Fresh tomatoes, air fryer roasted with onions and whole garlic cloves tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and blended. Perfect for pasta dishes but use anywhere you would use diced tomatoes or puree them for a more sauced version.

Air Fryer Roasted Tomatoes

As of this writing, Fall has "officially" arrived, though it does take a while to effect any change here in the Deep South. I mean, as we speak, there's a potential hurricane threatening the Gulf Coast!

Regardless, one thing is for certain, we're getting to the end of local and backyard tomato season.

Though he loves the sauces and casseroles I make with them, The Cajun is not a big fan of fresh, raw tomatoes and he wouldn't dream of a tomato sandwich! Me, I love them and I enjoy them with many meals, including simply sliced with a little salt and pepper, even alongside my breakfast eggs.

Fish fillets, tossed in a mix of yellow and Creole mustard with hot sauce, dredged in a highly seasoned blend of cornmeal and flour, then deep fried.

Mustard Fried Fish

In case you didn't know, we're pretty big on fresh fish here along the Gulf Coast!

Local Gulf favorites include speckled trout (my personal favorite), flounder, snapper, grouper, redfish, drum and lots of others in the deeper waters. Give me any one of them!

The Cajun goes fishing with his brother on occasion and the fish they come home with most often are two very popular fish found in the Mississippi Sound - white trout and ground mullet - also known more officially as southern kingfish.

A potato salad made using half smashed and half chunky potatoes and finished with a sour cream and mayonnaise-based dressing.

Sour Cream Smashed Potato Salad

Hope y'all don't mind me sneaking in another potato salad before we roll into Fall in a few days!

Not that it matters much what the calendar says in the Deep South because yesterday it was miserably hot and humid. Not that the weather has ever stopped a craving on me, I sure do look forward to some cooler temperatures and some belly warmin' meals though - hopefully soon!

I wrote this version of potato salad in honor of my mother-in-law, who passed away a few years back. Although it's a bit different from her version, very different from my Mama's and different even from the way my father-in-law, who was also a great cook, made his, she prepared her potato salad mostly mashed, something that was very new to me.

Thick slices of cucumber pair up with red onion and a tart vinegar dressing. Add the ends of some fresh tomatoes that you need to use up if you like!

Everyday Cucumbers

I'm constantly playing around with cucumber salads and while they may all look very similar, it's a bit surprising how minor changes in ratios, ingredient additions - such as with herbs - and even textures from different cut sizes, can actually make a big difference in taste.

The inspiration for this one came from Vivian Howard's mom's everyday summer salad featured in her book Deep Run Roots. This cucumber salad made a daily appearance at the table when she was growing up and while sometimes it was just cucumbers, other times it had red onion or included the leftover ends of tomatoes.

The best of late summer and early fall vegetables - eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and sweet bell pepper - tossed with an olive oil, vinegar and herb-based dressing, diced tomatoes, garlic, chunks of red onion and sliced smoked sausage, then baked.

Ratatouille and Sausage Bake

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love a vegetable dish like this. The Cajun?

Not so much.

So, when I cook something like this it's all for me!

An easy, filling chicken salad, made with cooked chicken, seedless grapes and salted, roasted pecans, lightly tossed in a creamy dressing.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Pecans

Fall doesn't arrive for a few more weeks and it's still pretty hot, so I'm hanging with the summertime food vibe here y'all.

I'm not quite ready to say hello to fall themed dishes, but there are plenty of other food bloggers out there who've got your back if that's what you're looking for! 

In the meantime, chicken salad is such a good and easy meal, especially during these extended southern dog days of summer and I lean on it a lot.

Bone-in chicken breasts, marinated overnight or up to 24 hours, in a brown sugar and apple juice or cider-based brine, then flame grilled.

Apple Brined Grilled Chicken

Y'all. Summer is coming to an end soon and I am not unhappy about it.

While I know many of you, including some of my very good friends who also live down south, and those of you who live in cold climates especially, y'all do love the heat of summer. I don't. And, it gets HOT in the Deep South. Fall can't come quick enough!