June 12 - 16

Last week of school! Woo hoo!

It's Sunday night, I'm sitting in the sun on my deck smelling the gorgeous smell of dinner cooking on the grill. Trying to keep the squirrels and bunnies from tearing apart the garden so we can enjoy some of it ourselves, we've been out here a lot lately. Not sure if it's helping, but I'll always take an excuse to sit on the deck.

As it's the end of the school year, and my exhaustion level is impossible to predict, dinner this week is simple stuff. But I'm excited, nonetheless.

Sunday

We're breaking out the rotisserie for the grill for the first time this year, and are cooking a chicken (actually, we're cooking two -- I got one out of the freezer, and later, Phil got one out -- we both remembered we'd like to grill chicken this weekend, but didn't really communicate well other than that, and both were partially thawed before we realized. A silly misunderstanding, kind of like an episode of Three's Company, right?).

So I rubbed between the skin and the meat of one of the chickens. My flavoring was this: three big cloves of garlic, chopped, and an ice-cube of pesto (that's how I freeze the pesto when I make it) and salt and pepper and olive oil and white wine vinegar. Mix it all, moosh it all around under the skin.

Phil flavored his more barbecue-y -- tangy and sweet and a little spicy. But we're learning to go easy on the sugar with these things -- we once made a rotisserie chicken resembling a football, because the sugar in the rub kept flaming up and it turned the skin into a black crisp. But the inside was juicy...

And we'll roast potatoes and have some fresh Michigan asparagus with.

Monday

I got a whole bunch of peas at the farmer's market yesterday. Fresh peas are such a treat. We're having risotto.

Shiitake and sweet pea risotto

Salad (we'll be eating salad a lot lately -- strangely, none of the little critters are going for the lettuce in the garden, so there's plenty of that.)

Tuesday

Grilled pork chops

Asparagus

Grilled tomatoes and vidalia onion

Wednesday

Fried rice with stuff in it (if you're a frequent reader of this blog, you know the drill -- saute lots of veggies, one at a time, maybe some chicken, add pre-cooked brown rice, soy sauce, sriracha, then make a well in the middle and add some egg. Scramble it up and mix it in.)

Have a grand week!

June Food (June 4 - 9, specifically)

And now it's June... and stuff is starting to show up in the garden, which puts me SO in a food mood. Granted, the garden is coming in dribs and drabs, but just the joy of going out to pick a little bowl of lettuce for salad, or mint for a mojito, or strawberries for dessert is exciting in a way that isn't entirely appropriate.

So we've been using those little bits that have become ready, mixed in with lots of other good food. Our menu:

Saturday

Lamb burgers (1 pound ground lamb, chopped shallot, red onion, mint, parsley and salt and pepper) on whole wheat buns with a bit of feta on top

Salad (from our garden, yahoo) with mushrooms, lemon juice, and olive oil

Sweet potato chunks roasted in foil on the grill

Sunday

Grilled chicken breasts with pesto on top

Grilled asparagus

Grilled vidalia onion, cherry tomato, and mushrooms (done in foil) with a bit of parmesan on top at the end

Tuesday

A guy at the farmers market was selling lovely steaks on Saturday, so I had to buy some:

Grilled filet mignon

More grilled asparagus (I plan to eat it daily until it's not in season anymore)

Grilled mushrooms and onions

Wednesday

Fajitas: when cleaning out the freezer, we found some chuck roast that we had slow-cooked and shredded, saving it for a time when we'd need some quick cooking. Then we forgot about it. So we're putting it in fajitas tonight, and the rest of the plan is pretty slap-dash: onions and mushrooms, of course, and probably corn and red peppers from the freezer. Seasonings (cayenne, cumin, chili powder, jalapeno) and put it all in a tortilla. A bit of guacamole and salsa.

Thursday

Another freezer find: spaghetti squash! I cooked up a bunch last fall, shredded it so it looked like spaghetti noodles (so fun!) and froze it in single-serving bags. But at some point this winter, I lost total control of our freezer inventory. But control was regained this weekend, and I know what's in there again, so we're using stuff. So tonight is sauteed veggies with pesto and spaghetti squash. Maybe a bit of bacon for fun, or maybe just parmesan cheese. If it was a tough day, maybe both. And probably some fresh basil from the herb garden, eve though there's already pesto. Just because it's fun to pick things.

Have a grand week!