Summer Cooking

Summer has finally shown up where I live. They days have been warm and sunny lately which tends to change our food choices. We lean more towards Popsicle, cold salads, whatever we can cook on the grill and iced tea. But sometimes eating like that can get old fast. We start to miss our normal meals but who wants to run the oven in the middle of the hottest part of the afternoon? The summer heat also makes me feel lazy and lethargic. I really just want to kick back with a good book, watch the kids splash in the slip-and-slide and relax. Isn't that what summer is all about?

So to make my afternoons and evenings seem as lazy and work-free as possible, I get all my cooking done in the morning. Right now I've got the windows open so the house can cool down and I'm cooking homemade mac and cheese, baked potatoes, and dessert. I wandered out to the garden and grabbed some baby spinach and threw together a green salad that is chilling in the fridge, the iced tea and lemonade are all mixed up, and the Popsicle molds are full of homemade frozen treats all by 10am. Do you know what that means? The rest of the day there will be no more, "Mom, I'm hungry!" where I'll have to stop what I'm doing and throw together some food. Everyone can feed themselves whenever they want. Just go to the fridge, grab what you want and I'm pretty much off duty until tomorrow morning.

So Mom's....give yourself a break. Get up early this summer, get the laundry loads going and the dishwasher running, cook up a bunch of food and then kick back and take the day off. Then the rest of the day just relax and enjoy the happy kids and warm days. We deserve a summer break too!