When I was growing up, my Appalachian dad called this thing a muskmelon. So when I grew up and someone asked me if I liked cantaloupe, I said, “Never had it.” Of course, when I saw it, I thought, “Oh, we hillbillies just call it muskmelon.” Well, guess what? We hillbillies were right. But honestly, as strange a name as cantaloupe is (they’re a rare type of leaping animal, right?), muskmelon doesn’t sound much better. The only time I want to hear musk anywhere near my food is when it’s my waiter’s cologne.

Cucumber Cantaloupe Salad

1 cantaloupe
1 regular or English cucumber
1 lime
1 tablespoon sugar or sugar substitute
1 handful of fresh cilantro

Pretty easy measurements, no?  Anyway, peel, seed and chop the cantaloupe.  Do the same with the cucumber.  If you bought an English cucumber (the kind that comes wrapped in plastic), you don’t need to seed it.

Squeeze the lime juice over the salad.  Sprinkle the sugar over.  Toss.  If you like cilantro (which I do!), add in a handful of fresh, chopped cilantro.

        

Memorial Day, for all practical purposes, marks the beginning of summer.  Everyone break out the flip flops and say a collective “Aahhhh.”

It also means I’ll start enjoying pasta salad.  Call me strange, but I can only eat pasta salad in the summer.  To me, eating macaroni salad in January is like Donald Trump’s hair…it’s just wrong. But even in summer, one can only eat so much macaroni salad.  Every once in a while you’ve got to broaden your horizons and branch out into the big, wide pasta salad world.

After surfing the web, I’ve found some great new recipes from some of my favorite bloggers just in time for this weekend’s picnics.  Here’s a handy list for your summer enjoyment.  You’re welcome.

Caprese Pasta Salad from The Cooking Photographer

1. Caprese Pasta Salad @ The Cooking Photographer
2. Fruity Pasta Salad @ Cooking During Stolen Moments
3. Lemon Basil Pasta Salad @ Serious Eats
4. Pasta Salad with Roasted Tomatoes @ Sea Salt with Food
5. Jola’s Pasta Salad with Pesto, Sundried Tomatoes, Garlic and Cracked Pepper @ Coffee and Vanilla
6. A to Z Pasta Salad @ Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
7. Summer Pasta Salad @ Novel Eats
8. Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad @ Becky’s Blog
   

   Pesto Pasta Salad at Simply Recipes

9. Pesto Pasta Salad @ Simply Recipes
10. Sesame Pasta Salad @ The Good Mood Food Blog
11. Seafood Pasta Salad @ Judy’s Kitchen
12. Pasta Salad With Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled Zucchini, and Basil @ Kalyn’s Kitchen
13. Mal’s Pasta Salad @ Carrots ‘n Cake
14. Genoa Pasta Salad @ A Little Bit of Everything
15. BLT Chicken Pasta Salad @ Being Frugal is Fabulous
16. Greek Pasta Salad with Feta and Chicken @ Brandon’s Marathon
17. Feta and Carmelized Onion Pasta Salad @ Hopie’s Kitchen
18. Asian Chicken Pasta Salad @ Snapshots of Life
    
    

    Mint Basil Pasta Salad from Cookin' Canuck

19. Mint-Basil Chicken Pasta Salad @ Cookin’ Canuck
20. Roasted Shrimp, Orzo and Feta Salad @ Simple Daily Recipes
21. Pasta Salad with Pesto @ Wingerz Blog
22. Florentine Pasta Salad with Lemon @ notes from my food diary
23. Broccoli Pine Nut Pasta Salad @ eat me, delicious
24. Pasta Salad with Buttermilk Fried Chicken @ justJENN recipes
25. Pasta Salad with Cilantro Lime Pesto @ My Veggie Kitchen
26. Smoky Chipotle Pasta Salad @ Culinary Adventures of a New Wife
27. Rainbow Seafood Pasta Salad @ Food 4 Tots
    

    Tuxedo Pasta Salad at The Pink Peppercorn

28. Tuxedo Pasta Salad @ The Pink Peppercorn
29. Pasta Salad Nicoise @ Gastronomer’s Guide
30. Cookout-friendly Salad with Pasta @ Red Ramekin
31. Spinach, Feta and Orzo  Salad @ Une-deux senses
    

    Tortellini Salad with Tomatoes, Olives, Mozzarella and Carrots at Pickycook

32. Tortellini Salad with Tomatoes, Olives, Mozzarella and Carrots @ Pickycook
33. Salmon Pasta Salad with Dill and Yogurt @ Savoring Time in the Kitchen
34. Angel Hair Pasta Salad with Tomato and Basil @ Annie’s Eats
35. Mediterranean Orzo Salad @ Andrea’s Recipes
    
36. Poached Chicken Noodle Salad @ Smell & Taste
37. Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad @ Flavor Explosions
38. Ramen Noodle Salad @ Rasa Malaysia
39. Gourmet Italian Pasta Salad @ Skinny Gourmet
    

    Lemon Pepper Bucatini Salad at Supermarket Serenade

40. Lemon Pepper Bucatini Salad @ Supermarket Serenade
41. Mango Salsa Pasta @ NoobCook
42. Mediterranean Pasta Salad @ Michelle’s Test Kitchen
43. Szechuan Pasta Salad @ Sommer Designs
44. Salad Shells (Salad IN Pasta) @ The Homesteading Housewife
45. Asian Green Bean Salad @ Culinary Cory
46. Kimchee Cold Noodles @ Tasty Meals
    
47. Tortellini Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette @ Living Tastefully
48. Ravioli Pasta Salad @ 101 Cookbooks
    
49. Pasta Salad with Fresh and Sun Dried Tomatoes @ Appoggiatura
50. Chicken and Tortellini Salad @ Rookie Cookie

Got a great one to share?   Do share, chickens!

        

Yes, read that right.  No, you’re not at Martha’s site.  See, we had friends over for dinner.  You know how that is…when you pretend that you eat like this every day.

GUESTS: “Nice salad.”

YOU: “What? This old thing? Why, as we told our perfectly darling children just yesterday as we were eating  Sauteed Foie Gras with Peanut Foam and Pomegranate Gellee on Brioche served with Rose Scented Sauterne, that we really should do something a little more earthy and organic for our dinner guests.  Isn’t that right, dear?”

…When in reality last night’s dinner was like this:

KIDS: “I’m done.  Can we go now?”

YOU: “Eat it!  I didn’t pay for that Happy Meal just so you could play with the cheap plastic  toy.”

You couldn’t really serve your guests what you usually eat because maybe they don’t like Ding Dongs and Cheez Wiz.  So you fancy it up.  But since I’m not Martha, I made this.

Baby Greens with Berries, Candied Almonds and Panko Coated Chèvre

• 4 cups baby greens or microgreens, washed and dried
• 1/2 pint strawberries or raspberries, rinsed and dried
• 1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
• 2 cups whole almonds
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 oz. chevre (goat cheese)  – I like the logs s0 I can cut rounds
• 1/2 c. Panko or regular bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/3 c. flour
• Oil for frying

Chill your plates.  This is what Martha does, what good restaurants do and what you will do if you want to make your guests believe that didn’t eat in a Taco Bell parking lot last night.

Make the candied almonds

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Toss in the almonds (other nuts would work fine). Cook and stir the mixture until the liquid evaporates and leaves a syrup-like coating on the almonds. Pour the almonds onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Use a fork to separate the almonds and let them cool at least 15 minutes.  These can be made ahead unless you’re me and you would eat them all.

Make your cute little salads

Here’s a tip for your greens:  Soak them in ice water.  It makes them crispier and brings ‘em back to life,  so to speak.  I have a salad spinner that I fill with ice water.  I place my salad greens into the drainer part and soak them in the bowl for 15 minutes.   Then I pull out the basket with the lettuce, pour off the ice water, put back the lettuce basket and wash and rinse the greens in the same spinner.   You’ll thank me later.

Put some greens on your chilled plates.  Top with the thinly sliced onion, berries and the candied nuts.   Put these in the fridge while you make your fancy schmancy fried cheese.

Make your fancy schmancy fried cheese

Cut about 1/2″ slices of the goat cheese.   If you use a knife dipped into hot water, it will help cut the cheese. (Fill in your own joke…I’m not going there.) Coat each slice of goat cheese with flour, shaking to remove any excess. Dip into the eggs, turn to coat well, then dip into the Panko, turning and pressing lightly to coat well.  You can do this ahead too and then refrigerate them until you’re ready to eat.    Fry them in hot oil (about 350ºF) until golden brown.

Place your goat cheese on the salad and serve.  The hot/cold thing you have going on will help with your Martha illusion.   Top with your favorite homemade dressing.

