What's For Dinner?

Earlier this week, Becky (she doesn't have a blog but is a wonderful commenter) and I were commiserating with each other about the intense summer heat and how little energy we had to prepare dinner in the heat. She wrote about how she was making cold salads that would suffice for dinner, especially if some sort of protein was added. She wondered if I had any new suggestions and then wondered if I might ask you, the readers if you had any suggestions. I've gotten several good ideas for posts from Becky, and this one struck me as another good idea. 

We've both made potato salad, macaroni salad, broccoli salad, black-eyed pea salad, and ramen noodle salad. 

While I was thinking about this post, I spent some time searching and came up with these possibilities:

• Tomato Melon Chicken Salad 
• Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches
• Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I haven't tried these but they sounded good to me. They all use chicken which is relatively easy to grill yourself, and it's also quite easy to buy a prepared chicken (Costco!) and shred it. 

Here are a couple of other new-to-me recipes that I found and couldn't resist giving them a try. We had Raspberry Pecan Chicken Salad on Tuesday and I absolutely loved it. I didn't have any Chinese five spice powder but will try to get some to try it next time. John wasn't sure about this take on chicken salad, but he ate leftover grilled sausages after his first couple of bites, which left more for me.

We had everyone's favorite, Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad on Wednesday, and we both liked it. I didn't grill the romaine because grilled lettuce isn't my favorite, but the anchovies in the dressing made it taste great. 

I didn't want to ask you for help with dinner without providing a possible recipe or two, so now that I've prattled on about possible salad ideas, it's your turn. If you have any ideas, recipes, or suggestions about cold salads for hot weather, especially those that require a minimum of cooking, Becky and I would be most grateful. Thanks in advance and Happy Summer Eating!

Summer Break

I'm taking a bit of a summer break. I hope that when I return, there will be more sunflowers,

more Radler,

fewer beans to blanch,

and much less hazy, hot, and humid weather (and crankiness on my part). See you soon!

Think Write Thursday

The Think Write Thursday topic for today is to write about what you do to beat the heat! We're deep into summer here and some of us love the heat and some of us hate it but either way we all have to cope with it. What do you do that works for you? Share your tips, stories and more on coping with summer heat!

I hate the heat, and I hate it even more so when combined with humidity. I try not to whine about it since that does make it seem even worse, but I am not always successful. Summer heat and humidity seems to sap all my energy, to the point where I'd like to just lie down with a cold washcloth on my head, but that's not very practical. Since summer's heat is a reality (and there is that "trying not to whine about it" thing I just mentioned), here's what I do to deal with it.

1. Drink lots of cold beverages. Mint tea is refreshing, and even the sound of ice clinking in the glass makes me feel better.
2. Try and get the hot chores done early in the morning. This means checking the garden, working in the kitchen (especially if it involves boiling water to make pasta salad or blanching vegetables to freeze), and mowing before it gets really hot.
3. Wear evaporative bandanas. I'm not sure if these things actually cool me down, but they do keep the sweat out of my eyes. I wear them when I work in the garden, mow, and sometimes even when I work in the kitchen so I don't have sweat dripping all over. You don't have to tell me how lovely and fashionable I look. :-)
4. Ignore John when he comes home and tells me his office was so cold that he had to wear a long-sleeved shirt and a sport jacket just to stay warm. Our house is an old one, without any existing ductwork, which means we don't have central air-conditioning. We do have a window unit in the bedroom so we can sleep, but the whole downstairs is open, so window units can't cool the space and the cost of installing central air in this house is incredibly prohibitive.
5. If it's really sweltering, find a terrific book and retreat to the air-conditioned library. That's my plan this afternoon when it's supposed to be 95° again. I am taking my laptop to get some work done, but I've also got Grief Cottage and Magpie Murders packed in my bag to read as soon as I meet a couple of work deadlines.
6. Swear that my next house will have central air and possibly be in Colorado where the dewpoint does not reach 75°F.
7. Remember that in just a couple of months the delightfully cool air of fall will be returning and things will be better. 

So what do you do to cope with the heat? I'd love to try some new ideas and quit my whining!

Read other Think ... Write ... Thursday! posts here, and sign up for Carole and Kat's great idea here.

Weekending

It rained much of the weekend and the weather was downright tropical, but when it began to clear on Sunday, it was evident that the high temperatures, sun, and rain over the past week had helped the garden to provide a bounty of zucchini and string beans.

An afternoon's work provided two zucchini, mushroom, and onion quiches, some zucchini marina, 14 cups of grated zucchini frozen, 8 packages of string beans blanched and frozen, and fresh string beans ready for dinner for the next three nights. This is what gardeners wait and wish for, and I'm anxiously looking forward to cucumbers and tomatoes next. This weekend is going to provide lots of healthy, delicious eating!

Throwback Thursday

I'm still working on organizing photos (and may be for a long time) and occasionally I come across something good. It's 87 degrees with 85% humidity here at 9:00 am, but finding this photo of John's grandmother from 1974 made me feel a bit more kindly towards summer.

I may need to cradle my own nice cold watermelon this afternoon!

Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for today is 10 Things On This Summer's Bucket List. I do have two confessions to make; first, summer is not my favorite season because around here it usually means heat and humidity, two of my least favorite things. Our old house has a whole-house attic fan, which works just fine as long as there is cool air outside for the fan to pull in to cool the house. This is not often the case in NJ in July and August. Secondly, I'm a bit of a failure at actually doing things on a bucket list. I've made lists before, but haven't been completely successful at carrying them out. Maybe I'll do better if I make a reasonable list and post it publicly.

1. Rekindle the feeling of summer reading when I was a kid. I'm trying to do this with Book Bingo, and have spent much of my reading time on the porch. So far, so good!
2. Plant more perennials. I planted bleeding hearts and some columbines I started from seed this spring, but I have some space in the garden flower beds for some other things.
3. Eat more summer fruit. I love pies, crumbles, and buckles, but I'm going to make a real effort to just enjoy fruit in its natural state, not baked with sugar. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelons ... yum!
4. Find some great pasta/potato/side dish salad recipes. Dinner in the summer is very often something grilled, a pasta (or potato) salad, and a vegetable. I'm lacking for new, unique, and tasty salad side dishes, but I made this one last night and it was a winner.
5. Eat a Creamsicle® (or two). This delicious frozen treat says summer to me. I haven't had one in years, but I think it's time to quit denying myself.
6. Drink a Creamsicle (or two). This might need a little tweaking, but I bet I'm up to the challenge.
7. Watch the 4th of July fireworks from the backyard. Our town's fireworks are only a block away, so viewing is fun from a chair in the backyard. No parking problems and I can also enjoy a nice glass of wine at the same time.
8. Watch the Perseids Meteor Shower from the backyard. Same chair, with a nice mug of tea since the best viewing will be early morning Aug. 11-13.
9. Tie-dye some shirts. John loves tie-died shirts and his birthday is in August, so this would be fun and gain me some good-wife points at the same time.
10. Go to some of the Main Street Car Shows. Our town has car shows every other week during the summer, and all we have to do is walk a block to Main Street to take a look. Cars aren't usually my thing, but John enjoys them, and it's fun to do something together. I may put some wine in my water bottle and see if this enriches the experience. 

I'm looking forward to reading other lists and stealing an idea or two. It's time to start some summer enjoyment!