happy at home

SUMMER FOOD LOVE
There are a few foods that I just can't get enough of this summer. I haven't tried many new recipes, sticking more with the simple, tried and true, in season, local. But, in my opinion, that is the best eating!
One simple recipe that I love is fresh bing cherries, cooked down in a balsamic-brown sugar reduction, over vanilla bean ice cream. Oh. My. Goodness. I don't really know amounts, and they aren't important anyway. Just pit a bunch of cherries and throw them in a skillet with a generous amount of melted butter. Really, do be generous. This isn't the recipe to try and cut calories. And please, whatever you do, don't use some fake nasty stuff. No margarine or Can't Believe It's Not Butter or whatever. If you are tempted to use something fake, don't even bother with this recipe.
Anyway, to the melted butter and cherries, add some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. If I had to give amounts, I would say somewhere in the ballpark of 1/2-1 stick of butter, maybe 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and 1/8 a cup of balsamic vinegar. But really, change it as much as you like. Cook it all down for awhile, maybe 10 minutes or so, and spoon it warm over vanilla ice cream. A gingersnap or biscotti would be a wonderful addition too.
Another summer staple around here has been the personal pizzas. I know, nothing earth shattering but it has consistently been making our family happy 1-2 nights a week. Making personal pizza crusts takes almost no more time than making one large crust but the fun factor is increased exponentially. I don't have a pizza crust recipe that I love yet, I am still experimenting. If you have a tried and true one you use, please share it! For now, I have been using different recipes, and often resorting to the cheap, prepackaged crusts that you just add water to and roll out. I bake them for about 5 minutes, put them on plates, and set out different toppings on the counter and the boys have a blast topping their own pizzas. We do this a lot on Mondays, when the hubby and I go on date night. Letting the boys make personal pizzas and watch a movie makes the night special for them too.
The boys typically keep it simple with sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni. I love fresh spinach, feta, thin slices of tomato, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, etc. I will often top mine with whatever fresh produce needs to be used up such as squash (lots of squash this time of year!). The personal pizzas are great for quick lunches after a morning in the pool and the kids really love the chance to make their pizza just the way they want it.
We have also been enjoying lots of other quintessentially summer foods...
corn on the cob
low country boil
fresh berries
fruit and yogurt parfaits with homemade granola

What foods are you loving this summer?