In the summertime, when the weather is hot, cooking a full meal in the oven or stove is not a pleasant thing to do. For those of us without air cooling, it’s just too hot. 

Given that, I turn to salads—cold, refreshing salads.

And pesto—a paste made up of herbs or greens, olive oil, toasted nuts and grated cheese. A food processor or blender is a convenient tool for making the paste. If you don’t have one, some recommend a mortar and pestle, which is a rigid bowl, typically made of hardwood, metal, ceramic, or a hard stone such as granite, and a blunt, club-shaped object. 

Additionally, the pesto ingredients could be finely chopped. While the end product wouldn’t have the same smooth consistency, the taste would still be fine.

The pesto that most people know is made with basil. (See recipe, below center.) Not only is basil pesto delicious and can be used on its own, but it can also be used as a flavoring in other recipes, like spaghetti sauce. In using it on pasta, you can add milk or half and half, add a little bit of extra cheese at the end, and you’ve got creamy goodness. It keeps well in the refrigerator with a layer of oil on the top to keep out the air and prevent it from darkening or molding. 

And the good news is you can make pesto out of a variety of greens and herbs. Broccoli, spinach, broccoli rabe, parsley, kale and garlic scapes, to name just a few. You can play with the spices, nuts and oils if you want to be creative. (Coconut oil, pineapple and peanuts?)

Summertime and thinking about salads is a time for creativity.

The other day, when I had a couple of slices of bacon, some cherry tomatoes and a half-stale end of a baguette—all needed to be used immediately—I made a BLT salad. I diced the bread into small cubes and toasted it in a dry cast-iron pan. Cutting the bacon crossways in half-inch strips, it fried up quickly and I drained it on paper towels while I put together the rest of the salad.

For dressing, I used mayonnaise, thinned with a bit of half and half (which I always have for my coffee—milk or even water could be used as well). I didn’t add anything to the thinned mayonnaise because I wanted the salad to taste like a BLT sandwich.

Other go-tos that can be changed up are potato salad and tuna pasta salad. Sometimes I add dill to my potato or tuna pasta salad. Diced pickle is another variation. 

So here’s my theory. Even if you don’t like cooking, you still can while away a few minutes imagining what different combinations of food and spices would taste like. And what you could possibly combine to use leftovers to create new meals.