awesome, I like barley and quinoa

I get both the small barley and the pearl barley... try 1/2 cup each basmati rice, small barley, pearl barley, and quinoa... in my cooker I use about 2 1/4 cup water with that. I think onion and a little thyme work well if you're doing a side dish for something from the grill (an alternative to mashed potatoes)

contemplating a box of peaches... bought a box on the way down to NC, ate them all week at the shore, and picked up another box a week ago on the way back. Now they are ripening and ready to eat! Joyanna says we should do something for the fair with them... jam, chutney... time to get down the ball blue book.

I learned how to sautee okra as a vegetable for dinner. Yum. Get the oil hot first and brown cut okra a bit without stirring. Turn and brown some more, but don't do a lot of stirring. Turn the heat off and toss in garlic and salt. Searing them with hot oil and limiting the stirring keeps the goo down.

Sally, thank you for that tip! I only knew about breading & frying (can never keep the breading on) and long-cooking in soup... I'm going to pass this on to Martina, bec. she just picked up some nice looking okra and was asking me if it could be grilled... we decided that would produce slime, but it might be worth trying on a hot grill and just flipping once.

RIck, that bulgur salad was great, and so easy! thanks for posting that.
Larry, loved your shrimp salad too
Loved everything today

Thanks!

I'll get Larry's shrimp salad recipe up later today.

Robinbunch needs to open a brownie shop.
I'm adding Aldi Thai Peanut dressing to my shopping list. I got their ginger dressing once and used it on baked salmon- was awesome.
And I am stoked to have another recipe to use some of the poppy seeds I bought recently, and thought would be in my cupboard forever.

This morning I found an article in the Washington Post archive which has a title that I could have used myself. AND it has a recipe of the food!
https://www.washingtonpost.com...

That would be an awesome recipe to take camping, Francine! Also something to cook over the fireplace at home next winter -- I don't have that special grill, but I do have a grate that we put over the fire for cooking, and I have a grill basket.

Sally, if those are high-quality poppy seeds, Penzey's says they should be stored in the freezer. Otherwise, the oil in them could go bad

thanks Jill, regular grocery store poppy but will freeze anyway

Still a favorite dip!

Lisa, I have that exact recipe. It was passed along to me from my mother in law. I have made it often! I have been using the canned guacamole dip that you find in the chips aisle or the fresh guacamole you find in the vegetable section to save time and effort on smashing avocados.

Is the guacamole recipe as the Tex-Mex dip? I have no problems smashing the avocado, to fix my avocado coffee/Kahlua drink, but I do not know how to make a good fresh guacamole----Thanks for making it available for me-How is your mother? I hope she is feeling better---

I love guacamole!! Tex Mex dip, too!

Guacamole that I've had is mostly avocado, no cheese and not all the beans etc like that layered tex Mexican dip
I like to just dive up the avocado and stir a little salsa into it, then scoop and scarf :hurray:scoop it up scarf it down.
I had lunch at Potbelly today but saw Chipotle next door and thought.. I could make lunch of just couple servings chips and guac

sallyg, that Tex-Mex dip is also called Texas seven layer dip. When I want guacamole, this is my go-to recipe.

Lisa, that looks perfect!!!

Chipotle was one of our go-to places in Maryland--on the way home from Katie's school, inexpensive, and so delicious! Unfortunately, it doesn't exist out here.