Thousand Island Dressing

Homemade salad dressing is easy to make and delicious, so I mostly make my own dressings. I found this recipe for Thousand Island Dressing in Mom's recipe box and decided to give it a try. I always enjoy Thousand Island Dressing, and this recipe is no exception. 

I was surprised to see that the recipe included chopped hard boiled egg. But a google search revealed that many older Thousand Island Dressing recipes include chopped boiled eggs to thicken the dressing. When I made this recipe, I used Heinz 57 sauce instead of chili sauce. You could also just used catsup instead of chili sauce.

Thousand Island Dressing 

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. chili sauce
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish
• 1 hard cooked egg, chopped

Combine ingredients. Chill. Makes 1 2/3 cups. Enjoy on your favorite salad.

Fresh Tomato Soup

Late summer, backyard tomato plants start producing lots of tomatoes. Although I do not currently have any tomato plants, I am the beneficiary of Mom's tomato plants and a neighbor's tomato plants. Often the tomatoes come in a slow enough flow to be used up in salads, but if you find yourself with many tomatoes on hand, give this soup a try. After having fresh tomato soup, you will never be satisfied with the canned version.

Mom's recipe calls for seeding and peeling the tomatoes. But there is no real reason to do so here. The onion will already add some texture to the soup, so including chunks from seeds and peel will just give the text even more texture. This recipe made two good-sized servings of soup.

Fresh Tomato Soup 

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 6 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 Tbsp. minced parsley
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 bay leaf

In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in water. If desired, seed and peel tomatoes before dicing. Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients over high heat; heat mixture to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more water for desired thickness. Remove bay leaf. Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Strawberries are a classic summertime fruit, and nothing beats a no-bake pie when the weather is warm. I found this recipe and knew I had to try it. This pie is delicious. It would be great for a summer get-together or just to enjoy all by yourself.

When I made this recipe, rather than using a classic pie crust, I substituted with a graham cracker pie crust. The graham cracker crust is so easy to make and adds great flavor to the pie. The strawberries that I used were so large so I just them into quarters. The pie needs to be refrigerator, so it is a great make-ahead dessert. Mom's recipe calls for using food coloring, but I left it out as not necessary.

Fresh Strawberry Pie 

• 1 package (3 oz.) strawberry jello
• 1 2/3 cup boiling water
• 2 cups thawed cool whip
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 pie crust
• 1 1/2 cup strawberry halves

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Chill until slightly thickened. Measure 1/2 cup and blend into cool whip with sugar. If necessary, chill cool whip mixture until firm enough to mound. Spread over bottom and ups side of the pie crust. Stir strawberries into the remaining thickened gelatin and gently spoon over top of cool whip mixture. Chill at least three hours. Enjoy!