What are your favorite summer cooler recipes?
Strawberry Lemonade
Take 1 pint fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2 can lemonade concentrate
Steep 4 teabags (I use Lipton since you get more from them - if using other brands I would use 6 teabags)
1 (12 oz) can Welch's 'White Grape/Raspberry' frozen juice
After tea bags are steeped - add juice mix and tea together in a 64 oz glass jar or any pitcher container and fill the rest with water. There is enough sugar in the Welch's drink mix that you don't have to add any addt'l sugar. Very tasty and thirst quenching.
Note: Welch's also has a variety of other flavors that you might like to substitute and try. - Linda Martin - Roseville, MI
My mother-in-law makes this and everyone (great-grandpa down to little kids) raves about it.
Mix together any assortment of diced fruit that you like: pineapple, peaches, pears, grapes, apples, peaches, strawberries, etc.
Place 1/2 to 3/4 cup in small freezable bowls with lids. Freeze several hours; serve frozen.
Couldn't be simpler and good for you! - Jennifer Raffety
Mix all ingredients together in a blender:
2 c. watermelon (puree)
3 eggs
4 c. milk
1 c. sugar
Dash of salt
Use ice cream freezer.
Makes 1/2 gal. - Nelrene
Use the juice of 6-8 lemons
About 1/2-1 cup of brown sugar (to your taste)
A liter of sparkling water
A pinch or two of ginger
And a sprig of mint & you have a great summer treat!
- Alekscat the frugal feline in Richmond, VA
I LOVE pasta salad during the hot NY summers!
Here's my simple "recipe" (I never measure anything, just toss it all in):
-any cooked pasta (curly type works best, I would avoid spaghetti/noodle type ones), rinsed in cool water
-cut up pepperoni or ham
-cut up cubes of cheddar cheese or shredded cheese of choice
-brocolli florets or carrot medallions or frozen peas (basically, any veggie of choice)
Throw in a bowl. Pour on some bottled italian dressing (any flavor or fat level or brand) until moistened but not soaked.
Chill in frig briefly. Serve with some hearty bread on the side.
yummy and easy! -Connie
My Mom makes an unbelieveably good dressing out of Miracle whip type salad dressing, vinegar & some spices.
Skip the vinegar add milk & fruit juice to nuts raisins, citrus, pears, & apples for fruit salad.
Leave it in for coleslaw [to die for!] add mustard for potato, pasta or egg salad.
MY favorite pasta salad, pasta is the colored kind & we throw any cold meat in & even chunks of velveeta or any other cheese for a whole meal salad. I told her she should sell it but she won't listen. - Linne Dodds
Cut up some fresh fruit. Add sugar (to your taste) to a carton of plain yogurt. Mix well. Next add the yogurt to fruit. Great salad! - Elaine
Instead of adding sugar to plain yogurt, I use vanilla yogurt with cut up fresh fruit. Sometimes I put in a flavored yogurt if it will compliment the fruit.
Pasta Salad
Corkscrew pasta (cooked and drained)
1 bottle of italian salad dressing (add to your taste and texture)
shredded cheddar cheese (approx. 1 c.)
1 can of red kidney beans (drained and rinsed, do not cook)
1-2 tsp. garlic powder
1-2 tsp. garlic salt
1-2 tsp. granulated onion
diced onion or chopped green onion
sliced black olives (optional)
1 tsp. black pepper
1 rope of kielbasa sausage (uncooked and diced)
1 can of drained corn (or less if you don't want too much)
Quick, easy and perfect for picnics, summer meals, etc.
Easy Homemade Salsa
2-28 oz. cans of diced, stewed tomatoes (save juice)
1 can of mushrooms drained and chopped
1 onion diced
2 tsp. garlic powder
Other items I have added for a more chunky salsa:
1 can of drained corn
1 can of red kidney beans
Easy Coleslaw
**All measurements may vary depending on size of heads of cabbage and according to your tastes.
Using your food processor, chop up one head of green cabbage and a half or quarter head of purple cabbage (most produce depts. already have them cut and wrapped so that you don't have to buy a whole head, if they don't it doesn't hurt to ask).
Add 1 c. (more or less depending on size of head of cabbage) Best Food's Mayonnaise
1/2 onion diced or chopped in food processor
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. granulated onion
1 tsp. cayenne powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp. vinegar (regular or cider is fine and you can add more or less depending on your tastes. You can also substitute with lemon juice if you just can't handle vinegar, but you don't hardly taste it anyway. But it DOES make a difference in the overall taste)
Add approx. 3-4 Tbsp. sugar or Splenda to sweeten it up.
