Summer Salad Ideas

I am running out of ideas for cool suppers—we’ve grilled, we’ve used the slow-cooker and all the other appliances that save on heating up the kitchen. I’ve pretty much exhausted my repertoire of main dish salads and sandwiches are getting tiresome. Add to these the fact that I just don’t feel like cooking supper.


I tried to remember what my mom fixed for supper in the days when we (and nobody else) had air conditioning. My dad hooked up a hose to the furnace and we had a water “cooler” but it didn’t help the humidity. There were nights in July and August when I couldn’t sleep—even the sheet over me was too much—and I was just a child. So trying to beat the heat is nothing new.

Main dish salads weren’t really “in” as I recall and we certainly didn’t have the plethora of handy appliances we do now but gardening was at an all-time high and we had fresh vegetables galore. I think a really typical supper on a hot night would have been some kind of pan-fried meat with boiled new potatoes (from the garden) fixed with butter and chives, beautiful home-grown tomatoes sliced thick, some wilted lettuce (that’s a salad, not exhausted lettuce), corn on the cob and berries with cream. Not bad, as I recall. But still there was a fair amount of cooking. I think a main dish salad using many of those ingredients would be more “today”, but, as I mentioned, I have run out of new ideas for those salads.

Then I came across two long unused cookbooks: “Salad Suppers,” and “Cold Soups, Warm Salads” I perused them hungrily, looking for some fresh inspiration and I wasn’t disappointed. There are so many good and easy and nutritious ideas for salad that I couldn’t wait to try them all! However, that isn’t really practical so I decided to try just one or two to start.

Sautéed Tuna Nicoise was my first choice. I’ve always loved this salad and it really uses garden produce to the fullest. You can make this with fresh tuna that you can grill outdoors or open a can of white Bonito tuna packed in oil—really delicious.

Makes 4 servings

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp dry mustard
1 garlic clove, halved
½ to 1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 to 6 medium red-skinned potatoes, cooked
1/3 to ½ pound green beans, blanched
Red or green leaf lettuce
2 ripe tomatoes
½ red onion, sliced thin
¼ to ½ cup Nicoise or Mediterranean black olives
1 ½ pounds tuna steak, 1-inch thick or 3 6-oz cans white Bonito tuna, packed in oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp drained capers (optional)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Garlic Croutons (recipe follows)

Blend the vinegar, lemon juice, dry mustard, garlic clove, salt and pepper and let sit 20 minutes. Remove the garlic and whisk in the olive oil. Set aside. While the potatoes are still warm, slice, put in a bowl with a portion of the dressing and let marinate. In separate bowl, put the blanched green beans with some additional dressing. Line a serving platter with the lettuce, leaving a place in the center for the tuna. Arrange the potato slices overlapping in a ring around the center. Place the green beans in spoke fashion or in groups around the potatoes. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and then in thirds. Scatter the onion rings and sprinkle with olives. Cut the tuna into ½-inch chunks (or break up canned tuna with a fork). In a skillet, heat olive oil and saute fresh tuna 3 to 4 minutes, tossing gently. Place in the center of the prepared platter. If desired, sprinkle with capers. Drizzle the dressing over all and top the tuna with chopped parsley. Serve with Garlic croutons.

Garlic Croutons

½ loaf French bread (baguette)
Olive oil
Garlic clove, halved

Preheat oven to 325. Slice the bread about ¼-inch thick and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven about 10 minutes or until dry. Brush both sides with oil, turn and rub the tops with the cut side of the garlic. Return to the oven until light golden. These can be made ahead of time and stored up to a week in a tightly sealed container or plastic bag.

Do all of the cooking in the cool of the morning. Bring to room temperature before serving.

The Theme: Sea Food...what can you have for dessert?

Our four-times-a-year dinner group that we euphemistically call “grub club” met recently.  The host and hostess determine the theme and the other three couples bring their assigned courses accordingly.  The theme was seafood.  As with the time that the theme was capsicum, our course was dessert.  I think I detect a throw-down challenge here.  There were rules with this one:  no “C-food” and no “See food”.

