This issue is all about grilling and other summer cooking.  What’s really nice is that you can get a lot of the recipes on the website, on the Table of Contents page for the current issue.  Here is the Table of Contents for the July/August issue.

Most of the names of the recipes are clickable, and these are available for free download.  The ones that aren’t…sorry, you will just have to buy the magazine!

You should first try the recipes online…and if you like them, you will probably want to subscribe to this magazine.  This is a magazine designed for regular people…no fancy, hard-to-find ingredients, and most recipes are quick and easy to prepare.

There is also an Everyday Food TV show on PBS…check your local listings to see if it airs in your area.  And new this year is a spinoff of the Everyday Food show, called Everyday Baking.  Check ‘em out!

high heels
pink baseball clothing
sexy costumes
pantyhose
dresses/skirts
tube tops
underwire bras
thong underwear
nail polish
fur coats

I guess my X chromosomes were wired wrong, because women ate *supposed* to like all of this stuff. And as far as I care, if women do like it, fine with me! It just isn’t me!

Except for the fur coat thing, though. Killing animals just for fur, when there are perfectly good synthetic products out there, is just plain evil.

Luckily, the upgrade went off without a hitch. I’m always afraid something will go wonky during an upgrade, that I will lose the entire blog. Never mind that I backed up EVERYTHING first!

This computer is acting a little wonky as well…I think I need some more computer memory to help speed things up a bit. Or maybe I just need a new computer.  Gotta think about it some before I plunk down any money.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

Table of contents for Get Inspired!

1. Get Inspired: BLT Salad
2. Get Inspired: Garlic Chicken with Sweet Roasted Pepper Sauce
3. Get Inspired: Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze
4. Get Inspired: Taco Salad

I LOVE taco salad, and this is an easy and very tasty one to make at home. Click on the image above for a large printable copy of the recipe, this will open in a new window.

A few tips here - 90% lean ground beef is kind of pricey. You can buy cheaper ground beef and use that instead. Use a little more than a pound, maybe a pound and a half. After browning the beef for 5 minutes (as in Step 2), drain the beef in a colander to get rid of any excess fat. Return beef to the pan and proceed with recipe. This is important, as you don’t want your salad to be swimming in fat.

Cilantro - either you love it or you hate it. If you don’t like it, you’ll find that it has kind of a “soapy” taste. Use flat-leaf parsley instead.

Finally, you should definitely use the suggested garnishes - avocado (or guacamole), red onion, cheese, and sour cream.

And there you have it!  An easy, quick and very tasty summer meal, courtesy of our friends at Shaw’s and America’s Test Kitchen!   Enjoy!

Norm has every fancy power tool under the sun, no doubt given to him by the many sponsors of the show.  Also, his workshop is ginormous.  He makes the projects look so easy, but for those of us who don’t have the tools that he does, nor a workshop large enough to house them, making some of this stuff could be a challenge.  It’s easier just to buy furniture.

But still, the show is fun to watch.

The official website for this is HERE. You can watch the how-to video clips to see how these tools are used in papercrafting and card making.

However, I found the same set for five bucks less on Home Shopping Network. With shipping included, it comes to the same price as on the official site before shipping. Five bucks is five bucks, HSN wins here.

When I get this, I will get seriously back into my papercrafting, I promise! I’ve been wanting to, anyway, but have been busy with work and other stuff.

I’ve been hesitant to order ANYTHING online these days, due to a rush of bad luck with the Evil Post Office, Federal Distress, and other shippers. I already can forget about getting ANYTHING shipped to my home address, and now, I might even have problems getting anything shipped to our post office box. We’ll find out about that for sure tomorrow.

Anyhoo, *all of this trying to get stuff delivered* business is seriously aging me…I bet my hair is really grey by now…the only reason it’s not is because I color it. And pretty soon I will need to be looking for the top wrinkle cream, as all of this crap really can age a girl, yanno?

So I’m having it sent to Mike’s work.  That’s the only other address I have to send anything to, and unlike a P.O. box, any carrier delivers there.

There’s a serious lack of GOOD craft stores around here, so ordering online is often my only choice if I want any of this stuff.  Is it too much to ask to just be able to have a way to have it all delivered safely?

