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I just want to ask first thing-are y’all hot?  Goodness!  We have had blizzards, tornados, and now it is just as hot as the devil.  I have been drinking sweet tea, lemonade, and water by the gallon.  In the summer I change what I eat to very light and cool foods.  Planning breakfast, lunch and dinner is a big deal for generations of my family.  My girls laugh that we are planning dinner as we eat breakfast, and that is so true.  Just before my grandmother died she lapsed in and out of reality.  I was taking care of her and my aunt called and asked my grandmother how she was.  She said, “I’m at the grocery store with Teresa dear, I’m in the meat department looking for something for dinner.”  She just cracked me up-we had always had so much fun planning dinners together.  Dinners at my grandmother’s house were what I would term “formally casual.”  We ate off of 100 year-old blue willow plates that were heirlooms passed down through the family.  The napkin, fork, spoon, and knife had to be properly placed.  Fresh flowers were on the table in the summer.  We ate foods from the local farms.  Vegetables picked that day.  But we ate and ate; nobody put a limit on anything except dessert.  Ha!  And we laughed and talked constantly.  So, in grave honor of the family summer dinner, I thought I would advocate cookbooks from the local library.  There are so many creative, inspiring cookbooks to choose from there.  The Jasper Library has a whole aisle devoted to cookbooks-so, would you like to plan dinner with me?

Let’s see-tomatoes sound good, 99 percent of all southerners love fresh tomatoes out of the garden.  And the zucchini is coming in, so how about a recipe for a casserole made with those yummy veggies.  The treat to this recipe is the asiago cheese crust.  Delectable!  You will need one small onion, diced, one fourth of a cup of fresh basil chopped, one fourth of a cup of olive oil, one large zucchini, sliced thin, four good sized sliced tomatoes, two cups of asiago cheese, one cup of breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper.  First mix the cheese with the breadcrumbs.  Put this on the bottom of an oiled casserole dish.  Then put a layer of zucchini, a sprinkling of basil, a sprinkling of olive oil and a slight dash of salt and pepper.  Continue layering until all of your ingredients are used.  Pop it in the oven set on 350 degrees for around 30 minutes.  This is soooo fabulous served with corn on the cob, or a crisp dinner salad.  A nice light desert to follow could be strawberry shortcake.  Set the dinner table like the president is coming to dinner, you are just as important!  After this sumptuous feast you will be asking yourself if life gets any better.  This is my variation of the recipe, there are many at the library.  My cousin’s cookbook: Vineyard Harvest A year of Good Food on Martha’s Vineyard by Tina Miller, Chef, has a good variation also.  The photography in this cookbook, by Alison Shaw is stunning.  You feel like you just went to the vineyard after you read it.

Another great cookbook that has been a stable of the American housewife for years is the Fanny Farmer Cookbook.  My friend Annie learned how to cook from it when she was first married.  It must have worked because she and her husband Vaughn have been married for 35 years.  Miss Annie can cook anything.  She cooks a standing rib roast that is to die for!  But, being a southern girl, she likes her southern cooking the best.  She can make the meanest pork chop you ever did see on your plate!  (Vaughn has the tummy to show for it too, but don’t tell him I said so).

So, dear reader, I hope that this column made your mouth water, and made you hanker for some adventurous summer cooking.  Check out one, two, or even three, beautifully illustrated cookbooks from your local library and get cooking!  There are no better ways to spend a gorgeous summer evening than by enjoy an elegant dinner that you have prepared yourself.  In a few weeks I am off to Martha’s Vineyard to see my cousin and some family.  I hope to eat dinner overlooking the ocean.  I will have to drag out my best manners, but it will only add to the experience.