Summertime succulence

We are in, or are rapidly approaching, a wonderful time of year when all of the garden produce will be in abundance. We have sure enjoyed the strawberries and other early-season crops. It makes for delicious and nutritious meals. Enjoy it while it lasts.

While attending a recent celebration, a Uniontown reader of this column brought a lovely tossed green salad, and after one bite I had to find out what was in the dressing. In our conversation I found out that this dressing is far more than just a salad dressing. This is one recipe you will want to add to your files.

Uniontown Do-All Sauce

1/3 cup vinegar

1/3 to 2/3 cup brown sugar, to taste

1/3 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup oil

Finely chopped onion, optional

Combine all ingredients together and shake or whisk together to blend ingredients well.

Use as a delicious dressing on a tossed green salad with croutons, grated Parmesan cheese and crisp fried bacon.

Because it is a do-all sauce, this family also uses it as a dressing on bologna and tomato sandwiches, as a potato chip dip, use for a wonderful meat marinade or as a sauce served over hot cooked noodles. Yes, in looking at all of these things, I guess it really is a do-all sauce.

I made a banana sheet cake over the Memorial Day weekend. I woke up one morning to find I had a couple of dark bananas on the cabinet, so I pulled out the recipe that Clara Mae Tucker had given me many years ago. It is much like Texas sheet cake, without the cocoa, but adding the bananas. The next time you find yourself with a couple of dark bananas, have this recipe on hand to bake up and put in the freezer for future use.

Banana Sheet Cake

1 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 or 3 ripe bananas, mashed or mix in with mixer

Chopped pecans, optional

Combine sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl using an electric mixer. Add flour, baking soda and salt. While mixing, pour in buttermilk and bananas, either whole or mashed, and pecans if desired.

Pour into a sprayed and floured jellyroll pan or sided cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes. Ice warm cake with icing adding pecans on top, if desired.

Icing:

1 stick margarine or butter, softened

6 tablespoons milk

1 (1 pound) box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients together well using a mixer and pour over slightly warm cake. Top with pecans if desired.

Shannon Brady of Cape Girardeau was telling me about these fabulous pickles she made recently, and that they got better and better as the days went by. This is her recipe.

Cajun Upside-Down Spicy Pickles

1 gallon sliced dill pickles

4 cups sugar

10 cloves garlic, sliced or minced

2 ounces Tabasco Sauce

Drain all juice from the pickles, and discard. Spread pickles out in a large bowl or pan and pour sugar over them. In the jar, drop the garlic and Tabasco sauce, then add the pickles. Turn the jar upside down and back several times to mix. You can eat them the same day, but are better the next day or days following.

Rob Weeks of rural McClure, Ill., sent me a message regarding his favorite Uncle Jim "Smooth" Stewart's steak recipe that he developed. Jim has eaten at many famous restaurants around the world and has come up with this "sounds awful but tastes great" recipe for the best and juiciest steak you will ever eat. The tangy crust that envelopes the meat holds in those great meat juices we all love to enjoy. Try this recipe on your broiler or charcoal grill. Any type of beef steak will work, but better cuts will produce a better product.

Smooth Steak

Molasses

Yellow mustard

Black pepper or steak seasoning

Any type of beef steak

Make a fairly thick coating on each side of your steak an hour before cooking in the following order: molasses, yellow mustard, then black pepper and/or steak seasoning. Cook to your desired degree of doneness. Don't be afraid to make a thick coating, as you want to have a crust protecting the meat. Some will drop off during the cooking process, in any case.

I was given a few recipes from a Recipe Swap reader to pass along to you. I have made the Popeye Chicken recipe before and remember that it was very good. Enjoy these recipes as you try them.

Popeye Chicken

4 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

5 chicken breasts, sautŽed, boned and cut in pieces

2 cans cream of celery soup or 1 can cream of celery and 1 can cream of mushroom

1 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 pound grated Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs

Dot with butter and parsley flakes

Place thawed spinach in buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Put chicken on top of spinach. Combine soup with curry powder and mayonnaise, then spread on top of chicken. Cover soup mixture with cheese and almonds. This dish may be prepared to this point and refrigerated. Spread cornflake crumbs over top and dot with butter and parsley flakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Kraut and Pork Pinwheel

1 pound pork sausage

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Pat mixture to a 10x7-inch rectangle.

Combine:

2 cups sauerkraut

1/4 cup chopped onion

Spread evenly over meat and roll up jellyroll fashion. Place seam side down in a shallow baking dish. Arrange 4 or 5 slices of bacon across top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Makes 5 to 6 servings. This is delicious served hot or cold.

Tomato Florentine Soup

1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes

1 package frozen spinach

3 cups beef broth

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup rice

2 drops hot pepper sauce

Combine all ingredients. Simmer until rice is done, but not overcooked.

We have a pretty wide variety of new recipes for you to try this week. As you try new recipes, be sure to send them in. So many people love reading and trying new recipes, so add your recipes to other readers files.

Have a wonderful week and as always, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at smcclanahan@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.