And do pass the caviar, darling.

        

I don’t know why the French think Americans are clueless when it comes to cooking.  I mean, America has made its own incredible contributions to the world of fine food such as Spam, beef jerky, and our best export, McDonald’s McRib sandwich.

I will admit that the French do know how do soup.   This recipe for Best Onion Soup Ever gets its “Best” and “Ever” from fond.  Fond, as many of you know, is French for “that really tasty stuff that’s stuck to the bottom of your pan, you uncivilized American!” This is a Sunday kind of recipe in that it takes a few hours but you’re not really hands on for most of it.

* That lid is now serving time as a the cymbal in my daughter’s stuffed animal band.

You’ve all heard that you should only cook with wine or spirits that you would drink.   That’s why I advocate tasting the wine before you pour it into your recipe.  Sometimes I test 4 or 5 glassfuls just to be sure.

Now, you may be asking, why are we reducing this over and over and over?  Good question.  (Let’s just pretend you asked, ok?)  Every time you add more liquid and evaporate down (that’s called reduction which is something else the French perfected, you clumsy, cooking-challenged American!), you’re making more sticky brown fond stuff that equals flavor to the nth power. So be sure and scrape down the sides and bottom each time!

Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

If you want extra crispy crouton-like bread, toast your slices in the oven first.

Best Onion Soup Ever

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions sliced
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 small baguette cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 ounces shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Spray the inside of a Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and a pinch of salt. (It will help draw liquid out of the onions.) Bake in the oven, covered, for about 1 hour. Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

Remove pot and place over medium-high heat. (Careful!  The handles are still hot!)  Cook the onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary.

Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.   Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen that yummy fond and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
6. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper.

While the soup simmers, toast the sliced baguette if you like.  Set individual broiler-safe bowls on a baking sheet and fill each with soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with  a good melty cheese like Gruyère or Swiss.  Broil carefully until the cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving or you will burn yourself,  you senseless American!

What else is cookin’

• Piña Colada Doughnuts
• Simple Vinaigrette – A Visual Recipe
• Roasted Vegetable Sandwich

        

It’s that time of year.  We’re all feeling it.  If we see one more dirty snowpile, one more pair of salt encrusted snow boots or one more sidewalk to shovel, we’ll go insane and smash the snow shovel into little pieces.  Don’t do it.  I have a tasty alternative.  Close your blinds, turn up the thermostat for one hour and put on some shorts…or not if you look into the mirror to find that your pasty white trunks are whiter than the snowdrifts in your driveway and the lack of sunshine is causing you to look like Gollum from Lord of the Rings and then you might snap and they’d find you in the kitchen cupboards mumbling about blizzards and the sunlight burning your eyes…not that I speak from experience. Anyhoo, go into the kitchen to make this summery tasting salad.  You’ll feel better, I promise.

Seafood Avocado Salad

• 1 lb. seafood (I used surimi here but shrimp, crab, or any firm fish will work well)
• 2 avocados, peeled and cubed
• 2 tomatoes, cubed
• 4-6 green onions, minced
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon canola or avocado oil (A neutral tasting oil is best here)
• A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• A pinch of salt and fresh pepper

Do you really need instructions?  Mix them together.  Eat.

Ok, if you really need more direction, make sure that you coat all the ingredients thoroughly with the lime juice as the avocado will turn brown without the lime juice.  Cover with Saran Wrap right on top of the salad to help prevent oxygen from getting to your lovely little avocado bits.  This stuff is really good on a bed of lettuce or rolled in a tortilla.

Close your eyes and count the days until summer.

        

Every Christmas, the manly men at the Christmas table all take turns spooning heapfuls of my uncle’s potent homemade horseradish onto their ham to see who is first to break out in a sweat and cry.   No one will admit he is not enough of a manly man to swallow heaping spoonfuls of the superhot stuff so each one keeps adding more until you can’t see the ham anymore buried under the pile of horseradish.

Since these manly men love all things spicy, and the kids like all things sweet, I came up with not too sweet, not too spicy slaw to go with the ham.  Everyone can enjoy this dish since you can control the heat.  Just leave a bottle of horseradish and hot sauce next to the slaw for your manly men to duke it out.

