The Necessity of a Cold Dinner

Since it is approximately hotter than the surface of the sun around here, it is the time of year to cook and eat with as little heat as possible. I made a recipe the other day that was good enough to share with this blog-reading population.

Now, the recipe I made is loosely based on this recipe, found in the August issue of Southern Living. However, as I pretty much changed up the whole thing, I cannot attest to the quality of the recipe as printed in the magazine. John found it quite amusing when he asked what we're having for dinner, and I told him the name of the recipe, and then followed that up with a list of about eight different things I did differently.

Here's the recipe I actually made from the things I actually had in my kitchen the night I decided we needed something cold for dinner:

Pasta with White Beans and Arugula (aka "Spaghetti with Chickpeas and Spinach Among Other Things" of maybe just "Cold Dinner Salad Delight")

Makes about 3 - 4 servings, I think (we each ate it for dinner then each of us had it for leftovers the next day)

8 oz. corn spaghetti-style noodles (if you can eat wheat, feel free to just use regular spaghetti or even bow-tie pasta as originally called for in the recipe)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
about 2 Tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes with herbs in oil, chopped
2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
2 handfuls of spinach, washed, drained and chopped into strips
3 oz. crumbled basil & tomato feta cheese
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Stir together chickpeas and all other ingredients. Add the cooked pasta and toss. Either serve room temperature, or put salad in the fridge to serve cold.

P.S. For those of you inclined to eat hot foods during the summer months (I admit I do it occasionally), Southern Living's recipe for Black Bean-and-Chicken Cornbread Casserole is tasty. I modified the recipe only slightly by using maybe 2 1/2 cans of beans instead of 4 (really?!? 4 cans of beans?!?), making my own self-rising white cornmeal mix with gluten-free flour, and actually 1 1/2 times, or even doubling, the buttermilk/cornmeal mix quantities. Let's face it; everybody knows the cheesy cornbread on top is the BEST part!