It’s a good thing that I spend so much time thinking about food and have so many resources at hand in magazines and cookbooks.  I very quickly determined that I was not going to put any type of seafood into a sweet dessert.  The hot pepper theme was much easier as ancho chile powder and chocolate are a nice mix.  But fish and sugar?  I don’t think so.

That left sea themes or names.  I bandied about tart shells, sponge cake, Palm Beach pineapple squares, currant (as in ocean current?) cookies, seafoam candy and Miami Beach cake, but finally settled on floating island with Madeleine cookies (made in a special pan to look like shells).  The floating island recipe that I used was sprinkled with an almond praline which I also scattered on the service plate to look like sand.  I brought my cobalt blue glass dessert bowls to serve it in, and, all in all, I think was a seafood dessert success.

The other courses were really marvelous and, as always, we had a great time and a veritable feast.  These four couples have been together for more than 10 years and every one of them cooks superbly.  Appetizers were crab cakes with a wonderful remoulade and a shrimp and cream cheese spread.

First course was seviche.  Seviche can vary a lot as the ingredients are not set in stone.  A Mexican dish by origin, it was usually an ocean fish that was “cooked” with lime juice but it has come to mean any fish or seafood that you “cook” with citrus acid rather than heat.

The main course was fish tacos, grilled by our host, along with delicious corn on the cob.  Condiments were many and unusual, including mayonnaise for the corn which I found out is a staple in Mexico.  The corn was so sweet and delicious and grilled to perfection that I ate mine unadorned.

After searching through many recipes for the floating island, I settled on one from Ina Garten of the Food Network (Barefoot Contessa).  It was really wonderful even if it sported a somewhat affected name, Ile Flottante.  It’s a bit fussy on the caramel sauce and the custard sauce and you can get almost as good results using a jarred caramel sauce and making the custard sauce from a package of instant vanilla pudding.  You add three cups of half and half instead of 2 cups of milk and some Bailey’s Irish Cream (about 2 Tbsp.) 

Ceviche

1 pound scallops

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup diced avocado

½ cup minced red onion

½ cup finely chopped seeded tomato

¼ cup cilantro

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp. minced jalapeno

½ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp cayenne

¼ tsp. cumin

Pat the seafood dry and place in a glass bowl.  Cover with the lime juice and let marinate until opaque, about 3 hours, refrigerated.  Place the seafood in a clean bowl and reserve the lime juice.  Add the remaining ingredients to the seafood, gently stirring to mix.  Add reserved lime juice to taste.  Refrigerate for 1 hour and serve chilled in a tall martini or cocktail glass.  (recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2001)

Ile Flottante  (Ina Garten)

2 ½ cups sugar, divided

1 cup water, divided

1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract, divided

1 ½ cups (5 oz) sliced almonds

8 extra-large egg whites at room temperature

1/8 tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Crème Anglaise, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 deg.

For caramel, heat 1 ½ cups of the sugar and ½ cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves.  Cook over medium heat until the syrup turns a warm caramel color.  Don’t stir, just swirl it in the pan.  Off heat, add ½ cup water and ½ tsp vanilla; be careful, the syrup will bubble violently.  Stir and cook over high heat until the caramel reaches 230 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Set aside.  Por the praline combine the almonds with ¼ cup of the caramel and spread them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the almonds are lightly browned.  Allow to cool at room temperature and then break up in pieces.

Lower the oven to 250 degrees.  Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.  For the meringues, beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until frothy.  Turn the mixer on high speed and add the remaining 1 cup of sugar.  Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy.  Whisk in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla.  With dessert spoons place 12 mounds of meringue on the parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

For serving, pour crème Anglaise on the bottom of individual plates.  Place a meringue on top of each serving, drizzle with caramel sauce, sprinkle with praline and serve. 

