Tuesday, June 10, 2008

It's Too Damn Hot to Cook!

In keeping with our crazy weather traditions, here in mid-central Ohio, the temperature has gone directly from winter to summer. It has been in the 90's and extremely humid the past few days.

The first day of heat was welcomed, the second was tolerable and by Sunday, I was bitching all day long. I was too stubborn to turn on the A/C since we just got the last gas bill from having the furnace on into May. I was so damn hot that I actually set up an inflatable kids pool, no pardon me, it's called the "Deluxe Family Pool", so I could lay on the floating mat to cool off. Talk about Beverly Hillbillies! There I was, wearing my bikini top and cut off cargo pants that I've made into shorts, sprawled on my pool raft. I had my lounge chair parked beside it with a cool,refreshing lemonade in a plastic Ohio State cup. It sure was classy! I bet all of Mansfield's elite were dying to come over and get a piece of this action.

Anyway, in the midst of this lovely weather, I was not about to heat my kitchen up anymore then it already was. So what's a girl to do? If I would have had my wits about me, I would have planned to get up early and make a few dishes before it got too hot to cook but that didn't happen. Laziness and sleep won out. Instead I defrosted some precooked shrimp from a bag and my sous chef, Mike, prepared a fierce cocktail sauce. I did whip up an orzo pilaf to go with it but by yesterday afternoon, I headed to our local chain "Marketplace" and bought some chicken salad, buns, chips and salsa, deli meats, cole slaw and some ice cream. Everything was good but it costs a fortune (I had spent over $40) and I can prepare better quality foods at home with a lot lower price tag.

I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in myself. After all, I am always preaching to my family and friends about the benefits of cooking at home then I totally dropped the ball. This is the perfect time of year to plan about a weeks worth of meals, cook them, stick them in the fridge and then you're done. I could have prepared a bunch of salads and cold dishes and then all we would have to do is open the fridge.

Because of this little heat induced fiasco/brain meltdown, I went through my recipe box last night and sorted out my recipes by season instead of category. I'm getting together a bunch of my favorites for summer and will be posting them for you to enjoy also. Hopefully, they will get us through until all my produce starts pouring in from the garden so keep checking back.

Also please email me with any great summer recipes that you would like to share with other readers and I'll get them posted.

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