Easy Summer Suppers

Now that school is out, kids are home for the summer and temperatures are on the rise, spending lots of time in a hot kitchen is the last thing anybody wants to do. You could always fire up the grill, but for those of us who want a simpler and less work-intensive option, here are a few ideas for quick summer meals.

Pasta salad: My kids love this dish. Just cook up some rotini pasta, add some shredded cheese, sliced cumber and tomato, soppressata or pre-cooked chicken (such as Perdue Short Cuts) and Italian dressing, and you have yourself a meal.

Gazpacho: My mom used to make this chilled tomato soup when I was a kid. Just puree the vegetables and let them chill in the fridge for a while, and you have a great cold soup that can be paired with a salad and perhaps a fresh loaf of bread from the local bakery.

Antipasta salad: When I make an antipasta salad for my family, I usually make a green salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, salami or soppressata, cubed provolone cheese and Italian dressing. But there are lots of different ways you can make this salad–I like to add a selection of fancy olives. Giada de Laurentiis from the Food Network adds red kidney beans to her recipe.

Shrimp Cocktail: Sometimes on a Friday, I’ll serve an “appetizer” supper, in which my family and I eat fun foods like shrimp cocktail, veggies and dip, and garlic bread with toasted cheese as our meal. Surprisingly, my 8-year-old daughters love shrimp cocktail – all I do is buy precooked shrimp and add some bottled cocktail sauce to dip it in.

Rotisserie chicken salad: For a classic chicken salad sandwich, you could shred a store-bought rotisserie chicken and add some salt, pepper, celery and mayonnaise. You can pile the salad on some bread or on some greens. There are a lot of ways to mix up a chicken salad, according to reluctantgourmet.com.