Use Your Spices: A Taste of Summer (revisited)

Last summer, while reveling in the joys of weekly vegetable deliveries from the CSA* I wrote a series of posts entitled "Taste of Summer."  They each feature one delicious sip of summer foods cooked the way we've loved them. 

They were:

Prior posts in this series are here:

• Part I - Zucchini

• Part II - Summer Beans

• Part III - Eggplant

• Part IV - Okra

At the time, I was very new to the Savory Spice world as my family's store hadn't opened yet so there are no blends in these recipes, just individual spices I blended to my own combinations and experiments to discover were very good.
Of these recipes, my favorite, by far, is the Blakley Fried Okra.It is nothing like the fried Okra in most restaurants with the thick bready coating.  Instead, it is fried with a light dusting of cornmeal, flour salt, and pepper.... at least it always has been.  Yesterday, I discovered that if you add about 1/2 a teaspoon of the Savory Spice Panhandle Chicken Fried Steak Seasoning you add another layer of delicious.  We also discovered that baby E and big sister M love Okra. As with last year's post, she helped me all through the process.  Then they took the cornmeal outside and played with it like sand, with the added bonus that if either of them ate it it was totally fine and the bugs would get a feast afterwards!
We've been exploring other ways to work our spices in to summer favorites too.  You may want to consider:


Corn on the Cobb with Supreme Shallot Salt or Peruvian Chili Lime Seasoning


Berries of all kinds sprinkled with Vanilla Bean Sugar or Lavender Vanilla Bean Sugar


Steamed Squash sprinkled with Dill Dip or Pink Himalayan Sea Salt


Vegetable dips made by mixing yogurt or sour cream with Paris Cheese Sprinkle or Cherry Creek Seafood Seasoning or any of the other dip blends they have.

What are your tastes of summer? What else should we be trying? Hope your summer is delicious!

(Note: My Mom and Brother own the Savory Spice Shop in OKC and would be glad to help you out with recipe or spice information and supplies.  You can reach them at 405-525-9119, okc@savoryspiceshop.com,  or visit the store at 43rd & Western.  They will also gladly ship products to those out of state).