summer eats

[flea]

As I have I womanfully refrained from mentioning in at least half of my recent posts, it done got hot here. Normal summer weather, in which it's near 70 degrees at 6:30 am, and 90 or above by afternoon.

We have a single (although powerful) window AC unit to cool our entire (small) house, and thus find cooking in the summer to be an often uncomfortabe activity. So we eat a lot of salads, and cold foods, and such. We're also sometimes lazy, so we make simple things that use ingredients we tends to have readily to hand, or that keep well. A few of our summer staples:

Black bean, corn and tomato salad. Exactly what it says: beans canned, drained; corn frozen, thawed; tomato fresh, diced. Dressed with red wine vinegar. (Note: no need for a stove at all!)

Tortellini salad: Barilla tortellini, diced raw zucchini, diced tomato, dressed with Newman's Own balasmic vinaigrette.

Green bean, new potato, and tomato salad: yep, what it says, beans and potatoes cooked and chilled, Paul Newman rides again. (We are moderately addicted to the stuff, Casper most of all - she'll drink it if we let her.)

Also Greek salad, Greek pasta salad, hummus, and things of that nature.

What do you eat in the summer? Suggest a cool, easy recipe for me.

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I made an ice cream soda tonight.

[jesseh.livejournal.com]

I add quinoa to the corn and bean salad, which adds protein and whatnot. Quinoa = super grain of the future!

[scrappylj.livejournal.com]

We do ploughman's lunch a lot. On a plate lay out a selection of: sliced (good) cheese (we like jarlsberg and/or smoked cheddar), sliced meat (we like dry salami and/or ham), and a starch (we use a sliced baguette or onion crackers or whatever). To this you can add whatever you feel like, cornichon pickles, sliced apples, edamame, sliced cucumber. The point is that it's finger food and you can combine every bite in a different way--ham and cheddar, apple slice and jarlsberg, salami and pickle, Or you can eat each thing seperately! Yummy and NO COOKING.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Washingtonian. Summer cold version: croissant sliced in half, inside you put ham and cheddar slices, and then slim slim slices of granny smith apple.

(The hot version, you melt the cheese too.)

Also, have you learned the ways of edamame yet? I do the shelled ones, frozen, but I'm sure you can get them in-shell or fresh.

Mmm, caprese salad

[(Anonymous)]

Fresh mozzarella (preferably the little baby ones, or if the big balls, then sliced or cut into chunks); fresh basil, sliced? shredded?; fresh tomatoes, chunked; olive oil, salt. Also good to add: avocado or cucumber.

--Lola