Cool Meals for Hot Days

It’s five thirty p.m. and the temperature, even in my house overlooking Quartermaster Harbor, is 76 degrees. Who wants to cook and promptly raise the temperature to 80? Clearly, this is another day for a cold supper featuring do-it-yourself Danish open-faced sandwiches, or a chilled White Bean Salad garnished with slivered deli roast beef or Black Forest ham slivers, or matchsticks of Jarlsberg cheese and quartered boiled eggs for extra protein.
 
Complete the meal with a Strawberry Mandala Salad. Can you remember back to when fresh strawberries were only available for a couple of weeks each June? Kids in school now cannot recall when strawberries were not available all year around.
 
WHITE BEAN SALAD
4 servings
 
2 cans Great Northern beans, drained, washed, and re-drained
¼ cup cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons minced parsley
2 green onions thinly sliced, tops included
Sprinkling of fresh dill
½ pound deli sliced ham or beef, diced, optional
1 Tablespoon fresh marjoram leaves
1 Tablespoon fresh, slivered mint leaves
1 tomato cut in 8 wedges
4 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
Olives for garnish
 
Combined all but the last 3 ingredients. Mound the salad on a platter. Arrange the tomato wedges, egg quarters, and olives around the bean mixture. Chill. Serve
 
STRAWBERRY &
WALNUT MANDALA
 
8 large spinach leaves or 4 dark green lettuce leaves, washed and dried
½ pound strawberries, washed and dried
16 walnut halves
Ranch type dressing
 
Arrange the greens on a platter. Remove the green leaflets from the end of each strawberry. Halve the berries, cutting from tip to stem end. Arrange the halves in concentric circles atop the lettuce. Top with the walnut halves. Pass the dressing at the table.
 
Nutri-tip: Walnuts are a good source of Omega-3 fats, magnesium, and protein. Strawberries supply Vitamins A and C, potassium, and cancer-thwarting ellagic acid.