20 Summer Meals for When It’s Too Hot to Cook

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When it’s too hot to cook, it can be tempting to forgo homemade meals and resort to take-out or delivery instead. In our household, spending cash on food we could make ourselves is just impractical, and I’ll bet many of you feel the same. BUT IT’S HOT and no one wants to stand in a heated kitchen. Additionally, heating your oven or stove for a long period of time raises the temperature of the house, thus forcing you to turn on your air-conditioning, or fans, or both! Save yourself some time, energy, and money with this list of

20 Summer Meals That Won’t Heat Your Kitchen

The Basics:

These types of cold, no-cook meals are definite winners when it’s too hot to cook.
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• “The Big Salad.” Have you seen the Seinfeld episode when Elaine is obsessed with The Big Salad? Fixation with  a big salad is easy to envision because you can get a refreshing, filling meal with relative ease. Start with your favorite salad greens, add tons of garden veggies, and top with a protein like chicken, beans, or goat cheese. Add dressing. Done!
• Picnic-style Dinners: cold pasta salad, sandwiches, cut-up veggies.
• Crudité or Antipasto plates: serve nitrite/nitrate free deli meat, olives, sliced veggies, crackers/bread, and a dip like hummus or ricotta cheese. Try my Black Bean Hummus for a twist on an old fav.
• Cold soups, like gazpacho, whip up in a flash in a blender (I like this affordable one). Serve with crusty bread from the grocery store.
• Salads using chickpeas, bulgar wheat (as in tabouleh), or cous-cous are simple and quick to prepare with limited cooking.
• How about this *VEGAN* Walnut Paté served in a tomato or pepper?
• Salsa, chips, and avocado!
• For something sweet, try Berries & Vanilla Cream–delish!

Make Ahead/Convenience:

• Prepare a pot of grains (rice or quinoa, for example) and freeze them for a quick microwave re-heat. 
• Purchase a rotisserie chicken and use for chicken sandwiches or on top of salad.
• Bread, deli roast beef, and gravy make an easy french-dip sandwich meal. Heat the gravy in a small pot on the stove, assemble the sandwiches, done. Serve with sliced cold veggies.
• Cook hard-boiled eggs at the beginning of the week for salads, sandwiches, or as a side.
• Refrigerator oatmeal makes a great breakfast, lunch, or unconventional dinner!

Slow Cooker:

 

A slow cooker won’t produce much heat and you can easily serve up summertime favorites like BBQ pulled pork, shredded chicken, or shredded taco meat, for example.

Stovetop:

• If you don’t have an outdoor grill, don’t let that stop you from grilling! Stovetop grill pans are perfect for quick meals without a ton of time at the stove. Try my Stovetop BBQ Chicken with 3 Sides (sides that are easy and cold!)
• Stir-fry takes literally minutes to make: throw some protein and veggies in a hot pan, toss them around with some kind of sauce, and serve over rice.
• We’ve been enjoying stovetop pizza, which takes less than 10 minutes.
• Make a pot of pasta and have a pasta bar!

Outdoor grill:

 

This one is obvious! Utilize your grill for a few minutes then go inside and enjoy the A/C! Some quick ideas are grilled veggie skewers, shrimp, fish, or even the old reliable hot dog.

Even More: My pal Emily at Random Recycling has 15 more Summer Meal Planning ideas for you.

photo credits: startcooking kathy & amandine via photopin cc,
gtrwndr87 via photopin cc, AamerJaved via photopin cc