Seasonal Sundays (Week 31) The Best of Summer

Let's grab onto summer, shall we? This week's collection includes all the summer highlights, the dishes we make only in summer and maybe even just once. But somehow, such special summer recipes, well, they make summer summer.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

Hey y'all ... glad you're here, thank you for inviting me into your kitchens. It means the world, truly.

I've decided to take August off, I've only had eight days off so far this year, which sounds like pretty many until you figure there've been 62 Saturdays/Sundays plus five holidays. I love what I do (and have new recipes scheduled to publish throughout the month) but ...

But I didn't want to leave you high and dry!

So let's call this week's giant collection of recipes "don't let summer pass by without making ... ". These are completely seasonal, just for summer. Even I make them just once a year, every year, but just once.

They're a mix of super simple and some complexity, summer classics and some of my most distinctive recipes. A fruit gazpacho? Amazing. A corn soup with shrimp? (Does it need a new name? Help me decide, please ...) Tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes?

See you in September ...

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PICK ONE

Pick One is for those of us overwhelmed by life's unending choices. If that resonates, then check out this one recipe and then call it a day. It's one that I think could make the most difference, the one I hope will become a regular in your kitchen, as it is in mine.

• THE RECIPE Summer's Best Corn Chowder
• ANOTHER TAKE Summer Seafood Chowder Shrimp and scallops in a milky broth, with barely cooked tomato, corn and my favorite vegetable this summer, okra.

Compliments!

• "Oh my gosh! I just made this with corn I just picked up at my farmer's market. It was fabulous! ... My hubby said it's a keeper." ~ Quilting Again
• THE RECIPE Raw Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cauliflower Rice

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Here's my appeal for mealtime minimalism, the idea that you don't have to think up a new breakfast or a new lunch every day. It's a way to think less about food rather than more. It's maintains that the ritual of healthy satisfying staples can fill you up in a way that the new and the novel cannot.

• THE RECIPE Quick Summer Squash & Tomato Sauté
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy-Easy Barely Roasted Zucchini & Yellow Squash

Back-Pocket Recipe

We all keep certain recipes in our virtual back pockets, right? We might not need them right this minute but recognize their usefulness in our recipe repertoires.

• THE RECIPE King Hill Farms Simple & Sublime Warm Beets with Butter Just warm beets, butter and a little salt.
• ANOTHER TAKE Borscht Beets Russian-style beets tossed in sour cream sauce.

Summer Easy: Less Cookin', More Livin'.

More than a decade ago, I started collecting a certain style of summer dishes that espouse my summer motto, Less Cookin', More Livin'. These are Kitchen Parade's most simple, most fresh, most memorable and most summery recipes, all in one place. I hope you love 'em all! See Easy Summer Recipes!

• THE RECIPE Mexican Scrambled Eggs (Huevos Revueltos a la Mexicana)
• ANOTHER TAKE Fried Egg Quesadillas A fried egg sandwich with a tortilla.

• THE RECIPE Warm Goat Cheese Appetizer with Mini Tomatoes & Capers Weeknight easy, worthy of an occasion.
• ANOTHER TAKE Herbed Goat Cheese An easy low-carb, make-ahead appetizer.

Something New to You? A Challenge!

It's one thing to know what we like. It's another to get caught in a rut of repetition. Every so often, I may offer a challenge to try something that just might be new. The challenge is yours to accept – or y'know, not – but I hope to pique your palate!

• THE RECIPE Easy Apricot Jam with Rosemary Rustic and barely sweet, just five ingredients.
• ANOTHER TAKE How to Make Rhubarb Jam & Rhubarb Jelly

Can This Recipe Be Saved?

Help! This is one of my very favorite recipes on Kitchen Parade but whoah, nobody but nobody visits the page.

Would a name change help????

I've made two graphics. The first one uses the existing name, Sweet Corn Soup with Shrimp. The second one is a new name I'm considering, Corn Chowder with Shrimp.

Which one looks interesting enough to check it out???

Have a better idea for a name??? Please do chime in!

• THE RECIPE Sweet-Corn Soup with Shrimp Familiar ingredients combine into something unusual and surprising.
• ANOTHER TAKE Vichyssoise A simple leek & potato soup.

PS And thanks!

