We’ve been reading all your Kitchen Talk ideas and suggestions in our last giveaway post, and there are so many great ones there! Today’s topic comes from Jean, and she wants to know:

Do you have any summer grilling ideas?

I want to know, too. Now that summer is just around the corner, I’m looking forward to the prospect of eating outside, smelling that smell of meat (or vegetables) charring and listening to the sound of drippings sizzling on hot coals. And though burgers and hotdogs are usual summer grilling fare, I know you all have creative ideas and lovely recipes to share.

Betsy loves grilled veggies: eggplant, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, asparagus. She says, “I live for summer, because of grilled vegetables. And chimichurri is my sauce of choice with a steak and a big plate of veggies.” Nanci is a big batch cooker so she likes to get several pounds of chicken breasts marinated and grill them all at once for quick weeknight meals. She loves grilled veggies too, so skewers or a veggie grate/pan is a must-have for her.

For me, my favorite thing to do on the grill is a riff on chicken souvlaki. I like to make a tangy Greek dressing and marinate large chunks of veggies in some of the dressing, then mix the rest of the dressing with yogurt and use that to marinate chicken or lamb. Pop them on skewers and grill as desired, then serve with warm pita bread (brush the pitas with some dressing and grill slightly to make them extra special), fresh chopped tomatoes, onion, cucumber, cilantro, roasted corn, tzatziki sauce, and whatever else you like in your pita.

I’ve also seen some interesting and unconventional grilling recipes here in Tasty Kitchen, like grilled romaine hearts for a salad and a grilled breakfast pizza. I’ve been wanting to jump on the grilled pizza bandwagon for some time now, and I think I should make that happen this summer.

How about you? What do you love to put on the grill? Share your ideas with us below, and if you have a link to the recipe somewhere, we’d love to see that too!

Ah, the irresistible avocado. If the avocado’s sole purpose in life was to bring guacamole into this world, that would be enough for me. But no. At some point in time, someone discovered that avocados taste great in sushi rolls, too. And ice cream. On toast. In smoothies. Baked goods. Sandwiches. Salads.

I think it just may be the most magical of fruits.

But despite the popularity of the avocado, some folks are still a bit mystified by this amazing fruit. So today’s Kitchen Talk topic is:

What are some of your favorite tips for avocados?

They can be tips on buying or choosing avocados, or how to ripen them more quickly, or how to keep them from browning … anything you have to share about avocados!

I grew up with an avocado tree in our backyard and I learned early on that avocados never ripen on the tree; they only start to ripen once they are picked. So I don’t mind buying hard avocados at the store because I know that means they were freshly picked. I just keep them in a brown bag in a cool, dark place and let them ripen for a few days. Once they are ripe, I store them in the refrigerator.

My brother-in-law makes a killer guac and he always sinks the pits into the guacamole when storing it. He says the pits along with the lime juice in the guacamole help prevent the avocado from browning before the guests arrive.

Now we want to hear from you! Come share your tips or even recipe ideas below. Or maybe you just want to profess your undying love for avocados. That’s okay, too.

Happy Wednesday! We’re days away from the weekend, and you know what that means? That means many of you probably have a shelf in your refrigerator dedicated to a lovely piece of cured, smoked, or salted meat. It may or may not be scored on the outside, glazed, whole or pre-sliced. These days, it may even be made of turkey or duck. (We won’t get into the technicalities of what qualifies as “ham” right now, because, well, we’d much rather talk about sandwiches and omelets.) Whichever kind you’re serving, you probably have a lot of it and hopefully, some of it will still be around by Monday.

I say “hopefully” because there are so many creative uses for ham. So let’s talk about all the wonderful ways to use every little bit of that lovely hunk of meaty goodness from this weekend! Tell us:

What’s your favorite way to use leftover ham?

Nanci likes to fry chunks of leftover ham until crisp, then add them to fried rice with some pineapple chunks and a few other veggies. Her husband loves biscuits and ham gravy, which is a thinner cousin to Southern cream gravy with sausage. (Her tip: Ree has a great recipe for ham gravy.)

Lamentably, I will not have any leftover ham because my husband doesn’t do pork. (Sing a sad song for me, friends. A woeful dirge with bursts of pained wailing.) Growing up, Serrano ham was our family’s ham of choice and we rarely had any left over. But when we did, I loved it on pizza, in wraps, and the bone gave deep flavor to soups. Sometimes, we’d caramelize slices of ham with just a hint of butter and sugar, and enjoy that over garlic fried rice. (Sniff. I need a dirge encore, please.)

Betsy says, “We love ham and eggs in this house, and my favorite scramble with leftover ham is Ham, Spinach, and Gruyere.” Sounds perfect to me.

Now it’s your turn! Do you have any favorite ways to use ham? Maybe a killer sandwich concoction or loaded mac and cheese extravaganza? Share your ideas with us below!

The birds are chirping, mornings come a little bit earlier each day, and that tickle in my throat is telling me that pollen is floating around in the air, bringing with it the promise of new life. Spring is finally here!

Many winter-weary folks have started flocking to garden centers, eager to begin work on their yards and planters. I love the garden center early in the season because the racks of herb plants are still packed, and the number of varieties that you can now bring home keeps growing. Varieties like chocolate mint, Thai basil, or my personal favorite, culantro, which I like to refer to as cilantro on steroids.

So let’s talk about herbs today! Tell us:

Do you have any tips for growing herbs at home?

I am, sadly, quite the pitiful gardener. But I keep trying, hoping that one day, I’ll be among those who have lush little pots of herbs on their kitchen windowsill, who never have to run to the store every time they need some basil for pasta, or cilantro for salsa. So I’ll be eagerly reading all your comments!

Betsy says to take the leaves off the top of the basil plant rather than the lower leaves to keep the plant growing fuller and not taller. (She also said she wasn’t quite sure and not to quote her, but sometimes I don’t hear well.)

Nanci adamantly warns never to plant mint in the ground or it will take over the world. She’d also love for someone to tell her how to grow cilantro, because it always seems to get tall and leggy and go to seed on her. (I’ll pretend I know what that means. Like I said, pitiful gardener.)

How about you? What advice do you have for growing herbs? Share your tips with us below!

We loved reading the comments in last week’s post about favorite cookbooks. There were so many stories, not just about the cookbooks but where you got them, why they were your favorites and how you so lovingly shared the recipes with others. Let’s continue the trip down memory lane and, this time, let’s get even […]

The other day, I decided to tackle the task of organizing my bookshelf. Growing up, my shelves used to be filled with all kinds of books on philosophy, theology, military intelligence groups, and every single one of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels. Strange child, I was. Fast forward a few decades and now my shelves contain […]

What are some of your favorite cast iron tips? We'd love to hear your tips or even your challenges when it comes to cast iron cookware. Share your thoughts and let's help each other out!

Spring is in the air, which means my cabin fever will soon be replaced with spring cleaning fever. And I think it already started the other day, when I spent 2 hours freshening up our laundry room, followed by another 3 hours rearranging things in the closet that houses all our cleaning stuff. (And now […]