Yankee-Belle Cafe

I don't know what the weather's like where you live, but it's hot here in Texas. So today we're going to revisit a couple of my favorite cool and refreshing summer salads.

First is Cucumber and Onion Salad. As soon as the weather turns warm, my husband starts asking for this. And I always have to add extra onion just for him.
Start by peeling and thinly slicing a cucumber or two. 
Put them into a bowl, then slice some onion, add that to the cucumbers and toss everything together.
Next, in a 2 - 4 cup measuring cup or medium bowl, mix 2 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp black pepper and sugar to taste. I usually add about a tablespoon, but you can start with 1 tsp and go up from there until you reach the desired amount of sweetness. For me, I'm simply looking to take the edge off of vinegar, not anything really sweet. Stir until dissolved and pour over onion/cucumber mixture.
Allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.

Avocado and Tomato Balsamic Salad is quickly becoming one of my go-to sides. I can whip it up in a flash and it's so delicious and healthy that I've been known to make a meal of this alone.
Simply cube the avocado and some tomatoes into a bowl. I prefer the flavor of grape tomatoes, so I just halve them. 
Then drizzle a little bit of olive oil over that, add several shakes of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.
Gently toss everything to coat and that's it. You're ready to go. 

As the weather heats up, side dishes here at the Obi house shift from things like potatoes and roasted veggies to a variety of salads. So today I thought I'd share two of our favorites. One is quick and easy, the other is easy, but takes a little bit more time.

First is Cucumber and Onion Salad. As soon as the weather turns warm, my husband starts asking for this. And I always have to add extra onion just for him.
Start by peeling and thinly slicing a cucumber or two. 
Put them into a bowl, then slice some onion, add that to the cucumbers and toss everything together.
Next, in a 2 - 4 cup measuring cup or medium bowl, mix 2 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp black pepper and sugar to taste. I usually add about a tablespoon, but you can start with 1 tsp and go up from there until you reach the desired amount of sweetness. For me, I'm simply looking to take the edge off of vinegar, not anything really sweet. Stir until dissolved and pour over onion/cucumber mixture.
Allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.

Avocado and Tomato Balsamic Salad is quickly becoming one of my go-to sides. I can whip it up in a flash and it's so delicious and healthy that I've been known to make a meal of this alone.
Simply cube the avocado and some tomatoes into a bowl. I prefer the flavor of grape tomatoes, so I just halve them. 
Then drizzle a little bit of olive oil over that, add several shakes of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.
Gently toss everything to coat and that's it. You're ready to go. 
Fresh veggies and fruits are part of the beauty of summer. And while we can get many of these items year-round, they just taste better in the summer when they're fresh and, often, locally grown. 

What are some of your favorite summer salads/veggies?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.

by Jan Drexler

That title is a mouthful, isn't it? But it's true.

This dressing has been around forever. Generations. Hundreds of years, if not thousands.

Basically, it's a refrigerator pickling dressing, but I have found so many great uses for it.

I'll give you the recipe. I'm almost ashamed to call it a recipe because it's so simple and easy, but here it is:

1 part water
1 part vinegar
1 part sugar


The first way I used this was to make coleslaw.

The way I use it the most is with cucumbers.

I use those English cucumbers because of their milder flavor. If you love cukes, use your favorite kind! Slice the whole thing, along with some onion. The sweet white onions are best!


Then mix your dressing. Easy ratio - 1:1:1, water, vinegar, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.


I use 2/3 cup of each for these long cucumbers.

Stuff the veggies in a jar or bowl (make sure you can cover it!), then pour the dressing over.


You can eat them right away, or stick them in the refrigerator until you're craving that sweet/sour deliciousness. :-)

I'm looking forward to trying this with cauliflower, green beans, zucchini...basically anything you can pickle, you can use with this dressing!

And it's so easy, it's almost - not quite - but almost...sinful.


While you munch on your cucumber slices, I'm going to take you along on a great hike!

I met my word count goal early on Saturday, so my dear husband and I packed a picnic lunch, laced on our hiking shoes, and went to the Hills. We chose a trail I had read about, but we had never tried. Believe me, we'll be hiking this one again!

It's called the Lost Cabin trail, and is one of two National Recreation trails in the Black Hills. It's described as "remote" and "scenic," and I definitely agree!

