Seasonal Sundays (Week 33) Preserving Summer

At the height of summer, food kinda cooks itself or better yet, just jumps onto the plates, no cooking required. So many vegetables, so little time! So much fruit, so many cobblers and crisps and pies! So this week, I'm here to tempt you with ways to "preserve" the taste of summer, no canning required ...

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

August, the lazy-daisy days of summer.

Or so it should be! But isn't!

I find myself wanting time to just slow the heck down. Instead I wake up Monday morning and then I blink and then I'm handing chilled white wine to Friday-night dinner guests. What happened between? No idea.

Still, Target's school-supplies section was crowded and high-pitched with back-to-school excitement this week. And the twinzz go back to school in ten days. (Shouldn't school re-open right after Labor Day and end right before Memorial Day?!) And some food blogger posted the earliest pumpkin recipe on the planet! No. No. No. NO.

So who will join me in slooooowing things down for these last few weeks and days, in the kitchen and otherwise? If you can. If you want. If you will. Look for me in the pool, book in hand but discovering lambs and llamas in fluffy clouds above.

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: We have a small "garden" near the garage that must fend for itself if it's to survive both deer snacks and dry spells. Every August, enormous thistles pop out of the ground all prickly purple and Jack-in-the-Beanstalk tall. As I pulled in from the grocery this week, a swallowtail was feeding in the thistle flowers and I managed to catch her on my phone. An hour later, my husband called from the car, "Hey, come see the swallowtails in the thistles." Yes, we both think that way. :-) As usual, I used the Prisma app on my phone to play with the image, hoping to convey the sense of fleeting time, stopped for a just a moment.

Made Me Think ...

• My great-grandfather Strawberry Bill wouldn't recognize the technology advances for growing strawberries, aimed at better flavor, way less water usage, better control on a planet facing climate change. But to my eyes? It's amazing! Read all about it at Indoor Berries from a produce growers trade magazine.


• Feeling like you want to "do something" but don't know "what" to do? Let me recommend Chop Wood, Carry Water, a 5x weekly email, each one with targeted, timely suggestions on who to call/write/text about what, including easily adaptable scripts. I lurked for a couple of weeks but now make five-ten minutes an essential part of my day. It's not "politics". It's "civics". Let our voices be heard.

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PICK THREE
Preserving Summer, No "Canning" Required

• THE RECIPE Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles
• ANOTHER TAKE Pepper & Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles

• THE RECIPE Refrigerator Pickled Beets No canning required!
• THEN JAZZ 'EM UP Pickled Beet Salad with Fresh Blueberries & Mint

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

Extra Credit for the Ambitious Types

• CAN VEGETABLES AT HOME Practical Home Canning Tips What to do before (and after) you start canning.
• OR DON'T Refrigerator Pickles No "canning" required.

Just Updated!

What was that recent recipe that looked so good? What recipes just got updated? Check Recent Recipes from Kitchen Parade and Recent Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture. Both are updated very regularly! Here's the activity just from this week.

LOL apparently it's been "green beans week" at Casa Alanna. The first two collections had major-major overhauls and updates. I hope they inspire your next green bean feast!

• THE COLLECTION Green Bean Recipes – Alphabet of Vegetables Recipes, Techniques & Tips
• JUST THE FAVORITES Falling In Love with Green Beans My Favorite Green Bean Recipes

• JUST THE FAVORITES My Favorite Green Bean Recipes Falling In Love with Green Beans!
• ALL THE GREEN BEAN RECIPES Green Bean Recipes The basics + sides to salads, soups to suppers and yes, casseroles too.

• THE RECIPE Green Bean & Radish Salad Beautiful color!
• ANOTHER TAKE Chilled Green Bean Salad with Rosemary & Garlic Oil Rave reviews!

Something to Read

Audio books! They totally saved my sanity during my recent double trips back'n'forth to Texas.

The big surprise? One back-n-forth, audio books also fueled travel with a 13-year old, my nephew's oldest.

We both seriously loved two of the books, which as it turns out, are #2 and #4 in a series of five books.

THE BOX SET (affiliate link) The Penderwicks Paperback 5-Book Boxed Set.

READ FOR FREE! (affiliate link) See if your library offers the Libby app. It's super-easy to borrow e-books to read on the Kindle app and download audio books to listen to on the Libby app.

The selection is great, so is the hold/borrow system. I'm just about ready to give up the Audible subscription I've had for years and years ...

BANNED BOOKS (affiliate link) brown girl dreaming is banned? Really? Give me a break. This Newberry-award winning book is just lyrical and lovely. I listened especially, wondering what was mentioned that would worry any parent. NOTHING.

• BOOK CLUB BOOK IDEAS My Reading Group's Book List since 1994!
• NO TIME TO READ? How I Read 4X More This Year Than Last What I gave up, how I read so much, what I read.

Don't Be a Stranger ...

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, tuck a question into a plastic Easter egg, 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. When you make my recipes, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below or better still, on the specific recipe's page.

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