{"id":4868,"date":"2022-07-18T19:45:17","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T00:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2022-07-18T19:45:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T00:45:19","slug":"antidote-for-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/antidote-for-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Antidote for the Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re looking at another week of\nexcessive heat warnings; we must find an antidote for the heat! I live in an\nearly 20th<\/sup> century house. It has 12-foot ceilings and a variable\nspeed dehumidifying heat & air system. I added vents in the kitchen\/sunroom\narea. It should be relatively cool where I\u2019m sitting. It is not. And it will\nget hotter as the sun sinks directly into the west windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it feels like (checks phone\nso as not to exaggerate) 110\u02da\noutside, there\u2019s only so much you can do to cool the house. Of course there are\nthings you can do to cool your body \u2013 sit in front of a fan, put a wet towel on\nthe back of your neck, sit in a bathtub of cool water, and eat and drink cold\nfoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The past week, I\u2019ve been turning\nalmost everything into a salad topping. Pork tenderloin – shred some and throw\nit on a salad. Baked beets \u2013 serve those puppies cold on top of a salad. Blackened\nBrussels sprouts \u2013 you guessed it; chop them up for a salad. In fact, I\ncombined those three atop shredded bok choy, arugula, and Swiss chard yesterday\nfor lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing I like about salads is\nthe variety of tastes you can achieve by using the same ingredients paired and\ndressed differently. This works especially well for families who have different\ntastes. You can pre-make salad to each person\u2019s preference or get out some\ncolorful serving bowls and let everyone mix their own. This is especially\nadvantageous for families with multiple differing allergies or intolerances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I purchase greens, I like to have a lighter lettuce<\/a> option \u2013 butter, romaine, or iceberg \u2013 to pair with bitter or peppery greens. My favorite mild salad green is m\u0203che, also known as corn salad, but it\u2019s not easy to find. Baby book choy and baby Swiss chard are also delicious mild salad greens. I may also offer spinach as an option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nlike to include greens with bigger flavor. Popular bitter greens include fris\u00e9e,\nradicchio, and dandelion greens. Watercress is great in salads. It may be\nbitter or peppery. Arugula is also bitter and peppery and grows like crazy in\nmy garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nrecently made a quick happy hour appetizer by topping crostini with cheese,\nsalami, shredded arugula and balsamic drizzle. Arugula, prosciutto, and\ncantaloupe also play well together. Tomorrow I may make a salad with those\nflavors. I could also add a little fresh mozzarella, basil, and the same\nbalsamic drizzle. Yum! The perfect salad for a hot afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsweetness of fruit helps balance salads that begin with bitter greens. Apples,\npears, and blueberries are some of my favorites. Oranges, strawberries,\npineapple, mango, and cantaloupe are also great fresh choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fruit\ndoesn\u2019t have to be fresh to top a salad. Dried cranberries, raisins, figs, or\napricots add delicious layers of flavor and texture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nfruit salads don\u2019t have to include greens. They can just be fruit. I like to make\ndressing for fruit salad by mixing orange juice and mayonnaise or orange juice\nand plain yogurt. I also like to top fruit salads with a dollop of plain yogurt\nsprinkled with cinnamon. Fruit is so flavorful it doesn\u2019t need much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\ngrandmother loved to mix vegetables and fruit in carrot, raisin salad. Some\nhome cooking restaurants serve this. They often try to fancy it up by adding\npineapple. I prefer the simpler version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nyou\u2019re choosing vegetables for salad, you may automatically think of all the\nthings that can be served raw \u2013 celery, radish, carrot, squash, cucumber,\ntomato, cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, or onion. But blanched and lightly\ncooked vegetables can be delicious as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nlocal Mediterranean restaurant serves a salad that\u2019s shredded lettuce topped\nwith saut\u00e9ed yellow squash, red bell pepper, and onion as well as beef\/lamb\ngyro. I like to add English peas and apple to salads topped with chicken. And\nsugar snap peas are a great salad addition raw or steamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nvegetables can even be canned. Kidney beans, green beans, black beans, and corn\nfrom cans can all be used in salads. Bean salads and pasta salads are\nrefreshing cold foods during the summer heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nif you feel like you\u2019re just throwing things together, there\u2019s no harm in\ntopping a salad off with a little extra crunch or yum. Nuts, seeds, cheese,\ncroutons, parmesan crisps, tortilla strips, potato sticks, and bacon all serve\nthis purpose well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfinal element can be light, medium, heavy, or not needed. Some like their\ndressing creamy. Some like it acidic, citrusy, or sweet. The hotter the\nweather, the lighter I like it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not\nweighing myself down with hot, heavy food helps counteract the heat, but finishing\nwith a bite or two of sorbetto or granita leaves me feeling cool as a cucumber.\nAnd that\u2019s a great antidote for the heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re looking at another week of excessive heat warnings; we must find an antidote for the heat! I live in an early 20th century house. It has 12-foot ceilings and a variable speed dehumidifying heat & air system. I added vents in the kitchen\/sunroom area. It should be relatively cool where I\u2019m sitting. It is … Continue reading “Antidote for the Heat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2554],"tags":[3235,3236,3086,3233,3234,321],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4872,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions\/4872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}