Summer Winds

Ah, August. The back to school supplies are already picked over at Target, the pool is starting to close earlier, and a few yellow leaves drifted to the ground from my "sentinel tree," the one I could see from my window of my 10-year summer job at the local swim club. By about year 8 (I am a slow learner) I saw that there was one tree that turned a lovely yellow a little earlier than the others and was the harbinger of the changing of the seasons. Before it starts to show itself as a shock of yellow among the green, it sends down drifts of leaves that would catch my eye back in 1984, and they still do today.

But there is still plenty of summer time left and we are looking to enjoy it. This week will capitalize on some favorite flavors...

Monday: yogurt marinated chicken, tomato and edamame salad with buttermilk dressing, corn-zucchini pie

Tuesday: taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Wednesday Spaghetti

Thursday: Joanne's pork tenderloin (on the grill with any luck), roasted beets, corn on the cob

Friday: An oldie but goodie: shrimp and corn "stir fry" from Glamour magazine, circa 1993. (I am feeling nostalgic at this time of year--I'll let the therapist figure out why.)

Last week, I hit a smoothie snag in my smoothie jag; I tried the Strawberry-Peach Refresher, which sounded great. Maybe my peaches were underripe; maybe bok choy is not my thing; but this was the worst color and least tasty. It was kind of a muddy brown--very unappetizing unless you are making chocolate milk. And I threw in a banana to salvage the sweetness, and even so--this was my least favorite so far by a long shot. I made the cilantro-mango detox one again, which I liked (given how much I love the detox soup--my enjoyment of the savory smoothies should be no surprise). And I enjoyed the coconut water. I don't think I'd buy it if it weren't an ingredient but I am happy to work more of it in my routines. So I went a bit overboard and bought more freezer containers and went nuts making a bunch so I can put the blender away from our already overcrowded counters.

I tried the cantaloupe-grape smoothie, which I loved (but I have always loved melon soups, etc.); I should have let it run a little more to take care of all those grape skins but it was probably my favorite so far. The pina colada one was yummy; I used coconut water instead of just water to boost the coconut flavor but it still has some nerve calling itself a pina colada. But--how bad can pineapple-coconut be? Not very, if you ask me. The coco-ginger zinger was another one that looked disgusting (the cinnamon does it no favors in the looks department) but the zing was there for sure and was a nice summer smoothie. Something about the pear doesn't quite "smoothify" too, so texturewise it was a little odd but I liked it. The "spa skin cleanse" smoothie was fine (and excellent for using up ingredients I had--coconut water--from the other smoothies--and avocado and pineapple and spinach) but I don't think I'll make it again--if I'm blending an avocado, I'm making detox soup. I laughed at the description of the strawberry-banana-blueberry smoothie as "purple"--ours was straight-up brown, no two ways about it. But it was also so similar to the regular smoothie we make on most Sundays, it was an easy drink.

Of course I had the bok choy that inspired the ill-fated smoothie for the crock pot curry chicken, which was a hit, albeit too hot a hit, in 2007 the last time I made it (ahem, this is why I need a better sidebar system). I will stick to bok choy as a side dish rather than a smoothie ingredient, I think. It was still too spicy for me but again, my husband loved it.

I also made the veggie curryfrom the sidebar; it smelled funny while it was cooking and was definitely too watery, but then we had a happy accident and the lid was ajar for an hour and cooked off the liquid. It tasted fine but I made a lot of church meals out of it.

Wishing you a great August, whatever that means in your neck of the woods!