Crème Anglaise:

4 extra-large egg yolks

½ cup sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 ¾ cups scalded milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed for 3 minutes or until very thick.  Reduce to low speed and add the cornstarch.  With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs.  Pour the custard mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until thickened.  The custard will coat the spoon like heavy cream.  Don’t cook it above 180 degrees or the eggs will scramble.  Pour the sauce through a fine strainer, add the vanilla extract, liqueur and chill.  Yield:  2 cups.

Grilling Meat

My oldest son, Jed (the one with the cooking gene) was just here visiting us from Madison sans wife and children. The occasion was to keep me company from a rather long recovery I am undergoing from surgery. Since we both love to cook, he was more than happy to fix some great dishes with me looking on and admiring him.


He has long been most interested in smoking and grilling meat. He has had several smokers, always graduating to a little better model with more bells and whistles. But this visit he brought along some green beans from his garden. The gardening gene, I must confess, comes from someone else in the family—not from me! He is raising a wonderful garden and is harvesting beans, corn, lettuces, and tomatoes soon.

As a young child and until recently, Jed had to be urged to eat his vegetables—a common trait of young children to be sure. At our first dinner, the star of the show was a wonderful flank steak marinated in a thick, slightly hot and extremely delicious marinade and grilled to perfection. Sliced thin, with extra marinade on the side and accompanied by some homemade Italian bread (my offering), it was almost enough. The green beans cooked between al dente and mushy were tossed in melted butter and salt and pepper. That’s all. They were so good that they actually stole the accolades from the beef.

It got me thinking about the bountiful vegetables that are at our farmer’s market, in our home gardens and even at the supermarket this time of year. And the bounty has only just begun. From now until October one vegetable after another will appear. I am ready to find ways to serve them that even the youngest among us would not have to be urged to eat.

Fortunately there are great recipes on the internet, magazines and newspapers and even the old-fashioned but trustworthy cookbooks. My faithful readers know my preference for cookbooks. Andrea Chesman has written several cookbooks featuring vegetables and I have found her recipes (with a few adaptations of my own) to be very reliable.

Roasted Green Beans

2 pound green beans, trimmed
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse-grained salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a large sheet pan or shallow roasting pan with oil. Arrange the green beans in a single, uncrowded layer on the prepared pan. Drizzle the oil over the beans and roll the beans until they are evenly coated. Roast for about 15 minutes or until the beans are well browned, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking. Transfer the beans to a shallow serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with the salt. Serve immediately.

Note:  When cooking green beans, the size of the pod should be your guide in total cooking time. Smaller bean diameter equals shorter cooking time. There is a lot of discrepancy in taste for doneness, so test your beans and remove from heat when they have reached a stage of tenderness that appeals to you.

If you want to start a new tradition for a great holiday green bean casserole that doesn’t include canned soup or canned French fried onion rings, give this a try. It is sure to please even the fussiest children (or husbands). If your garden beans are beginning to be a little over-mature, this recipe will accommodate them beautifully.

Scalloped Green Beans

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups grated sharp Cheddar
2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (7-8 cups)
1 onion, halved and sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup dried bread crumbs or ½ cup fresh

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter or spray with vegetable spray. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and stir to make smooth paste. Stir in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and stir in cheese. Cook, stirring constantly until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. Layer the beans and onion in the baking dish, generously sprinkling with salt and pepper as you layer. Cover with cheese sauce. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the dish. Bake for 60 minutes. Serve hot.

By the way, the marinade recipe for the flank steak is superb. Here it is:

¼ pound butter
¾ cup minced onion
½ cup minced garlic
2 lemons, zested
5 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 ¼ cups ketchup
1 cup tomato juice
¾ cup light brown sugar
6 Tbsp molasses
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
½ cup chili powder
4 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 ½ Tbsp chipotle puree
Pinch kosher salt

Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, ketchup, tomato juice, brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, vinegar, chipotle puree, salt and 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Summer Salads

I love summer salads with a creamy dressing—some combination, usually, of mayonnaise or “salad dressing” in a jar and maybe some buttermilk or sour cream. They are delicious on everything from staples such as potato salad, chicken salad, pasta salads (especially with seafood) and even green or fruit salads. Changing the spices a little changes the dressing.

