Eric’s kids, Matthew and Luca, wanted to come spend some time in East Tennessee and with us on the lake. Matthew brought his college girlfriend and Luca brought a friend from home for a nice eight-day visit. We’d seen Matthew recently but it’s been six years since we’ve seen Luca as our RV trips that included a visit with them kept getting canceled – covid, coach issues, etc.
My mom occasionally made creamed chip beef on toast when I was a kid and Dad always complained because, while serving during WWII, he said they ate it about every day – I can’t recall if he would eat Mom’s or not. But, like most things gravy, I still really enjoy it.
We had made a version of this broccoli casserole several years ago but I updated it for a larger dish and a different assembly method as shown in the recipe below. It's different than the usual holiday version of broccoli in that it contains rice. I topped this one with cheese but the traditional crumb topping can also be used. The original recipe calls for boiling the chicken then using the water for the rice but I hate to boil the flavor from the chicken so I baked it and added some Chicken Better Than Bullion to the rice cooking water.
I really like eating fresh, local, summer garden vegetables and we plan many meals around them. Bev, the pups, and I made a trip to Maryville (about 18 miles) for stops at the Coning Farm Market and another market in town to get a loaf of Tellico Grains Bakery Olive Bread. As a result, my supper plan for the day changed to boiled corn and a unique tomato sandwich.
Let’s deal with the second part of the title first. We had planned a little hot dog cookout on the dock for Independence Day. But when I saw the weather forecast predicting 96F (actual was 97F and thank heaven for A/C), I suggested we celebrate on July 5 when it would be overcast and 88F. Even though it’s cooler down at the lake and we have great ceiling fans, I didn’t want to eat down there that bad. So, we opted to cook a summertime meal in the air conditioned kitchen. The highlight of the day was when friend and house cleaner, Karen, showed up to work on the holiday.
Happy Birthday America
We decided for our next seafood meal that it would be blackened grouper using the Caribbean Grouper that we bought at Joe Patti’s Seafood in Pensacola. I believe we bought eight pieces the same size as these two.
We are trying to take advantage of our ability to buy real vine ripened (not picked partially green), local tomatoes and after many, many taste tests over the years of growing tomatoes, we try to get Cherokee Purples when we can.
