<p>Make fresh crepes with different fillings . We eat many types of salad -carrot and garbanzo ,marinated overnight . potato salad with fresh dill . Fresh berry smoothies . Israeli salad with cucumber and tomatoes , pita with hummus …</p>
<p>My favorite hot weather salad:</p>
<p>Chicken Waldorf Salad</p>
<p>Greens of Choice (I use Spinich)
One Grab and take cooked Chicken from the Deli…Just an “original” flavor"
One Granny Smith Apple in bite size pieces
One or two bunches of grapes off the stems and cut in half
Avocado (one…sliced)
Glazed Walnuts (I buy the ones in the green bag in the nut aisle)
Poppy Seed Dressing (I buy Brianna’s…yummy)</p>
<p>Pull the chicken meat off the bird, throw it into a bowl of greens, add the apples, grapes and walnuts, toss with dressing, lay avocado on the top. Yummy and refreshing.</p>
<p>Pork tenderloin on grill with grilled veggies tonight and we had steaming hot weather today. Rotisserie chicken will be used for ceasar salad later this week…one of H’s and
D2’s favorite. Turkey BLTs another night with fruit salad Shrimp kabobs and salad another night.</p>
<p>I’m not cooking at all this week. Tonight is leftovers from last night: flank steak with grilled red peppers and vidalia onions and aspargus.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is my Paul Prudhomme’s homemade chili out of the freezer with a blue cheese salad.</p>
<p>Then I yanked out one of the pork butts I slow smoked for 11 hours over the 4th of July. That’ll be pullled pork BBQ for two nights.</p>
<p>Gazpacho topped with guacamole and chilled cocktail shrimp. Spiked with a little vodka if you prefer the Bloody Mary version.</p>
<p>I’m with you – too hot to do anything but stay in an air conditioned room. One night, we each made our own turkey sandwich. The next 90 degree night, I was the poster girl for what not to do – I broiled chicken and, in the 2nd oven, made D roasted kale. So if you add up the 2 temps, my kitchen (and much of the first floor) was at 850 degrees Fahrenheit.</p>
<p>I know – you’re thinking – “where did SHE go to school?” :)</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>The picky shall sweat in the kitchen during the summer months. That’s straight out of the Bible. </p>
<p>If you’re happy with cold food, let the rest of the gang figure out something else for themselves. Believe me, they’ll survive.</p>
<p>Tonight we had corn, tomato, potato salad. Corn cut off the cob, cherry tomatoes cut in half, and little new potatoes boiled and cut into bite size chunks. Toss it all with a dressing made of vinegar, olive oil and a lot of fresh basil. Chill and eat. Yum, I could eat this every night of the year – and everything comes out of our garden.</p>
<p>Feast FROM the East…excellent btw.</p>
<p>precooked (from the market) chicken…warm in the microwave if desired. </p>
<p>We aren’t having a heat wave, but for heat (and other times) we have chopped in a bowl: (any combo) cucumbers, sweet red peppers, corn kernels (from cooked on the cob or canned and drained), garbanzo beans, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onion with dressing (we use Lite Gerards). We eat this alone, with lettuce or cold on top of past.</p>
<p>Yup, Feast FROM the east. Check out the "what do you hate about being 50"thread and see where I mention how my brain just throws in the wrong word whenever it feels like it, even when I know what the word is.</p>
<p>Make a salad that is like an Italian antipasti, filled with small cubes of cheese, dried salami, grilled chicked, olives, cooked (but cooled down) frozen vegetables (peas, corn, etc), cut up raw vegetables like peppers, pickled mushrooms, and salad greens. Not hard to make,and that and some good bread is filling and cooling. </p>
<p>Another fun one? Try a chicken caesar salad pie.You can get it take out, or you can buy a frozen pizza shell and bake it with some tomato sauce on it in a thin layer, then let it cool and top it with chicken caesar salad.</p>
<p>Want a refreshing summer dish that is good cold or warm? Try what my mom called Zucchini soup, real easy to make and keep around.</p>
<p>You basically put some oil in the bottom of a pot with some garlic that you chop up, you layer potatoes, zucchini or yellow squash, eggplant, sliced onion, celery, sliced red or green peppers, in alternating layers (be creative!). Put a top on the pot, let it cook down on medium heat for a while, then add either jarred tomato sauce or whole canned tomatoes (or cut up fresh ones if you have them), and let it cook, then after about 1 hour in stir it up. Cook it another hour or so on simmer, then add spices.Spices are simple, basil, Italian seasoning (basically oregano), possibly thyme, for some zest you can put some tabasco sauce in it, salt and pepper to taste (if the tomato comes out too sour, instead of sugar, try mixing half teaspoon of baking soda in it, quarter teaspoon first, then the second quarter if needed, helps cut the acidity). </p>
<p>This works well warm or cold and keeps pretty well. If you family likes beans, you can also add chick peas or navy beans to this (I recommend canned ones) or black beans which will give it protein as well. Warm, it goes well over rice or pasta, cold it is good on its own.</p>
<p>Crock pot meals can save you in the heat…if all else fails, put a whole chicken in the crock pot and turn it on. You will have the moistest chicken you have ever made. If possible, put the crock pot in the garage…every little bit of heat out of the house can help.
