I am going to a neighborhood outside pot luck tomorrow, and it’s going to be around 100 degrees. I hate to take potato salad, or slaw, or chicken salad because the fod will be out for a while. I’d make a cake, but the icing will melt, so I could make brownies or cookies. However I imagine a lot of people are thinking that brownies or cookies are the way to go and a potluck needs more than dessert (although I am one of the only people who believe that a pot luck means just that - you eat what people bring).
I was hoping for a vegetable dish and maybe a meat dish. I don’t like eating outside or camping or anything, and I am at the age where I am paring down and throwing out things, so I don’t have all the coolers and such that most people have.
Cucumber finger sandwiches are easy to make, customizable, and fun to eat. Plus, I don’t know about you but I find the cream cheese spread and cucumber slices very refreshing on a hot day. If you don’t like cucumber, that’s fine, you can make them with meat and cheese or tuna or chicken salad or just an array of vegetables. You can make some with butter, some with cream cheese and some with herbed butter and cream cheese. Dill, onion, and chives are all good choices that will work together or separately.
about 2/3 as much corn, either canned or frozen, as you had beans. If it’s canned, drain it
some red onion, diced
a bell pepper. I like orange, because it adds some color, but anything works
Mix all that stuff together. Add some sort of acid - red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, lime juice, whatever. It just needs to be sour. Add some olive oil. You can throw in some cumin if you like cumin. Salt & pepper, toss. Taste, adjust seasonings. Serve.
If you’re worried about potato salad or chicken salad, etc., don’t. Mayo (real mayo, not that crap Miracle Whip) doesn’t spoil in heat, it’s the onions in those types of salads that do. So you can leave onions out.
mmmm ice cold fruit salad with plenty of watermelon balls, pineapple chunks, seedless grapes cut into halves and mandarin orange segments. Drop in a dab of almond or vanilla extract and don’t make the syrup too sweet.
A nice vinegar slaw. Find a recipe for slaw that uses a cooked vinegar dressing rather than a mayo based one. I realize that it’s too late for your celebration of the fourth, but for future summer potlucks, this is usually a good one.
Cucumber salad. Let it marinate and chill for at least a couple of hours. I realize that the potluck has already occurred, but I offer this suggestion for future reference, since other potlucks will happen, and it’s just a nice refreshing vegetable dish during the summer.
We always washed the cukes, and dragged the tines of a fork down them, the long way. This meant that when they were sliced, the edges had a sort of scalloped appearance.
We frequently have tomato slices with a 99% fat free Italian dressing on them. Very, very cool and refreshing.
