your preference.  I used 0% for tonight.  The mousse is served in 4-ounce ramekins, so it is the perfect amount of sweetness to end our dinner on a hot summer day.  Happy cooking!

Sunday Dinner

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Pimento Cheese

Glazed Turkey Meatloaf

Dinner Grits

Fordhook Lima Beans

Fluffy Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls

Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon Cream Filling

Before my children and I depart for a little Spring Break trip, my husband and I had a little getaway together this weekend since he is unable to travel with us.  Seeing how we would be in the car returning today, I needed to have a dinner that could mostly be prepared in advance.  A little prep work this past Friday and I only have the grits and beans to prepare.  

These blueberry streusel bars offer a hint of the tastes of Summer (yes, it will come...someday) along with a satisfying oaty goodness.  It's kind of like getting your blueberry pie fix in bar form.  Speaking of blueberry pie, I like a pinch of ground cinnamon in mine along with the lemon flavor, so I added a bit here.  I also increased the amount of blueberries for an extra good blueberry flavor.  Since I did that, I also added a couple teaspoons of cornstarch to prevent a blueberry ooze.  They are delicious on their own whether chilled or at room temperature.  But like the pie... they are also enjoyed when served with some vanilla ice cream for an a la mode treat. 

Sunday Dinner one year ago

Sunday Dinner two years ago

Breakfast Grain Salad with Almonds, Blueberries, and Peaches

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As good as a comforting bowl of oatmeal can be to start the day, it is nice to come across a recipe that utilizes those morning oats in a cool way for hot summer days.

I am showcasing two summer fruits, blueberries and peaches, in this salad along with toasted almonds, but you can use just about any fruit or nut to suit your own taste.  Since I've included almonds, I also use almond oil to lightly toast the grains before cooking.  Don't have almond oil? Use any other neutral tasting oil, like safflower or canola.  As far as a sweetner, I have listed several that you can use.  Brown rice syrup, pure maple syrup, and honey are all good options.

  

The grain part of the recipe is best made the day before you plan to serve it in order for the flavors to develop.  This helps to make it a perfect breakfast for entertaining a weekend breakfast/brunch gathering.  On that note, instead of tossing the fruits and nuts with the grains, I like to serve it buffet style and have my family or guests serve themselves with as much or as little of the accompaniments as they like.  It is a healthy, satisfying, and tasty way to start the day.

Pineapple-Blueberry Smoothie

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Here I go talking about the weather again, but dang... it's HOT!  Like the iced latte, starting out with a cool beverage on mornings like this certainly helps in the effort to beat the heat.  Simple and quick to prepare, portable, healthy and very tasty---this smoothie has everything you want in a summer breakfast.

Pineapple is a year round fruit in our house.  In the summer I like to pair it with the sweet blue jewels of summer.  It might seem like a strange pairing, but it really works.  I use my standard smoothie formula, but use pineapple and blueberries for the fruit.  What really makes this smoothie stand out is the coconut water.  I don't know if I am fully convinced of all the health benefits of coconut water, but I do know that it helps make for a tasty beverage first thing in the morning.  You can almost feel the tropical island breeze off the water instead of the hot wind off the pavement.

Patriotic Poke Cake

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Some of you may remember the Strawberry Poke Cake featured on my blog in May.  Hopefully some of you made and enjoyed it, because it was a big hit around here.  In getting my Declaration of Independence juices flowing in the days leading up to the 4th of July, I felt compelled to make something delicious and apropos of our nation's 236th birthday.  

One might say the result exploded with color and flavor.  We will be saluting the genius of the Founding Fathers with forkfuls of appreciation for their efforts before watching fireworks.  I hope you do the same.

Oh, and for those of you who enjoy my Sunday dinner menus or those looking for a little inspiration--- I will be hosting a holiday/early birthday get together with family and friends tomorrow.  Our menu will be as follows...

Black Eyed Pea Salad with Chips

Macaroni and Cheese Pimento Bites

Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork

Western Carolina Tomato-Based Barbecue Sauce

South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce

Stove-top Baked Beans

Classic Creamy Coleslaw

Patriotic Poke Cake

Sunday Dinner

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Avocado and Goat Cheese Crostini

Grilled Pork Rib Chops

Creamy Corn Pudding Soufflé with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Star Spangled Blueberry Pie

Apple pie gets all the press when when people mention great American food traditions.  It deserves the attention.  For my money, though, blueberry pie is right up there among the great summertime foods of this country.  

