Carlos Santana is Right – It’s a Hot One!

Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas had it right in their song “Smooth”.  Great summer tunes, a kiddie pool, hamburgers on the bbq and watermelon are the remedy for a sweltering hot day!   In Kingston, Ontario we only get a few of these days a year, so I’m definitely not going to complain about the 35 degree + days we’ve been having.  The Weather Network says it’s going to be like this all week.   So yesterday, we bbq’d a dozen hamburgers on the bbq and I put them in the fridge — we can all just grab what we want and no one has to cook.

Watermelon is the best fruit, in my opinion, for hot days.  Keep it nice and cold in the fridge, cut into bite sized pieces so everyone can help themselves.

A nice chilled white wine doesn’t hurt either!  We choose the Jacob’s Creek Riesling at the LCBO and enjoyed sitting in our new fancy ‘deck pool’ while enjoying a glass (or two).

Enjoy the summer — soak up every minute of it!  Yay for hamburgers and watermelon! 

“Night Before” Roast Chicken – Cold For a Hot Day

I think many of you agree that ideas for dinner are sometimes generated by the weather!  In the winter, comfort food and crock pot cooking, and meaty pastas warm the cockles of our hearts.  In the summer, sweltering heat and humidity make us not want to eat at all!    I knew it was going to be hot today — one of the first really hot days of our Kingston summer — so last night when I was making dinner, I put a chicken in the oven to roast while I ran around driving and picking up my kids.    Roast chicken is so simple:   buy chicken at grocery store, turn oven to 350 degrees, rinse chicken and pat dry, put in a small roasting pan, sprinkle a good amount of BBQ seasoning (or any seasoning you like), cover with tinfoil, and let cook for about an hour an a half.   Then take the tinfoil off, and cook for another 20-30 minutes.   Take out of the oven, and let cool.   Then cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge.   Now you have a whole roast chicken!    Tonight I’ll take the meat off the bones with my hands to put on top of a nice cold, fresh salad.

For salad, I’ll use whatever fresh lettuce and fresh veg I have in the fridge. I always have a mix of salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions or red onions.   My boys both like  a great big salad with lots of stuff in.  So I nearly always add dried cranberries, sesame seeds, and sometimes add deep fried onion bits (I know they’re not good for you, but a few on top of a salad?  Come on, yum!).    Add the cold chicken, some ranch dressing, and voila in about 15 minutes you’ve got Cold Chicken for a Hot Day!