Ever since I started eating salads as a wee lass, I have loved croutons.  No scratch that, I adore croutons!  Crispy crunchy little bits of bread that are loaded with flavor adding a nice texture to salad.  Sometimes they’ll soak up a bit of the dressing acquiring even more flavor!  I prefer smaller bite sized pieces but I won’t turn down a crouton when presented to me.

I used to buy croutons all the time at the store.  I had my favorite brands and favorite flavors.  Garlic was a must and cheese was optional.

Croutons that came on salads from a restaurant seemed even more special.  No doubt they were the same croutons I was buying myself but when you’re out to dinner everything always seems a little more decadent and special.

I rarely meet a crouton that I don’t like.  Oh it happens, just not often.

For some reason it never occurred…

Oh farm fresh corn how we love you! You signal to us that it’s time for summer and that means crab boils, cookouts, camping, and maybe a few nights spent around the fire-pit.  You are very versatile and can be used in so many ways!

Sometimes a recipe calls for fresh corn cut off the cob and if you haven’t done it before or you’re not sure how to go about it, taking corn off the cob can be tricky business.

Corn is odd shaped and cutting it can be a test of patience and quick reflexes.  It can also get messy because corn actually carries a lot of liquid with it.

It doesn’t have to be a game of culinary roulette though!  Nope.  I promise, cutting corn off the cob can be done easily though you still need to stay focused during the task.  No one wants a runaway…

With it being summertime, we have the chance to take the kids out and about more.  They get longer walks and more playtime.  The downside is that it is also hotter and just like us, our kids can get hot too.  They can overheat and get dehydrated.  We have to make sure that we pay attention to them to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Boxers and other dogs that tend to have more squishy faces (or brachycephalic dogs for you fancy folks) have slightly more trouble dealing with extreme temperatures than those dogs with longer snouts.  Here’s a link with more info, scroll down past the human examples.  If you have a dog that falls into this category, make sure you pay even more attention to how they are handling the heat because they are more likely to overheat and have breathing problems.

We have talked before…

It’s summertime in the US and this mean HOT weather.  And if you are lucky enough to live in the East, South, and Midwest then you get the bonus of also enduring humidity!  Hooray!

High humidity means that you can actually swim to your car, the corner, or the mailbox instead of walking like normal folks.  It’s totally true because when you get back home you are soaked through like you just swam through something.  And how does it feel walking in that humidity?  It feels like you dove into a lukewarm bath.  Yeah, it’s pretty gross.

Hot and humidity means that you sweat.  A LOT! Way more than one normally sweats and this also means fluid loss.  In the summer we need to be more vigilant about making sure we take in enough fluids to keep our bodies hydrated and functioning at top levels!

This goes for both athletes and non-athletes.

This…

The first time I ever had fresh pineapple was at the salad bar at Eat ‘N Park.  Up until that point I only ever had canned pineapple.  I’m not a big canned fruit fan.  It’s always seems way too sweet.  Canned pineapple for whatever reason really doesn’t appeal to me.  When I had fresh pineapple I could not believe the taste! It was sweet and slightly tart.  It was soft with a little chew to it.

It wasn’t harsh or overly acidic like the canned version.

I could not get enough! From that point on I vowed that when living on my own I would get fresh pineapple when possible for a lovely treat.  It seems that I prefer pineapple more in the summer months.  I’m not sure what the growing season is for pineapple but the summer is when it calls my name.  Along with watermelon.  They have to compete with…

Despite the fluctuating temperatures and the increased amount of rainy days, Columbus is in full grilling mode!  Actually when the winter weather breaks and we reach at least 50F in temps, people start grilling.  Us included.  Taking an evening walk around the neighborhood yields itself to many delicious smells.

I have it in my head that grilling makes kitchen cleanup easy!  Everything gets prepped ahead so there are minimal dishes to wash after it’s all said and done.

Oh how I wish this were true!

Instead I find myself frustrated with the fact that I have a ton more dishes and such to cleanup than I originally planned on.  This is because grilling can be deceptive when it comes to how many dishes you actually need to use.

Just for starters there’s the utensils that are needed for grilling.  Meat forks, flippers, and tongs of various sizes and lengths.  Add…

Corn on the cob has to be one of my most favorite things to eat.  It’s sweet, chewy, and with a pinch of salt, it can be a bit savory as well.  You get to eat it with your hands and if you’re doing it right, then you look like a mess with corn and butter all over your face.  The good news is that you look just like everyone else who’s eating with you!

I remember being given the job of shucking the corn as a kid.  I had to sit out in the back yard with a bowl and a paper bag.  The paper bag was for the husks and corn silk while the bowl was for the fresh cleaned corn. When we lived in North Carolina it was common place for people to shuck their corn in the grocery store instead of at home.

I admit that I…

I am always looking for ways that I can cut down the number of dishes that I have to do after a meal.  One of my favorite ways of keeping the dirties to a minimum is by roasting things in the oven.  A foil wrapped baking sheet makes for super easy cleanup when the couch seems a little more inviting than a sink full of suds full of empty promises that it won’t dry out your hands.

One random Saturday I watched Ina make some shrimp cocktail and she roasted her shrimp.

Chef, what?!

Why this never occurred to me before I have no idea but I was determined to give it a try.  Cooking seafood takes only minutes, it’s pretty fast and really effortless once you get experience under your apron.  Shrimp do not take long to cook at all but roasting them means I don’t have to dirty…

One of the things that I love about quinoa is that it cooks quick.  It has the same ratios and cooking time as a white rice.

2 parts liquids to one part quinoa.

You handle it just like you would rice which makes it easy peasy! It also provides a sense of familiarity to a dish that might be a new cooking adventure.  The quinoa absorbs the liquid and sort of fluffs up.

Because the quinoa absorbs the liquid, you can use different liquids for cooking.  Chicken or veggie stock make great choices and will give the quinoa a hint of flavor that it won’t get from water.  You can split the different and do half stock/water and half wine. Sounds yummy, right?

If I don’t know what I’m going to do with the quinoa, I will usually stick with cooking it in water.  But if I know it’s going to be part of…

One of my favorite new ways to enjoy quinoa is by adding a good bit to my breakfast.  I eat oatmeal or oatbran just about everyday for breakfast.  I’m pretty much an oatmeal purist, which means I don’t like to add a lot of “stuff” to my oatmeal.  I also do not eat “oats in a jar”, it’s just not my style nor does it make for an attractive food picture to look at (true statement).

Of course there are a few exceptions of things I’ll add to my oats, like fruit for example.  Oh summer time and peach oats, how I cannot wait for you to show up!  Another thing I really like adding to my oats is quinoa.  It gives my morning breakfast a little bit of a twist in texture but not enough to throw off the meal.  It’s an easy and quick way to…