I use mine all year round too, however in the summer, there are time I find I distinctly avoid the oven just because of the heat, and the next best thing is the grill.. So for myself, the grill gets more use during the dog days.
Don't matter in my house - baking bread before sunrise is a help - not too much change in cooking - unfortunately!
During the summer months I try to do a lot of the prep work either the night before or the morning of. It just helps me to do a lot less work at actual dinner time so I don't have to be working up a sweat running around in the kitchen. All of that chopping and stirring, mixing and dicing does make one hot (especially when you're in a hurry to get dinner on the table after work!) So even if I have to turn on the oven it's only for the duration of cooking the actual meal so it's not so bad. But still sometimes you just GOTTA have the A/C on!
I eat more cold sandiwches & salads, and garden produce in the summer. Many times I even go completely meatless simply because there's so much garden bounty to use up. I rarely turn on the oven unless I desperately have to. And I even will use the nucro-wave or crock-pot to avoid use of the stove-top when it's super-hot.
So far this season we've seen only MILD temps- normally by this date we've seen upper-90's and maybe even 100 by August, but today, can you believe it's a cloudy, cool 68 degrees? Unheard of!
*As a big guy- oddly, it's always been easy for me to quickly drop weight. In some commercial kitchens- particularly those in the early days that did not have A/C, I could literally lose 12 lbs. in ONE WEEK simply by eating well, drinking lots of wa-wa, and perspiring SO MUCH.
In the mid-west where summers are hot & sticky, there were days when it was 100 outside and I know for a fact that I must have worked right on the line at grills & flat-tops in confined spaces that HAD to be 120 degrees. I've changed uniforms 3-4 times during a single shift before- was so soaking-wet that one didn't dare go into the walk-in freezers. (Though on such days in such temps a trip into the walk-in COOLER was HEAVENLY! I remember having to work inside the walk-ins when decorating large cakes, scooping ice-cream for banquets, or piping dishes of mousse for large catered affairs...
So far this season we've seen only MILD temps- normally by this date we've seen upper-90's and maybe even 100 by August, but today, can you believe it's a cloudy, cool 68 degrees? Unheard of!
*As a big guy- oddly, it's always been easy for me to quickly drop weight. In some commercial kitchens- particularly those in the early days that did not have A/C, I could literally lose 12 lbs. in ONE WEEK simply by eating well, drinking lots of wa-wa, and perspiring SO MUCH.
In the mid-west where summers are hot & sticky, there were days when it was 100 outside and I know for a fact that I must have worked right on the line at grills & flat-tops in confined spaces that HAD to be 120 degrees. I've changed uniforms 3-4 times during a single shift before- was so soaking-wet that one didn't dare go into the walk-in freezers. (Though on such days in such temps a trip into the walk-in COOLER was HEAVENLY! I remember having to work inside the walk-ins when decorating large cakes, scooping ice-cream for banquets, or piping dishes of mousse for large catered affairs...