cooking recipes, cookbookSummer in Phoenix isn't all that far away and this year we decided that we'd eat all our meals at home and use the money we save to help pay for the air conditioning. Our bills run over $200 a month for five months of the year, so I got online and found a really nice stockpot that I'll be able to use on the patio with a portable burner, and use cooking recipes to make chicken, potatoes, pasta, and other quick meals that we can turn into cold salads when the thermometer hits over 100, a daily occurrence until October.

I found cooking recipes that call for simmering chicken in water and bay leaves to create really tender and juicy chicken, so I gave it a try with just some breasts, which is all we eat anyway. It was amazingly delicious and so easy. It lived up to what the cookbook described. It was moist as can be and so tender, so that's why I decided to buy this HealthSmart™ 16qt 12-Element Surgical Stainless Steel "Waterless" Stockpot with Steam Ventilation Knob so I can cook four to six breasts at a time to make great chicken salad all summer long. I found this at Good Galley at http://goodgalley.com/, a site I just enjoy so much because it has lots of things for cooking, is something I love to do. The stockpot was a good value and it is well made so I'll be using it for many years to come.

I can also steam potatoes in this stockpot for potato salad, too, and cook up a big batch of pasta for salads. It'll also be super easy to boil up corn on the cob. I have cooking recipes for variations on corn on the cob by using olive oil and paprika or ground chili peppers instead of butter. Summer is the time of year when our mayonnaise consumption rises, so if I can use flavor in other things instead of fat, I feel better about what I cook and serve. I don't always follow the cooking recipes exactly, but use my cookbooks for ideas and inspiration, instead.

I've found that there are a lot of cooking recipes that give alternatives to unhealthy fat like butter. Actually, butter is not so unhealthy, but we sure don't need the calories, especially in the summer when we aren't exercising the way we do in the winter. I can't wait to get this stockpot and start cooking all our meals so we can set the thermostat lower, cook on the patio with the pot, and enjoy delicious food all summer long, and I do mean long.