Bon Appetit

Markus' one request after being gone for 15 days was a home cooked meal. He was tired of airport food and eating out and I love to cook so I was happy to oblige. But as I mentioned in the earlier post, it's been 90+ degrees the last few days. Who wants to stand in a kitchen and cook when it's that hot outside, especially in April! So last weekend I dug through some cookbooks and came up with a few recipes that didn't require much heat. I thought I would pass them along in case you are in the same boat. If you happen to be in a part of the country that is experiencing normal April weather, save these for late August when it's nice and hot.

I can always go for cold gazpacho when it's hot out but wanted to try something different. I came across a cold cucumber soup in Ina Garten's latest cookbook that sounded delicious so I thought I would try it. It was very refreshing and went great with a cold glass of white wine. The fresh dill on top came from my new garden!

I made Mediterranean Farro Salad from Giada's Kitchen as our main meal. It's the perfect cold pasta packed with veggies, olives, and parmesan cheese. The recipe calls for farro pasta, which I couldn't find so I used orzo. I think any small pasta would do the trick. I also had some red onion left over from the cucumber soup so I threw that in too. There are endless possibilities to this recipe. It's great as a vegetarian dish but next time I might add shrimp to beef it up.

And for dessert I served the pound cake my grandmother and I baked on Sunday. I topped it with berries and homemade whipped cream. The perfect ending to a semi-healthy meal!

If you would like recipes for any of these delicious foods please let me know. I would be happy to pass them along!