Monday, June 02, 2008

Sunday Dinner - Al fresco!

Under a honey locust tree, no less. If you have one of these horrid trees in or near your yard, you'll be wondering what on earth I was thinking yesterday. Well, it was a day-after-the-storm day, which means sunny skies and light winds, perfect weather. I couldn't let it pass by without a picnic, but I didn't want to drag the entire family somewhere only to spend the whole day chasing the two youngest kids away from every imaginable danger.

So, we took the dining room table outdoors (not doing THAT again for a decade) and set it up on the lawn. As soon as we set it down it began raining tiny little green things - the little green things that are covering the top of the shed and car and obscuring my garden. Yes, those little things. They make you itch. They come with little green bugs attached sometimes. They are not good.

We traipsed back indoors to find something to cover the eating area with. We finally found a large sheet and thin ropes and went about setting it all up. That done, I finished off our loverly dinner and we ran from door to table before anything could land in the food. We were successful. We were proud. And then the wind blew.

Ah well, we picked and swept and blew our way through dinner and everyone went away full and content (and itchy).

This is what we supped on:

Fried Chicken (mom's recipe)
Roasted Red Potatoes
Vidalia Onion Pie
Cucumber Salad
Homemade Coleslaw (Well, isn't everything I make homemade? I write a food blog! Redundant, no? Onward...)
White Sweet Corn
Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Custard


Vidalia Onion Pie



Chicken and Red Potatoes


Kids lovin' the outdoor dining!


Recipes are linked where necessary, and this is the onion pie:

Four Corners Vidalia Onion Casserole
Printable Recipe

3 cups finely chopped Vidalia onion
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1/2 can cream of chicken soup
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese - grated
hot sauce, pepper, dill, parsley and creole seasoning - all to taste
shredded sharp cheddar cheese - enough to cover each layer
single shallow pie crust

Lightly brown onions in butter in a large frying pan. Stir in soup, eggs, Parmesan and seasonings. Layer the pie crust alternately with several layers of onions and cheddar - ending with cheddar. Bake at 325 degrees F until cheese is light brown - about 1 hour.

**I did this with an unbaked crust and sliced the onions rather than chopping. It was DELICIOUS!

8 comments:

Laurie said...

Sounds like a wonderful picnic! We should do things like that more often, even if it is a little more work.

P.S. I love rhubarb!

Anne Coleman said...

I forgot to mention that the rhubarb was from my next-door neighbor. I stood right there while she cut it for me. Love that about neighbors. I swear the rhubarb here isn't as good as it is in Michigan, though :O)

giz said...

Please tell me you don't cook like this every day.

BTW - book and bag came today - will blog it later this week. Thank you sooooooo much :)

Annie Jones said...

I can't wait to try the onion pie! Looks wonderful!

noelle said...

My hubby made an onion pie a year ago for thanksgiving. It sounded a little strange, but it was a really yummy side dish!

Glad to see we're not the only odd ones who eat onion pie!

Suzy-Q said...

That sounds like fun! (except for the moving of the table!)

Jenni said...

Aw! That makes me want to do the same; I'm sorry about the itchy green ick, but it does look like so much fun. Thank you for the recipes, too...

Deborah said...

Sounds like quite the adventure!! I really want some patio furniture, but then again, the summers are so hot here, it's much to hot to eat outside right now. That onion pie sounds delicious!