Here we are at another holiday weekend!  This one has a few things to celebrate in our family.  My mom is turning 79 on the 5th and my sister is having an anniversary on the 10th.  As usual, due to time constraints we will pile those in with the celebration/birthday of our country.  Not sure how many, or what time or even what house, but will somehow get together.

I can guarantee with a degree of certainty we will do several things:  grill the meal, some members will probably spend part of the day either in my sister's pool or (if it's just our grandkids) in our blow-up whale wading tub and sing happy birthday to my mother.

At the time I'm putting together this and Friday's column- I have to say, my rib cage is still feeling mighty compromised (i.e.-IT'S KILLING ME TO THE POINT OF NOT WEARING A BRA) and I've been wearing a TENS unit to help the literal pain in my neck.  

Given that-I am so using the KISS method of getting any meal-not just the Independence Day one-on the table.

I'm also enlisting family members to become my personal sous chef.  For those of you who may need some translation:  KISS-keeping it simple, silly. Sous chef:  anyone with 2 working hands, get in this kitchen and start chopping, slicing and dicing-OR ELSE NO ONE EATS.

I'm planning on using some of my herb garden for marinades.  Whether we serve, pork or chicken or even salmon (our favorites) I will have lots of this combination on hand to smear on it.  I will also use it for the veggies-might as well keep the theme going.  The starch will probably me garlic bread-also warmed on the grill and I'll probably make some potato packets.

Come back on Friday to learn what the marinade is-it's easy, versatile and will work on just about anything-even lamb and beef.

Now dessert.  If you've read my columns for any length of time, you know how I love my berries.  I also love my stone fruits.  They are great just washed and hulled at the last minute, but easily dressed up in a variety of ways.

Friday will be a tell all ?c'mon back and see what I love to marinate and macerate our July 4th menu in!

Happy Friday everyone!  I promised that today was going to be a day of sharing some tips on how to have a quick and easy grill dinner.

Here are some of the ones I tend to use the most:

Remember foil packets?  They are your friend.  Use them to pre-bake all kinds of ribs inside and the rip open the bag and put the ribs on the grill to finish.  No messes to clean up inside and the grease remains inside the bag-where it belongs!

Use the foil bags to make easy fish dishes-place your herbs, lemon (whatever you like) and lay the fillets (or whole fish) on top seal the bag and grill.  No mashed up or broken meals that wind up in the coals/briquettes instead of your stomachs.

If you were in the girl scouts you know about foil packet meals and how yummy they are!  Use thin slices of beef or chicken chunks (I've used pork and it's also delish), sliced onions, minced garlic, salt and pepper and thin slices of red potatoes.  Grill packets about 10 minutes on each side.

Now my kids don't like this side dish, but the rest of the family does.  Using the foil pouch method again- layer thinly sliced potatoes, onions, a bit of either margarine or evoo, season with salt and pepper.  Grill about 10 minutes on each side.  This method is also good with a combination of carrots, parsnips-any root vegetable really.  Some of the other veggies will get to mushy this way.

Grill previously steamed artichokes!  Simply cut them in half, spray with some olive oil and grill them up-they are so wonderful this way.  We love grilling asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash and all sweet peppers.

Dessert anyone?  

We've all heard about doing pineapple, peaches and nectarines-simply brush with some maple syrup or a bit of white or brown sugar.  Serve with sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream.  The fruit is also fantastic when chopped up after they're grilled and then used as filling for shortcakes with whipped cream and biscuits or angel food cake!

Are any of these ideas all that new?  No, but sometimes in the midst of going through all the other seasons-we forget just how wonderful and delicious simplicity really is.

Hi everyone-I know this is an extra this week-but I’m trying my hand again at a cooking contest on Mixing Bowl.com

I know some of you did sign up for the site, which is the only way to vote.  

I think I goofed with this link-but here’s the recipe I entered for the Best Banana Bread.  If you click onto the contest, finding the page with the entrants is pretty simple.

Thank you!

http://www.mixingbowl.com/message/recipe/view.castle?g=686277&m=5959509

almost forgot-you can vote daily until July 31st!

Summer is officially here.  I love summer.  It's my favorite season.  I don't mind the heat one little bit, in fact, I thrive on it.  Nothing better than summer to this California gal.

