I am in love with summer. Here are my top reasons why.

1.  Vacations by the water.
I go a bit crazy when I haven't seen the ocean in more than a few months. Summer is of course the best time to go to the shore.  The water is a bit cold around here, but I'm fine just to hole up in the sand with a sun umbrella, read a good book, take a nap, and wait for the sunset.



2.  Garden Bounty.

I love nothing more than a fresh salad made of lettuce from my garden, tomatoes from my garden, vinaigrette with herbs from my garden, cucumber from my garden, carrots from my garden... you get the idea.

3.  Open windows.

I hate all winter when the house is stuffy but too cold to open the windows. Summertime means open windows at night, when the air is cool and wet and smells like wonderful.

4.  Faster rush hour.    Do you also notice your commute gets shorter in summer when all those crazy kids aren't riding or driving to school each day?

5.  Finally: spiked lemonade.  Need I explain?

Here is a recipe.  

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Thanks for reading!

Winter Broccoli

So it's COLD outside, and although I would love to just snuggle under a blanket, watch Netflix and eat melted cheese all day, I still need to get some veggies somehow.  I remembered that I hadn't made my favorite broccoli recipe in a while, so I got some broccoli from the store, but when I got home I couldn't find the recipe.  I made up something based on what I do remember, and it was AMAZING.

I had someone ask about it, so here it is (in very, very rough and inexact language)

Broccoli, washed and cut into similarly-sized pieces
(I used about a pound, but you can make whatever you need)

I spun the broccoli in a salad spinner for a second to get rid of any excess water.

Put the broccoli in a large roasting pan.  Add some olive oil and salt, and toss it around so the broccoli is mostly coated with the oil.

Put it all in the oven at 450 degrees or so.

Here's where you will need to keep an eye on the broccoli--I don't have exact times, but it took mine probably 20 minutes or so to get good and roasted.  I like it to be a little brown and caramelized, so I err on the side of longer.
If you want this all to go faster, you can steam the broccoli so it is partly cooked before you put it in the oven.

When it's tender enough to eat and not quite as done as you would like it to be, take it out of the oven.  This is the good part: in a small bowl, mix some minced garlic (I used a lot--like 3 heads), some softened butter (I used about 3 tablespoons), and few tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese.  If you have a food processor, blend it up good with that first, but I didn't have the energy for all that so I just mushed it up real good with a fork.

Top the broccoli with the cheesy buttery goodness.  Put it back in the oven. 

Wait maybe 10 minutes or so.  The cheesy buttery goodness should start to melt a bit and get browned. It gets a little toasted and some will melt into the broccoli. 

When it looks ready, pull it out and eat it up!

You should try it out.  Broccoli is cheap, and yummy, and when you top it with butter and cheese and roast it, it's freakin amazing.