Thankful Sunday--July 22, 2018

I am thankful for zucchini season.

Our current favorite way to fix them is grilling.

'Tis the season that zucchinis abound. Little ones to huge ones are everywhere. They are in the garden and they are in bags that mysteriously show up in front of the garage. Zucchinis are a versatile vegetable that can be used for many things. For this abundance of zucchini, I am thankful.

And some ideas for cooking zucchini from a previous post.
A Week of Zucchini Dishes

Thankful Sunday--July 15, 2018

I am thankful for community traditions.

Twenty years ago when we made a big move from Texas to Maryland, my sons weren't too happy with it, especially Theo. He spent every waking moment trying to figure out a way to get back to Texas. There were just too many changes for him. Even so, he was slowly warming up to a couple of kids who lived down the street.

One day, they invited him to be in a community parade with other cub scouts. Wally was excited about it, but Theo wasn't too sure. After I found out the details from their mother, we joined the local cub scout pack at the parade formation area. Wally stepped right up and volunteered to carry the banner in front of the group. Theo was still not too sure of things until he found out the little ones, which included him, got to ride on a wagon in the parade. That he thought was pretty cool and for a little while he thought his new town was pretty cool, too.

We didn't know it at the time, but that was the first parade for the town and since then, it has evolved into an annual, weekend-long celebration. It has been a long time since Wally and Theo have been in the parade, but I have carried on the family tradition marching with the local library most years. Ward joins me afterwards and we watch the fireworks together. This past weekend was another year of this fun time.

So, for this community and family tradition, I am thankful.

Theo is in the wagon and Wally is in front of the truck carrying a banner during the very first parade.

This is me, several years later, at the formation spot waiting for the parade to start.

Thankful Sunday--July 7, 2018

I am thankful for clear skies 

and summer flowers.

After a lot of rain and extreme temperatures, yesterday we had clear, moderate weather. A great day to spend outside in the yard. For this weather and the chance to enjoy our flowers, I am thankful

Celebrate!

Happy 4th of July

Note: Uncle Billy grew the yellow watermelon and Ward made the corn hole game. 

Enjoy your day as we celebrate the 

242th birthday of our Nation.

Here is a simple quiz to see what you know about the USA.

1. Using the the date when the Declaration of Independence was ratified, how old is the US today? (242 years)

2. What is the largest state according to land size? (Alaska)

3. What is the largest state according to the population? (California, Texas, New York, Florida. The first four according to the 2013 census.)

4. What are the top exports of the US?

(Food, beverage, and feed according to the US Commerce Department in 2017. You will find various answers to this question depending on how it is calculated. And this just for a interesting tidbit, not to start a discussion about trade policies. :) )

5. Speaking of foods, what is the most common vegetable consumed in the US? (Potatoes followed by tomatoes according to USDA research. Yes, I know that technically tomatoes are a fruit. My sister just pointed this out:) )

6. No more questions for now because I've run out of time. We have to get the ribs on and the cherry cobbler made, two of the things on our menu today. Have a great day whether you are having a picnic or reading a good book.

Cucumber Soup

Sunday I posted about cucumbers I had been given and the the cold soup I made from them. Anne at Cooking and All that Jazz asked for the recipe. I almost decided that the posting could wait for another day when I wasn't so wrung out from the heat. But there's not a break in the weather in the foreseeable future, so now is as good of a time as tomorrow or the next day, or the next day.  Too bad my husband finished the rest of the soup, because some cool cucumber soup would hit the spot right now. And I would have had a picture for you.  Oh, well. It was very easy, so I'll make some more. Here's the original recipe that came from Epicurious.com. I've cut and pasted so spacing, etc. may look a little wonky.

YIELD

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1. • 5 cucumbers
   • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
   • 6 scallions, chopped
   • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
   • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
   • 1 quart buttermilk
   • 1 pint yogurt
   • Salt and freshly ground pepper

   • PREPARATION

     1. 1. Peel cucumbers and cut them in half, scraping out seeds. Sprinkle the cucumbers with salt and let them stand 30 minutes. Drain excess water.
        2. Chop the cucumbers coarsely and put the pieces in the blender along with scallions, dill, lemon juice, buttermilk, and yogurt. Blend at high speed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill well before serving.

My sister gave me this recipe. She and I both modified it with the these results. 

She used two small onions instead of 6 scallions. This had little effect on the taste, but the green tops were not there to add color. She left out all of the parsley. That did change the taste of the soup, but it did not suffer. It was just different. She used 7 oz of Greek yogurt instead of 1 pint of plain yogurt. These are roughly equivalent and didn't change things much. She did not add the whole quart of buttermilk.  She only added about 1 1/2 pints of buttermilk because she thought the soup was already too thin. Her version was very good and was both refreshing and filling at the same time.

I changed a few things, also. My husband doesn't like onions, so I left out the scallions/onions altogether. However, I did add in all of the parsley. The parsley was pretty strongly flavored so it more than made up for the lack of the onion. In fact, I may add just a bit less next time I make it. It did add a nice light green color to the soup. I also did not add all of the buttermilk. I think that would have cut down on the cucumber taste too much and made the soup too thin.

My sister used her food processor to blend things and I used my blender. Both worked well.

I think this would be a fairly forgiving recipe to tweak with what you have or what you like.

I do know that I am going to make some again very soon. As soon as I get more cucumbers.

Good luck to all who try it. What other versions of cucumber soup do any of you make?