Weekend Cooking: Summer Recipes

Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer.  The kids are back at school, football season kicks off today, and, as my daughter informed me just moments ago, pumpkin spice lattes have returned to Starbucks.

I'm usually not as ambitious or adventurous in the kitchen during the summer, but did stumble upon a few recipes that have earned a spot in the regular rotation.

Southwestern Black Bean Salad from skinnytaste.com became an instant family favorite this summer.  You just can't go wrong with tomatoes, black beans, avocados, corn, and a delicious cilantro-lime flavor. I've served it both as a side dish at dinner and alone for a light lunch. The photo is from the skinnytaste website.

Another chilled vegetable recipe I've made multiple times this summer is Honey-Mustard Green Beans with Pecans from Real Simple. It's very easy to prepare, but must be done an hour or so ahead to allow time for the beans to chill.

Pan-Seared Tilapia with Lemon and Caper Sauce was also a big hit. This recipe, from Simply Scratch  via Pinterest, would work well with any mild white fish. I plan to make it often! Next time, however, I won't serve it with the honey-mustard beans... the plate looks lovely, but the flavors don't really complement one another.

Finally, I have to share the recipe for this Banana-Sour Cream Cake from Kraft. I'm not generally a fan of recipes that begin with a cake mix, but will make an exception in this case... it's rich and very delicious! Instead of baking it in a 9 x 13 pan and cutting it in half, I used two square pans and adjusted the baking time.

Have you added any new recipes to your repertoire this summer?

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has a food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up over the weekend.