Extremely hot weather here in NorCal means we have had to switch gears for our dinner preparations. Our daughter said to me, ”You’re not making a stew and pasta on Tuesday and Wednesday, are you?! Temperatures for those days border on almost 100F. So, no, we are not making stews and boiling pots of water. We are trying to keep the kitchen as cool as possible. Ergo, turkey kielbasa and sauerkraut that we can make with brief cooking in the microwave and a bean salad.

The turkey kelbasa split in half lengthwise took 90 seconds of full power microwaving. I go to a little more trouble with the sides. The canned sauerkraut is enhanced by using this recipe:

https://www.loavesanddishes.net/how-to-cook-canned-sauerkraut/

Sometimes I do more of it than others. Tonight it was just some sweetener, caraway seeds, onion and garlic powders, and half of a diced apple. I read once that the best sauerkraut is Libby’s from a can. So you can forget about fancy jars and plastic pouches with their fancy prices and just buy a can of sauerkraut (I used WalMart’s own brand) for less than a dollar.

For the beans I rinsed a can of black beans and strained a can of Rotel for my base. Then I chopped up small portions of carrot, celery, jalapeño, and bell pepper. I also threw in some defrosted corn. The dressing consisted of a tablespoon of lite Italian dressing, and a teaspoon each of cider and balsamic vinegar. Salt to taste and add Tabasco sauce and/or sriracha also to taste. I have some left over which I plan on using on Wednesday with the addition of another can of beans (maybe black eyed peas or cannellini) and more veg and dressing. It should go nicely with the hamburgers we are planning on grilling OUTSIDE since it will still be damn hot on Wednesday.

This heat wave caught me with few good plans for hot weather meals. I am going to have pay more attention to the forecasts and start looking through my recipes for hot weather meals.