Refreshing Summer Food

To me summer food was anything we could eat around the pool. Anything cool and refreshing. For us that meant Pasta Salad and Three Bean Salad. I know that sounds like a crazy combination. It is really good though. We usually used the box Pasta Salad and canned Three Bean Salad. It was great to just have something you can do quickly and eat beside the pool in the shade and just relax.

The special occasions where when we made both from scratch the day before we knew we were going to get in the pool. Being in the kitchen with my mom just making something simple and having an enjoyable time is a great memory. Even weirder is just buying the stuff to make it was fun. I loved to go shopping with my mom.

For the Three Bean Salad it was a simple recipe. The main ingredients were beans, onions, sugar, and vinegar. Here is the recipe

1 (15 ounce) can green beans

1 pound wax beans

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 onion, sliced into thin rings

¾ cup white sugar, or to taste

⅔ cup distilled white vinegar

⅓ cup vegetable oil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon celery seed

Mix together green beans, wax beans, kidney beans, onion, sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Chill in refrigerator for at least 12 hours. It is from allrecipes.com.

I absolutely love Three Bean Salad. The sugar and vinegar make it. It is sweet and a little sour.

For the Pasta Salad there are different recipes you can use but the one we used was from allrecipes.com

1 (16 ounce) package tri-colored pasta assortment

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup cauliflower, chopped

½ cup shredded carrots

1 cup sliced celery

¼ cup diced red onion

¼ cup diced yellow pepper

¼ cup sliced black olives

½ (16 ounce) bottle vegetarian Caesar-style salad dressing

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon paprika

Step 1

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil add pasta and boil until al dente. Drain well.

Step 2

Place broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, celery, red onions, yellow peppers, and black olives in a large mixing bowl. Pour Caesar salad dressing over vegetables and stir to coat the vegetables.

Step 3

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, pepper, garlic powder and paprika over the vegetable mixture. Stir. Pour pasta into the large bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until cool or serve hot.

I love all the vegetables that are in this one. The two things we would change at the time is we would use real Caesar dressing and we would sometimes leave the olives out. I do not like olives.

I like this recipe because they are easily adaptable to the way I eat now. The Three Bean Salad is perfect the way it is for a vegan lifestyle. The only changes to the Pasta Salad is we would use the vegetarian Caesar-style salad dressing and the vegan Parmesan cheese.

The only other thing we had besides lots of drinks and water is fruit. We went through a lot of watermelon during the summer. I preferred grapes and peaches. There is nothing better then cold grapes on a sweltering day.

Nowadays we enjoy a nice fruit salad recipe from allrecipes.com

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, juice reserved

2 apples, peeled and cored

1 (21 ounce) can peach pie filling

2 bananas, peeled and diced

3 kiwis

1-pint strawberries

We sometimes leave out the Bananas

Step 1

In a small bowl, toss the chopped apples in reserved pineapple juice. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 2

In a large salad bowl, combine the peach pie filling and pineapple chunks.

Step 3

Remove apples from pineapple juice and add to pie filling and pineapple mixture. Add chopped bananas to reserved pineapple juice and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 4

Peel and slice kiwi and 1/2 of strawberries. Chop the other 1/2 of strawberries and set aside.

Step 5

Remove bananas from pineapple juice and add to pie filling mixture. Add chopped strawberries; toss together.

Step 6

Arrange kiwi slices around the edge of the serving bowl and alternate with strawberry slices. Chill and serve.

That is what summer food is to me. It is simple refreshing food.