response 44 of 74:

May 26 00:19 UTC 2007

I'm with Sindi - I use my oven far more sparingly in the summer.  If I 
have to bake, it gets done in the early morning.

But, Denise has a point - grilled corn is really tasty.

response 46 of 74:

May 26 02:26 UTC 2007

If you have a balcony, you can run an electric cord out the window and cook
on a hotplate, electric frying pan, or electric toaster oven (or electric
wok or pressure cooker or deep fryer or griddle or sunlamp).  I run one out
the kitchen window to the back yard to a hotplate on a table.

response 48 of 74:

May 26 20:34 UTC 2007

There are lots of used small tables around, or you could use a milk crate,
or a board across some concrete blocks, or a chair.  Any sort of cooking will
heat up your kitchen more than you would guess - it is like running a space
heater, or several of them.

response 50 of 74:

May 27 14:41 UTC 2007

Another thing I tend to eat more of in the spring and summer is fruit. 
Fruit salads are great [with or without some kind of dressing/yogurt 
type thing], as are fruit cabobs [kabobs?].  And smoothies.

When I was cruising the isles of the grocery store, while in the pasta 
section, I was reminded that I used to enjoy cold pasta salads but 
haven't had any in ages and ages.  I used to add various raw vegetables 
and sometimes pieces of cheese and/or meat, tossed with a bit of 
dressing [usually italian].

response 52 of 74:

May 28 02:55 UTC 2007

Sounds pretty cool; creative, too!  I wish I was more creative in the food
department...

response 54 of 74:

May 28 04:04 UTC 2007

I've been lazy about it, but mom always used pepperoni in the pasta
salad (more taste-per-fat than 'most any other fat/salt/protein-type
ingredient) and let it age in the fridge a day (maybe stir up once)
before serving.  Garbanzo or kidney beans can work well, too.

Today's dinner would have fit really-hot weather better - dinky open-
face sandwiches made with baguette/olive oil/cold cuts/cheese/bits of
onion/spicy mustard, box of wine in the fridge, and cold water.  I
probably should have made a raw carrot/broccoli/tofu/tomato salad to
go with.

response 56 of 74:

Jun 19 12:49 UTC 2007

I use salad bars to buy small amounts of ingredients.  If I only need 1/4 C
of something expensive, I'll put some in the salad bar box, and take it home.

I saw a nice summer idea while shopping at Kroger the other day.  The produce
section had a prepackaged assortment of beans and carrots.

Whole green beans, whole wax beans, and carrots that had been cut into similar
lengths, and sliced into strips about the same size as the beans.  Beautiful
yellow, orange, and green stripes.  

response 58 of 74:

Jul 11 20:06 UTC 2007

Last night, I got some email from the kraftfoods website... So I was
browsing through  some of their recipes and starting saving some of the
cool summer ones to my recipe box  that I have set up there.  There's a
lot of easy stuff to make; when I get caught up with  some other stuff
first, I'll come back and post some of these ideas.

response 60 of 74:

Aug 17 01:23 UTC 2007

[ok, I'll chill with posting interesting articles for a little while
after this one, ok? At least  no more this evening, at least...  :-)  ]

Eat and Keep Cool
Baby, it's hot outside! You can stay fresh as a daisy this summer by
choosing foods that  cool your body from the inside out.

By Lisa Kingsley
    
When the temperatures soar, there's more you can do to stay cool and
comfortable  than sit in the air-conditioning and sip lemonade.


According to the principles of ayurveda a holistic system of
preventative medicine  developed in India more than 5,000 years ago and
supported by modern science, all  food falls into one of six taste
categories: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, or  astringent. Foods
that are sweet, bitter, or astringent have a cooling effect on the body;
 foods that are sour, salty, and pungent have a heating effect on the
body.

So, when the weather's hot, keep cool by choosing sweet, bitter, or
astringent  (somewhat sharp or dry taste, like that of cilantro or
pomegranate) foods, says author  Jennifer Workman, a registered
dietician and a continuing education provider for The  American Dietetic
Association who teaches ayurvedic nutrition to Western clinical 
dieticians and nutritionists.

