But the weather! The weather is ready. It's about a month early here, and while it's good for peaches, it's bad for electric bills. So trying for an easy-ish week...
Monday: Memorial Day cookout. Hot dogs for boys, something from the freezer for me. Easy-peasy night.
Tuesday: Thank you, Lord, for Menu Plan Monday, which taught me about Taco Tuesday.
Wednesday: Also easy night. Friends who moved to AZ are visiting so we are having hoagies to say "welcome back!" Can't wait to see them, and looking forward to a night together.
Thursday: I'm running out to Dinner A'Fare to make more meals for the freezer. The boys will have, ironically, something from the freezer.
Friday: June, really? So soon? Probably crockpot chili with soccer friends, but we'll see. You know how those summer weekends go. :)
The bonus to the early heat: early fruit. Last Friday, the older boy and I snarfed nectarines, sharlyn melons, cherries, and strawberries for dinner. (OK, I had some cold mushroom soup too.) It was awesome--cool and slurpy and great for a sticky summery night.
And remember my freezer meal swap last week? That worked out so well for me. My pork recipe was easy (so I hope it's good); and when I ran out of meals last week (a good thing, we didn't go out and we ate what we had), I defrosted some orange chicken stir fry and three of four of us really enjoyed it. I was so happy to have that in the bag, so to speak. Now I also have some stuffed shells, some chimichangas (have to be honest, I don't even know what a chimichanga is), and a flank steak ready for grilling in there.
Meanwhile, cooking for Memorial Day was a challenge. We went to the mountains, which I enjoy, but there was no air conditioning--the weather is cooler there, but cooking in heat is cooking in heat. And we were making birthday dinner for two 21 year old foodies (niece & her husband). I went with the Smitten Kitchen green bean salad, a frisee (since I had it) salad with the "warm melty crouton" from SK (by request), corn on the cob (by request), and in the end, two kinds of yogurt marinated chicken. It was a very internet dinner and seemed to go over well with the birthday "kids." It can be so stressy getting ready to go to the mountains--do we have everything? (No, we never do, this time it was goggles I forgot, despite my younger son reminding me, kindly, several times.) Did we pack the right clothes? Too many? Too few? Too hot? Too cold? What are the unspoken expectations of the family, nuclear and extended? But then we get here and the kids are roaming and the grownups are puttering and the dog is barking and I'm always glad we came.
Wishing you a summer of being in places you are glad to be. For more start of summer meal plans, try the indispensable I'm an Organizing Junkie!
1 comment:
Have fun with your friends! I hear you on the weather, I'm not looking forward to our electric bill but it's been so hot here I haven't felt like there was a real choice. We turned it off tonight as it's "only" in the lower 80's but I must say it feels warm!
I'm loving the fruit too. The watermelon and honeydew we've had has been awesome.
I'm so glad the freezer swap has worked so well for you. I love chimichangas! Hope you enjoy yours. (Fried, deep or pan, rolled tortilla filled with chicken or ground beef, sometimes cheese.) Yum!
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