My Summer

Summertime taste like to me a nice barbecue in my backyard accompanied by any kind of melon, and if I go camping late night s’more’s. First we cook BBQ with whatever sides we're going to have with it and then we have our midday snack typically watermelon, cantaloupe, or honeydew, but sometimes other fruits, or berries, not blackberries because I'm deathly allergic to them; but you know that's the only berry I'm allergic to, so I eat other berries like strawberries, and raspberries. Sometimes I mix these melons, fruits, and berries to make fruit salads, and smoothies, and stuff like that if I'm at home, but I just eat them by themselves if I'm out camping. You know the cool thing is that real late at night when I can build my campfire I go and I grab my skewers, roast beautiful marshmallows, grab a Hershey bar (king-size preferably) and some Honey Graham, Graham crackers. That must be Hershey’s Honey Graham for the best flavor in the world for camping s’mores in general.

The Grilling Phase

The grilling process changes based on what we are grilling. All the foods start by being cleaned in the sink. For ribs we peel the thin layer of backing off the back of the bones, then we cut them into three sections. The three sections are called the ribs, rib tips, and shank. The shank is my favorite part as long as it’s not overcooked, however, some restaurants have another name for this piece of meat. After cutting them we season or marinade them, but don’t add the bbq sauce just yet. For steaks we put a light coating of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt on each side (I use sea salt for people with blood pressure problems, it works better.). For chicken just marinade in desired marinade. For corn leave husk on to grill it and don’t shuck it until the corn is done (husk will look burned but corn will be fine). For potatoes stab them all over, then cut a slit in the top side, then rub in butter, then put the slit back to the top, then wrap loose in aluminum foil or tin foil leaving the top open, lastly add a square of butter on top of the slit in the potato. All things staying separated, the next step is to put the coals in the grill, or wood in the fire pit if we are camping. After that we add a fuel such as lighter fluid. Once the flames have died down where the coals are glowing it’s time to add the food, or if using a camp fire the flames should stay intact. When a tray of food is grilling we wash the tray immediately, so it can be used as the done pan too.

The Fruity Phase

The first step here is to also make sure all fruits, melons, and berries are cleaned in the sink. Next we lay out the Mellon’s and large fruits to be cut on the cutting board. At this point we cut them into whatever size and shape pieces we desire. Sometimes these beautiful fruits get eaten by themselves, while other times I will toss them into a blender/food processor, for making smoothies and children’s purees, and sometimes I will toss them in a bowl to make fruit salad. There are times I make other things with these items, but don’t forget at my house we omit the blackberry from any recipe that calls for them because that would kill me.

The S'more

If the campfire is already lit from grilling then great, one less step, if not that’s ok, we build the fire now. Give the fire a few minutes before handing out the skewers, especially when children are involved. Next, we put the marshmallows on the skewers and roast them until golden brown, if preferred, however, sometimes they light completely on fire and get burnt (this is ok too). After we roast a marshmallow or two, we can choose to eat the roasted marshmallow or grab the crackers and chocolate to make the shores. Don’t forget my favorite way to make s'mores is with Hershey and Honey Graham. When allowing children to participate in s’mores it’s always best to keep a pack of wet wipes handy because the children are bound to get sticky.