Best. Summer. Dinner. Ever.

Every once in awhile, nirvana is achieved.  Tonight was that moment.  It may not have been a flashy meal, but it was awesome, if I do say so myself.  Per our weekly menu, we had burgers, zucchini patties (not to be confused with Sponge Bob's crabby patties), sweet corn and salad.  In Food Network fashion, let me describe it to you.  (FYI: thinking about describing it has me actually salivating...weird.)

The Burgers: Hold your laughter -  I actually learned how to grill this summer. We also found that BJ's sells organic hamburgers so we buy in bulk and we make sure that not a single bite goes wasted since, while cheaper than the grocery store, they still cost us a bundle.  I was pretty proud of myself for grilling these and Muggle especially liked them, as evidenced by the fact that she stole and ate half of Will's burger while he was stunned and then screaming.

The Salad: Caesar Salad with organic greens from our CSA and my new obsession, Marie's Caesar Dressing (found in the refrigerated case):

Light dressing, it is not, but it is worth every.last.calorie.  It is delicious and tastes like restaurant dressing.  I justify it by saying that it encourages me to eat greens.  This is the "Nutella" argument. Have you seen those commercials?  The ones where the mom tries to get other moms to buy Nutella by saying that she puts it on all sorts of healthy things, like whole grain bread.  As if bathing fruit and bread in chocolate hazelnut spread is healthy!  It's a running joke in our house, as in:

Me: Will won't eat his broccoli.
Steve (in commercial voice): I love Nutella! I put it on all sorts of healthy things, like broccoli.
Me: Mmmm...Nutella.

But I digress.  I am consuming a jar of Marie's Caesar dressing a week, and I'm happier for it.

The Sweet Corn: Last year we only got corn from our CSA for one week and it was THE BEST corn I've ever had.  We got three ears this week and I am praying to God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, that we get more next week.  It is so sweet and delicious that it doesn't need anything on it and it's perfect. 

Finally, the Zucchini Patties: Here's the recipe. I made one critical substitution.  Steve went to the farm to pick up our goods, he came home with this eyesore squash:

Doesn't it look like a Nickelodeon slime/frisbee hybrid?  Steve "claims" that he made it last summer and it was awesome.  I asked what variety it was and he told me: summer squash.  Ha!  But I was stuck with it. In the end, it tasted just like zucchini.  We probably got duped and ended up with a deformed zucchini that they sold to us as some sort of a "gourmet" or "heirloom" variety and we fell for it.  I've been meaning to make the zucchini patties for a week or so, and I'm sorry I waited because they were awesome! The moral of this story is: you can use any summer squash.

I followed the recipe exactly (minus the tiny squash issue), and when I make them again, I will probably saute the onion in a little butter just to sweeten it a little since butter is delicious I have a raw onion diversion.  In all honestly, I think I love these because they taste like the zucchini blossoms that my Nonna makes.  I haven't a clue what is in hers, but these were a pretty good substitution.  I served them with warmed marinara on top, but they would have been fine alone.  Also, they would be a fabulous appetizer if you made them in miniature size.

Dinner was pure summer and was even puntuated by an early evening thunderstorm just as we sat down to eat.  Best of all, it was healthy so I'm not going to feel one ounce of guilt over eating my other obsession, Halo Farm Coffee Heath Bar ice cream, while watching Real Housewives of NYC tonight. 

Tomorrow night: Chicken Fajitas!

Adios!