Squash/Tomato Casserole

This story begins about 20 years when my wife, Anna, was working on a Walk to Emmaus weekend in Georgetown, Texas (check out Walk to Emmaus at www.gbgm-umc.org/ctcwte )
Our son, Chip, and I were going down to pick her up and we went by Fredricksburg on the way. We had lunch at the Fredricksburg Herb Farm www.fredricksburgherbfarm.com . You really need to check out their site. For lunch they served this squash/tomato casserole.
We liked it so much that Anna and I went home and made up a recipe to make it and we have enjoyed it many times over the years. On Wednesday of this week I went by the Granbury Square Plaza www.granburysquareplaza.com to their new little farmers market. It is open on Wednesday and Saturdays from 10 to 4. The two men that were there had fresh peaches, squash and tomatoes. Squash is plentiful right now, except in my garden where it will not grow, but I will figure that out as well. I went home and made the casserole (I still have some tomatoes in the garden)
Here's how it goes: Saute the sliced squash (4 to 6) with onions for about 5 minutes. Transfer to casserole dish and add tomatoes on the top and about 1/2 to 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese. Salt and pepper to taste and pop in in 350 oven for about 20 minutes and you have a whole mean or side dish. We love it and it is so easy.

Bobby Dean's Goulash

I have made this twice and it is so good. I highly recommend it. I did substitute ground turkey for ground beef and used whole wheat elbow macaroni. I divide it into small dishes and freeze to take to work. It is soooo gooood! Link to goulash is below.

http://www.pauladeen.com/index.php/recipes/view2/bobbys_goulash/

Tip from Julia Childs

Instead of just adding a little oil to pan to keep from sticking also add a little butter. It works great.

STEAK DINNER IN NASHVILLE

Anna and I are in Nashville for the Fourth of July with our daughter, Susannah. Last night we took some beautiful steaks over to her friend Laurie's house. Laurie's niece, Julia, did a wonderful job of grilling the steaks. She marinated them in a sauce which was made up of worchester sauce, soy sauce, some liquid smoke and a steak rub. They were cooked perfectly to our order, which is something that I have never been able to do. Julia is quite a chef and we are encouraging her to start a blog called "thesiouxchef" as she is 1/16 Sioux indian. I will let you know when that happens.
Julia marinated the steaks for just a few minutes. I looked in Julia Childs book and she suggests that you marinate for six hours which seems logical to me. We did not have that option as we had just gotten there and were ready to eat soon. Julia Childs also suggests that you wash to steaks and pat dry to allow them to brown quickly.
Julia also prepared grilled vegetables which had been lovingly marinated as well. The flavor was great. We had corn on the cob which was just boiled for 4 minutes in salt water (Julia added a little sugar for flavor) and served. Fresh corn is in season right now and is available at most local vegetable markets.
Susannah brought a peanut butter pie which was excellent. The peanut butter pie (recipe from a local restaurant) is made from a store bought graham cracker crust. The filling is 4 oz cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 large tub of whipped topping. The filling was put in the crust and chilled then she added a sprinkling of homemade chocolate sauce. The recipe actually called for a liner of hard shell chocolate sauce before putting in the filling and then chilled before the filling put in. Susannah used low fat ingredients in most cases.
All in all it was a nice evening with wonderful food and good conversation.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY