Summer is officially here.  OK well, unofficially, but guys…the AC has been on this week.  Let’s not forget that it’s May in New England and if you’re a New Englander, you know what that means: tomorrow we’ll need the heat.  And the rain, oh all the rain!And in spite of the downpours that threaten to wash away my carrot seedlings, we’ve made these pressed Cuban burgers twice this week.  In the rain.  They are totally worth it.

Years and years ago – like when we were living in our first house and before we moved two more times – we made a similar version of these burgers many, many, many times.  It was one of those meals that I cooked and we loved (while I self-taught myself how to grill), even before I really got into cooking.  I’m not sure if it’s the flavor of the cumin or the crispy, toasted bun or the melty cheese that I’m more addicted to but these are without a doubt, some of our favorite burgers ever.

This time I added ground pork to the ground beef and eliminated the sliced ham, which I always felt got messy and slide-y on the hot burgers, and topped them with a softer Manchego (aged 3 months – that actually melts!) rather than the cheddar and/or Swiss we had been using.  The pickles and Dijon aioli are a must if you want to keep to the traditional Cuban sandwich flavors but they are not an absolute – I ate these burgers for years without the pickles or mustard and only finally came around to loving both.  If you can’t grill or don’t have one, a grill pan or cast iron pan will work great indoors.  We’ve even made them in the oven (well, cooked on the stove top and pressed in the oven on a sheet pan) when the deck was too snowed-in to get to the grill one night.  So grab a few bricks, heavy rocks, or a heavy pan, and get to these pressing burgers this weekend – you will not be disappointed.

I’m ashamed that I’ve never shared our favorite guacamole recipe with you.  Like, really ashamed.  Because every time I make it, two things happen which prevent me from sharing: 1. I never measure the ingredients and 2. It never, ever lasts long enough to photograph.  Hands with chips constantly invading the guac bowl make this difficult.

But no matter, I’ve got another one to share with you today; one that we love just as much, if not more than our traditional “recipe.”  This grilled corn guacamole is something to behold.  Charred sweet summer happens pretty easily on a hot grill and after ripping the corn off the cob, you’ll toss it in with some of the usual guacamole suspects: avocado, cilantro, red onion, jalapeño, and lime juice.  Overall, it takes a little longer to make than regular gauc but the smokiness of the grilled corn with the cool avocado makes it all worth it.  Load up on avocado and corn this Memorial Day weekend because with an extra day off, you’ve got an extra day to make this dip.

Every year summer rolls around, I vow I’m going to make more salads – both leafy green salads and more of the traditional bbq party salads as well.  Leafy green salads topped to the max with the best summer veggies around never seem to be a problem.  Pasta salads are fine too.  It’s more that the mayo-based mac-potato-chicken versions seem to evade me.  I’ll be honest – globs of mayonnaise do nothing for me.  Yep that’s right, my grandmother’s famed potato salad will be a recipe that gets lost at my branch of the family tree.  And I don’t feel a bit bad.

But I made an apple pecan chicken salad a few years back and got intrigued about the idea of making these types of salads my own way – very light on the mayo and big on flavor.  So this roasted shrimp and asparagus salad takes two of my favorite ingredients, cooks them using one of my favorite methods, combines them with a ton of fresh herbs, and adds a little mayonnaise and some Greek yogurt just to hold everything together.

Yeaaaahhh, then top a split buttery and flaky croissant with this salad and you’ve got a blissful sandwich for lunch or a light dinner.  Call me crazy but I seriously never thought I would ever refer to salad like this as blissful, but it certainly is and I’m totally selling myself on this non-traditional salad idea now.

Are any of you struggling with pulling together your Mother’s Day menus?  ‘Cause I certainly am.  Actually, my brother and I haven’t even discussed yet what we plan to make for Mom on Sunday and probably won’t until I see him in person tomorrow.  This, as you might expect is both unnatural for me and also causing a bit of anxiety at the same time.  I have three spectacular brunch ideas in my head to suggest to my little bro but I really have no idea if he’ll go for them…or if he’s leaning more towards cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh bagels (which I would totally be ok with too).

