Summer

Zucchini is the most versatile vegetable. On it’s own it is so-so. There is so much you can do with it. I like to pair it with grilled onions, roasted tomatoes, left over brown rice and some Parmesan cheese and bake it for an easy week night side dish.

It is great grilled; pour a little olive oil and balsamic on it with a little salt and pepper, grill it until it is slightly soft, serve it up with a yummy rib eye, mmmm. It is great in muffins and tea breads.

Yet, it is especially delicious breaded and baked. This is a great way to get the kids to eat some veggies. These are easy and delicious. No frying, they are baked and they are a perfect with almost anything.

You may have seen some of the unusual things that blend on the Will it Blend? videos. Turns out, you get some pretty interesting results when you put things like footballs, marbles, Glow Sticks, and a new 3G iPhone into a blender (some blend, some not so much).

Inspired, I decided to start my own series of experiments – Will it Grill?

I tried steak (yes), watermelon (yes), ice cream (nope), cereal (depends – Kashi yes, but Fruit Loops exploded into a multicolored fire ball), and avocados (yes).

The avocados were excellent. If you want to find out for yourself, here's how to grill an avocado:

1. Select a ripe yet somewhat firm avocado and slightly chill it.

2. Cut it in half and remove the pit. Brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Place it right away on a medium-high grill flesh-side down for about 60 seconds. Grill marks should be present, and the flesh should be lightly caramelized yet intact.

4. Eat immediately.

The summer that sprang to mind when I first thought about what I read is not this summer at all but one from a number of years ago and it isn’t about something I read exactly but something that my friend Jamie read to me.

It was a brutally hot August day and we were floating in her pool, each of us in one of those brilliant floating chaise lounges with the built-in cup holder or in this case, built-in glass of iced tea holder. I am almost positive that Jamie was one of the very first people I knew to have a floating chaise lounge with the built-in cup holder and in fact she had two; one of which I was in, the other occupied by her.  I know for a fact that there was a very fragrant, perfect sprig of fresh mint in my iced tea glass which I can promise you she grew in her garden.

I was drifting, my head resting on the floating chaise’s pillow, my eyes closed, letting the chair take me wherever it wanted.   Every once in a while, I’d bump gently into the side of the pool, and using my hands as paddles, I’d turn myself around, never once opening my eyes.  The relentless sun and heat had made me feel positively light-headed and the water washing across my legs as Jamie floated past me, her chaise leaving a small but cooling wake, was the only relief.  I was somewhere between conscious and not when suddenly I heard a loud shriek.  “Oh my God!”

Summer time means grilling time. And I have been doing a lot of it lately.

One of the perks of living in a condo is that you reap all of the benefits of grilling without all the hassle: The gas tank on the grill is always full. The grill is so big I could cook a whole pig on it if I wanted to (I don't, but it's nice to know that I could). And best of all, the grill smell doesn't get trapped inside the house (cause let's face it, that steak you enjoyed for 7:00 o'clock dinner last night doesn't smell so great at 6:00 am the next morning). Neither does extra strength Febreeze.

So this past Sunday after returning from the farmers' market with bags full of red bell peppers, zucchini, and eggplant, I knew I had to make some marinated grilled vegetables. A good portion of them went into this Farro and Grilled Vegetable Salad, the fourth salad of my Super Satisfying Salads Series.

What is farro? Farro is the mother of all grains. Really. This deliciously nutty, chewy whole grain was used by the Egyptians over 6,000 years ago.