Just a quick one before the weekend.  We had spaghetti and meatballs last night which is a family favorite and one of those meals that requires a good crusty, buttery hunk of bread.

Garlic Bread

• 1 loaf crusty, chewy bread like french, ciabatta, or Italian
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or made into a paste
• 1 tbsp fresh or dry herbs, like parsley, oregano, Italian mix

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Slice loaf of bread in half horizontally.
3. Spread one side with softened butter.
4. In a small bowl, combine oil, garlic, and herbs.
5. Spread the other side of the bread with garlic mixture.
6. Close bread and wrap in foil.
7. Bake for 10-15 or until hot and steamy.
8. If desired, separate loaf and position cut sides up on a baking sheet under the broiler.
9. Broil until toasted and crunchy. Watch it carefully! I can’t tell you how many loaves of garlic bread I have burnt to cinders.

A tip for those of you who make and freeze spaghetti sauce, the garlic bread can also be made ahead of time up to the point of baking it.  Just spread it with the butter and garlic, then wrap tightly and freeze.  You can reheat straight from the freezer (it will take a little longer to warm all the way through).

That’s it, have a great weekend!  Happy Father’s Day, dads!

Last year, Father’s Day: Top Sirloin with Red Wine Sauce

Don’t you just love popcorn?  I think popcorn is one of those few perfect snacks.  It is high in fiber and protein, it counts as a whole grain serving, it is fun to eat and quick to make, and you get a lot of it for not too many calories.  Between myself and the kids we could easily go through a couple boxes of microwaveable popcorn a week.  That is not cheap and those bags sometimes contain some questionable ingredients.  I recently experimented with buying actual popcorn kernels and making kettle corn on the stove-top.  I was surprised and pleased by how easy and delicious it was-and the fact that you didn’t need to buy a popcorn popper!

The kettle corn is a wonderful treat but with 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of sugar it isn’t the healthiest of snacks.  Also, getting out a heavy pot and shaking it over the heat for ten minutes or so to make the popcorn is pretty time consuming when the kids are whining and you just want a quick snack.  This method is great.  You get the ease and convenience of microwavable popcorn with the nutritional benefits or air-popped popcorn and all this for the low price of a bag of popcorn kernels ($2 for 20 oz. organic) and a pack of paper bags (which you can re-use by the way).  Update:  This method also work just fine with just a glass bowl.  Place the bowl in the microwave with the kernals inside then cover it with a glass lid or a microwaveable plate.  One bag of pop corn kernels will make you between 11-14 bags of microwaveable popcorn depending on how much you want per bag.  My generic pack of paper bags cost $1.50 for 50.  So each bag of popcorn costs about 20¢.  If you consider that the process doesn’t damage the bag and you could re-use it multiple times that price gets even lower.

Microwaveable Air-Popped Popcorn

• 3 tbsp popcorn kernels
• paper bag
• stapler or scotch tape if desired

1. Add popcorn kernels to a paper bag or a glass bowl.
2. Close bag. You can fold it over once or twice, you can tape it closed, or you can even staple it.  We have tried all of these methods and they all work the same. If using a bowl, cover.
3. Microwave the popcorn as usual for approximately two minutes.  I found that ours was usually done after about 1 minute and 45 seconds.  By two full minutes the popcorn was starting to burn.
4. Open the bag, carefully if you plan to re-use it, and season to taste or eat plain. If using a bowl, handle it carefully as it will be hot.

We tried adding salt and pepper to one bag but the seasonings just don’t stick, even if we spray the kernals lightly with spray oil.  So season the popcorn once it is finished popping (or eat it plain like we do).  What I like is this method is just as portable and convenient as the store-bought bags.  Just portion out the popcorn kernels, staple the bags closed and store them in the pantry or in your desk drawer.  Each bag has about 100 calories and no creepy ingredients!

You can also use a glass bowl with a lid instead of the paper bag.  Just place the popcorn in the bowl and then then place it in the microwave.  Cover the bowl either with a glass lid or with a microwaveable plate (this just keeps popcorn from flying all over the microwave) and pop until there are two seconds between pops.  The bowl will be hot so use a towel or mits to handle it and transfer the popped popcorn to another bowl for serving.

