Things I'm Loving this Summer

01 July 2015

Hullo, July! I'd like you to note how relatively cool June was and its manageable number of mosquitos. Its watermelons however weren't that great, so you could totally one up her on that account.

Anyhoo, some things I've been loving this summer:

- 1 -
Grilling Pizza: We love pizza. A year ago I started using this recipe for crust from The Kitchn and haven't looked back. It's remarkably easy. Sometimes I'll put in a little semolina flour if I want a more crackery crust. We put out toppings and build our own pizzas on parchment paper and then toss them on the grill.

My brother in law even cracked an egg on his last week, and it was just about the most beautiful sunnyside up I'd ever seen.

- 2 -
Homemade Ice Cream: We have my mom's Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker on loan, and Costco has been keeping us in some decent quality cream. I've LOVED being able to try out all different flavors especially since our summer has been Blue Bell-less. And by all different flavors, I mostly just mean different ratios of malt and salt.

- 3 -
Hang Drying Laundry: I've gotten back in the habit of hang drying laundry. (I LOVE hang drying laundry. I even have a post in my draft folder all about how much I love hang drying laundry, but every time I try to publish it, I get nervous that it sounds all "Rah rah simple life! I'm doing it better than you!" - and since I am #nonconfrontational #forevah, in the draft folder it stays.)

Our dryer has been taking a looooong time to dry clothes, so out on the line they go, and I'm reminded of how much I love the activity. Admittedly, Houston is kinda soggy and even the sunny day turns on you in a matter of minutes, so while hanging the clothes out on the line may feel like a breezy pioneer poem, many a load has been frantically retrieved to the tune of thunder and in an onslaught of Braxton Hicks as I waddle dash outside to save the dry laundry.

- 4 -
A Zoo Membership: At the beginning of the summer we got a zoo membership. This is apparently something you "just do" if you're a mom in the city. I have no idea how to urban parent. All the parents I knew growing up just sent their kids to the creek and told them to watch out for fire ants. Things like theme parks and zoos were HUGE annual efforts. While I balked at getting a zoo membership, I love it. We can have a day there or a morning there or just drop by when we're in the neighborhood. We can plan a morning playdate there and see half a gorilla and call it good. We can picnic and get the kids completely zonked at the splash pad and head home in time for naps. And nobody makes any comments about how close your kids are together...because it's already a zoo.

- 5 -
Lentil Salad: A friend of mine tuned me into this lentil salad recipe recently, and it's changed my relationship to the blah lentil. I typically make it with more balsamic vinegar than ACV, maybe not quite so much mustard, and whichever of the spices I happen to have. New Roots calls it the best lentil salad ever, and I can't really attest to that, because it's the only lentil salad I've ever had, but it's delish. I've tried all kinds of add-ins, and haven't gone wrong yet.

Linking up with Jenna!


12 comments :

  1. Thanks for the grilled pizza suggestion! We have a weekly pizza night at our house and I am always looking for new things to try so it doesn't get stale. I'm going to have to try it this weekend and see what DH thinks. He loves thin crust, so I think this'll go over well. I have about 40 ice cream recipes saved and I have never made ice cream in my life...so I'll have to get going there.

    I also love hanging laundry outside. I especially loved it when we were cloth diapering. I'm with you on the zoo membership too! After a trip to the Zoo on Monday ALL my kids took a nap, which means I got one too.

    Lentils...hmmm. You make it sound worth a try. Can you get kids to eat it? The color makes me think my kids will turn up their noses at it.

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    1. I don't know if we do it *right* but we have a pizza stone that we put on the grill and turn it up as hot as it will go and let the stone get nice and hot. We put the pizzas in for about 7 minutes and try not to open the lid before they're done. We have a pizza peel - my husband thought this was such overkill until we bought one and now he loves it - and with the parchment under each pizza it's super easy. It's so nice not to warm up the kitchen in hot hot Houston. We grill our pizzas for half the year here!

      And about kiddos + the lentil salad. I usually pull some lentils aside from them and put about 1/4 the amount of dressing, otherwise it's a little spicy for them.

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  2. New commenter here, your family is beautiful! Jealous of how handy your husband is...mine has many talents but home handiness is not one of them. :)

    Can you tell me more about pizza grilling. You make crust and prep exactly like you were going to bake it but then throw it on grill. Temp? Time? Dying to try it but haven't been gutsy enough!

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  3. High five to another "have a post on line-drying in my drafts folder" bloggy friend. I've barely gotten to do it this year but I love it so much!

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    1. It's pure poetry - even when they get rained on!

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  4. We love our zoo membership! I have a lot of fond memories of going to the zoo growing up and I'm excited to be able to pass that on to our kids. The best part? If there's a meltdown or bad weather comes in, I don't feel guilty about having to leave in the middle. Because, we can come back anytime :)

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  5. Yes! My attitude about the zoo was always "See all the things! Get your money's worth" but this whole no pressure zoo visit is the bomb.

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  6. I was going to ask the grilling question, but I see someone beat me to it! Going to try - I have a pizza stone also, so I'll do that. LOVE hanging laundry! In fact, my line gave up the ghost and I just ordered a new one last week and put it up, so I'm ready to go for the hot Atlanta summer. When my kids were little, my sister and I both had zoo memberships. SO worth it. We would go during the week when it wasn't crowded. I loved that we could just go for however long we wanted, even just 30 minutes or an hour, because I never worried about getting our money's worth. Once we had been twice as a family, the membership paid for itself. We got so much use out of it!

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  7. A week ago I would have balked at the egg on a pizza thing, but my husband and I tried out a new restaurant Sunday that had a grilled breakfast pizza with sunny side up eggs on it. OH. MY. just all the heart eye emoticons. I'm a believer now!

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  8. just had to write to say I lol-ed at the "half a gorilla" line! ;)

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  9. I loved the "...it's already a zoo." line
    love you, katie

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