Too Hot to Cook

Now it's hot. The kind of hot that forces you to sit still, preferably under a ceiling fan, sipping a cold drink. You can almost hear the garden growing. Everyone slows down. It's so hot you don't want to cook - not for anybody! But you still have to eat!

Turn to these easy recipes that - I guarantee - do not use one bit of heat. Not from the grill, stovetop, microwave, or oven. Canned foods, deli ingredients, frozen fully cooked meats, and fresh summer produce all combine to make excellent recipes that let you keep your cool inside and out.

Enjoy!

Beverages and Appetizers

• Citrus Cooler
• Crab Spread
• Hummus
• Veggie Appetizer Pizzas
• Margarita Dip
• Tangerine Cooler
• Lemonade Spritzer

Salads

• Chicken Artichoke Salad
• Strawberry Shrimp Melon Salad
• Curried Shrimp Salad
• Antipasto Chicken Salad
• No Cook Chicken Fruit Salad
• No Cook Mexican Chicken Salad
• Marinated Greek Salad
• Fruit and Ham Chef Salad
• Marinated Vegetable Salad
• Asian Chicken Salad
• Tuna Fruit Salad

Sandwiches and Soups

• Pressed Sandwiches
• Cobb Salad Wraps
• Gazpacho
• Chilled Cucumber Soup
• Brie Peach Sandwiches
• Chicken Tomato Wraps
• Mediterranean Pitas
• Texas Melon Soup
• Cold Ham Sandwich Pizza

Desserts

• Rocky Road Pie
• Lemonade Pie
• Sherbet Fruit Pie
• Marble Pops
• Rocky Road Sandwiches

To speed up preparation even more, think about chilling the canned foods, still in their cans, in the fridge the night before you want to make the recipe. Then you don't even have to wait for the recipe to chill; just combine the cold foods right out of the cans and sit down to dinner.

Your grocery store's deli can provide lots of the ingredients for these no cook recipes. I especially love the rotisserie chicken at my deli; it provides about 4 cups of perfectly cooked, tender chicken perfect for use in salads and sandwich spreads. And for sandwiches, nothing beats the Pepper Roast Beef my deli makes; tender medium rare roast beef is coated with cracked black pepper. Yum.