A slice still warm from the oven with very little blueberry ooze.

I like to mash up one third of the blueberries before baking.  This step helps release flavor from the blueberries to swirl around the rest of the berries which are left intact.  I also add cornstarch to the filling.  This helps reduce likelihood of a runny filling.

A slice at room temperature.

A slice of blueberry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream is as good as it gets.


Sunday Dinner one year ago

Baked Cheese Blintzes with Fresh Blueberry Sauce

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Raise your hand if you love Ina Garten.  My hand is raised.  She loves her husband deeply, she loves to entertain family and friends with simplicity and style, and her recipes are wonderful!  One of Ina's favorite meals to host is breakfast/brunch.   With Mother's Day brunch menus on many of your minds, I wanted to share a stress-free recipe for a gathering of people.  

Making pancakes and eggs for a family of five is something I enjoy on a regular basis, but who wants to get up in the morning and start being a short order cook for a crowd of people?  Not Ina and certainly not me.  Here is a recipe of hers that includes all the flavors of a traditional cheese blintz without the fuss of making individual rolled blintzes.  Wanting to stick with a more traditional cheese filling, I used cottage cheese and cream cheese in lieu of the ricotta and mascarpone.  To make sure the filling is extra smooth and creamy, I run it through the food processor. This also cuts back on extra dirty bowls and spoons, making cleanup even faster *bonus*.  You can certainly serve the baked blintz with any fruit topping of your choice, but I highly recommend the fresh blueberry sauce.  I even make a little extra to serve over ice cream or yogurt.

Blueberry Bagels

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I apologize.  I have been keeping this recipe all to myself.  It's not that I didn't want to share.  I just needed to make a few dozen batches and do a little taste testing to make sure they were just right to share☺.    

When I first started toying with the idea of a blueberry bagel,  I knew I wouldn't have many options in terms of the type of blueberry I was going to use.  I wanted the taste and texture of a fresh blueberry, but not the watery mess.  I also wanted a slight purple tint that made it look like a blueberry bagel, but without any artificial color added. The obvious choice would be to use dried blueberries, but I knew they wouldn't give me that streaked blueberry look to the bagel.  Frozen blueberries would be an even bigger disaster than fresh.  Hmmm...."....self, don't give up."  

Cruisin' through the aisles at the market, I found my answer-- freeze-dried blueberries!  They are made from fresh blueberries picked at their peak for the best blueberry flavor.  A 1.2-ounce package (about 1 cup) of freeze-dried blueberries is actually 8.5-ounces of fresh blueberries.  Now that's a lot of blueberry for my bagels.  Since they are on the brittle side, I gently knead them into the dough by hand.  They soften once baked and they give the bagels that little purple streak I was looking for.  To further enhance the blueberry flavor, I first add a bit more sugar.  Then I add a touch of cinnamon and lemon zest just like I do with my blueberry pie.  The flavors really compliment one another.

Just look at all those berries!  Toast one up and spread it with butter or cream cheese for breakfast or an anytime treat. 

If you are new to making bagels, check out my step-by-step photos for homemade bagels.  

Summer Fruit Salad with Lime-Mint Syrup

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Regular readers know that we enjoy our Sunday dinners, but we also enjoy our Sunday breakfasts.  It is usually a tasty baked good, eggs in some form, and a seasonal fruit or salad.  This recipe is one we enjoy during the summer months when the berries and melons are at their peak and the herbs green and bright.  It is a simple salad with an extra pop of flavor from the juice and zest of a fresh lime and some fresh mint from my garden.  As good as the recipe is as written, feel free to use whatever fresh seasonal fruit you have on hand or enjoy.  In fact, I have a few other seasonal fruit salads based on this recipe.  Honeydew melon, blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, grapes, and even kiwis are all suitable candidates for this bowl of sweet goodness.

Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches with Blueberry Swirl

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I love it when I am able to make a recipe simpler than originally written with equally delicious results.  This recipe is a fine example.  Former subscribers of Gourmet magazine may recognize this recipe from the last August issue ever printed (2009).  When I received it in the mail, I knew by looking at the cover that this recipe was a must make.  Ice cream swirled with a blueberry compote and sandwiched between soft brown sugar cookie layers-- yum!  My problem was certainly not with the end result, but it was the actual recipe breakdown.  It called for adding lemon juice and zest to vanilla ice cream and then placing the ice cream in a separate pan and swirling the blueberry mixture throughout.  I knew immediately that it would turn out too lemony for my taste and the swirling would make for a blueberry mess with extra dishes.  Still wanting a tasty frozen treat that looked as good as it tasted, I took matters into my own hands.

First, I omitted the lemon flavorings in the ice cream. Then I swapped out the ice cream for a premium vanilla frozen yogurt.  It has a sweet tang and it is lighter than ice cream (better for the swimsuit season!).  I made the blueberry compote with lemon juice and lemon zest.  I then made the cookie layers with a touch of cinnamon.  For assembly, I dolloped half the blueberry compote on one sandwich layer and topped it with the softened frozen yogurt.  I dolloped the remaining compote on top of the yogurt layer and then placed the second cookie layer on top. Allow it to freeze for several hours, preferably overnight, so it will slice easily. You'll be rewarded with an incredibly tasty summer treat that is also pleasing to the eye.  One bite will send you into blueberry pie à la mode bliss.  The one thing I wasn't able to change-- brain freeze!  

Blueberry Buckle

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A buckle is a coffee cake with a generous streusel topping that has fresh fruit folded into the batter. A traditional buckle actually "buckles" from the weight of the streusel, creating pockets of butter and sugar.  This buckle has such good structure in the batter that the streusel bakes up nice and crumbly on top of the cake and that is fine by me.  

I bake this in an 8-inch cake pan instead of the 9-inch pan the original recipe called for because I like my cakes big and tall (like my man).  Please pardon the leaked bit of internal monologue. Ahem.  I also lightened up the cake by substituting Greek yogurt for some of the butter.  In addition to the four cups of fresh blueberries, the yogurt makes for a very moist cake.  Also, with it being swimsuit season, my body appreciates the reduced fat.  The cake is flavored with a bit of lemon zest while the streusel has a bit of cinnamon in it, making for one tasty treat.  One bite will take you straight to blueberry pie nirvana.  In fact, I can't decide which is better, this buckle or blueberry pie.  Good thing I don't have to.  It is perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee, but equally delicious warm with a scoop of ice cream for an after dinner indulgence.

Sunday Dinner

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Homemade Refrigerator Pickles and Aged Cheddar

Crackers

Grilled Pork Chops with a Blackberry Wine Barbecue Sauce

 Creamed Corn

Haricots Verts with Garlic and Arugula

Peach and Blueberry Galette

This Sunday is one of the rare times that we aren't together as a whole family because my two older children are still away at camp.  Part of me wanted to get take-out and forget about Sunday dinner and part of me wanted to have the whole neighborhood over to fill the void.  However, I knew my children were looking forward to hearing about what I was making via snail mail (the only way I have contact with them), and that warms my heart.  Besides, one day they will be gone, whether it is college or the real world calling, and the show must go on.  So, it is time to buck up and fire up the grill for a simple, but still delicious, Sunday dinner.

Since my youngest is still pulling on my apron strings this Sunday, I thought I would make one of my desserts just for her.  She adores peaches and blueberries (if they are cooked), so this galette was in order.  It is rather rustic looking, but the taste is anything but.  Sweet, juicy peaches and plump, fresh blueberries piled on a round of flaky pastry is a simple way to get dessert on the table.  No crimping perfect pie pleats or weaving lattice tops.  The crust has a higher flour to butter ratio to give good structure and to help prevent the dough from breaking and the fruit juices leaking during cooking.  I also add a bit of cornstarch to the dough and filling to combat the same issue.  I add a pinch of cinnamon and a bit of lemon juice to brighten the flavors of the peaches and berries.  It is baked until brown and bubbling.  Served warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream makes it extra good.  So good that now I am looking forward to another Sunday dinner!  (But, I still miss my kiddos.)