Monthly Archives: June 2024

I LOVE bacon.  I make a salad with a pound of bacon but I’ll share that recipe another time.  With summer Bar-B-Ques I thought you might try a different take on potato salad.  You have to turn on the stove for that one, but the dessert recipe I included is No Bake!

I am also including an orzo recipe compliments of Gail Gallagher; and a sneak peak at a recipe that will be featured in an anthology scheduled for next spring.

German Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 5 slices bacon (diced and cooked until crisp)
• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 cups sliced cooked potatoes – look for thin skinned like red or fingerling

Directions

1. Boil already-sliced potatoes until they are cooked through. Set aside.
2. Cook the bacon and keep the drippings. Set it aside to cool.
3. Heat bacon drippings in a pan large enough to add the potatoes.
4. Blend in flour, sugar, salt, and mustard.
5. Slowly add vinegar and water, stir until smooth.
6. Continue cooking over low heat, until thickened.
7. Add potatoes and heat through, slowly add crumbled bacon-save a few tablespoons for garnish.
8. Serve warm or room temp.

No Bake Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• ⅓ cup white sugar
• 4 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• ½ pint sliced fresh strawberries – sprinkled with sugar – set aside

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
2. Fold in whipped topping.
3. Spoon mixture into graham crumb crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Once the cheesecake has set, garnish with sliced strawberries.

Grandma Matilda’s Plum Cake courtesy of Patricia Dorph

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, plus some to coat pan
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sugar
• 6 ripe plums – cut into slices (remove pit)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Coat round nine-inch pan with butter.
3. Mix the sugar and 1 cup butter together until creamy.
4. Stir in eggs.
5. Add dry ingredients until mixed through.
6. Spread mixture into pan.
7. Begin in the middle and place 4-6 slices into a fan pattern, then alternate layers as you move from the middle of the pan to the inside edge.
8. Place in oven. Bake 40 minutes and check with a toothpick to be sure it comes out clean. If not bake an additional five minutes.

Summer Orzo Salad

Ingredients

• 1 box or bag of orzo (16 oz)
• 1  1/2 tablespoon Lemon Zest
• Juice of 2 lemons (add more after the orzo cools to keep moist)
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped up
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped or mashed up
• 1 cup of frozen baby peas – I put them in water to slightly thaw while orzo is cooking
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped up scallions (or I substitute sweet onions)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup packed arugula ( you can judge how much after mixing some through)

Directions

1. Cook the orzo per package and drain well.
2. Mix in the olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, peas, parsley, lemon juice and scallions. Mix well.
3. Put aside until cool. Put in refrigerator covered after it stops steaming.
4. After it is cool, mix in the parmesan cheese and the arugula.
   If you mix the cheese and arugula while it is still warm the cheese will melt and make it icky.
5. Serve cold.

NOTE: if you have had the salad in the refrigerator for a couple of hours you might need to add a touch more olive oil and lemon as sometimes it gets absorbed into the orzo!