Anyway, if you’re planning a Mother’s Day dinner or lunch (or heck, even brunch) I suggest you make this shrimp and feta mac and cheese.  It’s certainly fancy enough to pass the Mother’s Day menu test for the most discernible menu planner or mother and at the same time, it’s still warm and comforting, just like mac and cheese should be.

You’ll make a basic mac and cheese base sauce but you’ll add some feta and Gruyere cheeses, a few fresh herbs, lemon zest, and a whole bunch of fresh shrimp.  Then you’ll top the pasta with more feta (be still my heart), more herbs and zest, melted butter, and breadcrumbs and bake it all off until the sides are bubbly, the topping is crunchy, and the feta is warm and soft.  I was a little skeptical (and knew Kyle would be) but this meal really and truly works; we both adored it.  If it’s even possible, this was better the second day as the flavors had a chance to come together.  All in all, this is a wonderful springtime mac and cheese and I know you guys will love it!

There are some meals that Kyle and I have made over the years that really stick with us.  They are memorable meals; not memorable because of how good they were (though that helps) but because of the feelings they evoke and memories they awaken when we make them again.  This herb grilled chicken with creamy broccoli orzo is one of those memorable meals.

It was one of the first few posts that showed up here back in 2007 and though I swished by my 6th year blogiversary without blinking last month, this meal made a much anticipated reappearance to celebrate the occasion.  We’ve made it just a handful of times over the years but I thought it was time to reintroduce you all to its greatness…and because the post desperately needed a new photo.  In my heart, this was the meal that really showed me that I had the potential to be able to cook.  My knife skills were woeful and I was still watching The Food Network like an obsessive freak for tips on how to improve [everything].  It took me forever to chop the broccoli and garlic the recipe called for and I probably over-grilled the chicken.

But the herbes de Provence that I chose for the chicken paired perfectly with the homey and comforting creamy orzo, which likens to a Parmesan risotto or at the very, very least, a homemade version of a pre-packaged rice-pasta dish, and the meal was excellent in every way that first time.  Now when I go back to this very basic meal, I marvel at how things come full circle.  This meal came together for me in what felt like an instant but it was still just as perfect as it was all those years ago, and it even leaned a little to the lighter side as I swapped out most of the heavy cream for Greek yogurt. It’s one of those meals I know we’ll keep coming back to forever, if not for the full bellies we surrender to it, then for the reminder of those early years struggling in the kitchen to get dinner on the table while everything was still hot.

If Kyle was stranded on a deserted island and was forced to choose only 3 foods to eat for the rest of his life, one of them would most certainly be pork.  I’m pretty sure the other two would be pork and pork as well.  And since “pork” covers a huge variety of different food (he would make this choice by design), he’d wouldn’t need to be picky as long as there were hot dogs.  I swear, I could leave him with only a package of hot dogs for a weekend when I’m away and he would be perfectly content.  Not that I would or anything, but still.

I mentioned last summer that I prefer weekend lunches to be really simple and these Tex-Mex rancheros hot dogs fit the bill.  And they made Kyle suuuuper happy.  We piled a few grilled hot dogs sky-high with Cabot’s New York Extra Sharp Cheddar (that they sent me to sample a few months ago – it keeps really well if unopened), salsa, chopped avocado, black beans, and cilantro and man…these were some killer hot dogs.  If you’re a Tex-Mex lover, you’ve probably eaten huevos rancheros and this is where I pulled my inspiration from so I knew all of the flavors would be perfect on top of an often plain ol’ boring hot dog.  Grab your napkins and fire up the grill because you’ll want these messy rancheros hot dogs sooner rather than later!

Disclaimer: Cabot provided me with a sample of a few types of cheese but I was not asked to tout their products and was not compensated in any way for this post.

Queso Fundido with Chorizo – Skip the restaurant cheese and make it at home with real cheese and smoky chorizo.

DIY Taco Seasoning – Leave the packets and the sodium at the store and make your own taco mix.

