It's Thursday

Cook's notes: Grill your favorite ribs and serve with these summertime sides.

Watermelon-Heirloom Tomato Peach Salad
This summer salad features seasonal tomatoes, watermelon, blueberries and peaches to create a sensationally delicious side dish This salad is vibrant in color and explodes with juiciness. Since tomatoes and watermelon both release a lot of moisture yellow cherry tomatoes were used. They have less moisture than the larger variety. Adding in Colorado peaches to the salad mixture was a bit of piece de resistance .

Advance prep: Cut melon into cubes, sprinkle with a little sugar to draw out moisture and drain in a colander. Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with salt to draw out moisture and set out on paper towels for 10 minutes. Proceed with recipe directions. 

Cook’s notes: Advance prep: Cut melon into cubes, sprinkle with a little sugar to draw out moisture and drain in a colander. Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with salt to draw out moisture and set out on paper towels for 10 minutes. Proceed with recipe directions.
Ingredients;

• 2 TB. extra-virgin olive oil or lemon olive oil
• 1 TB. chopped mixed herbs (parsley and basil) or 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1-1/2 TB. white balsamic vinegar or Lemongrass Mint Balsamic
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 TB. honey
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cups red seedless watermelon, cubed
• 2 cups peaches, diced
• optional 1 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese torn into 1 inch pieces

Directions: 

• Whisk together olive oil, vinegar and juice.  Add in salted tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, herbs and red onion; toss to coat. Chill in refrigerator 30 minutes. 
• Drain salad mixture in a colander, sprinkle with cheese; toss gently.

 

Root Beer Baked Beans

Cook's notes: The addition of root beer gives a bit of sweetness to the baked beans and bacon adds some smokiness. One of the best parts of making this recipe is using a slow cooker which frees up your day for other things. The recipe can also be baked in an oven.
Recipe adapted from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/ Serves 8-10
Cooking tip: Pour the root beer slowly as it foams up quickly.
Ingredients:

• 6- 8 pieces of bacon
• 1-1/2 cups diced sweet onions
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-28 oz. can baked beans, drained
• 1-15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-15 oz. can cannellini, kidney or chili bean, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup prepared barbecue sauce e.g. Sweet Vidalia Onion
• 1/3 cup each molasses, pure maple syrup and brown sugar 
• 2 TB. each Dijon mustard or Spicy Brown Dijon mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and cider vinegar
• 1-12 oz. can or bottle root beer (not diet) 

Directions:

• Fry bacon, set aside and reserve 1 TB. bacon drippings.
• Saute onions and garlic in reserved bacon drippings, set aside on a paper towel.
• In a 4-6 qt. crock pot, add in all ingredients. Stir to combine. Cook on low until sauce is slightly thickened about 4 hours. Serve using a slotted spoon.
• If baking bean dish in oven preheat to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 2-3 qt. baking dish. Add in all ingredients and mix well. Bake uncovered 45 minutes or until sauce is thickened.