Summer Saturdays on the Patio With Yet Another Uninvited Visitor

 

How I love summer weekends spent at home with extended family, lounging on the porches, patio, and by the pool.  Most weekends we make a different flavor of hand-churned ice cream from our goats' milk.  This Saturday we were celebrating our daughter's 8th grade graduation from the only school she's ever attended.  It was rainy at times, but that didn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves outdoors and creating and consuming some of our favorite traditional summer foods.  This vanilla ice cream was our first homemade ice cream in two years since we've been waiting for our goats to become mamas again.  Our 9 year old son even climbed the cherry tree to pick us some ripe cherries to  place atop our dessert. 

 

He was also one of our most diligent churners, and the ice cream turned out perfect.

To get our goats' milk ice cream recipe, you can access it here in Preppy Mountain Farmhouse's archives.

 

As usual, we had an uninvited guest.  This little guy crawled out from under our front porch and hung with us for awhile.  I couldn't find his mother anywhere, and it's odd that he was out during the day.  I felt kind of sorry for him...but not sorry enough to take him in and feed him.  I'm really not keen on having a pet opossum.

 

As we took turns churning ice cream and playing yard beanbag games with the children, Hubby grilled us one of our favorite summer chicken recipes: Chicken Teriyaki.  Below is the recipe for the marinade.

Chicken Teriyaki Marinade

Mix 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, 3 Tablespoons brown sugar, and some dried ginger.  Add about 1.5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and coat with the marinade.  Refrigerate for at least several hours or overnight.  Put on the grill for about 20 minutes.  If you double the recipe like I did, it easily feeds 10+ people.

 

It is our tradition to sip Gin & Tonics while we churn ice cream, cook out, and celebrate the beginning of summer.  This has always been my beverage of choice in the summer, next to Arnold Palmers, that is.

 

Some vanilla porter was also tested for the first time with a big thumbs up.

 

In fact, some of our guests came up with the idea of combining the porter with the homemade ice cream to create their own version of vanilla beer floats.  And the consensus was that this is a great summer treat to be made again in the future.

My vote hasn't been cast on that yet because I steered clear of that combination, but it seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed.

 

As for our little opossum friend, the last I saw of him he was climbing out of sight.  I'm hoping he hasn't met up with any of the numerous felines on this mountain and he's alive and well...as long as he doesn't take up residence under my farmhouse porch or cabin months from now as an adult.

Two and a half more days of school here, and then it will truly feel like the beginning of summer!

Favorite Summer Dinner: Pasta Primavera

One of our favorite meals on the farm during the hot summer months is pasta primavera.  It's light, simple to make, and uses whatever summer vegetables we have in our gardens or what we have purchased from local farmers markets or Amish neighbors.  This past week, I actually used whatever I had left in the refrigerator, which happened to be onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and garlic.  I think the garlic is essential.

I used to saute the vegetables in butter, but due to gallbladder issues, we have switched to olive oil.  This is also more in line with the anti-inflammatory diet my husband and I try to adhere to as much as possible.

My husband has me hooked on cooking in cast iron skillets.  The only seasonings I added to this were salt and pepper, but if I use greens such as Swiss chard, kale, or spinach, I also add either balsamic vinegar or a locally made maple vinegar near the end of the cooking time.  Serve over the finished pasta, and add Parmesan cheese if desired.  Sometimes I sprinkle on some fresh parsley or oregano from our herb beds.  This is filling, tasty, but still light enough to go back outside to finish up weeding, mulching, mowing, or moving fence panels.  If it's a more relaxing evening, the meal is not too heavy to be followed by a dip in the pool or a hike up the mountain.  We often eat this weekly during the summer months.