Red Chile Chicken Enchiladas – The hallmark of Tex-Mex meals and truly a long-standing favorite in this house.

DIY Enchilada Sauce – If you want to short cut those enchiladas and use a rotisserie chicken, make the sauce by itself!  You’ll never consider buying canned enchilada sauce again.

Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa – These light and fresh shrimp tacos make for a super simple meal.

Black Bean and Corn Enchilada Nachos – If you need another idea for the enchilada sauce, how about some nachos?

Tex-Mex Sloppy Joes – A kicked-up version of the original American meal.

Baked Chicken Burritos with Sour Cream Poblano Sauce – The creamy poblano sauce on these crispy burritos is killer!

Sweet Corn Cakes with Tomato and Avocado Relish - A fresh griddle corn cakes with a light “relish” on top – perfection.

Restaurant Style Queso Dip – No fake cheese here!  Just grab your tortilla chips and get started.

Healthy Turkey Tacos – These tacos have become our go-to for Tuesday Taco Nights and I’ll bet they’ll be yours too.

Elly’s World Famous Black Beans – Homemade black beans far outweigh the flavorless beans you get in Mexican restaurants.  15 minutes to an amazing side dish.

Chipotle Mac and Cheese – Spicy and creamy – what more can you ask of a Tex-Mex mac and cheese?

Shrimp Tacos with Margarita Slaw – Yes, more tacos (we eat a lot of tacos here) – but the margarita slaw makes these tacos spectacular!  Or opt for a carb-free version and serve the shrimp over the slaw like a salad.

Spicy Bean Burritos – We love our beans around here and they are clearly the star of these healthy burritos.

Sunday morning breakfasts might possibly be my favorite meal of the week.  This honored spot was Friday night pizza nights when I was a kid but it’s now definitely Sundays.  I’ve lamented before (a few times, actually) about what Sunday mornings mean to us as a couple and especially as we roll into summer when Kyle’s job often has him working 6 days a week to finish up the school of the moment, that time is so precious to us.  In addition to drinking plenty of coffee in our rickety and chipping green Adirondack chairs on the porch as the sun peeks over the hills, we love coming up with new breakfast recipes; this smoky chorizo hash and eggs being our “it” breakfast of the moment.

It was kind of a throw-together meal a few months back but I jotted down the ingredients and amounts as we remade it recently and it turned out just as good as the first time around.  The chorizo definitely is the star here but I’ll never let crispy breakfast potatoes play second fiddle – they were just as great.  And the runny fried egg?  Required, of course.

Sometimes there is nothing more homey and comforting than a loaf cake.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me a multi-step cake every once in a while, but a simple loaf cake that takes 10 or 15 minutes to prep is just what life calls for more often than not.

And this everyday chocolate loaf cake really lives up to its name.  There are no apologies about this cake – it’s humble, straightforward, and fabulous.  The texture is similar to that of a pound cake with a tight crumb and a little on the dense side, and it’s exactly how I hoped it would be.  I thought about running a swirl of peanut butter through the cake batter…and also about schmearing a slice with some peanut butter but it’s just not needed.  I wanted uncomplicated chocolate and that’s what I got with this cake.  Classic and in-your-face chocolate – truly excellent.

I’m a mess when it comes to planning side dishes for meals.  Like, a complete mess.  It’s something I’ve always meant to improve on but haven’t yet.  I blame my self-diagnosed adult-onset ADD.  Don’t even ask about the last time we had both a veggie and a carb on the side of some protein because I can’t remember; it’s usually one or the other.  But these grilled Thai sweet potatoes are super easy, especially when you’ve already got the grill going for the main part of your meal.

You’ll let the potato slices marinate in the most amazing dressing ever (yes, I’m still using it up) while the grill heats and you’ll grill both sides for a couple minutes each.  Nice grill marks are nearly a requirement here.  Then you can drizzle the hot potatoes with a little more dressing  as you serve them, if the desire strikes you – and it likely will because the dressing is addictive.  Healthy.  Easy.  Delicious.  My kind of side dish!