You know what all of these summer fruits and veggies could really use?  Some dairy and grain.  Yum.

No really.

We had some family visiting this weekend, so I got to whip out my recipes again.  There were some definite keepers in there, and I would hate to forget them in my sporadic blogging.  I’ve forgotten a lot of good recipes in the past few months.  Sigh.

So in the order in which they were consumed, I give you the winners from Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday morning.

The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Taco Salad

I needed to feed the fam quickly and wanted to include some fresh veggies in the mix, so this was the answer.  I’ll admit, I was skeptical about the ranch dressing/salsa/cilantro combo, but it works.  It really really works.  I should have known better than to doubt The Pioneer Woman.  She almost never lets me down.  You can find the salad recipe right here.  Oh, and it helps if you have a whole team of helpful family members chopping ingredients for you.  Turns out you can cut down on prep time if you have three people cooking.  Who knew?

Ina Garten’s Sagaponack Corn Pudding

It’s delicious, it’s cheesy and creamy and not at all soggy.  The basil is also a really wonderful addition to the more traditional corn pudding flavors.  It might not quite fit Scott’s ideal of “Southern” corn pudding, but it has my vote for tasty corn pudding.  It also used lots of fresh corn, which is a big bonus when you have an overflowing corn supply in your garden.  You can find the recipe here.

Pioneer Woman’s Strawberry Granola Pancakes

These pancakes were supposed to bring glee to the hearts of our niece and nephew, but time got away from me on Sunday morning.  I barely had time to throw some cereal into a bowl before I left for church, much less make a nice breakfast of homemade pancakes.

Fast forward to this morning (my day off!), and you’ll find the pancakes bringing glee to my heart instead.  I did share with Scott, but I was selfishly happy that I was only doing the sharing with one person.  Next time, I think I would slice up a few extra strawberries for the batter.  Other than that, this was just about perfect.  There was crunch, there were wonderful pockets of fresh berries, there was good, old-fashioned pancake batter mixed in.  I humbly recommend these any time you have an extra half hour for breakfast.  You’ll be glad you did (oh, and the recipe lives here).

P.S.  My grandmother passed away this weekend, and that deserves much more than a footnote on a random blog post about food.  She was a remarkable woman.  She was one of the best-read people I know, and she loved to travel and spend time with friends.  She wrote a really good thank you note (and loved getting them, too).  She was flawed, but she was still my grandmother.  She was also one of this blog’s most faithful commenters, even if I’m not quite sure she ever understood that those comments were public.  I love you, Grandma.