Sweet and Spicy Slaw

2 bags preshredded coleslaw mix or 8 cups shredded cabbage
2 seedless oranges, peeled and sectioned
1 red pepper, julienned
1 green pepper, julienned
1 cup of mayo (I use light mayo)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Fresh squeezed juice of 1 lime
3-5 tablespoons sugar (sugar substitute or honey can be substituted)
3-5 tablespoons of prepared horseradish
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp onion powder
Couple shots of Tabasco
Couple grinds freshly ground pepper

Combine the mayo, buttermilk, lime juice, sugar, horseradish, garlic salt, onion powder and pepper to taste. Toss with the cabbage or coleslaw mix and peppers.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours.  Overnight is even better.  Just before serving, add the sectioned oranges.

Have a blessed Christmas.

        

My neighbor, Shala, is passionate about the food from her native Syria.   Several times a month, she shares another delicious dish that is exotic to us but home cooking to her.  Our family favorite is her delicious version of tabbouleh which she tells me is favorite picnic food in Syria.  And when she offered to show me she makes her it, I jumped at the chance. And this is your lucky day, chickens, because you get to see too.

It’s a bit hard to see. This is bulghur mixed with tomato paste in a red bowl.

Now, we’ll start putting it all together.

        

Oh, apple cider, how do I love thee? Seriously, I even love it when it ISN’T distilled! That’s how much I love apple cider.  I’m always looking for ways to throw it into recipes.  So as I was making a salad the other day, I thought it would be a great topper for a fall salad.   So I whipped this up and it was delish…tart, sweet and creamy.

I served it on a perfect fall salad.  I took some mixed greens and threw on some fall salad toppers.  Here’s the John Madden playbook view:

Apple Cider Dressing
1/4 c. apple cider
3 Tablespoons light sour cream
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt and pepper

Enjoy.  Oh, and feel free to change up the John Madden playbook.  I’m sure he won’t mind.

        

I’ve got a great giveaway for my readers…two winners will receive a Country Bob’s prize pack featuring two bottles of their famous sauce and a cookbook. If you’ve never had Country Bob’s, you’re missing a unique taste.  It includes tamarind for a really unique kick.  Tonight, we grilled up some chicken and used the sauce to baste, and the results were spicy and delish!   Served up with a cool, cucumber salad, this is what summer dinners are all about.

I love this salad because it’s fat free, sugar free (if you use Splenda), doesn’t spoil in the sun and is a great way to use up those cukes in your garden.  Oh, and it takes about 1 minute to make.

CUCUMBER SALAD

2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/2 c. rice wine vinegar (a slightly sweet vinegar, found in the Asian section)
1/3 c. sugar or Splenda
1 tsp. dill
Pinch of salt

Toss and chill for at least 1/2 hour.

Sounds good, no?  All you need to do to get your hands on some of Country Bob’s Special Sauce is to leave a comment stating your favorite summer food by August 10.  Two winners will be randomly drawn to receive a couple bottles of the sauce plus a cookbook.   And if you don’t win, you can still get one free bottle by signing up at the company website!

        

I know what you were thinking as you read that last recipe…TWO STICKS of BUTTER!?  C’mon, you don’t think I eat like that all the time, do ya?  Oh, you do.  Well, let me prove you wrong.  This is my entry in the Beat the Heat roundup at A Southern Grace.

I went up to the Middle Eastern food market and bought some bulgur, feta, lemons and pitas, then stopped at the Asian food market for some fresh shrimp.  TODAY’S MATH PROBLEM: There are 3 Asian, 2 Italian, 1 Indian, 1 Greek, 1 Slovenian, and 6 Middle Eastern groceries within 5 miles of Francie but 0 Mexican mercados within 50 miles.  What’s up with THAT!?  ANSWER: Because Mexican is Francie’s favorite food so therefore it figures.

Anyhoo, bulgur (cracked wheat) can be cooked sans heat so it’s perfect for dog days like these.  Here’s how.

BULGUR SALAD WITH FETA AND SHRIMP
2 c. bulgur
Just enough water to cover
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3-1/2 c. olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey
1 large bunch fresh parsley
1 c. walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cucumber, cubed
1 c. crumbled fresh feta
1/2 lb. peeled, deveined and cooked shrimp

Pour bulgur into a bowl and cover with water until about 2″ over.  Salt the water and stir.  Let sit for about 1 hour or until the bulgur is soft.

Mix cumin, cayenne, lemon, olive oil and honey.  Pour over bulgur.  Chop and add the parsley, walnuts and cucumber. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  When ready to serve, top with feta and shrimp.  Pat yourself on the back for eating so healthfully.