(ARA) – Summer is all about enjoying nature at its finest. On a sunny afternoon or a warm, starlit evening, a grilling get-together is the perfect way to celebrate both the beauty of the season and the bounty of fresh foods that it brings.

Steak with Gorgonzola Thyme - "cooked to perfection on your barbecue"

Building a gourmet menu doesn’t mean that you’ll have to spend hours in the kitchen preparing before guests arrive. By keeping the menu simple and focused on the foods and flavors that are perfectly in season, you can showcase what makes summer special without sacrificing time spent with your guests.

When it comes to the ingredients you’ll use, take a sustainable approach by visiting local farmers markets or your own garden plot, if you have one. It’s important to remember that ingredients other than vegetables can still be sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Blue cheese varieties from Salemville, for instance, are rBGH free, contain no preservatives or chemical additives, and are sustainably produced by an Amish community in Cambria, Wisc., where cows are hand-milked twice daily without the use of machines or electricity. And since steak is the perfect main dish for a grilling get-together, look for steaks with labels with identifying information, letting you know that it is grass-fed or pasture-raised.

Plan on serving at least four dishes: a salad, a side, a main dish and a dessert. A green salad topped with rich blue cheese and herb dressing is a wonderful, fresh start to the meal. Follow it with a side dish of seasonal vegetables and cheese-topped steak.

Depending on the vegetable you choose, it’s possible to prepare both your side and main dishes on the grill, allowing you to spend more time outside with your guests. Complete the meal with a sweet treat of ripe summer fruits – baked into a rustic French galette or tossed with fresh mint as a topping for a light sorbet.

Try these recipes for your salad and steak courses and you’ll be preparing sustainable dishes that perfectly capture the essence of summer. For more recipes and grilling tips, visit http://www.salemville.com/.

Blue Cheese Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup green onions (including green tops), thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup Salemville Amish Blue or Salemville Smokehaus Blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 clove garlic, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 1/4 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
• Dash salt, to taste

Salad:

• 1 large head iceberg lettuce
• 6 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 cup Salemville Amish Blue or Salemville Smokehaus Blue cheese, crumbled
• Black pepper, to taste
• Chopped pears, walnuts, red onion and/or tomatoes, to taste

In small bowl, stir together yogurt and milk. Mix in onions, cheese, garlic, herbs and salt. Cover and chill 30 minutes or more to blend flavors.

Cook bacon until crisp and crumble into large pieces. Cut lettuce into four to six wedges. Pour blue cheese dressing over the top. Sprinkle bacon over dressing. Add additional crumbled cheese, freshly ground black pepper, chopped pears, walnuts, red onion and/or tomatoes, if desired. Makes four servings.

Steak with Gorgonzola Thyme Crust

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 beef tenderloin or small rib eye steaks (about 6 ounces each), cut 3/4-inch thick
• 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup Salemville Amish Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Preheat broiler. Spoon Worcestershire sauce over both sides of the steaks and let stand five minutes. Sprinkle garlic and pepper over steaks.

Place steaks on rack or broiler pan. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat source three to four minutes per side for medium rare steak.

Remove pan from broiler. Sprinkle thyme, then cheese over steaks. Return to oven and broil two minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown.

Do you have any great summer recipes? Please add them to the comment below.

Outdoor entertaining with friends

Warmer months are the perfect time to start looking for outdoor entertainment ideas. This is because more and more people are planning outdoor gatherings and are planning to entertain. This means good food and good people are around, and there are several different things you can do whether you are looking for themes to do or simple yet fun decorations to use.

Some people even want to go far beyond having that basic BBQ and here are some of the more common and fabulous ideas that will take your next entertaining event and turn it to something that will not be forgotten.

Traditional Barbecue
These are great for casual get togethers with friends and relatives as well. These are great for casual conversation and being outdoors in the backyard. If you want to put a twist on it, have it at the local beach or in a park. You can choose summer colors for decorations such as red and white checkers, or blue and white checkers. Whatever you refer will work, and maybe consider making eggplant, Greek salad, pork chops, fish, or even Jamaican chicken.

Campout In Your Backyard
Camping is always a great outdoor activity among people of all ages. You don’t even need to head to the woods, because you can camp in your backyard. This is also a good idea if you are thinking of getting into camping and you want to test out all of your new camping equipment. You can either make a fire or buy a fire pit if you don’t already own one. These can be found for under $100 and are a great alternative to making fires. You can all sit around your fire and roast hot dogs, and make S’mores. You can talk about fun times or even tell ghost stories. 

Dinner Cocktail Parties
Perhaps one of the most famous types of outdoor entertaining ideas is with a dinner party with cocktails. Determine a cocktail that everyone enjoys and one that is not going to cost a lot of money to make. A great one for summer nights is mojitos. These are great minty drinks and are rather refreshing. Choose a genre of music and you can even hire a bartender and have an open bar for your cocktail party.

