Man. In no time at all we jumped from unseasonably cold to unseasonably hot. Today it has been 36 C (that's over 90 F!) and the humidity is up around 49-52%. Too hot for cooking.

Yesterday I had supper from a can and heated it in the microwave. Tonight the fiance and I picked up pre-made dinners to nuke again. Tomorrow and Sunday we're BBQing (for a birthday and then for Father's Day).

What else is good to have during the wiltingly hot days of summer? Please share your recipes for summer food with me, before I pass out from heat!

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

Answers

Get creative with salads. We used mixed greens, sun dried tomatoes, avocados, artichoke hearts (not the marinated kind, just the plain canned ones), kalamata olives, feta cheese, albacore tuna, and veggies in various combinations. That plus fresh bread is dinner all summer long.

Last night we had spicy papaya salad ... that was very good. There are also some Vietnamese dishes that use room temperature noodles and cold veggies -- those are pretty easy to make, and very tasty.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

Here's a yummy tomato and green bean salad that takes about ten minutes to make.

1 lb fresh (or canned) green beans
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp marjoram

Steam the beans about five minutes if you're using fresh. Drain the liquid from the cans if using canned. Combine with everything else, mix and chill.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

Mmm, that sounds good ... makes me wish I didn't hate green beans.

A reminder about Greenspun wackiness: if you're posting a recipe, be sure to put a break tag after each line, or it will all run together. I always forget that, too.

For you non-HTML'ers, that means put this after each line where you want a break: <BR>

If you want two breaks, put in two of them.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

I more or less live on Caesar salads all summer.
I suppose if you really wanted to, you could make your *own* proper dressing, but I recommend experimenting with storebought until you find what you consider to be the perfect dressing, the perfect crouton, etc... then just put romaine, croutons, parmesan, and lots of dressing in a ziploc, fill with air, and shake.
Embarrassingly easy, but it's been the hit of more than one barbecue in these parts.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

You've actually found a bottled caesar dressing that's edible? We're still looking. The Newman's Own isn't bad, but it's nowhere close to homemade.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

Summer hit here, too, last week. We live on 3 things all summer - salad, fruit salad, and ice cream with strawberries.

I am a big fan of what I call garbage salads - where you just grab a bunch of stuff from the fridge and combine it. Usually, ours starts with a bed of lettuce, then shredded carrot, then green pepper, tomatoes, shredded diet cheddar cheese, a few sesame seeds, some turkey or chicken from the deli, a chopped egg, and croutons.

Boring, but with ranch dressing, this is my favourite meal. And of course, there is always takeout!

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

We normally cook just about everything in the microwave, so summer cooking isn't a big issue. Tonight we're going to use the indoor grill for chicken breasts, and heat frozen vegetables in the microwave.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2001

Potato or macaroni salad, if you can stand to boil the potatoes, eggs & macaroni the night before.

BLT's are nice, too. You can cook it in the microwave, so frying isn't necessary.

And there's always beer, of course.

We aren't getting the blistering heat here in St. Paul that I remember from growing up in California; we traded a little heat for a lot of humidity and the occasional tornado, straight-line winds and golfball-sized hail. Woo!

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2001