It's at that temperature my brain fries and all I can think is "I don't want to cook."
So I sent a plea out to my friends who had a bunch of suggestions:
Ice cream sundaes have all the food groups. Right?
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| Ice cream! |
Fruit at least has vitamins and fiber. That's good.
And salad, lots of salad suggestions from my friends. Chicken salad, waldorf salad, green salad, fruit salad.
Salad is for goats, rabbits and other animals not closely related to humans.
Necessity is the mother of invention. And believe me, I had to put on my thinking cap. I had to make a salad a man would eat. And that means meat, not just protein, real true protein from animals hunted with a spear.
I jest. What it really means is:
BACON!
Men love bacon. My grandson ate a whole rasher of bacon in one sitting and he's five years old. And true be told, I love bacon too. Put bacon on anything and men will cheer. Seriously, it's why I keep a jar of bacon grease to dab behind my ears.
Spinning off the bacon idea, a friend suggested meat and cheese platters made a good summer meal. Cincinnati Chili popped in my head and how it can be two way, three way and four way by adding different ingredients. Yes, because that is how my brain works. It's all over the place. Julie's Three Way Man Salad hit me.
Here's the Man Salad ingredients: Meat plus cheese plus bacon on greens/veggies. That's it.
Need additional inspiration? You can go around the world with Man Salad:
Option #1, Swiss Style: Turkey plus Gruyere plus Applewood bacon on spring greens.
Option #2, Italian Style: Salami plus mozzarella plus pancetta (Italian bacon) on spinach and tomato.
Option #3, American Style: Ham or grilled chicken plus cheddar plus turkey bacon on iceberg.
Option #4, French Style: Rare roast beef plus blue cheese plus lardon (thick bacon chunks) on arugula.
Option #5, Southwest Style: Think taco salad!!!!!
The possibilities are endless. You can also add hard-boiled eggs and a cold roasted veggie to really dress it up and add a few more carbs a la Cobb salad.
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| Notice the difference in bowl sizes. Man-sized serving, dieting woman-sized serving. |
Important Tip: Put your man's salad in a BIG bowl. He does need more because, you know, he's a guy. Cheat by putting in more lettuce underneath. He'll never know.
Even more important tip: Don't call it Man Salad to your guy's face. Call it Meat with Extras and he'll be fine.
Bonus tip: ice cream for dessert is always a good thing.
So, have you ever made "Man Salad"? What ingredients would you put together to make a salad your man would eat? What is your favorite hot summer night dinner?
"Seriously, it's why I keep a jar of bacon grease to dab behind my ears."
ReplyDeleteLOL!
I didn't think I was going to get past that sundae photo... but these sound delicious. It's 100F here and although we went out blueberry picking, we hid inside the rest of the day, until it cooled off enough to wash the car. That was... refreshing. :)
It's not even cooling down at night. What is it doing at 100F out your way? Do you have the humidity too?
DeleteI made a dish with blueberries, sweet potatoes and pork earlier in the week. YUM. But nothing beats blueberry pie.
My man actually asks for salads some nights. Iceberg is his idea of lettuce, but I usually use romaine. Croutons are a must. He likes radishes. I always hated buying a bunch of radishes that would ultimately go to waste, but Missy's roasted radish recipe solved that problem.
ReplyDeleteHe loves chef salad - I use slices oh ham,turkey, and cheese.
Grilled chicken slices on top is another favorite as is sliced steak. The problem with the last two is they require cooking the meat so not a great hot weather alternative.
Oh! Shrimp. Anything with shrimp so a bed of lettuce, chilled shrimp, and cocktail sauce.
ManO can't eat dark greens right now but I love to throw them in anything. Mary, NYC has delis, the perfect meat solution.
DeleteI'm glad your'e still enjoying that, Mary!
DeleteLOL -- definitely no man salads in my house. We've just come out of another heat wave and I lived on salads too. Including potato salad and deviled eggs. Store bought coleslaw though. I have never been successful at coleslaw making.
ReplyDeleteRight now I have all my window open and there's a huge wind just whistling through my house. It's cool enough that I have goosebumps but I don't mind a bit. I hate heat and humidity.
You wouldn't like NC. That is all we have! Unless a hurricane has already blown through and that isn't a good alternative. ManO loves potato salad. I might just make some tonight to have with our leftovers.
DeleteThis is a great post Julie. Unfortunately, DH does not like bacon or pork products of any kind. Yes. Feel very sorry for him. I do. I should try Man Salad with grilled chicken. He might eat that sometime. Or as Mary said, shrimp. Thanks for the ideas!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! My husband Randy loves bacon. And so do my girls. I like the idea of making a salad with eggs, tomatoes, lettuce and bacon. Yum. It's supposed to be 90 here today....I can already feel the yuck factor....so I'm definitely having salad for lunch. And a taco salad with bacon.....score!
ReplyDeleteTaco salad with bacon. You will have folks coming off the streets. I can't believe how the Northeast is getting hit with heat too.
Deletegosh no wonder I"m so chunky - I think the man-sized salad looks like a diet plate! :-( sigh...I'm going back to the ice cream picture!
ReplyDeleteSusanna
It's a serving bowl and mine was in a regular cereal bowl. I didn't put it in the fruit bowl but that is how I cut portions by cutting the size of my plates. Yes, I am thinking ice cream may be lunch today.
Deleteoh ok - it looked like a smaller bowl LOL! I usually use a salad plate for my main plate unless I have a bunch of veggies or salad sharing the space- it helps keep me from loading it up too much.
DeleteSusanna
Favorite Man Salad around here is Chopped Salad.
ReplyDeleteI love chopped salad but it involves chopping!!!!!
DeleteLaughing so hard at the bacon grease behind the ears!! LOL
ReplyDeleteMy husband actually loves salads and makes himself one almost every day for lunch. He eats them better than I do! Although, yes, he does put bacon bits on every salad. :)
My favorite has ham or grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, carrots and sometimes broccoli or cauliflower. And Ranch or raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Oh, and croutons!
ManO was asking me to make honey mustard dressing last night. Go figure.
DeleteOh, this hits home!!!! Dave's not a salad eater usually, either, although now and again he'll enjoy a big huge salad with grilled chicken and Parmesan pepper Ranch dressing... but it's funny that guys are kind of linking salad and quiche together.
ReplyDeleteBut you know, I eat so much salad that when I'm cooking dinner I want meat. Oh.... meat.... Come to me chicken breast! Hellloooo baby steak!!!! I'm ridiculous, really, but if I'm being mostly good on carbs, I treat myself on meat. Although last night's treat was sauteed ground round with mushrooms and Swiss cheese, and it was AMAZING.... But not a bit fancy!
So Dave will eat salad.... but he's hoping something dead is coming up behind it, LOL!
You make me laugh. But then I am the one dabbing bacon grease behind my ears!!!
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