A Peek at our Summer

We are loving the summer here in the PNW! My husband and I, along with our oldest (who was only 3 at the time) lived in this exact area about 18 years ago. We lived here for about 3 years. But I have very few memories of day to day life. How weird is that!? So basically I'm experiencing summer here for the very first time. haha! 

One thing we don't love is how awful it is when it gets really hot. But we have quickly figured out how to manage the heat in this house. We've utilized some Florida tricks of putting foil on windows and hanging blankets up over doorways or windows to provide extra heat blocking. Looks ridiculous, but it's doing the job. I can't wait to take it all down and have natural light coming in from everywhere!! 

When it's not crazy hot, which really it's that often, it's beautiful out. It can get pretty warm in the late afternoon into early evening, but most of the time it's very manageable. 

Our stove is gas and boy does that put out a lot of heat! A way to cut down on heat is to cook first thing in the morning or just don't cook inside at all. The grill has been used a *lot* lately. I've always been afraid to grill, but I'm becoming a Grill Master! I told my husband yesterday that I'm ready to go onto one of those grill cooking shows and win. 
"Really? You think so?" 
"Pffttt. No." 
A mama can dream. 😆 

Chicken breasts are the cheapest ways for us to get a decent amount of meat. I'm not a fan of white meat, so I will cut it up in different ways and brine it overnight. Makes it so moist! I actually enjoy eating it! 

De grilling of de chicken strips

Makenize, my grill assistant, and her newest face😂

Several days ago I thawed out about 10lbs of chicken breasts. About 5lb's got sliced in half so it was thinner, then those got sliced into half. Threw those into a pot to brine. The other half I sliced in half so it was thinner and then turned all of that into strips. Threw those into the same pot to brine as well. 

The next day I separated the pieces from the strips. The strips I massaged a mixture of flour, chili powder, garlic powder and salt onto it. Half of the pieces were put into a lemon marinade and the other half had steak seasoning put onto it. Grilled all of it and soooo yummy!! 

The strips were a huge hit so I did another 10lbs a day later, brining them first of course, and then grilling the next day. I've munched on them on their own, had some on rice with toppings, and on a caesar salad. Delicious. 

We had hoped to do more exploring this summer, but we've had a number of bugs hit our household and now my husband is leaving in a few days and will be traveling for almost two weeks straight....annnnnd we're sick. Again. 

But!! We are all taking a roadtrip to Idaho later in the month and are planning on stopping in the Columbia Gorge, hopefully seeing Multnomah Falls, and exploring Coeur d'Alene a little bit. We're all looking forward to that.