Here’s a classic mojitos recipe:

1. Put four or five mint leaves in a glass
2. Squeeze the juice from one lime wedge into the glass
3. Add one teaspoon of powdered sugar
4. Muddle the contents in the glass
5. Add ice and club soda to finish it off

Movie Night Party
If you have some neighbors that don’t mind, one of the most unique entertaining ideas is to re-create a movie theatre drive in. You of course should have a nice sized back yard in order for this to work effectively. You can find a variety of companies that will rent you the equipment you need. This is going to include your screen as well as a projector and even a popcorn machine. You should tell all of your guests to bring blankets or even lawn chairs; whatever makes them more comfortable.

Black Tie Party
Consider adding some sophistication to your traditional dinner party. Take things up a notch and add some personalized place settings and have everyone dress up. Men wear suits or other ensemble with a black tie, and women wear black r white, or even a mixture of both. Consider getting fresh flowers for a centerpiece and place them in empty glass bottles or vases. Serving champagne or wine are great cocktails to choose from.

Midsummer’s Night Party
This is something similar to Christmas. This is a time when the sun stays out longer and that means people can stay outside to enjoy the sun and the light. You can choose to serve salmon that is cured with sugar, salt, and even dill. You can serve it with a side of honey mustard as well. As another main entrée, consider serving miniature meatballs in a ligonberry sauce. You should consider serving something such as Vodka and toast to the summer.

Outdoor entertaining ideas are not hard and go no further than your own backyard. Consider letting your imagination run wild and see what you come up with.

Be safe when you are cooking on the grill

(ARA) – Grilling season will arrive before you know it. Before firing up the grill  for spring festivities or tailgating, however, weekend warriors should  observe a few simple precautions to ensure that backyard barbecue bashes don’t go up in flames.

Casual cookouts can turn dangerous – and sometimes deadly – if safety is ignored, according to leading home insurer MetLife Auto & Home. “Every year, we see dozens of fire-related claims reported throughout the year because of simple carelessness,” says Mike Convery, vice president and chief claim officer at MetLife Auto & Home. “Keeping safety basics top-of-mind can help prevent losses from occurring and help you avoid needless hassle and property damage – and in some situations, injury to you or your loved ones.”

Follow these easy pointers to make grilling safer:

 * Keep barbecue grills on a level surface away from the house, garage and, most importantly, children and pets. When grilling on your patio, make sure that all furniture and accessories are far from the grill. On balconies, it is always safer to move festivities to available lawn space. Never grill inside the home or garage, even if it is raining.

 * For gas grills, always store gas cylinders outside and away from your house, and be sure the valves are turned off when not in use. Check the tubes regularly for cracking, brittleness, and leaks in the connections. To determine if there is a leak, simply pour soapy water over the line with the gas valve turned open. If gas is escaping, bubbles will appear. Should you detect a leak, immediately turn off the gas and don’t use the grill until the leak is repaired.

 * Your grill generates high temperatures, so keep it covered whenever possible. Keep lighted cigarettes, matches and open flames away from the grill, and move gas hoses as far away as possible from hot surfaces and grease. Use a can to catch excess grease.

 * Make certain your grill is kept at least 2 to 3 feet away from wood or vinyl siding. Placing the grill too close to your home, especially one with vinyl siding, can result in melting or burning, or even a fire. Also, keep in mind that while vinyl siding and composite decking have a higher “burn point” than wood, it’s also easier for these materials to melt and discolor, which can result in a costly claim for property damage.

 * For charcoal grills, use only starter fluids designed for your grill and never use gasoline. Limit the amount of fluid used. If the fire is too low, use dry kindling and add more charcoal, if necessary. To avoid a flash fire – a fire that spreads rapidly through the vapors of an ignitable liquid – never add more liquid fuel to a lighted grill.

 * When using bamboo or wood skewers, soak them in cool water prior to use so they won’t ignite on the grill.

 * Keep a fire extinguisher accessible and never leave a grill unattended once it has been lit. If an extinguisher isn’t available, consider keeping a bucket of sand or a garden hose nearby.

 * Never allow burned coals to smolder in any container on a wooden deck and make sure to soak your coals before disposing of them by wrapping them in heavy-duty aluminum foil and putting them in a non-combustible container away from the house.

“These precautions should be used for all outdoor cooking devices, including propane turkey fryers and outdoor fire pits,” Convery says.”Above all, remember that whatever you’re cooking with outdoors will remain hot for hours and that wooden surfaces, such as decks, can present fire hazards, so never place cooking devices directly upon them. We have received serious home insurance fire damage claims, some involving loss of life, that started because cooks forgot that the party isn’t over until the last flame has been extinguished.”

For a comprehensive look at fire safety protection, MetLife Auto & Home offers a free brochure on “Fire Safety,” featuring useful information about fire-related subjects, including how to plan an escape route, seasonal safety tips and safety information related to heating your home. A coloring and activity book is also available for children, titled “Learn About Fire Safety with the PEANUTS Gang,” that helps children learn critical emergency information, the steps to fire safety and how to develop escape routes to use in the event of a fire. The brochure and coloring book are available free from (800) 608-0190.