My Favorite Summer Feast

This is the time of year for grilling and chilling. Make memories with your loved ones. I remember my favorite summer feast.

What a perfect day. Outside is calling, but first preparation begins in the kitchen.

The family feast is today. Hooray! Each person has a portion to contribute. I am always asked to bring the deviled eggs, potato salad, and dessert. Everyone has agreed that I make deviled eggs the best.

It’s time to drive to the destination with the designated dishes. Welcomed with warm hugs and tropical music in the background, everyone gathers in the backyard. There is a game of cornhole going on. Some are grazing on appetizers of carrots and celery with ranch veggie dip. Others have a plate of seasonal fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, and kiwis.

Daddy is the grill master. The homemade charcoal grill is ready. He heats the coals with his leaf blower. Artistically, he paints his homemade barbeque sauce on the perfectly seasoned baby back ribs. Thick, juicy Angus beef burgers are added, some topped with American cheese. Lastly, he adds red and white hots.

Can you hear the sizzle and smell the meat on the grill? Grab your plate and fill it up with all your favorites. The ribs are so tender they fall off the bone, so good.

Mama is inside frying up some chicken and baking cornbread and sweet potato pie. You don’t have to be in the South to enjoy soul food.

The food, sides, and condiments are placed on the table--ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce. Take a scoop of potato salad, a deviled egg or two, and how about some baked beans topped with bacon made by Granny Brown.

Fill your glass with sweet tea, or lemonade, or grab an ice-cold beer. Sit next to someone dear. A prayer is said, and everyone is fed.

Ready for dessert? Your choices are homemade apple pie ala mode, sweet potato pie, brownies, and strawberry pretzel salad. The strawberry pretzel salad won the vote this time.

It isn’t just the food that makes this a favorite summer feast. It’s all the ingredients of laughter, stories, music, dancing, games, and time to gather to share it all together.

This outside buffet served with love warms the heart of every soul. Each person present is a present.

Food is my love language. Family is everything. Put it all together, and it’s the perfect recipe for a favorite summertime feast.

Enjoy every tasty morsel. Treasure the experience. Capture these precious moments with pictures. Savor them forever.

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Want to make the popular Pretzel Salad?

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

Bottom “crust”

• ¾ cup melted butter

• 2 cups crushed pretzels

• 3 Tablespoons sugar

• Combine – put in 9” x 13” pan. Press down. Cook at 350° for 6-8 minutes

Middle

• 8 oz. cream cheese

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 large 8 oz. cool whip, thawed

• Combine and spread over cooled bottom

Top

• 6 oz. strawberry Jell-O

• 2 cups boiling water

• 10 oz. frozen or fresh strawberries

Instructions:

Combine Jell-O and water. Stir until dissolved. Add strawberries. Thicken in refrigerator and pour over the middle. Set for about 4 hours.