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

~

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! :(

~

On to game-night!

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

~~~

See you on Sunday! 

~

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

Wednesday, the 3rd of August, 2016: COMO

SFD as a brunch-type meal on a Wednesday

My dearest seester flew home today because, well, I'm here and we don't see each other as often as we'd like, and because our very favorite place to be is here in Missourahhh with our parents. Mom wisely decided that it would be a grand idea to have our main meal in the middle of the day, as Care would probably be hungry after a morning traveling and it also would leave more time for game night as the evening meal would be more of a snack. Sister Care is a BIG fan of salmon salad, and considering it's about 100º outside, that sounded more than reasonable to make. That night we all just ate whatever left-over we could find and then played Rummikub. We laughed and had the best time! This family meal consisted of:

1 - salmon salad MumBum

2 - sliced tomatoes w/basil leaves & cottage cheese

3 - sliced Missouri River bottom cantaloupe

4 - toast made out of home-made bread

5 - hard-boiled eggs (that no one bothered to eat)

1 - While mom used a can of alaskan wild salmon, fresh left-over salmon can be used just as well. If you've never had canned salmon before, don't be put off by the bones you might see. When you gently stir the salmon, the bones just dissolve and go away. Canned wild salmon is incredibly healthy - loaded with all kinds of nutritious goodness. And it tastes divine! Mom used red sockeye salmon, but you can use whatever brand you want - there's more than one kind out there - just be sure it's wild-caught. This salad is so easy to make!

salmon salad in the making

1 14 3/4 oz. can wild-caught Alaskan red sockeye salmon, most of the liquid drained

1/3 C. or so Hellman's mayonnaise

1 t. or so Dijon mustard

juice and pulp of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 C. or so minced celery (see above photo)

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Put salmon in a bowl and stir it gently to separate. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir gently to combine - be careful with the stirring; too vigorous and the salmon will get mushy. Serve on toast, with tomatoes in a pita, however you like it. 

2 - The tomatoes and basil were from my parent's garden. Nothing better than home-grown tomatoes in the summertime! Here in COMO everyone has the good fortune of being able to buy Central Dairy 2% Cottage Cheese. It is far and away the very best cottage cheese made. I've tried just about every brand back in CT and haven't yet found one I really like. 

3 - Got our melon at the COMO Farmer's Market. It was and is delicious!

4 - Mom and I made the bread together. No, she doesn't measure any of the ingredients for bread-making....ever. She did have me measure most of the ingredients so I'd get a ~feel~ for the right amounts, but, of course, I didn't write anything down, so will have to make more with her! Such a hardship! :)

5 - Mom hard-boiled 5 eggs (fresh from a friend that has chickens - the yolks are bright bright yellow-orange, and the whites never run when you crack one and drop it in a skillet) to put in the salmon salad. I looked at her in horror because that just didn't sound good to me at all. We ended up eating two of the eggs for our breakfast. Carrie said she always puts eggs in her salmon salad as well. 

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

Gathered 'round: mom & dad, Care & me!