But I had a potato salad at a friend’s house that was out of this world and I just couldn’t figure out what made it so delicious. The potatoes being cooked just right—not too hard and not too mushy was a good start, of course. And, too, the proper balance of crunch, tang and mellow goodness is a factor. But I make a pretty mean potato salad that couldn’t compare to the one I was eating and I had to know why.

It turns out that the creamy salad dressing was a combination of homemade “boiled dressing” and homemade mayonnaise. I definitely knew that my mom used to make “boiled” dressing instead of buying Miracle Whip, but I didn’t realize how much better it was. I got my friend’s recipe, but when I got home I started hunting through my cookbooks for other recipes for boiled dressing.

Honestly, there are as many different ways to put the same ingredients together as there are cookbooks, I swear. Not wanting to miss out on the “best” one, I tried several. My friend’s recipe first:

¼ cup vinegar
½ tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. mustard
2 eggs, well beaten

Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Slowly add eggs. Cook 5 minutes until thick. Cool. Keeps up to 1 month in refrigerator.

To make potato salad: Boil 4 potatoes and 4 eggs until potatoes are tender and eggs hard boiled. Peel potatoes and while warm, add a vinaigrette dressing (such as Italian) to potatoes to be absorbed (about 2 Tbsp.) When potatoes are cool, add peeled minced eggs, celery, onion or scallions or chives and dress with ½ boiled dressing and ½ homemade mayonnaise.

Boiled Salad Dressing (Mrs. Clarence Ike-- 1947 Trinity Lutheran Church, Spring Grove, Minn. Cookbook)

1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup vinegar
1 pinch salt
½ tsp. dry mustard
Butter the size of walnut

Combine all dry ingredients, add to beaten eggs and add vinegar. Cook in double boiler until thick. Add butter last.

This next dressing is suggested for fruit salads:

Juice of 2 lemons
Rind of 1 lemon (grated)
1/3 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten well
1 pint whipped cream

Cook in double boiler. When cool add whipped cream. Pour over fruit salad and refrigerate for 24 hours.—Mrs. C. R. Casterton; Trinity Lutheran Church cookbook

Between the pages of the “Dorcas Cookbook” from the Trinity Lutheran Church, I found an old, yellowing newspaper clipping with a recipe entitled, “Adele Milczarck’s Potato Salad”. I really wanted to give it a try and it was delicious!

12 cups diced, cooked potatoes
12 hard-cooked eggs, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup French dressing (no other info on this dressing—l.g.)
4 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup water
1 egg
¾ cup salad oil
¼ cup vinegar
2 tsp. prepared mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. paprika
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tbsp sugar
6 hard-cooked eggs

Combine potatoes, eggs, onion and French dressing. Chill. Make a smooth paste of cornstarch and water and cook over boiling water until clear, stirring constantly. In a bowl combine egg, oil, vinegar, mustard, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp. salt and paprika. Mix well and add gradually to mixture; beat until smooth. Add evaporated milk, remaining tablespoon sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Beat until smooth. Cool. Combine with potatoes. Season further, if desired. Put half of potato mixture into serving bowl. Slice 3 of the hard-cooked eggs and lay over salad. Add rest of potatoes. Garnish top with 3 eggs cut into wedges. Chill. Yield: 12 portions.

And just in case you don’t know how to make homemade mayonnaise, here’s an easy and fool-proof way:

Perfect Blender Mayonnaise

1 egg
2 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
½ tsp dry mustard
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup salad oil

1. Break the egg into the container. Add vinegar or lemon juice, mustard, salt and ¼ cup of the oil. 2. Cover and blend on low speed. 3. Immediately remove inner cap or cover and pour in remaining oil in quite a fast stream (do not add it drop by drop). All the oil must be added by the end of 15 seconds blending time. 4. A few drops of oil may remain on the surface of the mayonnaise. Without turning blender off, switch to high speed and blend for just 3 seconds more. Should the mixture fail to thicken, pour three-quarters of it into a measuring cup. Add another egg to the mixture left in the container and start again at step 2, adding the mixture in the measuring cup in the same manner that you originally added the oil.