Combine in one large mixing bowl and let sit in refrigerator at least a half an hour. You can add about 1/4 c. milk if you like it to have more juice.
Add more ingredients if it is too sweet or too sour or too salty. All can be adjusted by adding more of another ingredient.
Even those who hate coleslaw beg for mine! All five of my kids eat it like crazy and will take seconds and thirds as long as there is more there! We never have leftovers!
We have even added those tiny salad shrimp from a can (drained and rinsed well) and it is wonderful!
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I'm looking for easy recipes for the summer. I'm wanting cold things, but not salads, as I have tons of those recipes already. Can anybody give me some suggestions?
By Cricket from Parkton, NC
Smoothies are healthy and can be made and kept in the fridge. Take one banana, one cup of milk, or half milk and half water, one teaspoon sugar and one teaspoon lemon juice so that it doesn't change color, and blend well.
You can make ice tea, water melon juice, passion fruit juice, or simple drinks like adding a slice of lemon to a glass of water.
Make simple sandwiches like chicken and mayo. Canned beans, toasted sandwiches, onion and tuna sandwiches, boiled eggs, sliced tomato, cucumber and lettuce. Saute some summer veggies and couscous with some pumpkin seeds and drizzle olive oil.
First, consider gazpacho, shrimp salads - wonderfully cool, tangy, and light yet not too light. Adding avocado to meals really helps cool things down a bit, too.
For summer kitchen heat: Crock pots. That way you can also spend more time doing fun things and less time getting overheated. My kitchen fan doesn't work so I understand not wanting to stand over pots or in front of ovens. (And I live on the Gulf coast in Texas, too!) They're a good way of getting the hot meals without the hot cook.
But true summer survival, for me, depends on cold or cool snacks. I can't live without my frozen fruit in the summer. I freeze washed grapes on the vine - just pluck them off and eat them. They're wonderful. Green and red seem to do best - seedless. Also I buy bags of frozen strawberries, blueberries, etc. I don't usually do smoothies. If I do, I use individual jello tubs instead of a dairy product to make them fluffy but not dairy or heavy. They also add extra tang.
What I DO more often use the fruit for is just eating with some yogurt. It freezes the yogurt making a sort of ice cream-frozen yogurt that cools you from the core out. Put those in your drinks, too. The juices come out more because the structure of the fruit is weakened a bit by freezing - which is perfect. The juice pours into the liquid. My boyfriend makes drinks with orange juice, ginger ale, and fruit juices - just whatever's on sale, and throws a few pieces of frozen fruit in (after mashing slightly) for a treat at the bottom. (Yes, I'm spoiled!)
Hope these ideas help. :)
Not sure how much the two of you eat at a meal. I can only eat one of these at a time but my neighbor friend can eat three or four ;-) Simply reduce the ingredient amounts if need be :-) This recipe makes six wraps :-)
Antipasto Wraps
6 slices deli ham
6 slices deli turkey
6 slices provolone cheese
1 jar (6-1/2 oz.) marinated artichoke hearts (Cara Mia is my favorite), drained and sliced
1/2 cup pitted chopped black olives
1/2 cup pitted chopped green olives
6 roasted sweet red peppers, drained and cut into 1-inch strips
3/4 cup chopped tomatoes
6 (8 inch) tomato basil tortillas
3/4 cup red wine vinaigrette (recipe below if you prefer homemade)
6 romaine heart leaves
Directions:
Layer the first eight ingredients on to each tortilla. Drizzle each with 2 tablespoons vinaigrette. Top with romaine, roll up and serve.
FOR THE VINAIGRETTE:
Makes two cups so there will be enough leftover for salads ;-)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 cups olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp Dijon mustard
Combine all ingredients in a cruet or glass jar with a screw-on lid. Tighten lid and shake vigorously before serving.
By Deeli from Richland, WA
Summer is a great time to make salads. Not only are there lots of fresh veggies available, but there is the added benefit of not having to heat up the kitchen cooking, if you serve salad as the main course.
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Since the heat of summer has set in, I don't like to use my oven as it heats up my whole house. I need some quick and easy (if possible) no bake or stove-top recipes for supper.
