It’s almost time for summer garden delights! Tomatoes fresh from the vine! Corn on the cob! Green beans! I’m going to share some of my all-time favorite summer recipes.

Tomato Tart

I’m kind of giving you a full recipe! Don’t expect this to happen often. This is best if you follow a few simple rules. Of course, I break most of them. I’ll bullet point my divergences from the recipe. (!)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. IMPORTANT: within these directions, you’ll come to a point that you have to reduce the heat!
2. This recipe has a section with the ingredients and “how tos” to make a pie crust. (Bottom crust only.)

• I trot to the store and buy one. You can purchase several at a time on sale and store them in the freezer until you need one.
• Often, I make this dish without the piecrust. If making without, skip the next step and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

3. Line piecrust with foil and bake for five minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden, about five minutes. Place the piecrust on a wire rack.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 325.
5. Whisk together ¾ cup milk, 2 egg whites, 1 large egg, ¼ teaspoon black pepper and 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce.

• The recipe calls for skim milk, and that’s what I usually use. I take the lazy way out and use 2 or 3 eggs, depending on what size I have. I use more pepper (crushed peppercorns) and more hot pepper sauce, typically tabasco.

6. In a small skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add ¼ cup chopped yellow onion and 1 clove garlic. Sautee until tender.

• I rarely have yellow onions. I use white, Vidalia, or red, whatever I have on hand.

7. Combine the onion mixture with ¾ cup shredded Swiss cheese and 2 tablespoons flour. Mix well. Spread cheese mixture over prepared piecrust.

• I typically use mozzarella cheese. Any white cheese will do. If you are making it without a crust, put the cheese mixture in the bottom of your pan.

8. Arrange four thinly-sliced plum tomatoes over the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon shredded fresh basil and ¼ cup shredded Swiss cheese.

• Use the kind of cheese you used in the step above.
• I often make this with yellow tomatoes or some other type of red tomato. In that event, slice your tomatoes before you get started and allow them to drain.

9. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the top.
10. Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Place tart on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Best if served warm.
11. YUM!

Easy-Peasy Corn On The Cob

Unless you’re cooking for a large group or family, this is the BEST way to do corn. Don’t bother taking off the husks. Don’t frustrate yourself trying to get each and every piece of silk. (Or any piece of silk!) Just take your fully-husked ears of corn (one to four) and put them in the microwave. Three to five minutes later, take them out – oh, you have to actually hit the “cook” button – lop off the stem ends, and squeeze the ears out of the husks. Voila! Silk-free perfectly-cooked corn!

Salsa

Salsa is easy, has many variations, and can be made ahead of time. The basic ingredients (I link here to a basic recipe), are tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, garlic, salt and lime juice.

Variations

• Use yellow tomatoes instead of red.
• Use any kind of onion.
• Instead of jalapeno, try serrano or Anaheim peppers.
• For any pepper, to make it cooler, take out all the seeds. Hotter, leave them in.
• For very mild salsa, use green pepper.

Tomato-Free Salsa

Freshen up. Instead of tomatoes, use mangoes, citrus fruits, corn and black beans, peaches….gosh….anything! Here is a link to some recipes.

Green Beans From A Master

Decades ago, volunteering at a homeless shelter, I met my favorite green bean. It had been cooked by a master. A man who cooked everything in huge pots on top of a busy stove in an inner-city shelter serving hundreds.

He started with bacon, onions and hot peppers. Hot. Peppers. Not green, not red. Hot. Like the kind you use to make hot oriental dishes.

After filling your pot with fresh green beans, add brown sugar. Heat to your desired “done.” (I like my beans crisp!)

In Closing

If you don’t have a garden, or even if you do, head to any local Farmers’ Market throughout the summer for great fresh produce. Be sure to ask the vendors for their favorite recipes!

These are Tiger Lily Approved Vegetables. Or Fruits. Tomatoes Might Be Fruits.

It’s time to start thinking about sides to take to neighborhood BBQs and meals to pack for the beach. Recently, I found a great recipe for pinwheels for a carry-in dinner. It’s quick, easy, and tastes great.

For those of you who – like me – throw things together, you’ll need the following ingredients.

• Soft tortilla shells.
• Filling base of cream cheese, feta cheese and honey.
• Extra filling ingredients are (all chopped) dried cranberries, walnuts and fresh rosemary.

Mix your filling ingredients, spread them on the tortillas, chill for several hours, and cut into pinwheels. If you want a roadmap, here is a recipe with all of the same ingredients.

Since that was so easy, and all of your guests loved you for bringing them, try these variations.

• Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pinwheels: cream cheese, ranch salad dressing, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon and chives.
• Party Pinwheels: cream cheese, package of ranch dressing mix, green onions, red bell pepper, celery, black olives, shredded cheddar cheese.
• Fiesta Pinwheels: cream cheese, sour cream, picante sauce, taco seasoning, garlic, ripe olives, green chilies, cheddar cheese, green onions. Bring salsa for dipping.

Tips

Most recipes call for a typical block of cream cheese, softened. I prefer the whipped variety. I’m lazy that way.

Chop your ingredients in a size that will allow them to fit into the pinwheel, but not so small that your guests can’t see what they’re eating.

