what's your sure-fire beat the heat tips?
Help me! This week the temperature around where I live is going to be well over the 105 degree mark! 107 today, tomorrow is suppose to be 110 and I don't have air conditioning. I was wondering what were your sure fire ways to beat the heat? Any good popsicle recipes, iced tea recipes or anything not using the oven would be appreciated!
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23 Comments:
Chilled Cucumber Salad
3 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced thin and separated into rings
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste
Layer cucumber slices with the onion in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Taste and adjust sugar for sweetness, adding more sugar, if needed. Pour over vegetables and toss lightly.
Cover and chill for 2-4 hours before serving.
LunaPierCook at 4:26PM on 07/08/08
Rita's Italian Ice. Tangerine if they have it. Bring down your core temp and the rest of you will follow.
therealchiffonade at 4:36PM on 07/08/08
I love cold salads. Here's a good one for Quinoa Tabouleh (I make the quinoa in the morning, while the temp is still cool-ish, and put it in the fridge) And, I assemble closer to eating time:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=223454
Also homemade fresh fruit sorbets, pops, and granitas are a delicious way to cool off.
Brownie at 4:45PM on 07/08/08
tell me about it! Im home in sacramento this week and its like 110!! anyway, I love to make bean salads when its hot out because nothing needs to be warmed. I often do black beans with red onion, colorful bell peppers, radish, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, salt and cumin. you can also do canellini bean or garbanzos with cherry tomatoes, basil, moz or parm, lemon juice and olive oil. usually though, I just throw together some canned beans with whatever veg I have in the frigde and either lime or lemon juice as a dressing. Its a great meal because its cool, heathly (lots of protein in the beans) and the citrus juice is refreshing. As for something sweet-this time of year I like to freeze berries and eat them for desert. they are so sweet its like a popsicle. Also, you can freese individual berries into ice cubes and then use the cubes in lemonade.
banana at 5:09PM on 07/08/08
*banana, i'm in stockton, ca... not very far from you!
evilchefmom at 5:32PM on 07/08/08
Haagen Dasz strawberry sorbet... it's awesome!! you could also make some strawberry sherbet yourself... it's easy to freeze them in icetrays.
Eat lots of fresh watermelons - I would even make watermelon juice and some granita with the juice. Cantaloupe juice is also super good.
I love limeades and grapefruit ade where I mix the juice with some water and sweeten. My aunt makes it for me every time she brings grapefruits from her backyard... love her!!!
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 6:39PM on 07/08/08
*evilchefmom, I grew up in Sac but I just moved to SF after a few years in NYC...honestly, as much as I complain about the hot, HOT, hotter than frak summers in the central valley, I do kind of miss it! (just dont tell anyone). and really, nothing beats the produce here. to add to my tips above, eat lots of tomatoes with basil on some good bread and drink LOTS of ice water :)
banana at 6:55PM on 07/08/08
I live in the East and the humidity these past few days is discusting. I cook the lunch shift in a very busy restaurant and the kitchen is about 97 degrees, so needless to say I don't eat much during the day but tonite I made some spring rolls with rice wrappers and lots of fresh veggies and included some shrimp. Yummy!
joanpieroni2 at 8:13PM on 07/08/08
We just tried this fruit thing tonight and it was a hit. Fill a blender with 2 peeled and supremed (just the fruit, not the pith or membrane) pink grapefruit. Add an equal amount (or more if you prefer sweet) of watermelon, cubed into chunks. Add maybe 1/2 c diced English cucumber, some ice cubes, and blast it up. Pour into chilled glasses, sip, lean back and relax.
It ain't dinner, but in heat like this it sure helps.
moibec at 9:03PM on 07/08/08
Tomorrow is going to be wicked humid (and hot) here in the east. My thing is tons of ice (and I mean ice) water, fruit and nothing heavy. I will start the day with a protein smoothie. No heating elements will be turned on, other than the coffee thing my husband does in the morning.
izatryt at 9:40PM on 07/08/08
It's 90 here in Ohio, I'd say get to a movie theater or library and hang out for the day!
I'm also one for watermelon and fresh squeezed or frozen lemonade--both fruits with or without vodka!
*LunaPierCook I just spent the last half hour checking out cucumber salad recipes, yours is basically what I ended up with, adding some farmer's market tomatoes. Salad set for tomorrow night's menu! I also saw a cucumber watermelon salad that if I had watermelon here I would make, soon enough though!
bobcatsteph3 at 10:46PM on 07/08/08
I eat about 3 pounds of grapes a day, in addition to iced coffee and salad for both lunch and dinner
ChristineB at 11:32PM on 07/08/08
105 here in Ca at 3000 ft. Drink a lot. Jump in the watering trough after you've filled it from the spring. Eat ice cold potato salad with fresh garden onions. Use the stovetop to cook rare meats. Make a big salad and keep it around. Eat lots of fresh fruit, eg cold bing cherries from the refrigerator go well with a banana and some cold yogurt with maybe just a touch of sugar?
fewteeth at 1:31AM on 07/09/08
tinto de verano (equal parts seltzer and red wine with ice and a slice of lemon). very popular in spain during the hot, hot summers. iced green tea. gazpacho. frozen bananas. cold watermelon. lots of salad with plain lemon juice dressing.
tudogostoso at 2:50AM on 07/09/08
The most important thing is to keep hydrated! Lots of water bottles in the fridge, heck some refrigerated plastic cups!
