It’s too hot in the kitchen – how I’m trying to avoid using my stove/oven for a week.

Now that warmer days are here – my inspiration to cook major meals has wilted.  I was trying to figure out a way to completely avoid turning on my stove/oven this week – in an effort to save on energy (not putting on air-conditioning) and to enjoy the limited time we have for dining alfresco on our back deck.  So, here goes. 

I’m only on day two (ok, I cheated a bit – yesterday – we were at friends for lunch).  My goal is to try to cook everything on my grill for a week.  I started last night with a steak to celebrate father’s day.  I put on some asparagus and tomatoes in a grilling basket and put them on the grill without any heat – they cooked with the heat from the other side of the grill.  I placed a tofu sausage on the top level above the veggies as I find these get charbroiled when put directly on the grill.  We had salad and some potatoes that I microwaved (ok, this is the one appliance I will not be able to do without this week – I’ll try eliminating that for my next experiment).  

The asparagus and cherry tomatoes were so tender and no black char or anything.  The steak was a hit with my meat eaters. 

Today at lunch – my son and I munched on leftover asparagus and tofu sausage, crackers and cheese and cut up cucumbers.   Now that we are eating most meals outside, pretty much anything I serve seems to go well.  Hmm, maybe I should consider how long I can extend out outdoor eating season.

For dinner tonight, we are having burgers on english muffins and salad (lettuce from the garden).   While this dinner won’t provide us with leftovers for lunch tomorrow, I think we are both happy nibblers and I’ll round up some new cheese and boil some eggs…oh wait, I can’t boil eggs.  Hmm.  I’ll have to think more about this.   I have a feeling this week long experiment may require a little more planning 🙂

Tune in tomorrow for day three of my outta the kitchen experiment.