Summer Cooking: The Easy Way Out

Summer Cooking: The Easy Way Out

It’s just too hot to cook very much this time of year. I rarely bake in the summer, but when I do, I don’t keep the oven on long.

We try to find ways to minimize cooking in the summer because we want to spend time outdoors enjoying the long days and the chance to be shed of the heavy coats, too.

Dinner may involve sandwiches or salads, which are simple to prepare, require minimum clean up and set right on the stomach when it’s hot and humid.

If you’re grilling meat out, it’s a good idea to do a little extra if you can plan a use for it the next night. For instance, a few extra chicken breasts cooked ahead can get you ready to make a grilled chicken salad by adding the cooked chicken to some pre-packaged greens or your own concoction of veggies. Extra shrimp is good to throw onto a green salad, too.

If you’re making baked potatoes on the grill, do a few extras so you can have the makings of hash browns or potato salad for the next day.

My favorite green salad is mixed baby lettuces with strips of grilled chicken dressed with a vinaigrette or Italian. But for sturdy old iceberg lettuce, I like flavorful bleu cheese dressing. Here’s my favorite recipe.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 6 dashes Worchestershire sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• pinch red pepper
• 4 ounces bleu cheese

Combine all ingredients in a blender except about half of the cheese. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture into bowl and stir in remaining bleu cheese. Chill and serve with salad or alongside a tray of raw vegetables.

Dilled Chicken Salad makes a wonderful lunch or dinner and is cool to eat. The recipes comes from an old issue of Taste of Home magazine.

Dilled Chicken Salad

• 1 16-ounce package spiral pasta, cooked and drained
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 or 2 cups steamed broccoli

Dressing for Dilled Chicken Salad

• 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

In large bowl, combine all ingredients except the dressing ingredients, which you should mix together in a separate bowl until smooth.

Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for two hours before serving.

You can have a hearty dinner of hot sandwiches by using the microwave or stovetop. We often make ham and cheese sandwiches with a little mayo and grill them in a pan, slipping juicy slices of summertime tomatoes into them just before serving.

Another favorite is a roast beef sandwich with mozzarella cheese, some onion and pepper slices sprinkled with Italian salad dressing, then wrapped in wax paper and microwaved for 30 to 60 seconds.

Then, there’s the classic Reuben sandwich: corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut dressed with thousand island dressing on pumpernickel bread and grilled.

It’s healthy to add a vegetable tray or a cold soup to a sandwich dinner.

Printed with permission from www.suite101.com.
About the Author:  Lee Ward -  For the last 20 years, I have been working as a professional journalist in newspapers, magazines and radio. Currently, I am the Lifestyle Editor at a daily newspaper, The Independent in Ashland, Ky. I am always interested in freelance writing or editing opportunities and working on my fiction and poetry. I can be emailed at hillygator@msn.com.