Surviving Summer's Heat

Summer is full on!  As the saying goes today was "Hot enough to make the devil cry!"   During the summer months, we moan about the "air we wear" and pray for rain.  The heat and humidity of summer present many  challenges... 

Like how few clothes can you wear and still be presentable,

Finding the shady parking spots when you have to venture out,

Finding cold water to jump into after July 4th; That's not funny.  It gets hard to find.

or Is it okay to feed your family watermelon for supper?

One challenge we moms face is how to keep everyone happy when the kitchen only operates at half-scale.  Seriously, are you going to "light the oven" and bake up a batch of brownies or rolls?  The answer is a definite "no".  It's hot.  We're all miserable from the heat.  You don't want to add anymore heat to the house, but you can only take so many light meals before your nose starts to twitch.

So what can you do when everyone starts to resent your fruity concoctions and vegetable-filled plates?  The answer is already in your cabinet.  You probably only use it for big gatherings, a  pot of chili, or a carryover meal.  It's time to embrace the CROCKPOT.  You can do a lot with it all year round- even desserts.

Today I wanted something rich and heavy for supper.  So I set the crockpot up on the backporch.  (Yes, you can do that too.  It really will be fine, and you can be so proud of your practical-self because you're not heating up the house one bit.)  I cooked lasagna in the crock all afternoon.  By suppertime, we had a delicious "mmmmmmm, that feels good" meal.  Why, you could even throw a salad on the side if you can't fight the compulsion!

However you serve it up- the kitchen didn't heat up the house, and everyone's tastebuds got refreshed.  There are lots of crockpot recipes to be had at websites like www.allrecipes.com.  When in a pinch, you can even cook a store bought casserole in the crockpot instead of the oven.

So hang in there.  We're not even through the first month of summer.