Summer Fare - Summer Squash & Summer Squash Bisque



Memo and me swimming in the pool at Nana & Popie's Farm.



My parents and their parents grew vegetable gardens all their lives. When my parents moved to Barker in upstate New York. They had 128 acres of property with a home, garage, barns and other farm buildings. My dad finally realized a dream of having a large productive garden with all the fresh foods he and my mother loved. I used to take Memo and Liz there over the summer and always seemed to find myself weeding the garden. Weeding was never fun but once the vegetables were ready to eat...it was delicious fun! One of my favorites is yellow summer squash.

Summer Squash:

4-6 yellow summer squash - sliced

1 stick of butter

1 large onion - sliced

salt and pepper to taste

In a deep saute pan, add the butter and melt on low heat. Add sliced onion and some salt. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the sliced yellow summer squash, pepper to taste and cover. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes or until the squash is wilted. Remove from heat and serve.



Me and a naked Memo with Morgan,
our family dog, after swimming.



Summer Squash Bisque:

1/8 cup olive oil

1 medium onion diced

2 stalks celery - diced

3 yellow squash - diced

1 sweet potato - peeled and diced

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tbsp Turmeric

1 cup cream

1 tsp Pepper

Pour oil into soup pot. Cook on medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook for about 3 minutes.  Add squash and sweet potato saute for about 10 minutes until slightly tender. Add broth and cook for another 15 minutes until soft. Turn down heat then using a hand-blender, blend the vegetables into a puree. Add the cream, taste for more Turmeric and Pepper.

I have been looking for recipes to use as the summer vegetables become ripe and in abundance in the stores. Enjoy!

Stephanie's Mushroom Tortellini



Winning a sales award in Las Vegas at the National
Convention in February 1994.



During the 1980's and 1990's, I worked as a real estate agent on Long Island, NY. It was before the time of electronic contracts, digital signatures and true communication via the Internet. As a result, I found myself driving from Shirly, NY where we lived and worked to many locations on Long Island to deliver contracts and go to closings. On one such occasion, I was in Westbury, NY and after the closing I went to Fortunoff, a store that was big and beautiful on Long Island from 1964 until it's closing in 2009. After shopping and just a block away was an "nuevo" Italian Restaurant I decided to visit Baci. On their menu there was a tortellini dish that I decided to try and I fell in love with it ever since. I even sat near the kitchen on a couple of occasions to watch them make the dish. And before I left Long Island and Real Estate there, I actually got the nerve to speak to the chef and ask him his ingredients. So here is what after much tweaking, I came up with a delicious and exact, as I remember, recipe.

Stephanie' s Mushroom Tortellini:

1 package cheese tortellini

1 package sliced mushrooms

1 stick of butter

1 tbsp flour

2 cups of heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Diced fresh basil

Grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot add water and salt and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and boil for about 8 minutes until "al dente" firm not mushy. In a deep saute pan add the butter and melt on medium low heat once melted add the sliced mushrooms and saute until tender. Using a large spoon, push the mushrooms to the sides and add the flour and cook into a paste with the butter. Now add the cream and mix at first with the "roux" and then once fully integrated gently push the mushrooms into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the tortellini, place into a bowl and then pour the mushroom sauce over the top and incorporate with the tortellini. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

Best served with a Caesar Salad and garlic bread. Mangia Bene!!!!

Kathy's Delicious French Toast



Dave's sister Rita, mom Kathy and brother Larry. Here celebrating
Larry's 60th Birthday in November 2010 in Custer SD.



I have been very blessed with terrific mother-in-laws! I owe most of that to the relationships I saw between my dad and Nana, my mom's mom and my mother with Nonnie, my father's mother. they called each other mother-in-loves! I never saw disputes or dislike EVER!!! So when I got my mother-in-laws, I tried to treat them with the same respect. AND although hard at first with my first mother-in-law, over the years she went from calling me the "slut" to daughter....of course in Spanish! I was luckier with Kathy, Dave's mom. She seems to have taken to me right away and considered me a blessing to her son!!! Guess she should ask him!! LOL

I have visited Kathy on many occasions. She usually chooses to take her guests out for meals. But on our last visit, Dave asked her to make her famous French Toast and she agreed. I was very much surprised when the night before, after a rousing game of Mexican Train, she took a whole loaf of white bread and laid it out on a cutting board and then covered the bread with a clean, light dish towel. When I asked why she did that, she said that her mother told her that if you leave the bread out to get dried, it was firmer when cooking and would not fall apart. Plus she said that you really do not want to SOAK the bread thorough but just place a coating on the outside that has plenty of flavor. French Toast should have a crusty outside! (Since mine NEVER do, I decided to pay more attention to her recipe!)

Kathy's French Toast:

Bread - sliced (Kathy uses white bread but I have gone to artisan sweet breads and had the baker thick slice it) It adds another dimension to the flavor of the french toast.
Eggs - Approximately 6 eggs for a loaf of bread - increase if the bread is larger than normal
Milk - 1 cup (for richer batter add Half &Half or cream)
Vanilla - 1tsp
Cinnamon - 1tbsp
Butter - depending on how many slices you are making (I use butter spray instead - easier!)
Confectioner's Sugar - I use a shaker and just decorate the French Toast with confectioner's sugar before serving.
Maple Syrup - I heat up my syrup in the microwave just prior to serving

Leave the bread out to dry all night. In the morning make the French Toast batter using a whisk. Whisk between each bathing of bread to keep all the ingredients mixed and fluffy. Use a medium to large frying pan turn on to medium high heat and add 1 tsp before each slice. Let melt and add the slice. Cook for about 2-3 minutes and then turn. If not lightly browned increase heat slightly and monitor. Make as many as you need following these steps.



Many of the Cates Clan!
Back Row: Sister Terry, Brother-in-law Howard, Sister Sharon, Brother Larry, Mom Kathy
Bottom Row: Dave, Stephanie, Sister Rita

The nice part about French Toast and pancakes is that they can go on a plate and then be heated up in the microwave - if needed. But by doing this, they lose they crustiness of the batter. So it is best to serve immediately!

Make sure you have the confectioner's sugar and syrup ready when the French Toast is served. Other compliments are fruit, bacon, sausage, and fruit syrups instead of maple syrup.