cool meals

I would love some recipes for some cool meals. Maybe pasta salads or anything else that can help beat this heat. We are getting tired of sandwiches and it is so hot, cooking is becoming a chore. The heat index has been over a 100 for a month now. It was 120 heat index on Monday. The pool is so hot no one wants to swim. Half the time I can just use the cold water to wash clothes and dishes because the water is so hot. We need to some "cool" meals. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!

Have you tried lettuce wraps. You take leaf lettuce and make wraps like tortillas You can put anything in them. Also my favorite thing to do that is easy and cool is to get a rotisserory chicken. You can make three meals out of it. 1. dinner with chicken as the meat. 2. chicken salad- MIL makes it with a little of the skin in it and pickles and mayo. I add water chestnuts. 3. take the bones and left over meat and boil it for chicken stock (I usally freeze this as we are tired of chicken by this point.)

Remember that the crock pot is our friend too. I have a recipe that calls for ground beef, onions, vegg all (I use seperate canned veggies to taste) and a can or two of tomatoe soup (with the milk) Layer then cover with the tomatoe soup and cook on low all day.


Amish Macaroni Salad
1-1/2 cups uncooked macaroni
1 tsp salt
3 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion (optional)
3/4 cup Miracle Whip
2 tblsp mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar

Cook and drain macaroni. Cool. Add salt, eggs celery and onion. Mix Miracle Whip, mustard, vinegar and sugar thoroughly, then add to macaroni mixture. Serves Approx. 12 people.
Betty in Canada

Amish Potato Salad
6 medium potatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
4 hard cooked eggs, diced

Dressing:-
2 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
salt to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar (to taste)
1/2 cup cream or evaporated milk
1 tsp yellow mustard
3 tblsp butter, softened
1 cup mayonnaise

Mix eggs with sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add vinegar cream and mustard. Cook until thickened. Remove from heat and beat in butter. Add mayo and mix until smooth. Cool.

Cook potatoes in their jackets until tender. Cool. Peel and dice.
Mix potatoes gently with the remaining ingredients; then add to cooled dressing. Fold gently and chill.



Itialian plates and tapas is always good. Olives, meat and cheese. I recently has a pasta salad that was great. It was cooked spiral noodles, fresh veggies ( this had green peppers and tomatoes)and itialian dressing.
Then they topped it with crutons.


I will look thru what I have too for you. We do sandwiches on the weekends alot and mix it u with tortilla wraps and this year I am doing lettuce wraps.

We like pasta salad on hot days. We boil those multi-colored noodles (can't remember what they're called) Then we add all kinds of fresh veggies, so chopped chicken and cheddar cheese. It's one of my favorite "cool" meals.

You can make baked potatoes in your crock pot or in your pressure cooker. I use the pressure cooker a lot in the summer especially.

Pasta salad recipes

1 box bow tie pasta cooked

When cooked, rinse with cold water and drizzle olive oil on the noodles, then add 1 - 8oz. block of feta cheese, cut into cubes or crumbled, add some sliced black olives and an 6-8oz jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil. Dump the oil in with the tomatoes. Depending on the brand you may have to take the tomatoes and cut them into little pieces I usually just dump the whole thing on the top of the salad and then spear the tomatoes piecs and cut them up. This way all the oil drains into the salad. Stir the whole thing up and you are done. It's good cold and hot. The sun dried tomatoes add the color. If you need to make it look a little more filled in with color add more black olives or some times I add slice black and green olives.

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1 lb any pasta shape you like.

Chop onion, squash, bell pepper, celery, carrots, whatever you have in the fridge. You can either cook the veggies with the pasta, or leave them raw. Mix it all together and cover with ranch dressing. Bacon bits are a good addition.


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I have another one, but will have to find it.

Pasta Salad

Use organic when possible
1 lb. of pasta (vermicelli or veggie rotini)

2/3 C oil
1/3 C raw apple cider vinegar plus a dash of balsamic vinegar
2 T water
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 C grated Romano cheese
2 tsp organic cane crystals (sugar)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 minced clove
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp celery seed
pinch of red pepper - cayenne or pepper seeds

1 large bunch of broccoli florets
2 large tomatoes chopped or pack of grape tomatoes
1 large cucumber, sliced or diced
some chopped sweet or mild onion

1. While the pasta is cooking, mix tomatoes, cucumbers and onions together.

2. Put the broccoli in the bottom of colander and drain pasta over it. This blanches it a bit and helps it hold a bright green color better. Mix the pasta and all the veggies together.

3. Mix the other ingredients (not the veggies) together to make a dressing. Pour over the pasta and veggies. Mix this well and then chill thoroughly.

An idea - As you measure the dry ingredients, measure a second amount and put it aside in another container to save time the next time you make pasta salad.

Thanks for the recipes. If you think of any others, please pass them on. I forgot all about the crockpot. My brain is just not like it use to be. I really like pasta salads so I will be trying some. Again thanks!