While many people are not familiar with it, cooking in clay is wonderful option for cooking some of your favorite dishes. Being rather delicate, it is not meant for stovetop cooking as the rapid heating of cool clay would cause the clay to crack. When cooking in clay, the meal is placed in the cookware then placed in a cool oven before setting the oven temperature. The resulting dish is delicious and moist, quite a bit more tender than meals baked in an open steel pan. Something like this Large Covered Clay Baker is a good example of an excellent piece of clay cookware.

This quality item is from the Romertopf Clay Cookware line. Popular for many years, this cookware is not only useful but quite attractive. Many people even use it for a serving dish. The large clay baker can hold up to 14 pounds, big enough for many of your favorite family meals! There’s even a maxi baker that can hold up to 17 pounds, making it plenty big enough for your holiday turkey.

Do you ever feel like you have run out of ideas to make for dinner? Especially in the summer when you’ve likely been barbecuing every weekend. Then of course there’s pizza, which many families order weekly.  Lots of people make slow-cooked meals during the summer. One of our friends likes to make thick bean soups for her family with some hearty homemade bread on the side. It’s an easy meal that’s very satisfying and very inexpensive. Plus there’s always leftovers for later in the week.

You can have fun with the menu too. One night can be taco night. It’s a lot of fun for the kids since they can put their tacos together anyway they like with options such as cheese, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sauce, sour cream and other simple sides. Or you can try a meal from a different country each week. It’s easy to find recipes online and it puts a whole new spin on dinner. Plus it’s a great way to introduce new foods and flavors to the whole family.