Last Sunday Summer Dinner

Today was the last sunday before Labor Day, and sadly it feels like summer is officially over. The leaves on my maple tree are turning red and falling slowly to the ground. Mornings are brisk with temperatures in the high 50s, and the smell of autumn is in the air 🍂

I spent most of the day doing yard work, throwing away dead hanging baskets, trimming back dying hostas, and prepping for the fall decor (hello mum season)!

While cleaning out my garden beds, I wanted to do something fun with my remaining herbs, so that's what dinner was sort of revolved around 🙂

I made a foccacia bread filled with herbs, then added some breaded chicken and an herb/lemon "aoli" to the top with a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Delicious!

For the foccacia bread:

2c warm water

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

2 tsp sugar

4c flour

3 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

-mix the water, yeast, and sugar together and let sit til foamy

-in a bowl, add four, salt, olive oil and mix til combined

-combine yeast mixture and flour mixture

-cover and let rise til double in size

-transfer to a flat baking sheet covered in olive oil. Stretch out the dough gently, then let it rise again

-dimple the dough with fingers, add olive oil to the top and any fresh herbs you want to use! I did rosemary, chives, salt and pepper

-bake at 425 for 22 minutes

For my chicken, I just did the flour/egg/bread crumble mixture and pan fried it.

My "aoli"

-1/4 sour cream

-1/4 mayo

-1 fresh squeezed lemon with zest

-1 bunch of fresh herbs (rosemary, Oregano, lemon thyme, and basil

-fresh parmesan cheese

-1 grated glove of garlic

-salt and pepper

-mix together

I took a piece of my fresh foccacia bread, added the aoli, then added piece of chicken, and more aoli to the top with a fresh piece of basil and balsalmic dizzle. I ended up adding some lettuce and corn from my salad to the open face sandwich and that made it even better!

I am now prepping my farm stand for tomorrow that will have all sorts of bagels and English muffin bread, along with fresh herbs from the garden before the cold takes them from me. Tomorrow is Labor Day, so hoping for a good turn out 😃