You really don’t need an occasion to plan a backyard barbecue party, however you can use a graduation party, summer birthday or a summer holiday as an excuse to throw a backyard party. Having your friends and family over for a summer afternoon of fun and wonderful food has become a tradition to most families.

Once the weather starts to warm up, I’m all for outdoor grilling and those delicious summer salads that go with it. They are the perfect side dish to any backyard barbecue or a midday snack for some family members.

With the weather as nice as it’s been, I couldn’t wait till summer to start making these salads. Here are two of my family’s favorite summer salads on our menu this week. Bon Appetit!

Macaroni Salad 

• 1 pound salad macaroni, small macaroni, or shell pasta, cooked according to package directions and cooled
• 1 cup mayonnaise (I prefer Best Foods Light or Raley’s Brand Light )
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 Tablespoon Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix (recipe coming soon)
• 1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 1/4 cup bacon bits (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add more mayonnaise if it seems too dry. Serve chilled.

Potato Salad

• 6 russet potatoes, cubed, boiled until tender, and drained well
• 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1 Tablespoon Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix (recipe coming soon)
• 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
• 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
• salt and pepper to taste

In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Adjust seasonings and mayo to taste. Serve chilled.

Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu.  I enjoy menu planning because of  the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to  have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.

My Weekly Meal Plan

Previously on Family Table Talk, I shared with you all about a wonderful book called The Hour that Matters Most by Les and Leslie Parrott with Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna. When I started the book, I had a very hard time putting it down. At one time in my life,I could relate to so many issues they covered. Most of us find great comfort in a tasty meal we’ve grown up with, a meal made from scratch that doesn’t have to be explained by a Gourmet magazine. The book inspired me to keep on cooking and sharing our family meal times and to remember the value of family meal planning, and the comfort in just plain simple home cooked meals. As a family, we all benefit from time spent eating together.

Here’s to more love and laughter with family meal times this week!

My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:

Breakfasts Getting off to a good start with high-quality, low-fat breakfasts. If you’re in a time crunch and you’re morning is a rush, plan your breakfast the night before. These recipe ideas will be posted throughout the week: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes,  French Toast Egg-in-a-Hole, Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Apple, Whole-grain toast or a bagel with strawberry jam and a piece of fresh fruit, maybe some Whole-Wheat Buttermilk biscuits with nonfat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, or skim milk with fresh fruit.

Lunches are usually a bit more flexible, but this week we’ll start off with a Deli Style Pasta Salad, Egg Salad Sandwiches.

Snacks Apple-Cheese Snacks, Munchy Crunchy Granola, Raw Veggies Snacks

In addition to our weekly menu, we have a baking day on a weekly basis. Every Sunday afternoon, we will rotate through restocking some nutritious snacks and baked goods, such as granola, protein bars, granola bars, muffins, and/or biscuits  for various meals.

Dinner (recipes will post throughout the week)

Sunday: Hot Dogs, Homemade Buns, Cheddar Macaroni Salad, Green Salad, Watermelon

Monday: Super Simple Sloppy Joes, Potato Salad

Tuesday: Asian Chicken Salad

Wednesday: Tomato Bacon Egg Strata

Thursday: Mama’s Comfort Macaroni and Cheese

Friday: Pizza Night

Saturday: Slow Cooked BBQ Short Ribs, Cole Slaw, Bread Rolls

Free Templates

Weekly Meal Plan and Shopping List

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Lately, I have been experimenting with making different seasonings, sauces and condiments from scratch rather than buying them from the store. We go through these types of items from the pantry so quickly, it doesn’t make sense to me to buy them at the store when I can make them at home in larger quantities.

The latest homemade seasoning is a Dry Onion Soup Mix. The great thing about making it at home is you can have control over the ingredients. What I love about this seasoning mix is that it’s a versatile dry mix that can be added to soups, potatoes, chili, or sour cream or mayonnaise with spinach for a dip.

 I use the dry onion soup mix to add flavor to my hamburgers all the time.

Homemade Dry Onion Soup Mix

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup dried minced onion
• 2 Tablespoons low-sodium beef bouillon powder
• 2 teaspoons onion  powder
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

What recipes do you make with Onion Soup Mix??

When I was working 10 to 12 hour days, I was usually exhausted by the time I walked in the door. Between work, school activities, and household duties, I was glad when I was out of the kitchen and had dinner on the table in 15 minutes. It meant more time with my family. My work schedule has changed quite a bit since then.

I have a bit more flexibility when it comes to making dinner now. If I choose to make a 30 minute meal on a weeknight,  I can without having the fear that I won’t get to spend time with my family and I don’t have to worry the kids won’t be in bed on time. For the nights we have the family activities like our 4-H meetings, I am able to throw a 15-minute meal together and we are to our meetings on time without having to rush through dinner.

This simple meal is one of those quick 15-minute meals that you can make on any weeknight or when you know you have any weeknight activity or meeting. And it’s a great recipe to use leftover rice from a previous meal.

Tex-Mex Skillet

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bulk pork sausage
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 12-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 hot red pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 cup cooked rice

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet, cook the sausage till brown. Drain off fat. Stir in tomato sauce, corn, red pepper, water, chili powder and onion powder. Bring to a boil.
2. Stir in cooked rice into the skillet mixture. Remove from heat. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Note: The red hot pepper adds just a bit of heat to this dish without the seeds but you can substitute a sweet pepper for the red hot pepper if you chose. This recipe can be adjusted to make 6 to 8 servings or another weeknight meal.

Easy enough meal for the family that can use leftover items from the fridge or fresh veggies from the garden to transform this meal into a tasty dish.

There are so many different ingredients to add to a quiche that makes me love them so much. Not to mention the fact that we are overwhelmed with fresh farm eggs from our chickens. You all know we love to serve breakfast for dinner. It’s not only a very budget family meal, it’s a very satisfying meal that’s quick and easy to throw all the ingredients together so you can spend more time with your family.

I have to admit, this was my first time making quiche with tortillas as a base. When I wrote out the meal plan, my intentions were to add some type of meat to the quiche like ham, but when I looked in my fridge, I had so many fresh veggies I omitted the ham and it paid off. We all enjoyed it and had some for breakfast the next morning.

Tomato Basil Garden Quiche

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 6-in. flour tortillas
• 1 cup tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1 bunch (8 to 10) fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 8 eggs
• 1 5-ounce can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Have you made quiche before? What kind is your favorite?