Most of summer, we're a pleasant 75 to 80 degrees F in my area. However, we seem to get one or two hot spells that last anywhere from 3 days to a week, where it's right around 90 or even hotter. We get through those hot spells without AC, just a couple of fans. Anyway, this week was the hot week. I did what I could to avoid heating the kitchen. I used the microwave a lot, grilled, and used the crockpot. I also served a cold dinner one night. I did need to bake bread. However, I got the dough started very early in the morning, so it could bake before noon. And when we wanted brownies, I made my microwave brownies, using basic ingredients (cocoa powder, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, vanilla). These are really quite good, very chocolatey and on the fudgy side.
Here's what we had for our evening meals this past week:
Friday
homemade pepperoni and sausage pizza, sautéed kale/garlic scapes/chive blossoms, dolmathes, canned peach slices (dented can -- 69 cents) and fresh raspberries for dessert
Saturday
refried beans, homemade tortillas, sautéed kale mixed with canned tomatoes, cherry and rhubarb pie
Sunday
Swiss chard frittata, kale/cranberry/almond salad, brown rice, leftover cherry and rhubarb pie
Monday
tuna salad on garden greens, steamed broccoli, toast, rhubarb sauce
Tuesday
teriyaki chicken and cauliflower, brown rice, frozen peas, garden raspberries
Wednesday (After dinner, the chicken leg quarter bones, skin, and leftover meat went into the crockpot for the night, to be used in Thursday's dinner.)
grilled chicken, crockpot polenta, garden salad, sautéed garden kale, garden blueberries and raspberries, microwave brownies
Thursday (My daughter was making dinner and had planned to make a chicken pot pie. To run the oven for less time, she made a quick chicken soup on the stove and baked the pie dough as crackers)
chicken and vegetable soup (chicken and stock from Wednesday's grilled chicken bones, canned carrots, frozen peas), cinnamon rhubarb sauce, homemade crackers (made with pie dough), last of the microwave brownies
That's what was on my menu. What were the highlights of yours?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
