Hi everyone! Hope you are all staying cool! My thermometer is reading 105! This might be a little hotter than it actually is because it is in the sun, but anyway I think we can safely say that it is a cooker outside! It is just too hot to even want to eat! Well not really, it hasn't stopped me yet, however maybe its been too hot to want to cook.
After eating out a couple nights I decided it was time to get with it!! I pulled out my receipe folders and some old cooking magazines to look for a little help. These magazines, two of my favorites are certainly appetizing.
Cooking with all the seasons fresh fruits and vegetables is a must. I always plant some herbs in amongst my flowers in the summer. They are easy to grow and so nice to use in garnishing and flavoring foods. Summer is all about grilling, salads and lots of cool foods. Foods that can be prepared fast. "Fast and fresh"!! Kinda like "Keep it simple Sweetie".
Above is a picture of a notebook in which I have photo copyed the index of old cooking magazines. I highlight the receipes I have tried or that I want to try. This helps me locate recipes easily. Another thing that I do is put menues in the folder. As you know it takes a lot of time to plan a meal, so when I have a good menu I save it in the notebook, listing where each recipe was found and also adding any comments. (example: meat a little too dry next time add more liquid).
How many times have you made something that you really like and then can't remember where you got the recipe?? Here is an idea that I hope will be helpful. I have a folder for each season. I will list my favorite seasonal receipes and where they are found. Notebook, old magazine, cookbook, internet or file box. By the time summer rolls around next year I will remember all my favorites and where to find them.
Doesn't this pie look heavenly!! I have tasted this receipe and it is as good as it looks. Don't forget that most of us are visual and taste first with our eyes. Keep this in mind when preparing foods. In the summer we have so many herbs, fruits, seeds etc. available to garnish our food with. Use them and take your food preparation to the next level just by doing something as simple as adding a mint leaf or a lime slice. Be creative, casual, and cook with love. Make your family and friends feel like the most important people in the world, because guess what??? They are!!!
Cool Cookin from my Home to Yours!
Bev