I actually already have this online, so rather than re-typing or copy/pasting, I will just link to it.  GO HERE FOR YUMMIE COOKIE RECIPE!  It’s in printable form (I hope…LOL!).

It’s from America’s Test Kitchen, the PBS show put out by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.  I promise that everyone who tries these cookies will love them.  I have brought these to parties.  I gave extra to Mike to take to work.  I have even mailed these to people as far away as England.  They mail really well, as they stay moist for longer than other cookies do.  You just need to wrap them well.

To wrap for mailing:  get one of those GladWare containers from the grocery store.  They are as good as Tupperware, reusable, but much cheaper, so you don’t have to worry about getting the container back.

Line it with waxed paper, then put in a layer of cookies (after they have cooled completely).  Top with another sheet of wax paper, then more cookies, more wax paper.  When the container is full, put a final sheet of wax paper over it, then the lid.  Wrap the whole shebang in a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil, then pack in a shipping box with sufficient padding (newspaper, packing peanuts, whatever).

You could also pack them in a decorative tin, the same way.  Wrapping the foil over it helps keep the lid from popping off in transit, and keeps freshness in.

The picture here is a scrapbook page I made for a recipe page swap a long time ago.  It’s all digital but for the “C is for Cookie” title.

Enjoy!

I mean, look at them. It is ASSumed that all women want frou-frou stuff, such as flowers, jewelry, and other girly things. When the family takes Mom out for a Mother’s Day meal, it is always to some frou-frou place that probably doesn’t even have beer. Even though ballparks often have Mother’s Day giveaways, they are usually something pink and girly. Gack.

The Father’s Day gifts are cooler…big screen TVs, cameras, iPods, and other cool toys. One store is advertising free tickets to see the new “Incredible Hulk” movie with certain purchases. If “Sex & The City” had come out before Mother’s Day, they may have offered tickets to that.

Not all men like comic book movies, and not all women like chick flicks.

I also get annoyed about the ads pushing stuff like power tools and air tools as Father’s Day gifts. Yet these same stores push kitchen appliances and such for moms. I guess it’s not occurred to these people that some women like power tools and would love to get them as gifts, and many men love to cook, and would love a blender of an electric mixer.

Gack.  I’ll be happy when it’s over for another year.

Temps in the 90’s in June, in New England, is unseasonably hot. Usually, we don’t get temps that high here until July/August.

It could be worse, though. I remember living in Washington, DC, where it was this hot most of the summer. And Mike was once stationed in Norfolk, VA, when he was in the Navy, and he complained about the summer heat there, too.

But every place has its downsides, I guess. In the winter, we complain about the cold and the snow, and talk about how nice it would be to buy some Wilmington NC real estate, to escape having to shovel snow.  I’m sure it’s just as hot, if not hotter, than it is here…but snowstorms are probably a rare thing.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if there are New Englanders who are considering moving down that way.  The cost of living down south is generally cheaper than it is up here.  Also, with fuel prices as they are, people are concerned about the cost of heating their homes this winter.  I know I am!  That expense would be reduced quite a bit, living south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I love New England too much to leave it…in fact, I want to move a a bit further up north, to Maine, where winters are even colder than here in Massachusetts.  But if others want to make the choice to move to a place that might save a lot of money, I can’t blame them.

If I buy directly from PBS, it costs the full list of $35.00.  But at Buy.com, it’s only $22.63, with free shipping if I order more than $25.  I’m sure I can find something else I want from there, I always do.  So Buy.com wins.

Anyhoo, if you get CreateTV where you are, check out this show.  Lidia is a great cook, a great teacher.  The “set” is not a set, it’s her own personal home kitchen.  Oh, woudl I kill to have a kitchen like that.  And often her family members join her on the show…daughter Tanya, son Joe (who is also a partner with Mario Batali in a restaurant venture), her mother, and various grandkids.

Lidia has had several cooking shows on PBS over the years.  She is one of the longest-running cooking show hosts on TV; I think only Mary Ann Esposito has been on longer.

Oh, and I see that Buy.com has her new book, at a greatly discounted price, as well.  Gotta add that to my shopping cart.  Now I get two great books for not much more than I would have paid elsewhere for one.  And I will get my free shipping, too!

Mangia!