Some recipes call for mixing all filling ingredients together. Others call for spreading the cream cheese mixture on the shell, then sprinkling the other ingredients before rolling. Use the method that fits you best!

Spread the filling evenly. Leave the last ½ inch of the tortilla unfilled. Roll from the filled side to the unfilled side.

Make them a day ahead of time and refrigerate for several hours before slicing.

More

Oriental Coleslaw is easy, flavorful and crunchy. It’s a winner for most potlucks and camping trips. The ingredients are easy, too.

• Shred cabbage and carrots, or pick up a coleslaw mix.
• Green onions.
• Chicken-flavored ramen noodles, broken up.
• Slivered almonds (you can toast them).
• Sunflower nuts.
• Salad oil & vinegar, or your favorite oil & vinegar bottled dressing.
• Most recipes call for sugar. I don’t add it, and if you are using a bottled dressing, you certainly won’t need it.
• Black pepper.

Roasted Tomato Pasta with Mozzarella

This recipe takes a little more attention. You need to roast the tomatoes while you prepare the pasta. Then toss all ingredients.

• Rotini, or a pasta of your choice.
• Red and yellow cherry tomatoes.
• Fresh mozzarella balls or cubed fresh mozzarella.
• Oregano, garlic, salt, black pepper, basil, and/or spices of your choosing.
• Olive oil.
• White wine vinegar.

Broccoli-Grape Salad

Here is another easy recipe. Gather your ingredients and toss them together.

• Red and/or green seedless grapes, halved.
• Chopped red onions.
• Sugar (again, I rarely add sugar to anything that has something prepared, like mayonnaise).
• Broccoli florets.
• Chill the salad for an hour, or up to 24 hours, before serving.

In Closing

Here is a link for several quick recipes. Take a look, and add to them in a way only your imagination can!

These are Tiger Lily Approved Recipes.

Are you one of those people who wander around the kitchen at mealtime, hungry, with no plans for moving forward? Worry no more! With the digital pressure cooker, meals are minutes away!

Planning To Not Plan

Keep a few staple items on hand that you like to use.

• rice & pasta
• boxed soups and broth
• pasta sauce
• dried beans
• canned vegetables

Add items to your freezer, like meats and vegetables.

On a regular basis, shop for fresh items, like vegetables and eggs.

Here’s A Tip

Buy extra onions, carrots and celery, chop them and put variety packs into quart freezer bags. Whenever you make soup or any kind of an everything-pot you have Miripoix. Whenever I mention throwing in vegetables, you can reach into the freezer for a quart of Miripoix, and you’re set.

Disclaimer

I’m a throw-cooker. I might look at a recipe, or I might not. I might pay attention to the teaspoons or cups in a recipe, or I might not. More often than not, I decide what I want and throw something into the pot.

If you want recipes, you can do a web search specifically for digital pressure cooker recipes. If you prefer a cookbook, those can be found on-line as well. Most pressure cookers – if purchased new – come with a few recipes to get you started.

It’s Time To Cook!

Now you’ve hit your day. It’s time for breakfast or lunch or dinner and you have Nothing. To. Eat. Here are some suggestions.

Breakfast

Using your amazing digital pressure cooker, boil eggs (five to eight minutes, depending on your desired “done”), and make it breakfast.

• Do several boiled eggs ahead of time, and whenever you want, you can have instant egg salad or deviled eggs.

Scramble eggs and add whatever you like: cheese, mushrooms, spinach, etc., put it into a bake-proof dish – small, so it can fit into your pressure cooker – and make a crustless quiche.

Lunch or Dinner

Grab a box of soup, add rice, fresh vegetables, frozen meat and spices. Hit the “rice” button, and in ten minutes you have a one-pot dish.

• Curried dishes made with rice are perfect with the pressure cooker.
• Try your favorite oriental recipes.

Grab your favorite kind of pasta, sauce, frozen meat and spices. Put it into the pot and hit the “rice” button. In ten minutes you will have al dente pasta from your digital pressure cooker.

• Tip: my sister taught me to put a little clove into marinara sauce. It zings!

Three Of My Successes

The first thing I made in the amazing pot is one I talk about often: Sausage-Lentil Soup. From the time I opened the freezer to find sausage until I dished out the soup, I spent 30 minutes: 10 wandering around the kitchen finding dried lentils, vegetables, broth and spices to throw in, five to figure out the pot for the first time, and 15 to cook.

I found a corned beef that had been in the freezer for several years. Literally. From late 2010 until St. Patrick’s Day 2015. I put the frozen corned beef into the pressure cooker with fresh cabbage wedges, fresh carrots, fresh onions, fresh new potatoes, beef broth and spices. I cooked it for 20 minutes. The corned beef was tender. Potatoes, done. Cabbage, done and crisp. Carrots, done and crisp. It was perfect.

For Groundnut Stew I start with a box of roasted red pepper tomato soup, add chopped firm tofu, peanut butter, chopped (or canned) tomatoes, onions, spices that typically include hot sauce, garlic, soy sauce and basil, and sometimes vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli.

In Closing

You can use almost any recipe that would typically be made on the stovetop or in the oven. The cooker has a browning option, so you can start your one-pot meals by browning meats or by cooking onions and garlic. For some dishes, this is preferred. For most, I take the lazy way out and just toss things in.

This is a Tiger Lily Approved Product.