Steamy Summer Sustainance

A String of Pearls
Of my three sisters, two of them are close to me in birth date - although they are nine and seven years older than me (much, much older, I know... wink!) we are celestially close! My one sister was born June 30 and the other July 8, and as for "yours truly", I am in the middle! This makes for a very festive month little time span for we girls... party, party, party :)

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
The steamiest time of the year has special food memories for us all. We shared such a dinner (and Boston Cream Pie!) for Sue's B-Day on July 1 -- she had plans for the actual birth date with some gal pals, so we combined forces on Canada Day.

Dinner was prepared by my dear Momma (MMM for Marvelous Mother Martha) and it proved to be a German farm family feast -- what a delight: farmer sausage, roast chicken, new potatoes with dill and sour cream, steamed green beans and Russian Salad.

The Russian Salad recipe comes from my maternal Grandmother, Susanna Kitzmann (Nast) whose family roots were in Russia (authentic, NOT the famous red dressing in the Kraft bottle!). The recipe follows and I hope you will try it. It makes a lovely meal on its own, but is especially wonderful with a bit of roast chicken or lean sausage and new potatoes on the side. We are very lucky in my area to have access to wonderful Mennonite-made farmer sausage - very lean and flavourful; but you could substitute any favourite sausage or barbecued ribs.

Susanna's Russian Salad

Ingredients for the Dressing:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1- 2 tsp. liquid honey, or other sweetener
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (regular or low fat)

Ingredients for the Salad:
10-12 cups fresh mixed garden greens (our typical mix is Romaine, red leaf lettuce and green leaf lettuce)
1/3 cup fresh dill weed greens, finely cut
1/3 cup fresh chives, finely cut
1/2 lb. bacon, fried to crisp and crumbled
Optional: 2 medium tomatoes, chopped and drained

Prepare dressing and bacon in advance and refrigerate until serving time. At serving time, toss greens together with bacon, reserving a bit of the dill, chives and bacon for garnishing. Toss greens/bacon mix with dressing, garnishing with bacon, tomatoes and herbs. Serve immediately - serves 4-6.

Enjoy!