summer menu

As i'm sure most families do, we change our regular menu with each season. It's hot in Texas most of the year so we make minor adjustments for spring and fall and we make a really big deal out of winter because it only lasts a few months. For summer, we try not to turn the oven on and we crave fresh vegetables and "cool" foods. With our successful garden, we've been eating a lot of okra and tomatoes. The jalapenos are too spicy for most dishes and the pablanos are hard to work with ( for me anyway). The cucumbers are long gone - it's jut too hot now and the zucchini was nice for a while. I've got several bags of frozen zucchini that i'm saving for fall dishes, when the prices go back up in the grocery store.

We are gearing up for a fall garden. Unfortunately, I think it will consist of more tomatoes - because it's still going to be hot, and a few other vegetables that can withstand the heat. I want to do pumpkins but i'm not sure what we would do with them except carve them for Halloween. We'll see. It's all an adventure.

One of our favorite summer meals is Corn Salad. It's super simple and somehow, my kids will eat it several nights in a row if need be.

Corn Salad:

one can of corn (drained)

one can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

as much tomato as you want

as much bell pepper as you want

as much banana peppers as you want

as much onion as you want

a little bit of salt and pepper

We serve it alone or with chips. Sometimes I use this with taco salad - just add lettuce, ground beef and some salsa - YUMMMY!