Tips:
There is still plenty of time to get out and go camping, so here are a few delicious camping treats for you to try!
- Cook an apple on a stick over the campfire. When the skin splits and it sizzles, peel away the skin. Be careful because it is hot! Then roll in a mix of cinnamon and sugar.
- Here’s another tip for easy s’mores: To make things easier for a camping trip, instead of hauling chocolate with you and having to worry about it melting, use chocolate striped cookies or chocolate grahams.
- Banana S’mores. Cut an unpeeled banana lengthwise almost through. Fill the slit with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Wrap in foil, keeping cut end up. Place in coals for 10-15 minutes until chocolate and marshmallows are melted. Eat by scooping it out of the banana peel.
Quick and Easy Summer Menu:
Crockpot Turkey*
Mashed or boiled potatoes
Sliced tomatoes
Cucumbers in Dressing*
Bachelor’s Peach Delight*
Recipes:
This recipe keeps the house cool, is easy and tastes so good that you will want to serve turkey all year round from now on and not just at Thanksgiving. I like to keep things very simple, especially in the hot summer when I don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen, but I will give you some other options, too.
Crockpot Turkey
1 turkey (about 6 lb.) or turkey breast
1 pkg. onion soup mix
Or use easonings to your taste. Try onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper or even Italian seasonings.
Rub inside of your crock pot with butter. Rinse turkey and rub with soup mix or sprinkle with seasonings. Cover and cook on high 1 hour. Then cook on low for about 7 hours. Don’t add liquid. It will have enough juice.
Other options:
- My daughter in law has a large crock pot. She buys a small 10lb. turkey instead of chicken and cooks it this way all the time.
- You can add things like onions, carrots and celery to the bottom of the pot.
- Use the leftovers for turkey enchiladas (in place of chicken), sandwiches for lunch, on salads etc.
Cucumbers in Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 cups sliced cucumbers
Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Add cucumbers and stir to coat. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
Bachelor’s Peach Delight*
1 large fresh peach, diced
4 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. almond extract, optional
Combine honey with enough hot water to make it thin and liquidy. Add sugar and extract. Mix well. Place diced peach in dish. Pour honey liquid over it. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping on top. Makes 1 serving.
You are making me hungry for turkey. And it’s so funny because last night I was watching “The Waltons” on a DVD I got from the library, and John Walton had to make supper for the kids, since his wife was sick and away somewhere getting better. He made a turkey of all things, and I was thinking to myself that I’d like to have turkey soon. I think I will make this turkey recipe on Sunday. Also, the cucumber recipe looks good and that peach dessert does too. YUMMY.
I know! I put one in the oven today. Had to get it in while it was “cool” and only 90 today! LOL
I’m looking forward to Sunday, Tawra. There’s suppose to be a break in this heat and humidity and I will be eating turkey. Yum. This has been a terribly hot summer and I can’t wait for it to be over. Looking forward to Fall and coolness and all the holidays.
Amen!!! It was 109 here day before yesterday and I just kept thinking “I was supposed to be in Colorado by now!” :-)
Hate to rub it in daughter dear but as you know I am leaving for Colorado myself tomorrow. I’ll enjoy every moment for you. I think I will be going to Estes too. : ) : ) Couldn’t resist. Love ya anyway. Kiss my grand babies for me. Luv, Mum
Thank you for these awesome recipes!
oh my! … thanks for posting this… this sounds sooo delish! … ugh.. my crockpot is going.. i have 2 other ones but they are smaller and actually, i have one that i think is either 3 or 4 quarts.. .the smaller one is 2 quarts and i know it works, i got it for xmas but the other one i am not sure if it works… i am in need of another crockpot… and i will be trying this out… son and hubby have been pestering me to make a turkey but i just cant turn on the oven for all of those hrs… this is soooo much easier…
thank you thank you thank you for posting this ladies :D :D :D ….
also tawra, i am sorry i havent gotten back to your email you sent to me … my hubby’s leukemia is stage one and he is being observed at the moment …
again i am soooo sorry for not getting back to you on this…
i hope all is well with everyone :D
rose :D
No problem, I was wondering how he was doing.
The heat index here today is 110! I have used my crockpot all summer long and it has been a life saver! I just put some chicken breast in my crockpot this morning and it will be done by this evening. I now have two crockpots. I found a larger one on sale at our C penney outlet store and it is nice it switches to warm when food is done and holds at that temp untill you are ready to eat.another thing it has is a place to cook only vegs along with a meat thermomter. I asked the sales clerk why they were so cheap and she said that Penney’s had an overstock and decided to send them to the outlet stores to get rid of them.They all so come with a 2 year warrenty. In the catalog these things were over a 100 dollars! I know the mark up is high at retail stores but I still feel like this was a good deal! Hope everyone there is ok and have you found a buyer for your house yet?
