In a large salad bowl, place the cucumber, tomatoes and radishes and combine gently to mix evenly. Top with the olives, feta cheese and onion slices, cover and transport to the event. When you’re ready to serve, pour the dressing over all in the bowl and mix well.
Dressing: use equal parts fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil. When I make it, for every ½ cup of dressing I’m making, I add one generous tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Then, based again on how much dressing I’m making, I add, for every ½ cup of dressing, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper and ½ tsp rubbed oregano. Any excess dressing will keep well refrigerated; just remember to remove it from the refrigerator at least a half hour before you want it, since the olive oil will solidify in the cold.
This is a recipe I’m constantly asked to make and bring. Last time, I made a double batch for my friend Mary’s pool party and we had barely put it on the table before it was demolished. I recommend a stashed batch so the BBQ chef doesn’t end up without like ours did.
1 single layer chocolate fudge cake (or if you want to be really decadent, you can make a tray of brownies and use them) cut into ½ inch squares
1 pkg. cooked chocolate pudding that you have allowed to partially cool, then stirred in ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and allow it to completely cool
1 large and 1 small tub Cool Whip, thawed
Seven chopped up chocolate bars (originally, the recipe called for Skor bars, but I’ve made it with Caramilk and Crispy Crunch with great success as well. In fact the hands on favourite is Crispy Crunch bars)
The rest is easy. In a glass trifle bowl, you make layers. Start with pudding, cool whip, cake and chocolate bar bits (be generous with these), then repeat and keep repeating until your bowl is full or you run out of ingredients. Make sure that your final layer is cool whip (you may not need all of the topping) and that you’ve left enough chocolate bar bits to lightly sprinkle over the top.
Keep refrigerated until you’re ready to serve. Then just stand back and watch it disappear!!!
Yields: 6-10 servings
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
That’s it for another month. I look forward to hearing all about your backyard adventures. I’d love to hear from readers about your most successful BBQ potluck recipe. Email me at . We may publish a compilation of Readers’ Best next month in time for sharing for late summer festivities.
Until next month, TTFN!!
