Our Menu Plan -- Hot Summer Meal Ideas

Rest assured, even though I've not been posting our weekly menu, we have been eating.  This summer is one of the hottest summers I can remember and that means our meals have been prepared accordingly.  There are only so many hot weather foods we like that I can think of, so we've been eating mostly the same things week to week. Here's a list of some of our favorites -- we usually eat these once a week, some are every two weeks.

• Shaved peppered turkey sandwiches

I always used to pass up the fancier deli meats that had a seasoned "crust". They weren't any more expensive than the regular meats, I just wasn't sure the "crust" would add any extra flavor.  One day I gave it a try and wow, the flavored meats are delicious! Especially the peppered variety. It's just pepper, but it makes a big difference.

• Grilled Fish
• Grilled Brats
• Grilled Hamburgers
• Tacos 
• Mexican Casserole made on the stove top and in the microwave
• Breakfast
• Pizza (yes, we still heat up the house to make this every Friday night)
• BBQ Beef or Chicken Sandwiches

Here's what we do for sides:

• 3 Bean Salad
• Oriental Cabbage Salad
• Corn on the Cobb
• Garden Salad
• Cottage Cheese and/or Fruit
• Baked Beans (made on the stove top)
• Potato Salad
• Mixed Veggies

What are your favorite hot weather foods?

I Have a Hot Date

...with my sister.  With our work and family schedules, it's tough for me to get together very often with one of my sisters. For years Kendra & I have arranged to meet at the grocery store and visit while we shop.  We always jokingly call this a hot date.

We've been trying for the last couple of weeks to work a visit into our schedules and the only time we could come up with was a quick stop for coffee and then on to the grocery store this Saturday. We always joke that we will end up as two old biddys with blue and purple hair perusing the grocery stores every other day telling all the clerks that we can remember when milk was a cheap $3 a gallon. I want the purple hair. I look good in purple. She looks better in blue.

Eeeeewwwwww

You know how we have 911 service for emergencies? Press 1 if you are being stabbed. Press 2 if this is for a robbery in progress... anyway. There ought to be another 911 type help service for lower level emergencies. Such as when the need to clean up gross icky things arises -- like vomit, diaper blowouts and tomato worms. Now I do realize that mothers might very well need to contact this other emergency service several times a day.  But I need to call 911 for the tomato worms. Eeeeww Yick, Yick, YICK!

We grow a couple of tomato plants right next to the garage door. They start out bigger and we and give them extra loving care and fertilizer -- more so than the regular garden tomatoes in the hopes of getting a nice ripe tomato quicker.This morning my morning walk was rudely interrupted by several tomato worms doing their level best to gobble up my tomato plants.  Eeeeeeeew! Tomato worms are one of the ickiest garden interlopers ever. Very few things creep me out more than a tomato worm. Seriously. I have goose bumps on top of my goosebumps. Tonight I picked off 10 more from the garden tomatoes.   It was tough to find an instrument that allowed me to keep a safe distance between me and the worms. You can't just knock them off, you need to pull them off. George came to the rescue with an old pair of very long needle nosed pliers. As I type this I feel like those gross things are crawling all over me. Tomorrow I start therapy.