Dinner last night was crab salad, white bean dip on garlic bread, and watermelon. The weather was rather cool, surprisingly, but this would be a perfect hot weather meal. No oven required. Yay! It's also simple and quick to put together.

For the bean dip you need some white beans, I used canned, just one can. A clove or two of garlic, some rosemary, olive oil, and lemon juice. I just eyeball the ingredients. Put it all in a food processor and process until smooth.

For the crab salad use about a pound of lump meat. Generally I wait until crab is on sale to make this because it can be expensive. I think it would work well with chicken salad as well. You mix the crab with some lemon juice, a little mayo, and seasoning of your choice. Being a Maryland girl I use Old Bay. Serve on a half an avocado.

See? Simple.

Dinner last night was awesome. The cherries I turned into a sauce with a bit of stock and butter. Very nice on the Cornish hens. We also had roasted asparagus. I do these in a hot oven for about 10 to 15 minutes. Toss them with some salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Then the mashed potatoes, so simple and delicious. I make mine with heavy cream, not too much, divine.

I'm trying to think of other uses for the cherries. The book mentions drinks so I might try that. Any ideas?

Today I'm canning brandied sweet cherries. Maia pitted 3 pounds of cherries for me,fortunately for her we have a cherry pitter. Mixed up some brandy,sugar,red wine and orange zest and boiled it for a bit. Then added the cherries and boiled it a bit more. Now I'm waiting on the jars then I'll process them. I'm using the author suggested recipe tonight and making Cornish game hens adding some mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. I haven't decided whether I'm going to grill the hens or use the oven but I'm thinking oven. I'm a little worried that the cherries will be too boozy but I think the sugar will balance it out nicely.

When the processing is done I'm going to make some chocolate zucchini bread. Hopefully the kids won't find out what's in it. Perhaps I'll take a picture of dinner later.

Well that was quite the hiatus! Right now, with the summer months, my passions are cool foods and canning. This Saturday I'm preserving brandied cherries which I plan to serve with cornish game hens, or mini chickens as my son says. Last week I did strawberry preserves which Maia went crazy for. I'll leave you with this photo. It's not food, exactly, but it is pretty and makes me smile on my way into work.