Freezing Food

Ah, summertime and the living is easy! That’s really true when it comes to cooking chores, since most everyone eats lighter and non-cooked foods for the most part. The barbeque and all your small cooking appliances i.e. electric skillet, slow cooker, or microwave oven really cut down on work and heat. But the best appliance for cutting your work and giving you delightful foods to eat is your freezer.


I write about freezing foods a lot, but in the height of summer fruits are my favorite foods to freeze. For one thing, as you drive through the countryside you find signs for fresh fruits everywhere. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, melons, apples are among the common ones. Grapes, currants and gooseberries can be found in some regions.

The supermarket abounds in produce, as does the farmer’s market and although fruit is among the offerings, vegetables seem to take center stage. But vegetables need blanching before freezing and I am really into the “easy living” idea this summer. Frozen fruit is at your fingertips, ready to be whirled into a smoothie or fill a pie or just eat, partially thawed, for breakfast. And while the season is here, buy any beautiful fruit you find at reasonable prices and freeze it for the long winter ahead.

Most frozen fruit keeps as well without a syrup pack and therefore you can save time and calories as well and dry pack fruit is much more versatile Dry-pack frozen fruits can be substituted for fresh in most of your recipes, adjusting the amount of sugar used.

Fruit is ideally suited to the concept of lighter and healthier eating—and we are being encouraged to eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Vegetables seem to get top billing in most savory recipes, however, with fruit being relegated to eat-from-hand snacking or sweet desserts that are not (sigh) so very good for you. I looked high and low for a cookbook devoted to cooking with fruit and finally found one at the library book sale that had the “discarded” stamp on it. I can’t imagine why, since I found dozens of absolutely delicious-sounding and tasting recipes in it. Since many of them are cooked dishes, I will use my summer-frozen stash to make them when the weather turns colder.

For a simple, non-cooked recipe that everyone loves, you can’t beat a smoothie. Anytime bananas go past the delicious stage and turn dark, I throw them in a plastic bag in the freezer—as is! You can microwave them very briefly to make them easy to peel when you’re ready to use them—just don’t go too long in the microwave and thaw the banana because the frozen fruit adds that milk shake texture to your smoothie.

After you put a frozen banana into the blender, you can add whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have on hand and like along with fruit juice, yogurt, milk or other liquid. Sugar is optional—I like honey when I want more sweetness. Whirl it around and pour—instant and healthy and delicious breakfast or snack.

Whenever your fresh fruit is starting to look tired, cut it up and freeze it with a combination of lemonade concentrate, water and sugar. When you want to use it, scoop out some of your fruit mixture and pour ginger ale or sparkling apple cider over it for a delicious meal starter or dessert.

To freeze the great abundance of berries that are appearing now, simply wash thoroughly, removing all sand and soil. Remove stems and leaves, if any. Sort out all bruised or overripe berries. Drain well. Freeze in single layer on large shallow baking sheet with rim. When solidly frozen, pour into freezer bags, seal and label, date and return to freezer. You can pour out the amount you need and re-seal.

Here is a chilled blueberry soup that we serve in our inn. It is glorious in summer with big, plump, just-picked blueberries; equally delicious in mid-winter using your freezer-stash.

2 ½ cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
2 ½ cups water
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
¼ cup sugar
½ cup orange juice
½ cup dry red wine
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¾ cup sour cream or crème fraiche
Sprigs of mint for garnish

In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the blueberries, water, lemon juice, lemon rind, sugar, orange juice, red wine and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree in a blender or food processor and chill for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, dollop with sour cream and swirl. Garnish each serving with a sprig of mint.

