Dinner time

We have all struggled with deciding what's for dinner, right?  Every Thursday in our family is girls night/guys night.  What this means is that whomever is available (family and close friends) on any given Thursday gets together for dinner and to hang out. Usually this means the guys go somewhere and the girls go somewhere else, or maybe eat at home.  This summer we have combined girls and guys most weeks, staying here, grilling and hanging out on the deck.  As you might expect, it sometimes is a challenge to decide what to cook. 

Last week, the guys were going to go out for bar food, but Jim had this grand idea to make fried bologna sandwiches on the grill.  Ok, I thought, I better get some turkey slices for girls!  We made a trip to the vege/deli store and had them slice the meat nice and thick. Picked out onion rolls, cause that sounded fancy! I needed to try out a recipe I was perfecting for a friend's daughter's graduation party so I picked up ingredients for a cilantro-lime slaw.  Corn was on sale, so that worked for another side dish!  Sounds simple and summery doesn't it. 

Of course, I couldn't stop there... I needed to make this lovely plain summer meal even more fancy! So, I decided to make a garlic aioli to go on the sandwiches. I never did that before so I researched some recipes and then, like I do, I made up my own concoction:

Garlic Aioli

3/4 c (real) mayonnaise 

1 T spicy brown mustard

I clove garlic (minced) I use a garlic press... If you don't have one, get one- best invention ever! 

2 t fresh squeezed lemon juice

Pepper to taste

...Oh my, so delish!!

It was seriously the perfect topping to both the 'fried' bologna and I'm told the turkey.  Lettuce and tomato were used...then everything was layered onto grilled onion buns!  Also, the guys added horseradish sauce to theirs and said it was fabulous!  You know, it wouldn't be bad to add some cheese too! Jim did. 

On to the corn... Here are my tips for perfect corn on the cob!

In the water I add some salt (of course), a little sugar ( couple teaspoons), and a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar.  Don't add the corn until the water is boiling.  Be sure not to boil too long, no more than 10 minutes and it should be great!  Plain old corn wasn't good enough for my kitchen. Lol, so I had an idea!  Herb butter, yep that's right. I melted a stick of butter and grabbed some fresh herbs from my deck.  I used the following...

Thyme

Rosemary

Basil

Sage

Oregano

Just a small amount of each all chopped up. Toss it in, mix it up and brush it on the cooked corn! You guessed it, yummy!

Finally here's the recipe for my Cilantro-lime Slaw

I just use a (about 12 -16 oz, I think) packaged slaw mix, but I thinly sliced some onion to add to it. I also often add thinly sliced green pepper as well. It just seems to make the slaw taste fresher. 

Dressing:

Fresh squeezed lime juice (from 2 small limes)

Zest from 1 of the limes

1/4 c orange juice

1/8 c olive oil

1/4 c sour cream (or plain greek yogurt)

1 T sugar

1 clove garlic (minced)

1/4 t ground cumin

1/2 c fresh chopped cilantro

Whisk together all except the cilantro, add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the cilantro to either the slaw mix or the dressing and then mix it all together.  

As my son commented during dinner, this slaw would also be great on fish tacos, or really any tacos! It was a perfect side dish for this meal eaten al fresco! 

Here it is, well, was. Haha

So, let me know what you think. Will you try it? Have you done something similar? If you try, did it turn out well?  Talk to ya soon, I need to make some dinner...