Nope, no buyer yet. We are still holding out hope! After it was 109 here 2 days ago I was more than ready to go!!!
Tawra_are you moving to Colorado??? Surre hope not-it will be our loss!
Yep, We are trying to move to Colorado. Like Ks., just hate the weather!!
Jill, This is a vacation or move to CO.? I love the mtns., too. I’d like homes in abou 5 diff. places. Dream big I say!!!
This week it’s a vacation but if we can get our house sold and moved then she will try and sell her house and move to Colo. too. :-)
Great recipe ideas- thanks! One other tip I use on these hot, humid days in OH- I stick my crockpot on a small table in the garage and leave it plugged in out there- saves quite a bit of heat in the house! Stay cool!
I saw some lovely peaches yesterday and thought of the Bachelor’s Peach Delight recipe and will be making it soon. So summery.
For S’mores without hauling melting (expensive) chocolate around with us, my family takes a can of chocolate cake icing to spread on the crackers. Just thought I’d share. :)
I subscribe to a few newsletters but I must say you ladies are the absolute best. I love your cookbook, recipes and ideas. You’re so down to earth I wish you were my neighbors. It’s been hot and humid here in Philadelphia with maybe only a day or two of breaks in the humidity and we could really use some rain. In my house the kitchen has a doorway into the living room so when I want to use the oven I put a cheap plastic shower curtain on an expansion rod in my kitchen doorway to block off the heat from the rest of the house. This way I can turn on the exhaust fan and leave some windows open to let the heat out of the kitchen while the rest of the house stays cool. Of course this would only work if your kitchen is not open through. The curtain also leaves just enough space at the bottom for my little doxies to come find me when I’m cooking. I look forward to your newsletters. Good luck with selling your house; the pictures were very nice.
Great idea!! Growing up we had an old Victorian house my folks spent 20 years remodeling. I love the house but we could only live in about 500 sq. ft. of 6 months out of the year. Because it was so old with lots of rooms we could block off the kitchen, bathroom, family room and backporch/laundry room. That way we didn’t have to heat and cool the entire house.
That’s one thing that’s bad about new houses now, you almost have to heat and cool the entire thing because everything has an open concept.
If we are ever in Philadelphia we will have to say “hi”! I would love to take the kids back there. I’ve never seen it myself and think it would be cool to see it all.
Absolutely, if you come to Philly we would love to show you the sites!
This turkey recipe sounded so good. Like everyone else, the heat here is horrible (115 index) and I hate to heat my kitchen up. I tried this recipe and I hate to say…it’s the worst turkey I’ve ever cooked. I’m not sure if I did something wrong (not sure how I could) or if the turkey was old but it was bad. The meat was tough and had no flavor at all.
I love most of your recipes and I look forward to checking them out every week. This one just didn’t work for us. I guess it’s back to the oven we go!
I have made the turkey recipe with the onion soup mix in the crockpot and it came out good. I find that when I make chicken or turkey in a crockpot it usually gets so moist it falls apart. You only keep it on the high setting for an hour, and the rest of the time you have it on the low setting. A higher setting may make it dry and even burn. That may be what the problem was, I don’t know, but this recipe is all over the internet on different recipe sites and many people have tried it and liked it. It is on the ALLRECIPE site for one.
I just tried this recipie. The house smelled great, but the turkey was very dry. I used a large crockpot, lined it with a layer of veggies and then put a 3lb turkey breast on top. About half of the crockpot was dead space. How could I do this better? Thanks, Jill
Jill there could be a couple of different things to make it dry. Sometimes meat cooked in a crock pot dry out because believe it or not they can be too lean but I don’t think this would be the case with a turkey. Another thing would be some crock pots can cook too hot. A couple of years back I heard of many people who bought crock pots from Cosco (sp) and they had trouble with their pots cooking to hot and had to only use the warm setting.
Also you don’t want to ever let your meat boil in the crock pot and since some pots do cook hotter then others you may have to adjust the amount of time you cook it for. I don’t know if any of those suggestions help but maybe some of our readers can jump in with some other ideas.
I have an electric turkey roaster with a metal insert that lifts out. In the bottom you pour several cups of water-at least a couple of inches. While the turkey bakes there is steam forming from the bottom that keeps the meat very moist while it browns. I put this roaster in my garage on a table all most every time I use it. It’s so large-will hold a 22lb. turkey-that it would take up too much room in my kitchen. It will also keep all the heat outside. I have used it this summer for a turkey, and I have lots of wonderful packages in the freezer in small portions. I use the meat just like I would cooked chicken, and it is so much cheaper!!
This roaster is also super for making chili, stews, soups, etc. for a crowd, as well as just about anything you’d like to cook in a large quantity! I think I bought mine at Walmart and it was not expensive It sure has paid for itself!!
Barb~