Hello, friends! Once again, thanks so much for reading and cooking along this month. If you like what you see here, please remember to sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email! You can also follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest. And can I ask you a favor? If you are enjoying what you read here, will you share this website with some of your friends who might like it too?
As usual, I had a dickens of a time picking my favorite recipes this month, so I made the cut based on how urgent it is that you Make These Recipes Right Away. Because, honestly, you’ll still be able to enjoy that red chile sauce and the red lentil corn chowder and the tofu reubens in the dead of winter. Same for the rye-flour zucchini bread with basil and mint, since you’re freezing all that grated zucchini. But the tomato and nectarine salad with basil? You’d better get on that immediately, before the perfect fruits of summer fade away (la la la la la!).
As always, you can see even more of my favorite recent recipes by clicking the “My Favorite Recipes” category on the sidebar; here are May, June, and July.
Without further ado, my August 2012 favorites:
Thank you so much for reading and cooking along with me! This is where the giveaway comes in. I am so grateful to all of you who read and comment and write and share recipes with me–for all the chatty conversation and sage advice and encouragement that happens in this big not-quite-a-real-kitchen-but-good-enough that we all share–I’m so grateful that I’d like to give something back to you.
So one lucky reader will get a box in the mail from me in September. In it you will find a trio of homemade jams, made right here in my very own kitchen. And a thank-you note. Here’s what to do if you’d like to enter:
- Just leave a comment on this post and tell me about your favorite thing(s) you’ve cooked this summer and you’ll be entered to win. You may also enter a second time if you share your favorite Emmy Cooks recipe and a link to emmycooks.com via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or with your book club or best friend; just leave a second comment below letting me know which recipe you shared and how. And thanks for spreading the word!
- Comments made before 11:59 p.m. (Seattle time) on Wednesday, Sept. 5 will be counted as entries. The winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Thursday, Sept. 6. The winner will have 48 hours to claim her/his prize; otherwise another winner will be chosen.
- Giveaway is open to US residents ages 18 and up.
9/6/12 Update: The winner (picked by random.org) is Allison of Spontaneous Tomato! If you don’t already read her blog, you should–I am constantly inspired by her diverse and delicious recipes, as well as the knowledge and enthusiasm that she shares in every post. And thanks to everyone who commented for the lovely ideas about what to cook in the waning moments of summertime.
Emmy Cooks 
My favorite things to cook any summer are roasted tomato passata and zucchini soup, because they capture that limited-time-only quality of summer cooking for enjoyment by the harried winter version of oneself. I love the ridiculous abundance of summer and miss it when the garden beds go to sleep and I have to head back to the grocery store…
I had so many garden tomatoes this year so I made home sauce and lots of italian food like laszana, spagetti sauce with meatballs, and my favorite salsa. Now I’m trying to grow cucumbers again because they failed (miserably) in my garden earlier in the summer.
Greetings from Paradise. Your ears may be burning next Friday night when we have company because we will be serving Grilled Eggplant with Cumin-Basil Yogurt Sauce, Chilled Watermelon Soup with Thai Flavors and Grilled Peaches with Hazelnuts and Blue Cheese. Have shared your site with friends. Bon Appetite!
The Hoffman’s
Lemony couscous with lots of veggies. Perfect for a hot summer day. Oh, and strawberry- watermelon smoothies. I consider blending cooking, too! :)
My two favorite recipes have been zucchini based – zucchini pesto pasta and pizza with zucchini and tomatoes. I love the versatility of zucchini!
Love your posts! They keep me thinking when it comes to coming up with new recipes and new spins on old favorites. Thanks for the inspiration!
Ohhhh that is my kind of giveaway! I would love to taste your trio of jams… My favorite thing I’ve made this summer is probably the Masala Dosa (or maybe I’m confusing “favorite” with “greatest feeling of accomplishment,” but it tasted really good, too!).
Also I think my favorite EmmyCooks recipe (besides the ones I haven’t tried yet but that I’ve shared on Pinterest…) is your French Lentil Cakes with Yogurt and Fresh Herbs, which I recently e-mailed to two friends– who are splitting my summer CSA share with me– as an excellent way to use up summer squash… I basically followed your recipe, but mixed grated squash in with the lentils, and it was SO good; I had to share it with my friends immediately before they made the mistake of using their squash for something else!
Allison, you are lucky #6–I’m so excited to send you a box of jam! Will you please email your address to emmycooksblog [at] gmail [dot] com?
Yay!! You just made my day! Completely.
Also it’s the first time I’ve ever won a blog giveaway. I’d say that’s an auspicious first. :) I’ll e-mail you my address now.
My favorite thing to cook this summer has actually been not to cook. We started our first proper garden this year in raised beds and doing this project with my 74-year-old father and my five-year-old son has made fresh, raw, produce grown by us and eaten right off the vine or stem or out of the ground has been the most satisfying of things to call a meal.
I shared the Zucchini Latkes on Pinterest on my Recipes I Want to Try board (Natalia de Cuba Romero) because I have been looking for a zucchini latke recipe to try and that one looks ever so appealing!
The salted caramel ice cream . We are making it again today!
Fun question! Lately my favourite thing to make is baked feta cheese with tomatoes and olives. It’s just amazingly savory and creamy. Also a quick, rustic ratatouille that I’ll be posting about next week. So fresh!