I cook differently when the hot weather hits. And when I think about it, the food I make during the summer tends to be lighter and better for us. Number one, I hate to mess up the kitchen and heat up the house with blazing burners or hot ovens. Yuck. So we use our grill. And just the thought of some heavy protein hit makes me cringe. So I choose small cuts or amounts of chicken, fish, maybe lean pork or shrimp. And we go to the Farmer’s market and stock up on fresh vegetables and fruit. Tonight I’m making chicken breasts, they’ve been marinating in lemon juice, fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil. I’m serving them with a loose-leaf salad of baby greens and spinach, along with new red potatoes topped with shaved Parmesan. My husband and I will have a glass of Chardonnay and the kids will have fresh-squeezed lemonade. We’ll eat out on the back porch, because the sun moves to the other side of the house in the afternoon, so it’s cooler out back. The only drawback, no bones for our three dogs. They will have to make due with those store bought treats!
