As the temperature keeps hovering in the mid- to upper 90s, I am finding ways to keep from heating up the kitchen. On Thursday I made gazpacho from the myriad Roma tomatoes that our daughter brought home from the Community Garden.

Making gazpacho is as easy as putting a bunch of vegetables in the blender and letting it rip. In addition to the 2 pounds of tomatoes I added a can of Rotel spicy tomatoes, some onion, garlic, white wine vinegar, a good glug of olive oil, and plenty of salt. I don’t even strain it. Putting the blender on liquify for a few minutes does a good enough job on the tomato skins. Anyway, some fiber is good for us.

Since I figured we would still be hungry after the gazpacho, I made a salad with chickpeas, carrots, onion, celery, yellow and green summer squash, and tarragon on top of some lettuce leaves. The dressing is a couple of tablespoons of light mayonnaise and a tablespoon of Skinny Girl ranch dressing.

Tomorrow it is supposed to cool off so I am hoping we can return to our menu and make delicious Rhode Island style clam chowder. Any entrees leftover from this week I will put on the menu for next week.