"summer cooking" news and stories

All across the country, zucchini and other summer squashes are taking over garden patches. They double in size overnight, leaving home cooks pondering new ways to use them up so that their families don't say to them, "You mean we're having squash? Again?"

The following recipe has captured my attention as a terrific way to use a lot of your zucchini. It fancies up your basic grilled squash, and, coupled with a protein and a grain salad, would make a terrific meal. The grilling of the squash could be done outside, on a stove-top grill pan or even on a large George Foreman.

I have not been on what anyone would call a "picnic" in approximately 22 years. No joke. But it's June and that means many people will be heading out to parks and lawns and other places where they can spread out a blanket and eat various foods, so I'll start doing some posts on picnic-friendly recipes.

Today is Picnic Oven-Fried Chicken, over at AOL Food. It's from EatingWell, so you know it's not really fried, it's baked. The hot sauce, sesame seeds, and Dijon mustard in the recipe guarantee lots of flavor and kick.