I get most of my recipes off the internet, but my favorite summer cookbook is Gardeners' Community Cookbook. I found it at Goodwill many years ago.
I put tabs on all of the recipes I'm interested in making. I never get to them all, but it's fun to try!
You can't go wrong with tomatoes, zucchini, fresh herbs, pasta and cheese.
Tomato, Basil and Cheese Pie
Rosemary-Cheese Scones
I also updated the menu organizer on my fridge. I did really well with it at the beginning of the year, but recently got out of the habit.
Every day has a post-it note. A lot of our meals of repeated, so I just move the note over to the right side, until I need it again.
We want to start having friends over for dinner once a week this summer. I made a list of possible appetizers, lunches/dinners, salads and desserts. We like to grill some kind of meat and then make several side dishes.
Hopefully having a list close by will make the dinner planning easier, especially when my mind goes blank!
Finally, I want to share a little something that Grace put together this weekend. Cantaloupe and cherries are on sale right now, so she arranged the sliced cantaloupe on a plate.
And filled in the empty spots with cherries! Isn't that a great idea?
Thank you for looking at my summer menus. I would love to hear about some of your favorite things to eat this time of year!
The melon and cherries look delicious.
ReplyDeleteLove the post-it notes idea on your menu planner. Thanks for sharing the idea.
You do have great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI like to have a lot of grilled food this time of year. Less heat in the kitchen. Yesterday we had grilled chicken, grilled corn on the cobb, mashed potatoes and fresh sliced veggies with fiesta ranch dip.
We will have a lot of meals like that and also I will make more chicken salad and different things you eat cold.
The cherries and melons look so good!! Great presentation with them!
ReplyDeletevictorianpetals.com
Oh Cherries are my favorite!! LOve how you arranged them. Anythng that makes the table look pretty is worth doing. Why save the special stuff for 'special days' - make each day special!
ReplyDeleteHugs, Linda
I enjoyed this post, Kelli. Thank you for the great ideas and inspiration. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli,
ReplyDeleteYour menu plan idea is fabulous!
I am wondering if you would have any simple meal/menu ideas?
I think you are quite brilliant (truly). Although I simply don't have the energy to expend as I would like, I very much enjoy seeing the beauty that others create.
God bless, Lyn
Our minds were in the same spot this weekend. I too re-arranged all my recipes and labeled summer goodies to make. I don't post my menus on the fridge though because hubby calls the kids from work to see what we are having each day. I rather him come through the door and say " supper smells good ma! What is it?" Those little mysteries in life that keep a marriage warm.
ReplyDeleteGrace did a great job on her fruit dish. Very nice.
neleh
I love how pretty the cherries and cantolope looks together it looks so good, and I think that is just a great idea to invite friends over this summer and make dinner for them how nice.
ReplyDeleteMy dear friend... you have got it going on. You are doing evrything I said I would and should but dont. Thanks for letting me see it can be done. I love this post! Susie H
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazingly organized lady you are. I am so dis that I admire organization.
ReplyDeleteYou ask for ideas for summer menus. I just recently threw something together that I believe will become a staple in my house. Costco has a powdered Ranch dressing mix in their spice section, (hopefully it is still there, one can never count on Costco to ALWAYS have what you have come to expect them to have) and instead of mixing it with regular milk as the instruction say on the container, I mixed it with buttermilk. I tried milk and didn't enjoy it. Buttermilk is better. Anyway, after I got finished mixing the mix, the mayo and the buttermilk I threw in some crumbled Feta cheese (also a Costco product), as much as you think you would enjoy. My family loves it. It is a bit like blue cheese dressing, but I think I like it better.
I have this book, too, and I agree...it's a keeper! You just inspired to get it out for my meal plan. Thanks, Kelli!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli...your menu organizer is a great idea...I especially like the list of possibles. I always draw a blank of what to serve, this would be so helpful. Grace's presentation is very pretty. Hugs, Linda
ReplyDeleteGrace's cantaloupe and cherry plate is beautiful, she did a great job arranging it!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely time for warm weather cooking.
