Ahhh… the joys of Summer on the east coast… oppressive heat and humidity, thunderstorms, power and cable outages… Just another day in paradise.

The storms have been interesting. High winds and torrential rains for two or three minutes followed by blue skies, followed by more wind and rain. It’s actually neat to sit out back and watch it all come down – until the wind starts blowing sideways, that is… Then it’s time to head back inside and hope the power stays on. It’s amazing how fast muggy can penetrate an otherwise well-insulated home.

Our grill is covered, so we can cook outdoors in any weather – and that definitely came in handy, today – starting early with a clean-out-the-‘fridge-salad.

Corn, broccoli, green onions, yellow zucchini, carrots, mini peppers, and mushrooms…

This was about as simple and basic as anything can be. I doused everything with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and tossed them on the grill. From there, they got chopped and mixed with some fresh herbs from the garden, olive oil, and some balsamic vinegar.

I sprinkled on a bit more salt and pepper, and it was done. Really easy and really really good!

I mixed some burger with canned diced green chiles and a bit of hot pepper sauce, grilled ’em, and placed them on thick slices of tomato.

Yesterday, I had roasted the first of our beets from the garden, so they went onto the plate, as well.

The perfect stormy weather summer dinner!