Wachoogonnado?

Wachoogonnado when summer temperatures hit you in the face?
Wachoogonnado when you have a 108 degree temperature reading outside?
Wachoogonnado about meals and cooking in this heat?

Well, I decided to prepare something tasty. In my part of Texas, with the 4th day of triple-digit temperatures arriving, I am conserving energy and minimizing my daytime outdoor activities. 

During the summer, I cannot stand the idea of eating or drinking anything hot.  I subsist on cheese, turkey pastrami and 90-calorie wheat wrappers, cold water, unsweetened iced tea, ice-cold Diet Dr. Pepper during the day and will only eat a cooked meal for dinner around 8:30pm.

Last night I prepared a pasta salad (pasta, onions, garlic, grape tomatoes, shoe-string carrots, mushroom slices, & baby spinach leaves...topped with bacon bits, shredded cheddar and garlic croutons). and ate it with 2 Tbsp of Kraft Diet Italian Salad Dressing.  It was so good that I didn't miss having meat on my plate.  I still crave fried chicken and cheeseburgers, but I just don't partake very often.

Because of my gastric problems (100% colectomy with J-pouch in 2005) I cannot stand anything that produces gas.  I absolutely love onions, cabbage, beans, lettuce and a few other foods but my digestive tract does not.  To bypass problems, I used spinach leaves instead of lettuce and cooked my onions and garlic with the pasta.  I "popped" the Diet Dr. Pepper can 4 hours before drinking in order to release the carbonation/gas. This all made for a rather "bland" pasta salad, but that is the way my digestive tract wants it.  I have learned over the last 7 years to always strive to keep my digestive tract happy.  Not doing so usually results in stomach cramps and/or other digestive discomforts for days.

What will I cook tonight?  Probably nothing.  More than likely, I will eat more of this delicious pasta salad. It will be thoroughly chilled and the flavors, seasonings, ingredients, etc. will be blended more, making the salad more flavorful.

Bon appetit!