I am friendly with my former coworkers at a local school. Two of my friends still work at the school were lamenting that the new school year begins in a mere three weeks. How can it be that summer is almost over? In fact, my husband was asking me when I was going to start making my fresh tomato sauce.
 
During the summer months, most of my produce comes from two sources either Dreyer Farms in Cranford or Matt’s Farm Market in West Belmar. As I have mentioned before, the tomatoes, peaches and corn have been outstanding. In a recent CSA box, I received a container of cherry tomatoes. Luckily for me I had the perfect recipe from The New York Times/NYT Cooking for Lemon and Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes. The recipe, by Martha Rose Shulman, calls for extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, boneless and skinless chicken breasts, dry white wine, cherry tomatoes, sugar, all-purpose flour, a neutral oil, fresh parsley.  Parmesan cheese is optional.

It was beautiful Saturday afternoon as I sat on my porch typing and glancing over to view the river. During the past several weeks, I found some tasty salad recipes in which to use the wonderful produce from my Dreyer Farms’ CSA box of Cranford and Matt’s Farm Market in Wall Township.
 
There was no need to blanch and freeze any more broccoli. I previously made a broccoli salad recipe by Trisha Yearwood, but  I found a recipe by Kay Chun of The New York Times and realized while typing this blog post, that it’s almost identical to Ms. Yearwood’s. Ingredients for Ms. Chun’s recipe are kosher salt, bacon, broccoli florets, mayonnaise, red onion, apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar, coarsely grated cheddar cheese, golden raisins and roasted, salted sunflower seeds. In some instances, the quantities are the same or slightly increased and she uses a red onion whereas Ms. Yearwood just calls for “an onion.” Ms. Chun also added grated cheddar cheese to her recipe. Though Ms. Chun is a native New Yorker, her recipe for “Southern Broccoli Salad” clearly comes through as southern. How did it taste you ask? Quite yummy. I like the fact that there are different textures and mouthfeel from the shredded cheese, to the softened raisins. I use Duke’s Mayonnaise, a southern product, for the nice twang it lends to the broccoli. Overall, a recipe just as good as Ms. Yearwood’s. ​

​The heat and humidity have been relentless this summer. As the weather has been quite uncomfortable, I’ve found some recipes that work quite well during this hot weather. I made a meatloaf, but you may not believe how I cooked it. Zucchini has been abundant in our Dreyer Farms CSA box and I found an easy to prepare side dish. With the Olympics in full swing, I took advantage of the theme and made an elegant appetizer using the last of my pâté. Utilizing summer stone fruit in a dinner salad or with grilled pork is always nice, especially with sweet, juicy summer peaches. Kirby cucumbers were also included and I used a recipe from the CSA recipe sheet to make a new dill pickle recipe.
 
Meatloaf is one of my husband’s favorite meals. I had some ground turkey that I wanted to use, but baking a meatloaf for almost an hour wasn’t appealing. After a little internet sleuthing, I discovered that I could cook it in my slow cooker on high for three hours, perfect. Easy Turkey Meatloaf by Melissa Knific was chosen for this preparation. Besides ground turkey, you’ll also need nonstick cooking spray, an egg, an apple, an onion, seasoned panko bread crumbs, garlic powder, kosher salt,  black pepper and Italian seasoning (optional). For the sauce, you’ll need ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar (cider, distilled, white or red wine), Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. I didn’t have seasoned panko bread crumbs, so I used Spice and Tea Exchange’s Tuscany Spice Blend for flavoring.