Outdoor Eating

Everything tastes better eaten outdoors. That’s certainly true of the new-on-the-menu pizza at Falconer Vineyards. It seems that everyone else in town has been out there to try the pizza except me—so I forced my friend and also innkeeper, Deb Bylander (Pratt-Taber Inn) to repay a favor by taking me out to sample the wares at Falconer’s.


We chose a beautiful sunshiny day; not too hot, not too cool to sit on the large patio overlooking the grapes far below and stretching out to the bluffs covered in their summer finery. It really was magnificent. The delicious, crisp whole-wheat crust cooked in 90 seconds in their wood fire oven so the now-famous signature “Grapes of Wrath” pizza (red grapes, sausage, cheeses and jalapeno pepper) and “Northern Tropics” (Canadian bacon, pineapple, and 4 cheeses) pizzas were served pronto. They are baked in “personal size” (about 8 inches) but two fed three of us just fine. They were complemented with a light, slightly sweet Chardonnay and a red that was also semi-sweet and served chilled—Chambourcin.

I’m not sure if it was the lovely view, the delightful company or the heady wine, but I decided that I would slough off my antagonism to grilling and try my own pizza recipes on our grill and serve them on our porch. I could keep my kitchen cooler and enjoy the outdoor advantage at the same time.

But I am not very sure of myself on a charcoal grill—especially not with pizza—so I decided to start small. Pita bread serves well for personal pizzas and felt safe to try since they are already baked. These turned out to be delicious!

Grilled Pitas with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta Cheese

1 cup diced seeded tomatoes
½ cup pitted coarsely chopped mixed olives
½ cup chopped red onion
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
4 whole wheat pita breads

Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Stir tomatoes, olives, onion and 2 Tbsp. oil in small bowl to blend. Brush one side of each pita with remaining 2 Tbsp. oil; place pitas, oiled side down on grill. Cook until lightly charred, about 2 minutes. Turn pitas over; top with tomato mixture, spreading almost to edges. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover barbecue and grill pitas until topping is warm, about 2 minutes. Transfer to plates and serve.

Well, that was simple and successful! I got brave and decided to try a homemade dough pizza cooked entirely on the grill. I must admit that I turned to the internet to find instructions on grilling pizza and came across a step-by-step recipe on simplyrecipes.com that turned out just great!

My whole-wheat pizza dough

1 pkg. dry yeast
¼ tsp sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
2 ½ to 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 ½ tsp salt
Cooking spray

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, oil and salt to yeast mixture, stirring until well blended. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough remaining flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, to prevent the dough from sticking. Place dough in large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in warm place for 45 minutes. Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Divide in half and roll each half into 12-inch circle on floured surface. Top and bake as directed.

To grill pizza:

Prepare grill for high direct heat. Prepare a small bowl with olive oil for greasing the grill grates and for brushing the pizza. Prepare the toppings so they are ready to go on the pizza—tomato sauce, cheese and anything else you are going to use.

Shape pizza dough with hands; let it sit for 5 minutes and push out edges with your fingers until you have a nice round shape, about 12-inches in diameter. Do not make a raised rim; it will interfere with the grilling process. When you can hold your hand an inch over the grates for no more than 2 seconds, dip a folded up paper towel in olive oil and use tongs to wipe the grill grates. Then place a pizza round on a lightly floured rimless cookie sheet or pizza peel. Let dough slide off onto the hot grill grates. Close the lid of the grill and let cook for 2 minutes. Open grill and check underneath dough to see if is browned. If on one side only, use spatula to rotate dough 90 degrees and cook 1 more minute. If not browning, cover grill and cook 1 minute at a time until bottom has begun to brown. Use your cookie sheet or peel to remove it from the grill. Use spatula to flip dough over so grilled side is up. Keep grill covered. Paint the grilled surface of the pizza with olive oil, then cover with 1 ladle of sauce. Sprinkle on toppings, ending with mozzarella cheese and then meat if using. When bottom of dough is deeply golden use peel to remove. Cut and enjoy.

