Outdoor Cooking

Ziti Lasagna on the back deck

It was too damn hot last week!  I didn't want to cook anything while the air conditioner was running.  But I had plans to make Gumbo Biscuit Bake and ziti lasagna.  I cringed at the thought of firing up the oven for either recipe. 

We don't have a grill, so that wasn't an option.  But we do have a crock pot.  I had used it once in the four years I've owned it - in attempt to bake bread.  I recalled the post mentioned using a crock pot outdoors in warm weather.  Perfect!

I dug out the crock pot and read up on adjusting recipes for slow cooking.  The gumbo recipe was delicious (I baked the biscuits in the toaster oven) and the ziti lasagna recipe worked out really well, too.  It was terrific not to have my oven battle against the central air.  Rob was concerned that slow cooking on the deck would attract the wildlife, but both days the crock pot was left unmolested. 

I may be using the crock pot a lot this summer if we continue to get warm weather like this.