Just like every other newspaper gets their cue from the New York Times, there must be some trend-setting source out there because I swear, these food mags all come out with big overlap.

(I love to read one magazine and pit it against the others. One will have a recipe for grilling chicken under a brick, then the other will say "that's the dumbest thing you could do". Or they'll have different recipes for the same dish and you can really see what each magazine strives for. Cooks, for example, is big on taking the complexity out of a dish and scientifically coming up with "the best". Fine Cooking is not afraid of complex, time consuming recipes, however, many pay off. Instead of a "lab kitchen", they bring in 4-5 professional chefs to share their recipes, plus the pictures are better. There are others mags, but I don't read them regularly enough.)

In the summer, you can expect to see lots of recipes for grilling, and even more recipes for the fresh food of the season (berries, melons, tomatoes, peaches, squash). But Greek food? Come on. Who said Greek food was the cool thing for the summer? Must be a conspiracy.

Trends for July/August
GREEK!
Several recipes for stuffed grape leaves served one style or another, and Martha has a whole Greek meal laid out for you. Also keep an eye out for olive oil taste tests. Our philosophy is to have a minimum of 3 olive oils in the house: 1 cheaper grocery store brand when taste is not as critical, like for frying (Colavita), 1 buttery flavored one (currently L'Estornell from Spain), and 1 spicier one (currently Altomena from Italy). We enjoy going to Williams-Sonoma to their olive oil tasting bar. :) The fancier oils are saved for salad dressings and other recipes where the taste really matters.

For the BBQ...
-Brushetta. Yup. Grilled brushetta. Topped with all sorts of weird stuff like sweet peppers, summer squash, bacon, arugula... goes a bit beyond your average tomato-parmesan combo.
-Lots of chicken. Chicken must be the ultimate challenge because it's boring and dries out easily. Unlike a good steak which can stand on its own, chicken is totally dependent on the cook to make it edible.

Desserts!
-Think icy goodness. Lemon ice, Watermelon and other fruit granitas, slushy alcoholic sweet beverages.
-No let down on the fresh fruit desserts. It's unfair, really, unless you have the luxury of a farmers' market or stand nearby. Or grow your own, like my parent's did when I was growing up. *sigh*

Drink of the season!!
The Mojito! And quite yummy if you ask me! Bon Appetit also had a "blues mojito" which included a little blue curacao...awesome I'm sure.
Sangria was a close second.

Magazines...
Of course my Fine Cooking and Cook's magazine, but also:
-I don't subscribe to Bon Appetit (more ads than recipes), but every year they have a BBQ issue I enjoy.
-Martha Mag. I'm waiting for my Martha Mag subscription to run out. Meantime, I flip through it for the occassional tidbit. Her recipes (like everything else) are fussy, BUT, the July issue had me saying "hey I'd try that", "and that", "and, hmmm". It's a food issue.
-Something Extra. If you live on the west coast, you've heard radio commercials for the free "Something Extra" magazine that Bel Air/Raley's puts out. I dismissed these at first, but my mom said she'd tried a few things with great results. Naturally it's peppered with ads, but on the flip side, you can expect to find *every* ingredient at their store...what's to complain about? Martha has you running to 3 or 4 different specialty stores!