What I love the most is the way that even if you are stuck inside a building all day, you come out and there's still plenty of daylight and warmth around you.  This year my husband and I bought a patio set.  No, we haven't done the whole "outdoor" living space thing.  After all, we have grandkids playing in that yard and a 13 year old lab mix to consider.  Our yard is filled with plastic cars, lawn mowers, wheel barrows and the most necessary-whale blow up pool.

We also have chalk, a bubble blower, a shovel handy (that's for the lab) for fast clean up and our trusty BBQ.

But this year, we really want to eat some of our meals outside.  So we splurged and bought a table and 4 chairs and a new umbrella.  They're not even padded, but we don't mind.  We bought the set about a month ago, during one of our early season heat waves.  We immediately took the time to have about 4 meals on our new eating area-heck; we even bought place mats strictly for the outdoors!  We're styling now.

The weather quickly turned and we went back to eating dinner indoors.  This past weekend the weather seems to be perking up in anticipation for both the official summer season and the end of June Gloom.  So we're gearing up for some great meals on our patio!

If you've read this column at all, you know that I love my BBQ-no matter what the weather.  Many's the time hubby and I have gone out there and used our grill while holding an umbrella.

My personal motto about our BBQ:  If God had meant for me to use the broiler in my range, he never would have invented the BBQ.  

This is how much I love to grill.  With this in mind-Friday's column will be about how to make entire meals out there-Carine style:  fast, easy prep and delicious!

Okay everyone, I promised I'd repeat my Rosemary Pepper Biscotti recipe for you.

These are sweet, savory and perfect for dunking in both tea and coffee.  Since they are also savory, they also work well to serve with a fruit and cheese tray and any aperitif. An added bonus-the only fat in them comes from the egg yolks.

Here it is:

Carine Nadel’s Rosemary Pepper Biscotti  

Yield: About 3 dozen

?Butter or margarine for greasing baking sheets
?3 cups all-purpose flour
?1 cup whole-wheat flour
?2 cups sugar
?1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
?2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
?1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
?6 eggs
?2 tsp. pure vanilla
?2 cups Grape-Nuts cereal (or chopped pecans or cashews, or pine nuts)  

?Optional: 2 teaspoons sugar for topping loaves
Procedure:  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease 2 large baking sheets with butter.

2. In large mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, rosemary and pepper.

3. In the large bowl of electric mixer, beat eggs and vanilla on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Add flour mixture and mix on medium speed until just blended. Batter will be very sticky. Add Grape-Nuts and mix on low speed to combine.

4. Divide batter in half; place each on a prepared baking sheet. Dampen hands. Shape each into a 4-by-12-inch loaf. If desired, for an extra crunchy top, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar on top of each loaf.

5. Bake 20 minutes, or until fairly firm and lightly brown. Cautiously move each loaf to a clean tea towel. Using a serrated knife, cut loaf crosswise into 1/2-inch wide diagonal slices.  

Place biscotti, cut side up on sheets and bake another 20 minutes. Remove and cool on wire racks.  

Nutritional information (per biscotti): Calories 120 (30 percent from fat), protein 2g, carbohydrates 20g, fat 4 g (saturated 0.5 g), cholesterol 45 mg, sodium105 mg, fiber 1.4g

Enjoy them and Father's Day!

Father's day is this coming weekend-what are you doing to honor dear old dad/grandpa/uncles/sons?

This year we will probably be going to my mom's for dinner, at least that's what I'm guessing.  Even though she's  doing better, my son-in-law has gone back to the graveyard shift and needs to leave for the Malibu facility (if you have to work ungodly hours, at least you see the sunrise at a beach!), our daughter and future daughter-in-law will probably be working until 6 and our son is also working until 5 at the earliest.  

So my parent's home is at least in a place where dad can't find a reason to drive (a continuing problem that we have yet to remedy) and Alex can still get his sleep and join us for a meal.  The girls will probably eat after we all do as they'll be about an hour away.

As you can tell, getting together and celebrating just about anything with our clan is getting more difficult by the day.

What will we be dishing up?  Since we did the "deli breakfast" for dinner on Mother's Day and it was a hit, my intuition tells me that we'll do a repeat on this for Sunday. Especially since the girls will be starved and it will be late.  

Since my dad loves my biscotti, I'll make a batch of it for him and I think I'll do some of my "too good to wait for breakfast breakfast cookies".  If our grandson's don't eat (not a problem with the youngest, but the older one is in the picky 2 year old stage) at least eating one of grandma's cookies will fill their tummies with delicious nutrition.

Friday, I'll do another repeat and give everyone the recipe for my Rosemary-Pepper Biscotti.