I’v been thinking about all of the delicious summer food that we might enjoy this season and decided to create three summer menus to share. One menu uses recipes from my blog. The other menus are from two of my favorite food blogs: Smitten Kitchen and Joy the Baker.
Joy Wilson, of Joy the Baker, is a cookbook author, magazine writer, and baking instructor. I dream of taking one of her classes! I’ve been following the blog for a long time and I love her sense of humor, her guest writers, and, of course, her recipes. You can read about Joy’s cookbooks here.
Deb Perelman, the genius chef responsible for Smitten Kitchen, is a creative cook, cookbook writer, and story teller. Her debut cookbook was the first cookbook written by a blogger that I owned. She set the bar high. You can read about Deb’s cookbooks here.
I’ve pulled a few recipes from Joy’s and Deb’s blogs as suggestions for summer menus. You can head over to their blogs to find plenty more delicious recipes for your summer entertaining.
If you have other favorite summer recipes to share, please add them in a comment on this post.
I hope that you enjoy these recipes. This may be the first of other posts like it, as I pull from the archives of so many great food writers on the web.
Sea Salt and Sailor Stripes Summer Menu
Cocktail: Campari Spritz
I like the bitter in this cocktail. It’s a grown-up drink with personality. Campari is a surprise the first time you sip it and you might not be sure you like it. Keep sipping and you’ll want to move to Italy.
Serve these with cocktails:
- Radishes with sweet butter and sea salt (no recipe needed)
- Yogurt Dip with Lime, Olive Oil, and Roasted Hazelnuts
- Blistered Shishito Peppers (vegan)
Dinner options:
- Mussels with Sweet Italian Sausage and White Wine
- Seared Polenta with Cherry Tomatoes — For summer flavor, grill the polenta instead of searing it. (vegan)
Sweet Endings:
- Rustic Peach Galette
- Sliced Strawberries drizzled with Rhubarb Simple Syrup (vegan)
In case you’re wondering, the opening photo on this post is Heirloom Tomato, Nectarine and Burrata Salad.
Joy the Baker
Cocktail: Sweet Tea Bourbon Cocktails
For some people, it isn’t summer without sweet tea. Why not enjoy it with a little bourbon during your cocktail hour?
Serve these with cocktails:
Dinner options:
Sweet endings:
Smitten Kitchen
Cocktail: Vermontucky Lemonade
Lemonade is the other ubiquitous drink of summer. You could add a little extra to your lemonade for Saturday night’s cocktails.
Serve these with cocktails:
Dinner options:
Sweet endings:
Related Posts
If you enjoyed these three summer menus, you might like these recipes.
- Roasted Green Tomato Salsa
- Zucchini and Summer Squash Casserole
- Orzo Salad with Spinach and Feta Cheese
- Yogurt Peach Cake
- Peach Raspberry Crisp
What a great post! Thank you:)
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it and selecting recipes from Joy’s and Deb’s wonderful collections. I hope that you like the recipes.