What is summer food to you?  To me, it is fruit juices dripping down your chin and ice cream and eating with your fingers at  a crowded picnic table and strawberries and potlucks and the smell of backyard grills.

I started chaos in the kitchen a year ago-at the beginning of last summer-but I didn’t put much thought into summer foods then.  Texas is a year-round summer state, pretty much, so over this last year I have posted many of our favorites.  I thought I would point them out to you, so they do not get forgotten in the shuffle that is this summer, just in case you are thinking about making something special in the next few weeks.

Grilled Skirt Steak Fajitas We eat these fajitas year-round at our house!  They are easy and fun and turn any weeknight meal into a lazy weekend fiesta-but they really are perfect for large family barbecues, paired with pico and guacamole.

Restaurant-Tender Baby Back Ribs These ribs are so easy you won’t believe it.  You don’t even need a grill, finish them off under your broiler then kick back on your patio for a taste of the back yard barbecue even in the city.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Summer to me means crowding around a picnic table with crunchy fried chicken-wiping greasy fingers on paper napkins-and some buttermilk coleslaw.

Strawberry Salad This salad is such a fun dish to bring to a party or to pair with heavy grilled meats.  It takes advantage of summer’s ripe, perfect berries.  The next time I make this salad, I will add a bit of mint to the greens.

Ramen Noodle Salad This is another great party salad.  It is a no-mayo cabbage slaw, perfect for hot outdoor get-togethers.

Coleslaw Nothing beats the original for summer barbecues.  Creamy, tangy, slightly sweet, there’s a reason this old-fashioned buttermilk salad has been paired with spicy grilled meats for years.

Black Bean and Corn Salad A wonderful Tex-Mex side dish.  Fresh and bursting with great summer veggies it offers a nice respite from greasy and fatty meats.

Grilled Corn on the Cob I posted this one pretty recently but it is such a quintessential summer recipe that I had to include it here.  I am not sure there is any side dish that is easier or more exciting than a nicely smoked, juicy ear of grilled corn.

Strawberry Shortcake Is there a more perfect summer dessert?  Strawberry shortcakes will always mean summer to me.  We use pound cake and top with freshly whipped cream.

I love making ice cream and of course it can be made year-round.  Yet there is just something so satisfying about this creamy, cold treat during the summer-that’s when I really get into ice cream mode.

Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Creams

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

So what are your favorite summer recipes? Please link to them in the comments and check back later for a menu to last you all summer!  If you don’t see your post right away, it just means the links got caught up in the filter but I will approve them through out the day.

The colors, man.  The colors.

Score one for trying something new.  I don’t like Indian food.  You know, sort of how I don’t like curry?  Or how I am only lukewarm about chicken salad?  Here’s a good one, don’t forget: I hate beans.  Yeah, I am the poster child for not liking foods I have never really eaten.  I have been trying to change that mentality by trying new things and branching out of our comfort zone a bit.  I really enjoy the Pioneer Woman Cooks! because the food feels familiar and I can look at the recipes and know if we will like them.  So when one of Ree’s guest posters, Pastor Ryan, posted a recipe for Tikka Masala, I didn’t quite know what to think.  This was was different food, un-familiar food, food I wouldn’t like.  As I scrolled through the photos I noticed something.  Chicken, yogurt, onions, garlic, tomatoes, heavy cream, cilantro, so um, where was the food I didn’t like?  There were spices involved, but nothing I didn’t have in my spice cabinet.  I made Ryan’s recipe for Garam Masala and honestly couldn’t even taste the spices in the final dish.  I know they were there, subtly contributing to the layers of flavor, but there was no overwhelming spice to offend.

This dish was delicious; definitely a hearty meal.  I substituted half and half for the heavy cream and reduced the garam masala recipe by a third (teaspoons instead of tablespoons-which was the perfect amount called for in the recipe without any left over).  My rice came out of the rice cooker a little mushy but that could be a difference in machines.  This is a dish I will make again, especially in the fall when hot, hearty comfort food is really needed.  My only warning is that it is a bit of a gateway drug.  Now I can’t wait to get my hands on a good butter chicken or saag paneer recipe.