It’s been hotter than Hades around here lately, but I took advantage of the heat to get my upright freezer cleaned out. That freezer is in the garage and isn’t frost free. I just open the garage door, empty the contents of the freezer into coolers, and let Mother Nature do the work. I collect the melting ice water into a pan and give the bushes outside a nice cool drink while I’m at it. While I’m waiting for the ice to melt I update my freezer inventory and discard what little has gotten old. At the end of of the morning’s work I have a nice clean and organized freezer ready for the new garden season, and quite a feeling of accomplishment.
This past Saturday we had a combined celebration of Father’s Day and Aaron’s birthday. Michael smoked a Boston butt for Pulled Pork Barbecue, one of our favorites. We serve it on whole wheat buns with a choice of Big Bob Gibson’s White Sauce or homemade Rib Sauce on top.

Coleslaw, Krazy Jane Style is good with the pork as well.
Slow-Cooked Baked Beans are a mandatory menu item anytime we have a barbeque, as is potato salad.

I usually serve Emily’s Potato Salad, but this time I thought Roasted Garlic Potato Salad sounded good. I don’t think the rest of the family agreed with my choice, as there was a lot of potato salad left.  I wasn’t too worried about the garlic in the potato salad because we had Easy Creamy Mac ‘n Cheese, too.  Our tomatoes aren’t quite ready, so we made a special trip to a local produce market for the season’s first garden fresh tomatoes.  They were delicious in a Caprese Salad.

I went a little crazy on desserts that day! Needing to use some more of last year’s blueberry crop before the new ones come in I did a serch for blueberry desserts. I decided to try Betty Crocker’s Lemon-Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. That recipe is one I’ll keep. I think it would work with peaches, too. While I was getting the blueberries from the freezer a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie jumped out at me. Why not? We had that, too. On top of it all, Michael requested Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. I made that, too!
Sunday’s just for Michael’s Fathers Day dinner was his favorite chicken liver dinner. As I’ve said before, the only time I deal with chicken livers it IS a gift. I don’t personally like anything about them. It was more pulled pork, etc. for me, and there were still leftovers for later in the week.
Wednesday’s dinner was supposed to be Beer Can Chicken. I didn’t look at the recipe early enough and when I started to prep the rub realized there wasn’t enough time. We eat late as it is, but there are limits to every thing. I just swapped my stickies around and we had Thursday’s Eggplant Lasagna instead. That worked out just fine.

Besides having great flavor, smoking Beer Can Chicken is so much fun. I use the leftovers as a filling for Smoky Chicken Barbecue Sandwiches.
It hasn’t rained here in weeks and I forget to take the weather into account in my menu planning. Friday we were supposed to grill Ahi Tuna Steaks, but a much welcomed rain storm changed that. No Problem. We finished off the rest of the Eggplant Lasagna. The grilled tuna can wait its’ turn. My gardens would rather have the rain.
Be thankful for what life gives you.