If you have an electric roaster, cook a ham. Roast it outside, hot meal for dinner (usually Sunday), then ham for sandwiches, breakfast for dinner (omlettes), etc.
BLTs are a big hit here…and DH is usuallly willing to grill. Carne Asada is fast (pre marinated from Sprouts or Trader Joes).</p>
<p>As I thought (and mentioned before) the real culprit here in addition to the heat is my picky family that seems more prone to cold weather food apparently (and not a great variety of it!). I on the other hand, have decided to just visit each of your homes above for dinner as it all sounds perfectly yummy to me!</p>
<p>Potato salad, sandwiches. BLTs. Omelets. Cut up fruit & veggies–who says you have to eat meat/protein every night?</p>
<p>We have a George Foreman grill and use it like a panini maker for grilled sandwiches. </p>
<p>I also make Chef’s Salads - stop by the deli or Trader Joes for variety of cold cuts that to roll up, cut in spirals and arrange over lettuce.</p>
<p>Easy Dinner Salads… options included</p>
<p>Bagged lettuce…romaine mix is a fav</p>
<p>chopped hard-boiled eggs
some kind of cold/cooled meat…bacon, cold chix, cold steak or ****
shredded cheese…cheddar, provolone, Parmesan or Mario’s Italian Blend from Sams
drain some red kidney beans and throw some in
Broccoli slaw (bagged in the lettuce section) throw some in
If you have any mushrooms, or cooled cooked green beans, throw those in
thinly sliced red onion
shake on some basil and some oregano
grind some pepper or use a course ground
shake on some garlic powder
cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, or regular tomatoes cut.</p>
<p>Dressings…
Bleu if it’s a red meat…
Vidalia onion vinegrette if it’s an Italian style meat
Ranch
Ceasar if chix with parma cheese
Ginger Asian if chix…sprinkle on some sesame seeds</p>
<hr>
<p>Costco has these Italian deli meat, cheese rolls (they come in a variety pack of 3 rolls in the open fridge section). You can cut them into small bite size pieces and throw them on top of the lettuce. So good with thinly sliced red onions, garlic powder, basil, oregano, (dried or fresh), pepper, Parmesan cheese shredded, and the Vidalia dressing. Very quick meal…made this the first night we didn’t have power after the Tornadoes hit…H thought he was getting some kind of gourmet dish…couldn’t believe how good it was. Mix all the ingreds (except for the lettuce) in the bottom of the salad bowl, then add the lettuce…and then toss .</p>
<p>Like many of you, everytime I’m in Sams or Costco, I pick up a Rotisserie Chix or two. Chop up the chix for salads or whatever. Use the bones and remaining chix to make broth or soup in a crock.</p>
<p>Thanks to mimk6 and collegeshopping…just printed out your salad ideas to cool things down here in hotlanta! One of those WILL be dinner tonight…</p>
<p>I grew up (and still live) “down south” and we often have what my mother called a cold plate: Scoop of tuna salad on iceberg lettuce, deviled eggs, small squares of swiss or cheddar cheese, canned shoepeg corn/Le Sueur peas tossed with diced celery, purple onion and vinaigrette. Pepperidge Farm or Ritz crackers. Fresh cantelope or other in-season fruit.</p>
<p>The only cooking involved would be boiling the eggs in the morning for the deviled eggs.</p>
<p>And crock pots can really heat up an already warm kitchen, but the idea of setting it in the garage or on the back porch is a good one. Although eating a hot meal isn’t very appetizing when the temp is already over 100 degrees.</p>
<p>We made a version of shrimp Louis this weekend. It’s basically a salad with hard boiled eggs, shrimp and a Russian Dressing (the pink mayo sort). If you spike the dressing with some chili sauce it’s pretty good.</p>
<p>My picky eaters want a somewhat hot meal no matter what the temp…thus I put the crockpot in the garage or elsewhere outside. If I have to, I make chicken tortilla soup, the base is made in batches or from the freezer, the chicken is from the crockpot, so it’s fast. They have to tough it out with store bought tortilla chips, I won’t heat up the oven to make homemade.<br>
I did turkey breast cutlets in lemon sauce with zucchini fritters and lingune last night. Really was fast to put together and didn’t create much heat…I prepped the fritters and turkey, boiled the water for the pasta and cooked it all in about 15 minutes. Everyone was happy–and the whole thing takes a frying pan and a pot, so you are out of the kitchen fast.</p>