{Cool Cooking Ideas}

Holy mother of god, it's been warm here. Humid and 115 degrees ... at the same time.

Although, we got a little break today with a high of only 108. :)

It's nice to use your oven less during the summer. I mean, isn't it paradoxical to run the air conditioner and then heat a hot box to 350 degrees in the middle of your house? Surely, it's

worthwhile sometimes, but it's nice to have a stack of cool cooking ideas handy when the

season calls for them. Here are a few things I've made lately, sans the oven ...

Chicken salad -- Organic, free range chicken that David grilled. I cut it up and added grapes,

golden raisins, celery, a bit of yellow onion, salt, pepper, & a touch of Miracle Whip Light to

hold it together. I would have added walnuts, but Mr. Link isn't a nut guy.

Toast with poached egg, crumbled feta, tomato, fresh basil, salt, & pepper.

My friend, Alejandra, made this for me one day, and it's been a fav in our house since.
I changed it up here based on the ingredients I had. (She originally spread goat cheese

on the toast, added a layer of sliced avocado or tomato and then topped that with a

poached egg.) I love that it takes ten minutes to make but it still feels like you're

spoiling yourself with goodness when you eat it.


Watermelon-Feta-Mint-Scallion Salad. The only other ingredient is a tiny drizzle of EVOO

to hold it altogether. I'll change three things next time I make this:

1) Use a block of feta, cubed, instead of using crumbled like I did here.

2) Mix the feta in last to keep it from breaking up too much.

3) Cut up the watermelon and let it drain in a colander first to keep it from being too wet.

Otherwise, the flavors were great. I'll be making this again.

Height-of-Summer Tomato Salad. (Found in Vegetarian Times.) The dressing is simple. It's

2/3 c. fresh basil leaves, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 Tbl. olive oil -- pulsed in food processor.

That's poured over the salad, for which I used a few colors and sizes of tomatoes. Hot house,

Roma, Heirloom, Yellow Grape, Cherry. Beautiful! Then, I added cucumbers, slices of red

onion, basil, and a touch each of EVOO and ricotta.

Fennel-Spiced Potato Wedges. (Another Vegetarian Times idea.) Here's the how to:

- Take 3 large Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut each into 8 wedges.

- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add wedges & cook 5-6 minutes. Drain, pat dry.

- Meanwhile, toast 1 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds in a small, dry skillet for 3-4 minutes. Shake skillet often. Then, grind seeds in coffee grinder (or with mortal and pestle) until a fine powder.

- Combine fennel powder with 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder and 3/4 tsp. salt in a small bowl.

- Toss potatoes in olive oil. Spread on plate and sprinkle all over with fennel seed mixture.

- Season with pepper.

- Heat grill to high; rub grates with canola oil. Place wedges on grill, close lid and cook 4-5

minutes or until easy to turn. Flip, close grill and cook 4-5 minutes more.

Parmesan-Truffle Popcorn. This is divine. A little salty but divine. We made the popcorn in a

pot, stovetop style. Then, in a small saucepan, we melted butter, grated Parmesan and truffle salt. Once it was all combined, we drizzled it over the popcorn, and it was amazing! Next time

I make it, I think I'll use truffle oil and Parmesan so I can skip the salt and most of the butter.

Not bad either way, I'm sure. :)

A simple fruit salad, perfect for summertime. Pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, and

blueberries. Delicious, fresh and all natural.

I also made Potato-Broccoli Soup, but I didn't take a photo. See recipe here. :)

And if you want something not cool but super awesome to cook ... you might wanna

check these out. Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness. I might have to ... oh, yes I might.

Will you?

I believe you've met my kitchen helper, the lovely and sweet, Miss Norah Bean.

She's my loyal Lola, never far away. I love that she keeps me company in the kitchen!

Happy summer. Stay cool. Xoxo.