Egg fried rice, with garden cabbage, green beans, kale
Fruit salad of blueberries, nectarines, apples
Saturday (cook-out by the fire ring)
Hot dogs in homemade buns
Corn on cob
Cantaloupe
Green beans
Chips (son's girlfriend brought chips, Oreos and watermelon punch)
s'mOreos (s'mOreos are s'mores using chocolate cream Oreos, and a toasted marshmallow in between)
Punch and pink lemonade
Sunday
Black beans and rice, avocado and cheddar burritos in homemade tortillas
Fruit salad of apple, cantaloupe, blueberries and nectarines
Monday
Garden potatoes, cottage cheese and cheddar casserole
Green salad with avocado, homemade vinaigrette
Apple wedges
Tuesday
Meatballs, pasta sauce from freezer and spaghetti
Garden green beans
Wednesday
Rice and black bean tostadas, on pan-fried corn tortillas, with garden lettuce, chopped canned tomatoes, cheese, olives, spicy 1000 Island dressing, and the crumbs from an almost empty bag of chips in the pantry (they were Mango Habanero -- very spicy, so great on these tostadas)
Apple wedges
Thursday
Egg, cheddar, green pepper (from the garden), shallot (garden) and potato (also from the garden) casserole
Sauteed beet greens and Swiss chard (from garden)
Pickled beets
Apple salad
If wood-fires are allowed in your area, cook-outs have got to be one of the top frugal summer activities. You have to make dinner anyways. You can cook a number of foods over an open fire. Sausages/hot dogs just happen to be one of the simplest to do.
No long roasting skewers? Short skewers can be adapted to using over an open fire.
20 years ago, we were given a set of 6 short skewers, designed for making kabobs on the grill. The handle is too short to comfortably hold over a fire by hand for very long (which is what you do when you're roasting a hot dog or a marshmallow, right?). Several years ago, my son and husband adapted these short skewers into long-handled ones, using 30-inch long sticks from the yard, and strong string. (First attempt was with duct tape, but duct tape softens and loosens with heat, so next try was the string, and it has held very well.) We wash and store the skewers as they are (we don't undo them every time), and they have lasted remarkably well, with occasional fixing, as needed.
