Tomato Basil Salad

Don't be fooled. Ugly tomatoes taste just as good as pretty tomatoes.

I never thought much about a recipe for this salad. Usually, I just toss everything in a bowl and mix like my mom, grandmom and great-grandmom did before me. Yesterday, I got to work and stopped to measure. The "dressing" for this salad is made right on top of the salad and everything is tossed together. After a couple of tries, I'm sure you will join the ranks and throw together the official summer salad of the Loco Diner.

The best tomatoes to use are tomatoes grown fresh from the garden. Since squirrels ate all of my tomatoes, I had to buy them from an Amish lady.

Note: This salad is very tart. If you don't like overpowering vinegar, you will not like this salad! If you love vinegar, be prepared to want to drink the leftover dressing from the bowl after you eat your tomatoes. I'm not kidding.

Tomato Basil Salad
3-4 large ripe tomatoes (or about 6 cups), cut into bite-sized cubes
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic however you like them (I mince or press them)
1/4 - 1/2 c. fresh basil leaves
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. red wine vinegar

Cut your tomatoes and onions and place them in a large bowl with the basil leaves and garlic.


Add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper on top of the tomatoes.


Toss everything very well. The tomatoes will break down a little and the juices and seeds will incorporate into the dressing. The key to this recipe is "steeping" the tomatoes for a while and the flavors will blend together. I would prepare it 10-20 minutes before you want to eat it.



The dressing will look like this (feel free to sample it at this point)


Serve this with burgers, grilled chicken or grilled fish.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

We go through a lot of bananas. Over the years, I've tried out several banana bread recipes before settling on this one as my standard. It's another one of my favorites from the Elsah Landing cookbook. As far as I know, the Elsah Landing Restaurant published two cookbooks and this banana bread recipe is so good they put into both of them.

If you like banana bread, you must try this one!

Notes: The original recipe calls for 1 cup of mashed banana, three tablespoons of milk and 1/2 cup of pecans. I usually use, but don't measure, 3 bananas. I also use canned, evaporated milk and eliminate the pecans.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. butter
3 ripe bananas
3 tbs. canned, evaporated milk
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chocolate chips (I like semisweet or dark and if you have extra, it can't hurt to add them)

Grease and flour a loaf pan. Preheat your oven to 350.

Cream the sugar, egg and butter together.


You need to sift the flour. You might remember that baking isn't my favorite pass time and sifting usually annoys me. I suffer through it to make this recipe. To sift, I place a mesh basket right over the mixing bowl and add the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Sift the flour mixture right into the mixing bowl using a whisk.

In a separate dish, mash the bananas and evaporated milk together using a fork. Set the dish aside when you're finished.


Using a spatula, gradually stir the bananas into the batter by hand until the flour is just moist. It will look like this:


Finally, stir in the chocolate chips:


It's ready for the oven:

It should bake for around an hour. I use a convection oven so mine takes a little less time. Just keep an eye on it.


This bread makes a great breakfast, dessert or snack. If you want to really blow the calorie budget, layer it in a dish with vanilla ice cream! I've made this banana bread for bake sales as well, and with the right packaging, it will get snapped up before all of the other banana breads on the table.

Grilled Zucchini Salad

I went to grab the lettuce for a salad only to find that it was a bit frozen. I needed a plan B. I found a bag of zucchini that I hadn't done anything with and out came grilled zucchini salad. I wasn't going to photograph the process because I was in a hurry but I'm glad I did. It was so popular with my Loco Diners that I didn't have enough. I plan to make more today!

Notes: Oil your grill grates and heat your grill. I didn't want the zucchini to burn so I cut it in 1/4" thick slices along the length of the zucchini. Keep the grill on low-medium heat so the zucchini does not burn.

I sliced the garlic and it gave the salad great garlic flavor. I think it also looked really nice in the dish. I did push it aside in the dish and didn't eat it. If you want to eat the garlic, you might want to finely chop it or mince it and that would be fine. Maybe I'll try it that way next time.