"The craving for cold, sweet things in the summer is correct. If it's
hot, it makes logical  sense that the body is going to try to reach
homeostasis -- that's it's goal," Workman  says. "It wants balance.
That's why, when it's 100 degrees outside, nature provides  sweet fruits
like watermelon and grapes and strawberries. It's why we crave iced tea,
 and salad, and shrimp cocktail."

Eating foods that help you stay cool isn't necessarily about the food's
temperature ,  Workman says. For instance, ginger has a warming effect
on the body -- so drinking a  cold ginger ale isn't going to have the
desired effect.

Even switching up a few ingredients in a meal can make the difference
between a  warming or cooling effect, she says. For instance, most beans
and legumes have a  cooling effect. Ditto for avocado and salad greens
(especially the bitter ones).  Tomatoes, on the other hand, are warming,
as are hot chilies.

"So if you have something Mexican with black beans and lettuce and
guacamole, it'll be  cooling," she says. "If you have the same thing but
have it with a lot of tomatoes, salsa  with chilies, it'll be warming."

Warm vegetable soups made with cooling, digestive spices such as cumin,
coriander,  turmeric and fennel ultimately cool you down, too, she says.

To that end, here's a short list of cooling foods you might want to
incorporate into your  diet during these hotter-than-blazes days.

Cooling Fruits

Apples
Avocado
Coconut
Grapes
Mangoes
Raisins
Strawberries
Watermelon
Cooling Vegetables

Squash
Asparagus
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Bok choy
Cucumber (of course!)
Corn
Dandelion greens
Fennel
Sweet potatoes
White potatoes
Snow peas
Grains

Oats
Basmati Rice
Wheat
Proteins

White meat turkey and chicken
White-flesh fish
Shrimp
Tofu
Almonds
Herbs/Spices

Dill
Fennel
Mint
Cumin
Coriander
Fennel
Turmeric
Cardamom
Rosewater
Drink and Keep Cool

Just as certain foods will cool your body from the inside out, so too
will choice  beverages. Like the foods we eat, what we drink has a
cooling or warming effect on our  bodies that doesn't necessarily have
to do with the temperature of the drink itself, says  ayurvedic
nutritionist Jennifer Workman.

The most cooling drinks are those that have some astringency (a sharp,
dry taste).  That's why teas of all kinds -- whether sipped cold, hot,
or room temperature -- are  terrific body coolers.

"Teas are very helpful to people because they're astringent and
cooling," Workman  says. Some of her favorites are green tea, raspberry
tea, jasmine tea, lemongrass tea,  or lemon verbena tea.

One of her favorite recommendations for summer sipping is lightly
sweetened chai (hot  or cold) with milk (dairy is cooling) and a little
bit of cardamom (also cooling).

She also loves sweet and/or astringent fruit juices, such as
pomegranate, mango, or  cranberry.

"One of my favorite treats in the summer," she says, "is cranberry juice
with sparkling  water and a squeeze of lime." Aaaah.

response 62 of 74:

Sep 23 20:42 UTC 2007

Many apartments no longer allow that.  Mine instituted the "no fires"
rule about 5 years ago.

response 64 of 74:

Oct 1 17:15 UTC 2007

I have one of those as well - I just used it for the first time last 
week. The ribs didn't have that outdoor-grille-charcoal taste, but it 
worked very nicely.

response 66 of 74:

Aug 11 07:07 UTC 2009

Hummus and raw veggies has become a summer staple.

response 68 of 74:

Aug 12 03:44 UTC 2009

The spicy peanut noodles with broccoli recipe that I posted a while 
back is another good one.  The peanut sauce can be put together and the 
broccoli chopped in less time than it takes the noodles to cook and 
using just one burner for a half hour doesn't heat up the whole place.  
I like to use other fresh veggies along with or instead of the 
broccoli, too.