Reluctantly venturing into July

When I was a kid, the beginning of July always felt like the beginning of the end to me-- a person who is hardwired to feel unhappy about things well in advance of them actually happening. (I cried about having to go to kindergarten two years before I was old enough to be a kindergartener, if my mother is to be believed.) So July means summer vacation is practically over. The stores start displaying their back-to-school stuff right about now.

Cooking by the Calendar (edited by Marilyn Hansen, 1978) focuses more on the here-and-now than I tend to. The beginning of July means Independence Day (at least for Americans), so the July chapter offers a Red, White and Blue Pie for the occasion. 

It sounds yummy and summery-- basically a lime pie topped with fresh berries. I'd skip the smattering of silver dragées, though. They would probably sink into the soft filling and/or hide under a berry, and the last thing you need to do on a holiday is try to find (and pay!) an emergency dentist.

The chapter also suggests various dishes that might be easy to take on a picnic, like this Stuffed French Bread. 

The bread-- meant to serve six to eight people--  is filled with, among other things, a quarter cup of bacon drippings, more than a half cup of butter, two pounds of Braunschweiger, and a brick of cream cheese. So light summer food-- not so much! I can't really imagine melting in the sun and wanting something this rich (even if I could pretend to like Braunschweiger). 

Other recipes seem more summer-appropriate. July is so full of fresh veggies that the chapter names both tomatoes and zucchini as the veggie of the month. They come together in the recipe for Zucchini-Stuffed Tomatoes.

Turning on the oven might not be that appealing on a blazing day, but at least it's only 350℉ for 20 minutes, and the recipe uses up a LOT of fresh produce.

The most summery recipe of all, though, is probably the Solar Plum Leather.

Aside from being composed primarily of fresh fruit, this is especially seasonally appropriate because it's supposed to take advantage of the hot summer sun to dry out the fruit leather. 

I know running the oven can be a pain in summer, but for this recipe, I think I'd go for the entirely-indoor variation. I can just imagine going outside to get the fruit leather and realizing that a bird shit in and/or ate part of it. Maybe it's got stray leaves and feathers stuck to the surface. Maybe it's full of ants. I just have a feeling that whatever precautions one might take when making this outside-- it's more of a recipe for disaster than a recipe for fruit leather. 

So, in closing, may your July not be full of stray feathers and bird shit and ants. And try not to think too hard about how quickly time passes.