Trisha Yearwood's Must-Have Summer Party Recipes

One of Trisha’s favorite memories is making home-churned peach ice cream on the back porch with her family. “The closer the ice cream got to being done, the harder the crank was to turn. My daddy always stepped in to finish it off, and Mama always let Beth and I scrape the ice cream off the beater and have a sweet treat before everybody else was served,” remembers Trisha.

Now she sets up a make-your-own sundae bar for the kids. It has homemade ice cream served with a toppings bar consisting of fresh fruits and, of course, chocolate syrup.

“They get sweeter as they grill. I slice them and wrap them in foil to put on hamburgers,” says Trisha. Her Uncle Wilson scrapes a little indentation in the onion for a dab of butter and wraps bacon around it before grilling in foil.

Trisha loves bacon cheeseburgers, like the recipe below, and also a good hot dog, "preferably a Ballpark hot dog, just mustard,” she says.

For Trisha, a summer party isn't a party without sweet tea. Try the recipe for her Pineapple Sweet Tea below.

Trisha says she got to have "something with watermelon, my favorite fruit — either a fruit salad, watermelon salsa or just a big slab of watermelon and a knife to eat it with.”

She's also got to have tomatoes. "Homegrown tomatoes are the best food on the planet!" she says. "Slice it up and serve it on two pieces of homemade bread slathered with Hellman's mayonnaise, and a little salt and pepper. Yum!”

If she had to choose between potato salad, pasta salad or coleslaw, she’d take them all.

“Summer is always a great time to have casual potluck get-togethers. Ease your wallet by making a menu, then asking your friends to bring something on that list," suggests Trisha. "Friends always ask what they can bring, so they'll be happy to contribute!”

“I think the thing my favorite summer dishes have in common is that they're easy to prepare," says Trisha. "Especially for gatherings, who wants to be inside all day cooking when everybody's having fun outside?! Watermelon Salsa and Blackberry Cobbler are quick and easy — and don't keep the cook indoors all day.”