Making Summer Meals Fun
I LOVE to cook and during the summer months I like to try new recipes and use the barbecue. I LOVE to eat outside and to have friends over for homemade ice cream and spend long summer afternoons and evenings hanging out by the pool. BUT, this summer has been a different story……You may be wondering what these pictures have to do with making fun summer meals……well, the reality is that this summer, I am attempting to make fun summer meals from my 60 square ft. laundry room. My creativity and patience have been put to a test for the past 7 1.2 months as we have waited and watched our kitchen restoration/floor repair/remodel take place after a refrigerator leak last November. Since Thanksgiving, I have been cooking out of my laundry room. With much anticipation and hope, I thought my situation would be different than it is today. With most of our family coming for the 4th of July holiday, I was certain I would finally be able to entertain and cook for my family out of my new kitchen, but alas…….it does not look like that will be a reality for us this holiday season. So this past weekend, my sweet husband and a few dear friends and my brother worked tirelessly to get the rest of the house as ready as possible for the arrival of our long awaited visitors.
This is the result of being able to at least unpack some of my bins full of kitchen items.
This is where most of the contents of our home have been stored during this process. We are frantically trying to get this room ready for the grandchildren coming in a few days.
Here is a number of boxes that still need to be sorted through.
Here is the place I have been preparing food for the past 7 months and where I will have to figure out how to feed 13 people 3 meals a day for the next week of so…including a huge party on July 4th for our expended family.
I have been planning easy, nutritious and fun meals for next week.
This is where we have been eating. Now we will move our food prep station and the actual eating of our meals outside.
Believe it or not, with only a hot pot, microwave and toaster, we have been able to enjoy some mighty fine meals.
On the menu for next week will be a lot of BBQ vegetables and meats that can be tossed into salads, wrapped in tortillas for burritos or Quesadillas. We will have an old fashioned burger and hotdog meal for July 4th (asking the guests to bring all the side dishes). One night we may try to make a pizza on the BBQ as well.
So as much as I wanted to share some of my new recipes cooked in my new kitchen…..for this blog post I can only tell you that we WILL MAKE THIS COOKING EXPERIENCE AS FUN AS WE CAN…..you will have to stay tuned for the recipes after next week.
Have you ever had to take an unexpected circumstance out of your control and make the most out of it?