The Tuesday Kitchen...

Our family has been away from home two weekends in a row; re-enacting the War Between the States...and cooking over an open fire.  Culinary endeavors of this kind are unique adventures for the palate...we dine on historical American food staples flavored with fresh air and more than a little camp-fire smoke.  One "period-correct" viand that invariably meets the hearty approval of the whole camp (especially after a battle in the heat) is watermelon.

In between sojourns into the 1860s, I managed to cook some old favorites while touching them with new flare that freshened the sameness.

Daddy came in one afternoon with a bag of peaches and requested a peach pie.  I couldn't resist his confidence in our ability to master one of his favorites, or the opportunity to try a new addition.

I made Grandma's enigmatical, yet unrivaled crust recipe, but used our lard for the shortening this time.

Peach MANGO Pie turned out to be a grand success.  It was a bit sweet, so I will be cutting back on the sugar even more than I usually do, but the overall result was delicious.

Another standby around here is of course chicken.  Inventing new ways to dress it up is always inspiring, but if time is an especially precious commodity, the crock-pot is a good resort.  

I used a marinade from a Grilled Island Chicken recipe as a kind of rub and ran the same ingredients/flavors over into the steamed fresh green beans.

 Since I couldn't bring myself to make our Zucchini hot dish yet again with that tenacious and ever-abundant vegetable, I tried a new zucchini dish (again from Mel's Kitchen Cafe...love that blog!) Cheesy Zucchini Rice.  It was a hit as far as the family was concerned, although I discovered that it does not improve upon acquaintance after a trip to the fridge and reheating, so don't make enough for leftovers.  The secret is that, while the rice is hot enough to melt the cheese, the zucchini is fresh and uncooked, yielding a varying and exciting texture.

Crisp salad is a good start to any meal, and my favorite summer foods are avocado and cilantro, so into the fresh lettuce they go and dinner is served!