Warm Weather Food

I long for the days when it is too hot to cook, the days where sprawling on a chair near a fan with a cold drink or some ice cream is all you can do. After this winter, I even long for those too-hot nights where it feels like mid-day at midnight. Ask me in August, and I will probably be singing another tune; I don’t love extreme temps either way, but I just feel so ready for heat right now.

As soon as I heard that this week would be warmer, I started planning out no-cook meals for picnics at home. Literally, sometimes we eat on the kitchen floor. It’s fun.

Ever since the Scottish salmon event I attended, I had been planning a night for a smoked salmon platter for dinner, and this Monday was perfect for it.

Crucial ingredients included my favorite Vermont Creamery crème fraiche and some dark pumpernickel bread.

The star of the show was Nova salmon from Trader Joe’s. This comes in at about $7.99, but it lasts for several meals. Since it is such a good source of protein and other nutrients, and finding a protein I like is difficult, I call this a worthy splurge.

Dinner was assembled in about five minutes. I chopped some tomatoes, red onion, and cucumbers. I meant to also include hard boiled eggs but remembered way too late. Next time for sure. We plopped ourselves on the floor and piled our bread high with crème fraiche, veggies, and salmon and caught up on our days. It was a lot of fun and a much-needed relaxed dinner. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in photos and having meals to blog about that I don’t even enjoy them.

We were having guests over late in the evening for the TasteLive! event so I decided to put out some snacks. I whipped up a last minute dip that was pretty spectacular. It was so easy I thought about NOT sharing on the blog, but it was so good I had to.

Three cloves of garlic, a can of white beans, and about three tablespoons of chopped sundried tomatoes, into the blender or food processer.

Blend everything together until smooth. I served it with some whole wheat crackers, and it was devoured. The dip doesn’t need oil because white beans are so creamy, so this is a really healthy, light option. I used the leftovers as a spread for a turkey sandwich.

Once the really warm weather comes, I will be looking for lots of fun, no-cook recipes. Do you have favorites for when the mercury starts to rise?