Hot Weather Food or Tips

LADawg

New member
Here we are deep into the first week of June, with Summer and it’s hot weather just around the corner. Down here in Lower Alabama highs have been running in the mid 80° ’s for the past 3 to 5 weeks, but no really hot weather yet. In fact, I don’t think it gets THAT hot here. There is always a cool breeze coming in off the Gulf that seems to keep things nice. Some of the locals will disagree, but they have not lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area like I have and know what hot weather really is. 10 to 15 days in a row where the highs reach 100° +. We have been here for 5 years and I have not seen the actual temperature reach 100° . Maybe the hear index once or twice, but not the actual.
I’m sure that a lot of you have recipes that you make during the Summer to keep from using your kitchen stove and heating up the house. Or just maybe some tips to keep things cool or cooler in the house. I would like to hear about them.
I grill out a lot :bbq:, but I do that the year around so I guess that, that doesn’t count as a tip for me. I do try to grill a nice steak about every week of 10 days. Hey, I’ll be 78 in two weeks, so I can eat good once in a while if I want to. When we have our steaks we like to have a twice baked, baked potatoes with them. You know, one that is baked, cut in half lengthwise, the potato mashed up with butter, milk, and cheese added. It’s then returned to it’s shell and backed for a short time again with some more cheese on top until it’s hot and the cheese on top has melted. I’ve found that you can bake several potatoes an a time, go ahead and do the mashing, mixing and putting back in it‘s shell. You can then put the ones that you do not need to eat that day on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer to flash freeze them. Then you can put them in plastic sandwiches bags and place them in the freezer. When you plan on grilling steaks or just serving them as a side item just take them out of the freezer a couple of hours before eating, sprinkle with cheese and just heat them up. It will cut out the hour it takes to bake them at 450° or so.
What do you do in order to not heat up the house during the Summer?
 

phreak

New member
CEVICHE

fish into small pieces
fresh garlic
sweet onion
nice red tomatoes
jalapeno pepper
cilantro
fresh limes
olive oil
salt/pepper
 

Leni

New member
Here is a salad that I make. Since I'm lazy I'm just going to copy/paste. I had sent this to my friend tht has a show about food. She posted it on her website.

LENI'S SPINACH SALAD

Our listener, Leni, sometimes comes home from working in her vegetable garden just too tired to make a fuss for dinner. At times like that, she loves to toss together this spinach salad, which is hearty enough for a main course, but it goes well with pizza, pasta or take-out chicken, too. Leni sent me her notes on making it.

To serve 4 (or two as a main course) you'll need a package of washed baby spinach and a package of fresh sliced mushrooms. Also from the produce department, a small red onion - which you slice thin. Then, you need 5 slices of bacon, some good croutons, and some shredded Parmesan cheese - along with a small can of garbanzo beans - rinsed.

All you'll need for the dressing is a little red wine vinegar - you'll see.

In your salad bowl, put the baby spinach and scatter over the sliced mushrooms. Break the thin sliced red onion into rings, and scatter those across (you can rinse the onion slices if they smell strong, and pat them dry, first). Scatter over the rinsed garbanzo beans.

Now, in a skillet, cook the 5 slices of bacon - drain them and crumble the bacon over the salad. To the skillet with the bacon drippings, add a half cup of red wine vinegar and a half cup of water, along with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Let it come to a simmer, grind over some fresh pepper - and pour the hot dressing onto the salad. Sprinkle over the croutons and Parmesan, and serve.

About 15 minutes and less than $10 for a main course for 2 - or a side dish for 4. Can’t beat that!


The only thing that I sometimes do that is different from what Melinda gave on the air is to put the red onion slices into the skillet for a few moments once the dressing has reached a simmer until they are translucent.

I serve this with spaggetti and garlic bread. I'll put the left over salad dressing into the refrigerator or freezer. Any other leftovers go into the refrigerator for another salad. If the spinach is spun in a salad spinner and then put into a zip loc baggie it will last two or three days.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Gazpacho:

GazpachoandMiguelsJalapenoWhiteSauce.jpg


When watermelon is in season, I love the combo of watermelon and feta cheese:

WatermelonandFetaSalad.jpg
 

belaine

Bottle Washer
Super Site Supporter
Leni,
I make this all year long! I usually pick up ingredients at Trader Joe's.
 

belaine

Bottle Washer
Super Site Supporter
Made this salad today to take to my daughter's house for friday supper. I used dill pickles and some kalamota olives from trader joe's. No tuna we are having salmon. Makes me think of summer. Not hot here, just nice.
 
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