Grilled Zucchini Salad

4-5 medium zucchini, skin on.
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced but not chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper to your taste
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon

Slice the zucchini along its length in 1/4" slices. Place on the hot grill and close the lid. Grill for about 5-7 minutes or until the zucchini looks like this:

It should be pliable but not too soft at this point. Cook for an additional 7-10 minutes watching your heat so it doesn't burn.

When the zucchini is tender, remove it into a bowl. Top the grilled zucchini with the extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and sliced garlic.

Cut the lemon and squeeze it over the bowl. I used the juice of a whole lemon but if that's too much for you, feel free to use less.

Coat the zucchini with the dressing by giving it a good toss.


This dish is great as a salad or side dish. It would also be a terrific addition to an antipasti tray. I think we're going to be eating a lot of zucchini this summer.

Loco Diner Grilled Zucchini Salad

Buttermilk Ranch

Years ago, in a rush to get dinner on the table, I put out a bottle of my favorite supermarket ceasar. My daughter, who had to be about 5 at the time whined and said, "Do we have to eat salad dressing from a bottle?"

Maybe she is a little spoiled but she was right. Homemade salad dressing is worth the extra five minutes it takes to make. It's flavorful and fresh and you can alter the ingredients to accompany whatever you are serving. My kids love to help and often make salad dressing on their own now which is super convenient for me and cuts down on the need to pull out a bottle of that stuff with the shaker top.

Last week, I made grilled pork chops with Adobo seasoning. To go with it, I threw together my basic buttermilk ranch and seasoned it with cumin and jalapeno. I hope you like it. All of my Loco Diners did.

Note: You really can't mess this up, if you want to add more vegetables or herbs to flavor the dressing, go ahead!
Buttermilk Ranch
1. c buttermilk
1/2 c. mayonnaise (I use Hellmanns)
3-4 grape tomatoes
2 pieces of a carrot
1/4 c. purple onion approximately


1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. finely diced jalapeno pepper, seeds and core removed

Combine the spice mixture and set it aside.


In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add the buttermilk and mayo. To that, add the tomatoes, carrot and purple onion and the spices.

Blend until the mixture is smooth. Taste it and adjust the flavors to your liking. At this point, add the diced jalapeno and give it a stir.


The dressing will be thinner than what you usually get from a bottled ranch dressing. It will thicken up a bit though and coat your greens nicely.

A great meal for a warm night, grilled Adobo porkchops and a salad with buttermilk ranch

Bikini Bottom Sunsets

Last week I posted a recipe for Venetian Sunsets, a drink made with asti spumante, pineapple juice and grenadine. The recipe came from Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes Treasury II and is a copycat of a drink served at the Olive Garden.

Fast forward to Father's Day. My family came over for dinner and I was thinking about making the kids Shirley Temples. How many of you remember going out to dinner with the family c. 1975 and your dad ordering you a Shirley Temple? How awesome was that? Then it hit me....if I added pineapple juice inspired by the Venetian Sunsets and had an entirely new drink and a pretty good gimmick if I do say so myself.



Bikini Bottom Sunsets

7 up
pineapple juice
maraschino cherries with the juice


Fill a glass with ice then fill the glass 2/3s full with 7up.


Top off the glass with pineapple juice.


Add a little bit of the maraschino cherry juice and dropped in a cherry.

Shirley Temple drops by Spongebob's Pineapple house. It could happen.

I made them table side so the kids could see the "sunset" happen when I added the cherry juice. They loved them and the smaller ones really bought the Spongebob connection hook, line and sinker. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

It's breakfast.....no it's dessert!

It's both. It's also easy, fun, delicious and it's pretty good for you too if you overlook the butter. I first had this Pennsylvania Dutch dish at Yoder's Restaurant and Buffet in New Holland, PA. I was skeptical at first, but like all of our guests who come over and see this odd, baked dish on the table, I walked away a believer.

Think a cakey, oatmeal cookie without the raisins (unless, of course, you want to add some.) It has great chew and isn't mushy but it's not crunchy either. You'll just have to try it.

I've tried several recipes for this dish and even tried to wing it a few times. I finally settled on this recipe which is one of three baked oatmeal recipes in the spiral bound, community cookbook Weavertown School Family Cooking.


