During the summer months I try to eat cooler and lighter and serve things that can be made ahead snd pulled out of the refrigerator to be eaten poolside! My avocado cream soup is just one of many recipes that my crew asks for during the summer. It’s light and cold and brightens up anyones poolside afternoon! The BLT was a staple at my house growing up and Nana would pull big beef tomatoes from our garden and slice them up with tons of mayonnaise and leftover bacon from breakfast. She would pack us lunches with these hearty sandwiched to take to “Beaver Dam” our local swimming hole! Today I make a richer, more decadent version using pork belly, homemade pimento cheese and buttered and grilled bread. Summer just doesn’t get any better!
With all the sunscreen and outside exposure our skin accumulates stuff. My dermatologist calls this “stuff” congestion. I like to make a batch of vanilla peppermint epsom salt scrub to slough off all that summer can bring to the skin. It’s best used in the shower where all the dead skin cells can just go down the drain! It will leave your skin soft and supple and smelling heavenly!
Auntie A’s Iced Avocado Cream Soup
Avocado Cream:
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 Lemons
1 tablespoon Himilayan Pink Salt
1 tablespoon ground Black Pepper
2 cloves of garlic or more if you like
1 bunch of green scallions
2 tablespoons of dry sherry
2 large avocados
1 cup of cream
Thinly sliced radishes and cilantro for garnish
In a blender place the scooped avocado, garlic, 1/2 cup of cream, juice ion the lemons, and vegetable broth. Blend until smooth only 5 seconds. pour into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients while tasting it. Place in the refrigerator until chilled and when ready to serve place into chilled bowls and add the sherry. If fancy makes you happy as it always does me stir in a little cream and then swirl it so its beautiful on top. Garnish with a few sliced radishes and cilantro.
Auntie A’s Decadent Pork Belly Tomato with Pimento Cheese Melts
In the summer I love nothing more than BLT’s. Especially when they are made with my home grown tomatoes, homemade pimento cheese, decadent pork belly and served on buttered and grilled fresh sourdough! The pork belly tastes even better than leftover bacon but having a BLT any way takes me back to my childhood!
What you’ll need:
Fresh Sour Dough bread thickly sliced buttered and grilled
2 Best Boy SteakTomatoes sliced
6 pieces of pork belly
salt and pepper
Iceberg lettuce
For the Pimento cheese combine:
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 small jar of pimentos
Braise in your cast iron skillet the pork belly and salt and pepper it while braising
set aside and drain on a napkin
slice and butter the bread and place buttered side down on the indoor grill
let that get toasty and fabulous…
Assembly of the best BLT… place a generous portion of the pimento cheese on one side of the bread and on the other place three or four pieces of lettuce, 3 slices of pork belly and load up inertly across with sliced tomatoes. slap those two sides together and put it in your mouth before someone else takes it from you!
Auntie A’s Pepperminty Blue Salt Scrub
Sloughing away your elbows heels and toes is easy when you make my Vanilla Pepperminty scrub! I keep it by the tub in the summer as a pick me up and it keeps me looking great poolside too!
4 cups of epsom salts
1 cup of coconut oil
6-8 drops of blue food coloring
10 drops of vanilla oil
6 drops of peppermint oil
