I have trouble getting excited about cooking during the summer. And the last two summers, after winters filled with all manner of culinary experimentation, I've done essentially no cooking, instead falling back on old habits of eating out, ordering in, and basically living la vida sandwich. In other words, I was on cooking vacation -- unplanned, unwelcome, and unwise summer cooking vacation.
You see, as I've noted before, Kansas City is not the hottest part of the country (or the world) by any means, but it gets plenty hot and humid for me. And, my kitchen is a long way from my window air conditioner. Additionally, I'm finding as I age that I don't regulate my body temperature as well as I once did, and several weekend cooking sessions recently have ended with me feeling a little bit icky. Last weekend I put a small fan on top of my refrigerator and drank ice water frequently, and still felt icky when I was done.
I can't have a summer cooking vacation this year. Perhaps I should say that I can't CONTINUE to have one, since this past week has not had too many meals at home. That kind of vacation isn't good for my body, my skills development, or my wallet.
I have a few ideas. Veggie salads should be my friend. (Not leafy salads, though: leafy salads are okay, but more than one or two a week make me cranky. OK, crankiER.) I know a little bit about quick-cooking meat cuts, and sandwiches are a good option if not made with cheap white bread and processed cold cuts. Outdoor cooking is not a practical option for me.
But I'm just not feeling inspired.
So, I'd appreciate ideas: how do YOU feed yourself during the summer?
To be completely honest, I've been relying on Whole Foods prepared meals the past couple weeks..
ReplyDeleteWe try to do a lot of grilling during the warmer months (OK, in Tennessee they are downright blasted HOT months), but I would like to expand our repertoire of grilling options this summer. I have a recipe for grilled pork tenderloin (marinated in balsamic vinegar & olive oil, with fresh garlic, salt and pepper) that is DELICIOUS. We're on a tight budget so we rarely do steaks. I wish I liked fish. :)
ReplyDeleteTo avoid heating up the kitchen down here we use our crockpot & toaster oven a lot. I remember when I was younger, my Mommy would plan ahead. If she was boiling some eggs to make tuna salad then she'd go ahead & boil double or triple what she needed. I remember one particularly tiny & warm apartment. She'd boil up a big pot of something (eggs, a whole chicken, etc.) She knew exactly how long it took to cool so once she turned off the stove, we'd run to the library for that hour or so. Free a/c & the kitchen cooled off at the same time the food did.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I can't wait to hear what you come up with.
This is a conundrum for sure. We live in a very old, not well insulated house. Using the oven requires a floor fan in the kitchen door and no plans to leave the house without a shower first. (ok, maybe that's a good idea on any day. :)
ReplyDeleteWe use our grill, which you've said isn't an option for you. Crockpots work but don't make me think of culinary experimentation. A friend of ours has an infra-red cooker thingy that can take a chicken breast from frozen to cooked in something like 15 min. Something like that combined with sauce experimentation might do the trick! Good luck!
I don't really cook much different in the summer than winter. I use my toaster/convection oven all the time, the crock pot, and hubby cooks out. We get a large pork roast or maybe two and he will cook them in the smoker. Then slice them and I pack in vacumn seal bags for later use. So handy when we need something quick.
ReplyDeleteYeah, summer cooking is tough without an outdoor grill option. I agree with the crock-pot suggestion - you can skin a whole chicken and put spices and herbs on the meat, then put it in the crock-pot and it will cook up like those rotisserie chickens from the supermarket. No liquid needed!! http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/crockpot-rotisserie-style-chicken.html Then use the meat for several quick cook meals??
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