Hi again everyone!

Well summer is upon us with the 4th of July just around the corner. At our home we always celebrated this holiday with a backyard BBQ. We would have a mixture of dishes as everyone attending would bring something different. So it became somewhat of a smorgasbord - delicious and fun!

An all time favorite family dish came from my mother-in-law, Lottie. It was her special potato salad. The potato salad does take a lot of prep time with all the chopping of ingredients, but it is well worth the effort. While preparing this recipe, my girls and I would sit around the kitchen table chopping and dicing and enjoying each other's company.

Another family favorite is my sloppy joe recipe. This is quick and easy and very tasty! I have included the recipes for these two dishes below. So give them both a try this summer and enjoy!

God Bless and Happy Cooking,

Connie!

Cooking With Connie   Card   21		Ingredients: - 8 large potatoes - 4 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped - 2 celery ribs, finely chopped - 1 medium onion, finely chopped - ½ cup of green olives, finely chopped - 6 strips of cooked bacon, finely crumbled - 2 large carrots, grated - 1 ½ cups mayonnaise (Hellmann's preferably) - ¾ cup sour cream - 1 teaspoon celery seeds - 2 tablespoons dry mustard - 2 tablespoons parsley flakes - salt (to taste) - pepper (to taste)   Directions: Boil the potatoes until they are just tender when you poke them with a fork. Drain the water and let them cool. Peel them and dice them into cubes. In a large bowl combine the cubed potatoes, the eggs, the celery, the onion, the olives, the bacon, and the carrots. Set this mixture aside. In another bowl, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, celery seeds, dry mustard, parsley flakes, salt and pepper. Next add this mayo mixture to the potato mixture. Stir gently, but combine all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.
Grandma Lottie's Potato Salad
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Cooking With Connie   Card   22		Ingredients: - 3 pounds Ground beef - 2 tablespoons shortening - 1 cup Onion, finely chopped - 1 Garlic clove -- minced - 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce - 1 cup Catsup - ¼ teaspoon Pepper - 1 can Tomato paste (6 0z.) - ½ cup water - 3 tablespoons Vinegar - 3 teaspoons Brown sugar - 1 teaspoon Dry mustard   Directions: Heat shortening in skillet and brown meat. Drain off the fat. Add into the skillet all the remaining ingredients. Cook covered approx. 20 minutes on low, stirring often. Serve on burger buns and top with sliced pickles.
Sloppy Joes
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Connie Wychulis - Connie makes her home high atop the Pocono Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania with Adam, her husband of 41 years. Together they have raised seven children and now have nine grandchildren. When her children were small, needless to say the chores were endless. Dinners had to be quick and easy, as well as nutritional.

Now, when Connie's immediate family gathers at her home for the holidays, she cooks for 22 people. That is quite a bit of cooking, and it takes quite a bit of creativity and planning to pull it all off! After many years of cooking, and many meals of trail and error, Connie has come up with many family favorite stand-by meals that are always a hit! In this column she will share some of those with you!