Notes: I would try it plain first. You can add apples, blueberries, cinnamon, raisins or nuts as you would add things to an oatmeal crumble and crisp. I usually make it plain and add the toppings to the top.

This is a great kid-friendly recipe. My daughter, Emily, made this particular baked oatmeal for Father's Day. I photographed it for her.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

*Preheat oven to 350.

1/2 c. melted butter
2 eggs
1 c. milk (I use whole milk)
3 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.


Add the butter, milk and eggs.


And mix all of the ingredients together with a spatula. It should look like this:

Spoon it into a 9 x 13 baking pan or dish.


Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.


This recipe is in the breakfast section of the cookbook. If you would like to serve it for breakfast, you can always eat it by itself . I usually scoop some into a bowl and pour a little bit of milk on top. Garnish it with fresh fruit if you like. It's also delicious served with craisins and almonds.


If you would like to serve this for dessert, layer baked oatmeal and vanilla ice cream in a dish and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Fresh fruit works nicely with this too.


All I can say is, thank you, Mrs. Stoltzfus, Mrs. Stoltzfus and Mrs. Hoover.

Spicy Garlic Refrigerator Pickles

Years ago, my cousin gave me a recipe for refrigerator pickles. The recipe was very basic and didn't really have any of the seasonings I like in pickles. Over the years, I've thrown in this and that and now have an herb and spice mixture that I think works.

This is a great recipe to make with the kids. My kids look forward to making these each summer. Even if your kids are too young to use a knife, there are other jobs they can do. My older daughter slices the vegetables and my younger daughter, who doesn't like to use a knife, mixes the spices and prepares the cooking liquid.

Loco Diner Spicy Garlic Refrigerator Pickles
5-6 lbs kirby cucumbers
1/2 of a large, purple onion, sliced. Separate the pieces.
1 small, red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

12 c. water
2 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. salt
2 bunches of dill, stems trimmed, coarsely chopped
2 tbs. whole peppercorns
2 tbs. dill seed
2 tbs. mustard seed
2 tbs. dried, minced garlic
**1 tbs. hot pepper flakes, optional (This is a lot. If you don't want your pickles spicy, just add 1 teaspoon of pepper flakes or none at all)
3 bay leaves
10 cloves of garlic, sliced

VERY IMPORTANT Notes: Use a very large stainless bowl or a large pot for this. Whatever you put the cucumbers in, needs to be large enough to hold all of the liquid in the pot without overflowing. The bowl should also be able to tolerate high temperatures. The liquid will be extremely hot when you pour it over the pickles. Make sure the kids are far away from the liquid when you are moving it and pouring it. (Obviously, you know this already but I feel better telling you.)

Thinly slice the cucumbers, onion and pepper. Put the vegetables in a large bowl. Set the bowl aside.



In a separate dish, prepare the spice mixture by combining the peppercorns, dill seed, mustard seed, dried minced garlic, pepper flakes and bay leaves.


In a large pot, combine the water, vinegar, sugar, salt, dill, fresh garlic slices and spice mixture.


Bring this to a boil.


When the mixture is at a rolling boil, turn the burner off. I let it cool for a few minutes because I'm always afraid I'm going to get burned. Clear the kids out of the room and carefully pour the boiling mixture over the cucumbers, onions and peppers in the bowl or pot.

Yikes. I said carefully, didn't I? The pot was heavy and difficult to pour.

The mixture will look like this:

I leave the bowl sit and cool before sticking it in the refrigerator. When it is cool, cover the bowl or pot with a lid or plastic wrap and stick it in the refrigerator. The pickles will start to taste like pickles by the next day and are ready to eat.


These are great to eat just as they are, on sandwiches and however you usually like to eat pickles. This recipe makes a lot of pickles. I spoon them into individual, tightly sealed containers or jars with the liquid. Remember, these are refrigerator pickles and must be stored in the refrigerator. Containers are a good idea because you can stack them. You will have enough to share with your friends and neighbors who will look forward to them each summer thereafter.

I like to put them in a nice jar and bring them to summer parties and picnics too. They are always a big hit.