Hot Night Cool Dinner

Some summers here are a steady high of 67 degrees F all summer. Not this summer though. Right now the remnant of a hurricane is soaking southern California. Why, even a baseball game was rained out! Unheard of! Here in northern California, which often seems like a completely different state from southern California, we’re getting heat and humidity. This is also almost unheard of.

I even got a case of the heat-related “woozies” today which have at least worn off now that the heat of the day has passed. It did inspire me to follow The Hubs’ suggestions for dinner.

Our friend had given us her roast chicken after having eaten a dainty quarter of it and that became the foundation for a cool dinner on a hot night.

My inner Queen of Pentacles has stirred lately and I have wanted to cook more, get out my Lenormand Grand Tableau embroidery project, pay attention to girly facial products and—gasp!—even clean a little. This feeling passes all too soon but with Venus retrograde, I’m feeling the love in the more traditional domestic arts. Naturally, I’ve got to share, so here are my Hot Night/Cool Dinner recipes, slight variations on old-fashioned favorites.

Curried Chicken Salad

Most of a leftover roasted chicken, cubed

1 stalk of celery, chopped

2 green onions, sliced

20 seedless green grapes, cut in halves

½ C. chopped cashews

½ tsp. sweet pickle relish

1 tsp. Jack Daniels No. 7 horseradish stone-ground mustard

½ tsp. (or more) curry powder (I used Curry-ency I got from The Kitchen Witch)

½ C. Low-fat Miracle Whip (because that’s what I had)

Mix it up. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. I didn’t have any fresh parsley but I really recommend it on the side with this. Makes great sandwiches too.

Fresh Macaroni Salad

One small or ½ large bag of elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

6 eggs, boiled, cooled, and sliced or chopped

1 red pepper, chopped fine

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

½ C. canned sliced black olives

¼ C. sweet pickle relish

¼ C. Jack Daniels No. 7 horseradish stone-ground mustard

1 C. Regular Miracle Whip

1 T. celery seed

1 T. ground white pepper

Mix all together and cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. All amounts approximate!

Serve with ice water, sliced fresh peaches in season, as few clothes as legally possible in the circumstances and a decent baseball game.

Best wishes!