Eat Your Vegetables

You know, don't you, that you have to eat your vegetables if you want to grow up to be big and strong? But you won't grow too big, since no one ever gained excess poundage eating vegetables. As long as you are going to eat vegetables, you might as well have them prepared in a really tasty manner. Warmed up, canned green beans are not even in the same class with fresh snapped green beans cooked with little red potatoes and a bit of bacon.

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When late spring/early summer temperatures begin to soar in Texas, we crave something cool on the menu. Here's one of my favorites:

Southwestern Style Gazpacho

• 1 large can tomato juice
• 8 medium very ripe tomatoes, cored and roasted
• 1 English hothouse cucumber, peeled and finely diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeds removed and finely diced
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1½ fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and black pepper

To roast the tomatoes, cut the tops off, remove the core, and place cut side up on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Roast in a preheated 350F degree oven for 40 minutes. Cool.

Slip the skins off the roasted tomatoes. Put the tomatoes in a blender or food processor and pulse a few times to chop. Do not puree.

Combine the tomatoes and all remaining ingredients in a large non-reactive container, and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Serve cold. Makes a bunch.

With some crisp crackers, this gazpacho is a meal in itself or can be a side dish with a grilled meat of your choice.

Guacamole

A summer day without guacamole is like a day without sunshine. There are as many guacamole recipes as there are stars in the summer sky. Here's one that you may not have seen before.

• 2 small, ripe avocados
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 four-ounce can chopped green chiles
• 1 freshly hard-cooked egg
• 1/3 stick (1/6 cup) butter
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Peel, pit and mash the avocados. If the guacamole is not going to be used within an hour or so, reserve the pit. Stir in the grated onion and chopped chiles. In a separate bowl, grate the warm egg over the butter and work in the mayonnaise with a whisk; gradually add the contents of the other bowl, taste and salt to taste. Putting the avocado pit in the middle of the guacamole will keep it from turning dark in the refrigerator until serving time.

An attractive presentation can be made by putting the guacamole on a bed of shredded lettuce and surrounding it with chopped, ripe tomatoes and a light garnish of cilantro leaves.

Here's a new way to prepare all those fine summer squash that are going to be getting ripe soon.

Calabacitas
Summer Squash

• 1 pound summer squash, diced (zucchini or yellow squash or half and half)
• 1 small yellow onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings or lard
• 1 four-ounce can chopped green chiles
• 2 ounces milk
• ¼ pound grated cheese (Monterey Jack or cheddar or half and half)

Fry the squash and onion in the drippings over medium heat until onion is clear. Add the chiles and milk, reduce the heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. Add the cheese, stir once and serve.

Here's something a little different. It's listed as a soup, but is more like a cooked vegetable salad.

Sopa de Verduras
Vegetable Soup

• 1 package frozen corn
• 1 good lamb or mutton bone with some lean meat on it (you can substitute beef shanks)
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1 red chile pod, crumbled
• 2 cups freshly washed spinach, packed tight
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and quartered
• 4 green squash, thinly sliced ( you can substitute any summer squash)
• 1 large pinch ground cloves
• 1 large pinch dried mint
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Place corn, meat bone, onion and garlic in large kettle. Add water and bring to a boil three times, skimming each time. Reduce heat to very low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours. Add other vegetables and herbs, salt to taste, cover and cook another fifteen minutes at a simmer. Drain and stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Chill thoroughly and serve.

Although this is not quite a vegetable recipe, it's something everyone should have in their recipe book for those special Texas-style occasions.

Sangria

Texas resident songwriter and entertainer Jerry Jeff Walker had the Sangria Wine song on his breakthrough album Viva Terlingua. The huge popularity of both the album and the wine song led to the sale of a lot of cheap wine and fruit.

The "Viva Terlingua" album is also famous for having a hit single by another singer included. Gary P. Nunn's London Homesick Blues has become the national anthem of Texas. You may have heard it as the "Armadillo Song". "I want to go home to the armadillo, to country music from Amarillo and Abilene, the friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen".

There is not a real recipe for Sangria wine. It's one of those things you make with what you have on hand. Of course, the burgundy wine is required. Jerry Jeff's recipe on the record calls for some Everclear, which is straight alcohol. That's the part that makes people tell the truth when they drink the wine. It can also lead to other interesting side effects such as divorce and unexplained disappearances. We do not recommend Everclear in any recipe unless you have spent at least five years in the Navy.

Here's how I make sangria wine.

Decant a bottle of burgundy into a large pitcher (quart -- liter, whatever is on sale). Thoroughly wash one large navel orange, one large lemon and a large Delicious apple. Slice the fruit into thin slices. Discard all seeds, retain the peels. Add to the wine stirring gently. Let set at room temperature a couple of hours. Prepare another pitcher just like the first because one won't be enough if you have more than one guest.

When you are ready to serve the sangria, add a couple of handfuls of hard, clear ice and stir like the dickens until it is very cold. (Optional: Add one 12-ounce can of lemon-lime soda.) Pour and enjoy. Keep the pitcher in the icebox between servings so the ice doesn't melt and dilute the mix.