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The days are so hot lately that even for someone who loves to cook, like me, it's hard to find the inspiration to get into the kitchen and create. After a full day of chasing little ones, gardening (a.k.a. weeding) and running errands, just the thought of having to get dinner on the table is enough to send me to a chair with a tall iced tea.

Antipasto is cool from start to finish. Every ingredient is refrigerated and the prep is quick and heat-free. I love that it's versatile; I throw in things for the adults like artichoke hearts and marinated mushrooms while kid favorites like baby carrots and hard salami fit right in. The kids enjoy the variety of this and I enjoy that it's one single dish to wash!

I add slices of crusty Italian or French bread. Right now we like New York Style® Panetini® oven-baked Italian toasts. They're super-crunchy and really flavorful.

Take a look at the notes below the recipe for other ideas on ingredient possibilities.

Antipasto Tray

Hands-On Time:
Ready-In:
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

1/2 pound sliced hard salami
1/2 pound sliced cooked ham
1/2 pound sliced cooked smoked turkey
1/2 pound sliced provolone
1/2 pound mozzarella cut in 1/2 inch diameter sticks
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes
1 large cucumber cut into 1/2 inch diameter by 3 inch long sticks
1 medium red pepper cut into strips
1 cup pitted black olives
4 ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts - drained well
4 ounce jar marinated mushrooms - drained well
1 small tin smoked baby oysters - drained well

Directions:

1. Mound oysters in a small bowl and place in the center of a large platter.
2. Fold salami, ham and turkey in half and in half again and arrange around a the oysters, points down.
3. Arrange remaining vegetables and cheeses around the meats.
4. Serve with crusty bread.

Notes:
You an easily change all of the meat to turkey versions for a lower-fat dinner.
Usually we use two meats and two cheeses, don't feel that you need to serve three meats for this to work.
Veggies can be anything you like as long as it's cut to a serving size.
I also like to use roasted red peppers and different olives like Kalamata or Nicoise.
This served 9 of us for dinner, so if you have fewer mouths to feed, please halve everything - although leftovers make for a great snack or next-day lunch.