Church and Community Cookbook Recipes

Have you ever submitted a recipe to a church or community cookbook? Most of us veteran cooks probably have—and some of the young women, too. Of course you submit the best recipe you know and so does everyone else. I don’t think I can remember taking a recipe out of one of these venerable publications that wasn’t delicious.


My cookbook collection boasts six shelves of community and church cookbooks. They range in age from the 1920’s to the present. I haven’t been able to peruse each and every one yet (although I plan to before I leave this planet) but I have found a few interesting recipes in many of them. I also have found the names of more than one long-deceased relative from parts of the country where I didn’t live—but traced the name and found it was a family member. How can I be sure? A name like Gratia Nurse Sanborn just couldn’t be anyone but the great aunt with that name. This is one of the reasons that I have such a long-standing love affair with cookbooks.

Since we are about to celebrate our nation’s birthday, it seems like a good time to trace the lineage of some of the perennial favorites that show up in the early cookbooks and keep on showing up through the decades.

Two classic recipes that appear in every cookbook I checked were brownies (starting in 1920) and a graham cracker crust-less pie which comes under many names. These two desserts have been around in some form for a very long time—and I decided to bake them both to refresh my memory.

I have a version of the graham cracker pie called “Mystery Pie” my cousin gave me in 1965. This version is made with Ritz crackers rather than graham crackers, but the results are delicious and surprising either way. The pie bakes into a dessert with all the gooey sweetness of pecan pie without the pastry, making it very easy to put together, especially in the summer when you don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen.

Brownies have been around since the early 1900’s, with the first mention of our beloved chocolate bar cookie found in the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. “Bangor Brownies” were probably the original chocolate brownies, according to Betty Crocker’s Baking Classics (1979). Brownies as we know them didn’t become popular until the 1920’s where I started to find them in all the community cookbooks, including one recipe that called them “Indians.” (Kappa Kappa Gamma Cook Book, Denver, Colorado, 1928.)

Variously known as Angel Pie, Cracker Pie, Mystery Pie, and Amazing Pie, there are several versions essentially the same but using different crackers (graham, Ritz, and saltine) and different nutmeats (or no nutmeats). I tried two of the ones I found—both in the Golden Anniversary Cookbook of Oklahoma Extension Homemakers published in 1985.

Indians

1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
2 eggs
½ cup butter
2 ounces chocolate (I assume baking unsweetened)
1 cup nuts (chopped)
1 tsp. vanilla)

Mix sugar with flour; add eggs. Melt butter and chocolate together and add to sugar mixture. Fold in nuts and vanilla. Bake in square pan for 20 minutes at 325 or until top is dry. Do not overbake. Cut in squares while warm. Do not remove from pan until cold. (Helen Merrill)

Brownies

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup flour
3 Tbsp cocoa
½ cup melted butter
1 cup walnut meats
Vanilla

Cream together well sugar and eggs. Add flour into which has been sifted cocoa. Add butter, nuts and a little vanilla. Spread in greased 9x9 square pan. Bake 25 minutes at 325. Cut when slightly cool. Let stand in pan until cold. (Francis Harris Tibbetts)

Angel Pie

3 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup whipping cream

Beat egg whites and vanilla till soft peaks form; gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Combine cracker crumbs, pecans, and baking powder; fold into meringue mixture. Spread evenly in a greased and floured 9” pie plate. Bake in a 325 oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely. To serve, whip cream. Cut pie in wedges and top with a dollop of whipped cream. (Marie V. Hobbs—Tulsa County)

Mystery Pie (my recipe, given to me by my cousin, Carol in 1965)

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
16 Ritz crackers (finely rolled)
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ cups chopped walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat egg whites until frothy; gradually add sugar; continue to beat until meringue is stiff. Fold in vanilla, cracker crumbs, baking powder and walnuts. Put into a 9” pie pan that has been sprayed with vegetable spray. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool. Spread with whipped cream and serve alone or with sweetened strawberries, if you wish.