This hot weather got me to thinking about how I eat when it is too warm to cook. I have several go-to things. First, I love cottage cheese. I fix cottage cheese with fruit and call it a meal. That makes a no bother lunch. Sometimes I go to my herb patch and get some chives. I like to put those into cottage cheese as well. If there are fresh tomatoes and cucumbers that is all the better.

Spinach salad is one of my go-to things as well. Fresh spinach from the garden makes it even better. I spread my washed spinach on a plate and added a sliced hard-boiled egg, a couple strips of crispy bacon crumbled, and something crunchy such as croutons or dry stuffing. I use a mustard based dressing that is homemade. I keep that in my refrigerator for any salad.

MUSTARD DRESSING

In a blender or food processor mix:

1 medium onion cut up, 2/3 c. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. celery seed, 1 T. prepared yellow mustard, 1/3 c. vinegar, and 1 c. canola oil. Buzz up to combine. Each time you use it you have to give it a shake. Just pout onto the salad.

TACO SALAD

Then, there is taco salad. I cook up a pound of ground beef with my own taco seasoning. Once again, I spread out my lettuce and add to it. This time I add ground beef, some salsa, some sour cream, and some corn chips. No need for any other dressing.

TACO SEASONING

1 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Pasta salad is another go-to salad. I cook three-colored pasta and add to it. I add black olives, green olives, some provolone chunks of cheese, and some pieces of salami. That is dressed with Italian dressing.

When I was growing up, I came to the conclusion that we ate a lot of fruit for dessert. Oh, Grandma made cookies, but we seldom had other desserts, unless it was a special occasion.

Usually, after supper, we took a ride out to one of the fruit and vegetable stands. We bought a lot of fresh things since the only thing Grandpa had in his garden was tomatoes and of course, flowers. We all loved fresh tomatoes. Usually, we just ate them with salt. I know that some people use sugar on their tomatoes but Grandpa always ate his with salt. Sometimes he grew both yellow and red tomatoes. Grandma liked the yellow ones since they seemed to have less acid.

We purchased whatever fruit was in season. We ate a lot of fresh cantaloup. The ones you buy in the store are not as good as those that are homegrown. The ones with the wider lines on them were the best. Grandma usually smelled them to tell what she wanted to buy. Those she cut into wedges for us to eat. With four of us eating, we usually finished a melon in two days.

When strawberries were in season, we bought quarts of those. Fresh strawberry shortcake was the best. Grandma always made biscuits for our shortcakes. I did not like it with angel food cake or those little sponge cakes. They added too much sweetness for me. When I married, that created a problem because my husband liked the little cakes. Usually, I bought a package of little cakes and put them into the freezer. That way Dick could have the cake he liked and the kids and I had the biscuits. In the end it turned out he liked biscuits too.

Next came fresh peaches and cherries. There was a Mr. Cato in Fredonia who grew peaches and apples. Usually, we went there. I recall that Grandma liked the red haven variety. They were not as big as some peaches but they were oh so sweet.

At night Grandpa would often cut up a peach to eat for a snack. He sat in his old oak rocker and put the peach on the arm of the chair. Usually, he asked me if I wanted a piece and I said yes. That rocker has been reupholstered and it is now in my living room. My mother had it in her apartment until she died, then it moved to my house. Although I cannot sit in it when I knit, I use it often. It is nice to just sit in it and rock. I used it a lot when the grandchildren were small. That is where I sat to read stories to them.

Here’s hoping I provided a couple ideas of what to eat when it is too hot to cook. Enjoy.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.