Sunday Summer Recipes

The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer. ~Henry Clay

I'm still in denial about the summer coming to an end. Although it's so dry and hot here that I feel like fall is a very long way off. That might be part of the problem. I was cleaning over the weekend and ran across some of my clipped recipes from at least ten years ago. I sorted through them, and found some good end of summer meal ideas. As I mentioned before, I'm really trying not to use the oven until things cool off, but I have the grill and stovetop, which is what I've been using.

Pork Chop Marinade

Ingredients:

1 cup Italian dressing

1/2 cup salsa or tomato sauce

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic pepper (or garlic powder)

4 fairly thick pork chops *see note

Combine the ingredients (except the chops) into a small bowl to mix. Place the pork into a plastic or ceramic dish, and pour over the marinade. Turn to coat them on both sides. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or more (over night is fine). Remove the chops from the marinade and grill until they are no longer pink, turning often. If you want to baste the chops while grilling, hold out some of marinade when you make it, and put it in a small container, NOT on the pork with the remainder of the marinade.

Note: You can use any type of chops-- boneless pork works really well, and you can use the same amount of marinade with more of those since they are thin.

Sausage, Cabbage and Potato Skillet

Ingredients:

1 small head of cabbage, cut up into smaller pieces

4 large potatoes, cut into chunks

1 pound Polish sausage, Brats or Italian sausage, cut into thick slices

1 cup chicken broth or water

1 tablespoon spicy mustard

Optional: ground black pepper

In a large skillet or pan, mix the broth and the mustard. Add the cabbage and potatoes, bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add the sausage, cover again, and cook until the sausage is done.

Note: I like using the sausage that is made at the store, so it's not cooked. This recipe can use leftover grilled sausage, or you can cook it on the stove in a little water while the cabbage and potatoes are cooking. If you use smoked sausage then you just slice and add to the pan without cooking ahead.

Sauteed Mushrooms

These are so easy to fix on the stove while burgers or steak are cooking. Serve them at the table to top the burgers, or they can be eaten with steak.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. spicy steak sauce

Melt the butter, add the mushrooms and other ingredients. Cook for about 2 minutes, then reduce the heat as low as you can, and simmer the mushrooms for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Spicy Shrimp Marinade

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine

1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. chili powder

Combine the ingredients and add shrimp of any size that has been cleaned, peeled and deveined. Let the shrimp marinate for about 15-30 minutes. The shrimp can be cooked in a large skillet for a couple of minutes on each side until they are no longer pink, or they can be grilled. We use a grill pan, stirring them while they cook. They only take a few minutes to cook. Sprinkle them with fresh lemon juice and serve warm.

I always serve salad, fresh tomatoes, and baked potatoes or bread with the grilled meat. We also eat a lot of fruit instead of dessert, except when we splurge on ice cream as we did tonight. My husband and daughter picked up "Death by Chocolate" ice cream:)

~Brenda