As a kid, growing up on a farm in the middle of Kansas, the Memorial Day weekend was a declaration of ”let the summer games begin”. School had just let out, swimming pools in town were open for the season and summer softball leagues were in full swing. The horseshoe pit in the back yard was open for business and June bug wars with the cousins was in full swing. Three action-packed months lay ahead of us before school started again around Labor Day.
I come by my love of cooking honestly, as my mom and her two sisters were constantly whipping up some of the best country cooking you can imagine when I was growing up on the farm in Kansas. Then gathering us all together around a long buffet table of dish after casserole dish of food, we’d eat until we were ”fuller than ticks”.
I have a family cookbook full of these recipes and want to start posting more. Last road trip home, I pulled over to take a photo of this sign just inside the Kansas-Colorado border to use for these posts. Just a side note, did you know there’s a town on the border called Kanorado? Clever. Population 222, 119 males, 103 females…thank you Google.
This recipe comes from my Aunt Lena. Actually her name was Lois, but we called her Aunt Lena. Come to think of it her husband’s name was Marion and we called him Uncle Frank??? Then there was my Mom’s friend Wallace but we called him Wig. My Aunt Laura who we always called Aunt Tootse. Very confusing for my husband when he started visiting my family. Always questions like “well then which one is Marion?”
Anyway, this is an easy delicious side dish. I’ve used canned vegetables for this batch because here it is the end of July and Colorado still has no fresh Colorado produce. This last week we did just see some sweet corn.. finally! Very soon I’ll be blanching up fresh veggies for this recipe.
This simple sweet tangy flavorful mixture will pair quite nicely with any piece of meat that comes off your grill this summer.
Aunt Lena’s Vegetable Salad
1 can corn — white
1 can green beans — french style
1 can peas — small
1 cup onion — red, chopped
1 whole green pepper — chopped
1 cup celery — chopped
1 jar pimentos
Dressing:
1 cup sugar — 1/2 to 1 cup (to taste)
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs water
1. Heat sauce slightly to melt sugar. Pour over vegetable and let set overnight.
Servings: 12
Aunt Lena’s Vegetable Salad.
It’s What’s for a Summer Side Dish.
Whenever I go back to Kansas to visit family, you can bet I find time to visit Smith’s Market in Hutchinson, KS.
Located on historic South Main Street in Hutchinson, warm and welcoming, this market is so unique that I don’t even know where to begin. Smith’s is a contemporary version of an old country market and one can definitely spend a lot of time browsing as it is chock full of unique items from floor to ceiling, nook to cranny…and there’s cranny to nook.
In addition to its beautiful produce aisle, and array of specialty foods, there’s guaranteed to be a surprise around every corner. I took lots of eye candy photos, so why don’t you join me for a photographic tour of a great little store.
