Sunday, the 7th of August 2016, COMO

gathered 'round the table with the cousins for spatchcocked chicken w/sauce, cole slaw, buttered corn, home-grown tomatoes w/cottage cheese and fresh watermelon slices. YUM!
left to right: Tom, Cathy, my dad

Sunday Family Dinner once again at my parents home. The cousins came over and we were eight around the table. This night, Dad was behind schedule feeding the fish, so cousin Tom started the honors, then dad came in to add his thoughts to the process. It's always a fun night with lots of back and forth pokes and jabs and a lot of family lovin'.

Our menu was:

1 - spatchcocked chicken w/sauce

2 - cole slaw w/additions

3 - buttered corn

4 - tomatoes w/basil and cottage cheese

5 - watermelon slices

6 - BEST peach pie ever

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1 - Spatchcocked chicken, how I love thee! It's become all the fad of late, but when I look back in my mother's 50 year recipe history, she's been doing just that for years, only she didn't have a fancy word for it and simply called it ~flattened chicken~. Go here for the recipe. You can use any fresh herbs you want. It is just so good because the breast doesn't dry out as the entire chicken is flat, so it all cooks evenly.

Here's how to carve it :-):

dad giving pointers to Tom

2 - Seester Care is family famous for her tartar sauce and her cole slaw dressing, so, of course mom and I insisted that she dress the cabbage last night. As she said, she really doesn't have any exact amounts, but the ingredients stay pretty much the same. I chopped up a bowl of cabbage (I chopped 3/4 of a medium head, enough for 8 folks), and to that added a chopped orange-green farmer's market pepper, a cucumber that was sliced length-wise, the seeds scooped out with a spoon, then halved again length-wise and sliced and a small purple onion that had been diced. That was all stirred together and the Carrie mixed in the following dressing: 

In a bowl, whisk together:

Hellman's mayonnaise, about 1/3 C. or so

cider vinegar, about 2 T.

a handful fresh parsley (didn't have any fresh dill), chopped

sugar, about 1 - 2 T. 

milk to thin if necessary

salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Whisk all together. Pour over slaw and mix well. Taste and correct seasonings.

3 - Cut corn off the cob and put all in a pot. Add a half stick of butter and some water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until done, about 15 minutes.

4 - Slice tomatoes and put on a platter along with some basil leaves; serve with cottage cheese.

5 - Cut up watermelon and serve in a bowl. 

6 - Mom made a delicious peach pie - no photos of her making it, or the finished product. Rats! :(

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On to game-night!

and now for a rousing game of Sequence...of course the gals won!
left to right: Tom, Cathy, Carrie, Curt

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See you on Sunday! 

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Gathered 'round: mom & dad, Curt & Pat, Tom & Cathy, seester Carrie & me