Hi, Kelli! I tagged you for a meme!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you posted on this. I have been dragging out old summer menus and recipes all last week looking for great ways to not use the oven. Stove top items, and salads and grilling. Salads are a must around here. The cantelope and cherries are great.
ReplyDeleteYou are so organized!! I love the menu idea. The cantaloupe and cherries look so delicious. We don't get good cherries here until around the 4th of July. I will have to put them with cantaloupe like you did--thanks for sharing. Julie
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever idea on your menu planner.
ReplyDeleteMy mind has been on everything but menu planning and I honestly forgot that it's warming up here. I guess I should go through my cookbooks and magazines and get a menu of sorts going. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI was going to try and wait till we moved but then I realized we still have a month left here and we do have to eat, so... :-)
If we have extra money left over once our move is done, we would like to get a little grill for our back yard. :-) I know they aren't that expensive at Wally World.
Enjoy your day today and God bless you!
P.S. Come by my blog and list 5 things you are thankful for today. :-)
Hi Kelli,
ReplyDeleteWe tend to eat the same things over and over too, depending on the season. Right now, we are loving the fresh fruit in season. And, if I may aska favor, would you mind posting how you go about getting ready to have company every week? My goal this summer is to have more people over, but I am always worn out at just the thought of it!
Thanks,
Jenn
You are incrediable with your little ideas and plans. I enjoy this. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGrace is a very creative young lady (like her mother)!
ReplyDeleteWe eat about the same here but we do try and enjoy the fruits that are in season. Lately it's been..cantaloupe!
Yum, tow of my favorite summer foods, melon and cherries and presented so pretty too! Great idea!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli, Miss Sandy from Quill Cottage here. Thanks for stopping by. I need a little clarification from your comment. Do you wish to participate in the art swap or just the blog-a-thon or both? I corrected my post to ask for specifics so I can keep up with the art swappers. Thank you so much.
Blessings,
Miss Sandy
Love the melon and cherries! Yum! I have so many cookbooks too, and really need to get them organzied. I have tried keeping all my recipes in one place, but they are overflowing!! You have inspired me. Hope you had a great holiday weekend!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great job Grace did. I love your menu planning idea.
ReplyDeleteOnce we are moved we really hope to be able to start entertaining again. On of those things I am working on during the journey back that I am taking.
Thanks for sharing. And let us know when you cook any of those recipes. I think the pasta sounded good too.
That's very cute. Excellent idea with the moving post-its for the menu planner. I have a favorite cookbook too, but don't get to use it too much! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful way to see your menus. The warmer weather does call for much lighter meals. We tend to eat lots of salads, fresh fruits anf veggies with perhaps some grilled meat.
ReplyDeleteLove the melon and cherries presentation!
xo
Kelli, I wish you were my sister! You're awesome...
ReplyDeleteI really like your menu idea...I need to organize how I do things! Dianntha
ReplyDeleteI try to plan our menus ~ this looks like a good system.
ReplyDeleteTomato, basil and cheese pie ~ now that sounds yummy, basil is one of my favorite herbs.
I love what how Grace did the cantalope and cherries ~ very pretty!!
what a great tast to accomplish, cookbook organizing. I can never get anywhere with my cookbook-cleanups, because even though I use the internet as a source of recipes, I have a good couple of shelves of a bookcase full of various cookbooks, I have an issue with parting with them :) And looking through them while meal-planning is not easy, you're right, it's so much easier to get ideas off the internet.
ReplyDeleteThat dish Grace prepared looks wonderful!!!
Yum I love cherries! I can't wait for them to ripen here, not too much longer.
ReplyDeleteI make a ton of salsas this time of year. Tomato salsa, mango salsa, and my summer salad (the avocado and tomato recipe I posted a while back). Pretty much anything that can be cut up thrown in a bowl with jalapeno and lime juice works for my family.
BTW just send your kids up here some time, we'll take em camping near the frog pond! Later in the year, when the river isn't at flood level there are crawdads to catch too!
Oh..I just so happen to have purchased both today...cherries and cantaloupe. How pretty.
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