For the past several days I have been thinking about recipe sharing and this blog and have struggled with another ‘oldie but goodie’ recipe to include here.  What I’m realizing is that summer has arrived and meal planning and preparation have become simpler and more last minute.  I have been cooking daily, but find that I can keep my refrigerator stocked with fresh ingredients and I can pull things out of the freezer for easy defrosting.  This makes a good but simple meal with just a few hours of planning. Over the weekend I defrosted some mahi mahi fillets for dinner.  I made mango salsa with some frozen mango chunks along with fresh jalapeño, red peppers, cilantro and lime.  With coconut milk steamed rice, green beans and a good blackening rub, we had a wonderful meal with just a little chopping. We also made cuban sandwiches from leftover pork roast.  This is a family favorite.  Thinly sliced cooked pork tenderloin or loin is great on a grilled sandwich with hearty mustard, monterrey jack cheese, sliced pickles (I LOVE Toledo’s own, Tony Packo’s sweet-hots for this) packed into a sub roll and toasted on a panini press or any heavy pan.  I prefer using a heavy lid to “press” the sandwich together so the bread gets really crusty. Oh, I wish I took pictures of these when I was making them!  …With just two of us here for dinner last night I defrosted black beans I cooked up a few weeks ago and made a quesadilla filling with yellow peppers, a green onion diced and the beans sprinkled with mexican cheese and cumin.  I made a guacamole with cilantro, avocado, tomatoes spiked with lime and garlic.  It was supposed to be a light dinner – but  it was quite filling! My friend Katie asked me to talk about things that I always have on-hand in this blog.  I guess this might be a good time to broach this topic as I have just given three recipe ideas from items that I just had on-hand. In my freezer:  I always have some frozen bread or rolls.  This can be defrosted very quickly.  There have been times I did not have bread for packed lunches (which I make daily during the work week).  I can make a sandwich out of frozen bread that will easily defrost by lunchtime.  I always have a variety of frozen nuts, mostly for baking – but are also good for snacking!   A few different kinds of frozen fish or seafood can be found in the garage chest freezer too.  Salmon, tuna, and shrimp are almost always on hand and can be defrosted in cold water in about an hour.  Butter – both salted and unsalted in my freezer.  It is always cheaper to buy butter at a big box store like Costco or Sam’s Club – and I can defrost a pound in an hour or so to make a batch of cookies on short notice.  Frozen vegetables are also a great staple.  I keep frozen peas, corn and spinach on hand for times when we are simply out of good fresh vegetable options. nuts keep very well in the freezer. Fish, especially is easy to defrost as most frozen fish comes in idividually sealed packets that are easy to defrost in cold water. In my refrigerator:  I keep plenty of eggs, buttermilk, plain greek yogurt and a variety of cheeses. Goat Cheese, feta cheese, grated mexican cheese, parmesan or romano cheese and sliced provolone are regulars and can be used for lots of different dishes.  Most of these dairy items will last for several weeks.  Condiments abound, but I try hard to keep the variety of mustards down to just a few.  Fresh produce is something I purchase at least weekly, and probably end up grabbing more like 2 times per week.  I like getting bags of mini sweet peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers and organic greens at Sam’s or Costco.  The value is worth sometimes having to waste some if it goes bad before finishing.  The reality with me, is that if I have it on hand, I will use it and be more creative on how to use it so it doesn’t go bad!  In the summer it is much easier to grab produce on short notice at several farmer’s markets on different days of the week.  The real treat for me is a half share of a CSA (community supported agriculture) that we get weekly during the heart of the growing season here in Ohio.  I love tuesdays when we get a delivery of fresh produce!  Our farm, Bersee & Utz, sends out a newsletter the morning of our delivery with a list of items coming our way and oftentimes recipes on how best to use the items.  When we have so much produce, the emphasis is always on the vegetables – so we really do eat less meat and don’t miss it at all. In the pantry:  I always keep a big variety of rice and grains – brown rice, short grain white rice, arborio rice, quinoa, barley, yellow corn meal, grits.  Pasta is also easy to keep on hand and doesn’t ever spoil. A variety of shapes and lengths – and now high protein, low carb versions abound.  My rice cooker steamer is something that I think others should have on hand.  It makes steaming rice or vegetables a very simple push the button and forget it way of cooking! Couscous is also a really great side dish that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes.  Last, I like to keep a few different ready to serve sauces like indian curry, italian marinara, asian stir fry on hand for nights when last minute is the only option.  I can’t recommend this regularly from a cost, quality or healthy standpoint, but it sure makes life easier when you are rushed! Canned beans, tomatoes and sauce, cream condensed soups, chicken stock also come in very handy for time and effort saving purposes.  These items are always in my pantry. Menu planning is a difficult task for all of us at times.  I recommend jotting a few ideas down early in the week so that you can purchase key items.  But, if you are pinched for time and ideas on a hectic weekday night, choose something that you have as a base in your pantry, refrigerator or freezer and work around that.  I finally did take a photo of a salad we had a few nights ago…I needed to use up some lettuce and arugula in our garden – and had defrosted some chicken tenderloins – so we had a salad using up some mini peppers, cucumber, feta cheese, a perfectly ripe avocado, grilled the chicken tenderloins and used up the rest of a vinaigrette salad dressing I made a few weeks ago and was on hand (and a handfull of cooked quinoa from the fridge). That,  along with a few pieces of sour dough toast was a delicious meal on a warm evening. I would like to start getting some feedback from my small, but faithful blog followers.  So, please let me know some of your ideas – or ask questions!  Just make comments in the section.