Summer Suppers

• THE RECIPE Baked Orzo Casserole with Eggplant, Olives, Goat Cheese & More
• ANOTHER TAKE Afghan Chicken & Rice Casserole (Kabeli Palau) Unusual, amazing combination of ingredients.

• THE RECIPE Easy Garlic-Herb Mediterranean Chicken ("Med Chicken") A real crowd pleaser!
• ANOTHER TAKE Grilled Balsamic Chicken Start in the oven, finish on the grill.

• THE RECIPE Greek Chicken Dagwood Sandwiches A towering sandwich, summer style.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chicken Burgers with Fresh Spinach, Feta and Garden Tzatziki Sauce

• THE RECIPE BATTLE Sandwiches BLTs on steroids.
• ANOTHER TAKE Oil Tanker Burgers Stacked so high, you might call 'em Super Tankers.

• THE RECIPE Green Chili Burgers Just good meat with a good green salsa.
• ANOTHER TAKE Jerusalem Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Moist, flavorful burgers specked with grated zucchini and fresh herbs.

Summer Veggies!

• THE RECIPE Summer Vegetable Stew
• MANY MORE TAKES Favorite Seasonal Vegetable Stews 10 recipes plus 10 tips & techniques

• THE RECIPE Fattoush (Traditional Middle Eastern Salad)
• ANOTHER TAKE Turkish Cucumber-Tomato-Olive Chopped Salad with Sumac

• THE RECIPE "Best Ever" New Potatoes & Green Beans
• ANOTHER TAKE Simple Skillet Green Beans

Summer Fruit!

• THE RECIPE Melon Ball & Blueberry Salad Pure summer in a bowl!
• ANOTHER TAKE Five-Minute Fruit Salad It's all in the presentation!

Familiar Ingredients, Unexpected Results

• THE RECIPE Roasted Eggplant “Hummus" (Eggplant & Chickpea Dip & Spread)
• ANOTHER TAKE Crazy-Smooth Crazy-Good Hummus

• THE RECIPE Easy Easy Grilled Mushroom Appetizer Two ingredients and a real crowd pleaser.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cucumber Dip with Feta Creamy dip for vegetables or steak.

• THE RECIPE Summer's Tomato Soup Ripe summer tomatoes only, please.
• ANOTHER TAKE Winter Tomato Soup Roasting, slow-cooking draw out summer flavor.

• THE RECIPE Afghan Eggplant & Tomato Casserole (Borani Banjan)
• SERVE WITH Afghan Chicken & Rice Casserole (Kabeli Palau)

• THE RECIPE Fruity Gazpacho A starter, entrée or dessert!
  
• ANOTHER TAKE Cantaloupe-Tomato Gazpacho A slightly fruity vegetable gazpacho.

Sweet Endings

• THE RECIPE First-Prize Peach Pie The secret technique is no blanching and no peeling!
• ANOTHER TAKE Peach-Pie Pudding It's peach pie without the crust!

• THE RECIPE Mini Blueberry Tarts With a "pop" of fresh blueberry right in the middle.
• THE ORIGINAL Finnish Fruit Tart Finns adore this with blueberries.

• THE RECIPE Finnish Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake A real celebration cake.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chocolate Cream Puffs Stuffed with Strawberries & Cream Chocolate, strawberries and cream, just two bites big.

What's New?!

• THE RECIPE Raw Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cauliflower Rice
• ANOTHER TAKE Raw Corn Chowder

• THE RECIPE Zucchini Bread with Carrot & Candied Ginger A classic quick bread, streaked with carrot and studded with candied ginger.
• ANOTHER TAKE Black Walnut Bread A loaf of quick bread, bright with lemon and smoky with black walnuts.

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Cold Cucumber Soup
• ANOTHER TAKE Chilled Carrot Soup with Honey

• THE RECIPE Homemade Creamed Corn A simple, healthy makeover.
• ANOTHER TAKE Fresh Creamed Corn A garden luxury.

• THE RECIPE Zucchini Bread with Pumpkin A season-crossing quick bread with a healthy makeover.
• ANOTHER TAKE Zucchini Bread with Carrot & Candied Ginger A classic quick bread, streaked with carrot and studded with candied ginger.

Text Me Back!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com, dot-dash in Morse code, build a fire for smoke signals, launch a message in a bottle, send a Christmas letter, get the dog to yip, toss me a note wrapped in a rubberband, write a message in the sky, scratch a note in the sand, listen to a seashell, whatever.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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