Fruit, of course, especially water-containing fruit like grapes, melon, and plums.
And in times like you describe I think you get a pass to serve ice cream or cold cereal for dinner!
HeartofGlass at 5:11AM on 07/09/08
Cucumber-tomato salad with crumbled feta and green onions. Add good bread and white wine sangria.
I just had someone here in Israel tell me she fills her bathtub with cool water and lays in it for 5 or 10 minutes at a time when she can't take the heat anymore. Then she uses it to water her plants after the sun goes down!
cowprintrabbit at 8:07AM on 07/09/08
@cowprintrabbit - That reminds me of when I was growing up. We lived on a farm and didn't have a pool, but we took the big tin tubs we washed vegetables in and filled them with cold water - my mom and I would take turns lying in the tubs in the backyard whenever we got too hot!
Also, we had a big walk-in fridge for the vegetables, and whenever I got too hot playing on the farm my cousins and I would take slices of watermelon and eat them in the fridge.
embolini9 at 11:51AM on 07/09/08
I love,love, love this recipe! Its just so darn refreshing!
Finely slice 1/2 a small red onion & over the top of that squeeze the juice of a lime. Let this sit for about 10 mins. and you'll find that the red onion will lose its bite.
Meanwhile combine 1/2 tub of feta cheese(crumbled), 1 tin of black pitted olives (drained), 1 small watermelon (cut into mouth size chunks) & 1/2 to 1 cup of finely cut fresh mint. Add the red onion and the the juice from the lime. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised.
daisymay at 12:59PM on 07/09/08
Moving away from places that get hot and humid! We've had highs of mid 80s and under all summer here, which SO beats the 90F+ in humid, muggy heat I suffered in back east.
joyyy at 7:01PM on 07/09/08
Other than wanting to hide in a cave, drinking cold water, and eating just washed crisp lettuce, cool slices of cucumbers, and chilled grape tomatoes with cucumber ranch.
I'll sometimes go the opposite spectrum to "cool" off with a huge steaming bowl of pho (when is it a bad time for pho?!) with lots of chili peppers and dipping my meat in sriracha. Huge beads of sweat drip from my forehead, eyes watering and nose running from the peppers. When the fan does a pass or when the wind blows, it feels so cool. The mango bubble tea and summer rolls taste pretty good too. Concentrating on eating all the bubbles makes me forget about how hot it is, and the crisp, cool summer rolls with Thai basil can be so refreshing.
Cassaendra at 10:06PM on 07/09/08
Lots of water...I don't think anyone can say it enough. I tend to go with room temp, because I will get more into me that way. Also, I generally drink less coffee in the mornings in the summer, so there is always some left in the pot later in the day. I'll pour it over ice with a little sweetener, and a dribble of milk and chocolate syrup if I have it.
Rice salad - depending on how many of you there are, make your rice in the morning - jasmine or basmati adds a great taste. When it has cooled, toss with diced tomatoes, cucumbers with the peels left on but the seeds removed and diced, and sliced scallions. Toss with a vinaigrette.
A little less substantial is the "garden salad" we always had at home. We didn't grow lettuce, but it is filled with diced tomatoes, cukes, peppers and green onions. No dressing - the juices take care of it. A little grind of pepper is all I ever add at the end.
Don't forget the tomato or cucumber sandwiches. Fresh bread with mayo, or toast with butter...yum!
thewrighttaste at 8:38AM on 07/10/08
oh, and frozen grapes!
joyyy at 1:25PM on 07/10/08
Central California, we here in Texas feel you. We have been dealing with heat year in/year out. Here are some tips:
Hydration is important. Multiple small snacks work better than big meals. Don't overlook replacing the salt you will lose when it gets hot and you are sweating.
Prioritize. Pace yourself. Some things you let slide when it is dangerously hot. Other tasks you have to allow more time for in extreme heat. Fans help a LOT. Air that moves takes 10+ degrees off.
Use your microwave rather than your oven. That rice salad suggested by thewrighttaste? Make the rice in the microwave.
If you have an outdoor grill, use that to cook meat in the morning and plan for several meals using the leftovers without heating up your house.
Finally, if you can get your hands on good fresh fish make ceviche. Serve that with some gazpacho and you'll do better than survive - you'll thrive!
texasdeb at 8:49AM on 07/14/08