Beat the Heat in Your Summer Kitchen

In the dog days of summer, the last thing you want to worry about is the heat inside your home your after a day of cooking on the stove. As the temps rise outside, it becomes harder and harder to keep your house cool, and that's without cooking appliances adding to the problem. Today, I'm sharing tips for eating healthy while staying chill, literally.

GAS GRILL

Ah, convenience. You can just throw the food on there and then step back into the air conditioning, set a timer, and head back out to check on the progress. Here are some of my favorite, unexpected ways to use the gas grill, besides chicken, steak, etc.

1. Grilled hearts of romaine

This is my secret weapon to amping up a salad in the summer. You can eat these greens dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice, or cut them up into a heartier salad.

2. Mexican street corn

When local corn is at its peak in the summer, we could make a whole meal out of this stuff.

3. Philly cheese steak stuffed portobello caps

You're going to wonder why you ever used bread for a Philly. You can buy thinly sliced beef at the ethnic supermarket, and it' totally worth the extra step. Grill the meat, some sliced bell peppers and onions together in a little pan made for cooking veggies on the grill, like this one. Drizzle a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the portobello caps and grill them separately. Remove everything from the grill once it's done. Transfer the meat and veggies to a bowl, and mix together with provel cheese. Then assemble by piling the meat, veggie and cheese mixture into the portobello cap, and topping with a little more provel. Place the stuffed portobello caps back onto the grill and cook until everything is melty and delicious!

Tip: I don't use the gas grill to cook anything that takes longer than 15-30 minutes. To me, that seems like a waste of expensive propane. For example, if you want to cook baked potatoes, I'd suggest wrapping them in foil and throwing them on a charcoal grill (or even in the fire pit) OR microwaving them and then moving them to the gas grill to crisp up the skin.

MICROWAVE

You might think from reading my blog that I would be the type of person that never uses the microwave, but let me tell you -- we take full advantage of it in this house. We love frozen, steam-in-bag veggies like organic broccoli, cauliflower, and edamame. I'm also not above buying the 90 second pre-cooked or frozen rice or quinoa, especially if it means not having a burner going for 20 minutes when it's in the high 80s outside.

SLOW COOKER

You don't have to have a fancy slow cooker to make amazing food. Mine is about ten years old, it's probably too small but I cram everything in there anyway, and it's dented on one side from Ryan kicking it once (don't ask). BUT! I still use it almost weekly. Here are my favorite tips for cooking in the slow cooker and still having fresh, healthy meals.

1. Get this book. It will completely turn everything you thought about the slow cooker on its head. Not only are the recipes incredible, but it'll give you such good ideas to use on your own.

2. Skip the cream-of-whatever-the-hell-is-in-that-can soup.

You don't need it. If a recipe calls for it, toss the recipe or come up with an alternative like greek yogurt.

3. Add fresh toppings at the end.

While you're prepping your meal, chop some fresh garnishes to be added at the end. These will give your food color and life! I love to use parsley, a squeeze of lemon, quick pickled veg, kimchi, steamed veggies, etc to brighten up the final dish.

FIREPIT

Treat it just like the grill, except it doubles as an entertainment feature! We love cooking on our fire pit because it's a great way to combine summer food and fun. This past weekend, we put a sprinkler out for the kids and grilled pizzas instead of having a "dinner party". It was perfection.

We purchased this foldable circular grill grate for overtop our fire pit. You can fold one side over the other to easily expose an area of higher burning logs for roasting marshmallows while still cooking grilled food on the other side. Or you could keep it unfolded and turn your fire pit into a massive grill. Ours is 40" across, so we easily fit 12 pizzas on it last weekend!

Tip: Use charcoal AND wood to build your fire up under the grill grate. Also, I never buy flavored charcoal, unless I'm completely certain that it's natural. Typically, I stick to the original, and I make sure to use nice clean logs. This is NOT the time to burn cardboard boxes, old newspapers, dried leaves, etc. or your food will get ashy and taste like the garbage you're cooking it on.

ELECTRIC EGG COOKER

In a moment of complete exhaustion after having Julep, I bought one of these and, y'all, I'm not over it. Hard boiled and poached eggs are so easy now, and BONUS you don't have to heat up your kitchen to make them. Do yourself a favor and get one, even if it's just to make hard boiled eggs. It's small enough to fit in a kitchen drawer. You're going to love your life. I could go on and on.