An aid if you're living on the surface of the sun

It's hot as Hades here in SoCal, so I thought I'd whip up some gazpacho for dinner and I didn't want to leave the apartment to get ingredients, so let's just call it a chilled mediterranean soup, it's probably not a real gazpacho, but at least I had all this in my fridge.

Chilled Mediterranean Soup

2 large tomatoes

1 cucumber (peeled and seeded)

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper (sorry green but I don't like you)

2 teaspoons of garlic powder (this heat made all my fresh garlic go bad)

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup greek yogurt

A dash of the original Mrs. Dash

Salt to taste

Roughly chop all the veggies and throw everything in the blender.

I was so excited when I tasted this, uber yum!

Now here's where it gets bridal. How great would this be as an app in a martini glass with an artful little cruton? Well, here you go.

This got me thinking about other great hot weather foods that I've made and love and would absolutely serve if I were having a (really) small summer wedding that I could do everything for.

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Chicken Skewers on the side

Mix honey and lime juice to make the dressing.

Cut up the watermelon and some red onion. Mix with baby spinach and crumbled feta and add the dressing. Sounds weird, tastes fantastic.

For the chicken skewers, make a marinade of honey, lime, garlic, a little of your favorite neutral flavored oil and soy sauce. Marinade thin strips of chicken for as long as you can, overnight if possible and then skewer your chicken. (Soak the skewers in water first). Then grill or broil until the chicken is cooked through.

Dessert

Now most people would probably put some sort of sorbet at the end of this, but I'd have to go with my favorite ice cream recipe ever. David Leibovitz's salted butter caramel ice cream. It's so rich that I didn't even need an ice cream maker to make this. If your ice cream has a high enough fat content you can just place your custard in a shallow pan, put it in your freezer and stir it up with a fork every 20-30 minutes. It's not perfectly smooth, but trust me, it's doesn't matter.

I so wish I was having a wedding small enough to be able to do everything. How many of y'all are with me on this?