Before we start, I need to tell you that you're going to see a lot of downed and broken trees in my pictures.


Quite often, this is what the forest looks like ten to fifteen years after a forest fire. But this wasn't caused by fire. Many (too many!) of the trees in this area were victims of the pine beetle and were dead-trees-standing until the big storm in October 2013. In this part of the Hills, the wind was particularly strong (70 mph? I'm just guessing - it might have been more. We had 70 mph winds at our house.), and all those dead trees snapped like twigs.

But the forest is designed to renew itself. Now that the dead trees are out of the way, new growth is appearing.


It will take years for these trees to reach the size of the ones they're replacing, but that's what the forest does. The old passes away, providing space and nutrients for the regeneration of the forest.

So, lace up your hiking boots! We're on our way!


We parked at a trail head and needed to hike along the spur trail to reach the main trail. Let me interpret this sign for you.

The brown sign says that we will access the Lost Cabin Trail, trail number 2, in 1/4 mile straight ahead.

The smaller signs, from top to bottom, tell us that this is a National Forest trail, you can hike, you can ride horses, you can bicycle, but you can't have open fires. (If you want to camp, you can use a backpacker's camp stove.)

The trail was as beautiful as they said. Even from the parking lot, we had a gorgeous view of Harney Peak sorry - Black Elk Peak. They changed the name a few years ago and I tend not to listen (don't get me started on that subject...). But anyway, it's a beautiful mountain, and is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees. We've climbed it a few times, but with fall coming I'm not sure if we'll make it this year!


Soon after reaching the main trail, we entered the Black Elk Wilderness area, climbing up the entire way.

Yes, we did register!

The trail went up, up, and up.

We wondered if this vulture was waiting for us to collapse on the trail! :-)

We finally reached the end of our allotted time (thunderstorms were on their way and we wanted to be safely off the mountain before they arrived), and after a well-deserved rest, we started back to our truck.

Signs of early fall were everywhere. The chipmunks were busy harvesting rose hips, but wouldn't stay still for the camera.


And the aspens are just beginning to don their golden frocks.


We were happy to see our truck waiting for us at the end of the trail!


But the afternoon wasn't over yet. We had one more stop to make.


There is something so iconic about Mt. Rushmore.

Iconic and majestic.


Back to the recipe - have you ever made that dressing before? Am I the last to hear about it?

And what would you use it for?

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here and I didn't cook anything really new this week, but I started to think about the strange food we eat in the summer: a mishmash of this and that and the other thing. I thought I'd take some pictures and share the weirdness. Maybe one of these sounds good to you!

                                                      
First of all, corn. Are we the only people eating fresh corn at every meal?? We have some many wonderful friends and relatives who bring us corn, and we grow our own, too. Delicious!
 Also, cucumbers. Oh my goodness. One of my favorite foods. I could eat cucumbers all day.
                                                           
 But some days I like to make a little tzatziki salad with it. Chopped cucumbers, a cup of sour cream, a dash of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dill. YUM.
                                                          
I could easily be vegetarian most of the time, but I have some meat eaters in the house that would disapprove if all our meals were corn and cucumbers. So... pork chops.
                                                        
Now, strangely I'd been CRAVING fried pickles!! So, we bought some garlicky dill pickles and chopped them into smaller pieces.
 Coated in flour, egg, spices, and dash of Slap Yo Mama.
 Oh, we also decided to make fried mushrooms. Why? Nobody knows.
 MMMMMM. Fried pickles and tzatziki!! Is that a weird summer meal, or what? But it hit the spot!
 We're into those long dog days of summer where it feels like the heat will never end, but I know that fall is just around the corner. I hope you're enjoying the time with friends and family!
Be sure to stop by my author page at Virginia Carmichael or Mary Jane Hathaway for all my book enws!

Hi, all of you out there! It's the Fresh Pioneer again and I've got a fun little recipe up my sleeve that showcases a few Northwest staples. Can you guess the first one? Need a hint?


Add to one cup Greek yoghurt. Add salt and pepper. Taste. Add some more. Taste. Stop when you're happy. (Looks a mess, doesn't it? But I promise it's good.) Put it in the fridge for a bit while we work on the other stuff.