I don't know about you, but it is bloody hot where I am this week! The kind of hot and humid where the last thing you want to do is turn on the over or stand over a stove... so what are your go-to hot weather meals? I have made some pretty good things so far this week, but I need more ideas (because the heat isn't going anywhere until mid-September, sadly).
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Good question! I'm thinking about making taco meat in the slow cooker and having the rest be cold toppings. Looking for other ideas. Pasta salad is nice but you do have to boil the water.
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DH made salmon last night and it was hot and stinky when I walked in. Crock pot meals are great but mine always burn
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I normally always default to salads. Hot dogs too because they are fast!
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Anything in the slow cooker! I feel like I'm not creating much extra heat that way. Or, just salads.
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I hear ya! So hot here already. We grill a lot in the summer. But the heat outside doesn't bother me once we get in the house since the AC is up and running.
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I have been doing a lot of crockpot stuff. I love how it doesn't heat up the whole house.
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We like salads, and Japanese soba noodles served cold.
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I make DH do the cooking LOL, but crockpot meals are easy to make and we eat a lot of salads and veggie/mahi mahi burgers from TJ
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I'm in the mood for a pasta salad - but southwest style, with black beans and corn!
Sandwich night would be fine too! -
Lots of cold Asian noodle dishes and salads. Pioneer Woman has a good sesame noodle recipe. I usually add tons of veggies and chicken to make it heartier.
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My mom always does pasta salads when it's hot out!
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Pasta salad!
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Pulled chicken/pork in crockpot, whole chicken in crockpot, grill outside, salads with grilled chicken/shrimp, tacos (meat in crockpot), we do sandwiches a lot in summer and make a huge fruit salad we eat all week. Veggies I grill so the house doesn't heat up.
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Grilling or using the crockpot. Salads make the best sense, but i eat them for lunch so often, I don't really want them for dinner. Sandwiches are boring but it's kind of fun to make them like a picnic.
@foodnerd, we're doing chicken tacos for dinner that way. The leftover chicken easily gets used up!
I'm also not opposed to fruit, slabs of cheese, and fresh bread for dinner.
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Ohh, these are helpful. I might just crockpot some chicken since we always have taco shells on hand. My mom actually suggested something awesome last night. She poaches off chicken, dices, and freezes it. When she's whipping something together quick, she defrosts some. I need to do that.
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In the summer we do a lot of salads with grilled (or broiled) meat/fish. You can cook up several chicken breasts at a time and then use the leftovers cold the next day, so at least you don’t have to be in front of something hot every day. One day will be a southwest salad with blackened chicken, the next day a Caesar salad with the leftover grilled chicken.
Grilled white fish one night and then use leftover (or extra cooked) grilled white fish the next day in fish tacos.
Cold quinoa and farro salads too. Griled veggies.
I don’t actually use my crockpot much in summer because crockpot meals seem too heavy to eat when it’s super hot out; but maybe I'm in the minority with feeling that way!
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These are great ideas!!!
I'll add mine. So far this week, we have had:
Vietnamese shrimp summer rolls
seared ahi with cold sesame noodle salad with carrots and cucumbers
shrimp tacos with pineapple salsa and grilled veggies
grilled chicken with caprese salad -
@blackbird: A big platter of fruit, cheese, crackers, bread, etc is one of my favorite hot weather meals. Light and easy and no cooking required!
I also like cooking a big batch of chicken and shredding it, then using it throughout the week on top of salads. Same goes for a big batch of hard boiled eggs. We just did that last night!
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One of my favorite real food blogs posted these ideas yesterday: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/10-oven-free-summertime-meal-ideas
Her writing is annoying and cheesy but I like the site for easy, yummy recipes that utilize things I actually have on hand. I bookmarked the above link for warmer days this summer because I felt like it would come in handy.
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Anyone want to share recipes?
I've been using my toaster over to roast and cook things, but it's getting too hot even for that.
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I do caprese sandwiches when it's too hot to cook. A nice crunchy baguette with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and basil.
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Chicken Taco Meat
Our favorite chicken taco meat is 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (like 1.5-2lbs), sprinkled with 1/2 packet of McCormick CHICKEN taco seasoning (McCormick has no MSG in it and the chicken seasoning works better than the beef seasoning), and 1 cup of salsa (we use one 8oz can of Herdez salsa, any flavor, because its the perfect portion. FYI the Ranchero flavor is spicier/smokier than the tomato or green salsas). Throw it in the crockpot on LOW in the morning and it will cook beautifully all day. The thighs hold up much better than breasts. Use a crockpot liner for easy clean up.
Italian Beef Sandwiches
1 chuck roast (2.5lbs), generously sprinkled with your favorite seasoning (we use Montreal Steak seasoning), 1 quartered onion, 1/2 jar of whole pepperoncini peppers with the juice, a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce. Let it go all day on LOW, shred, and serve on crusty French rolls.
Crockpot BBQ Ribs (or chicken wings!)
Cut a rack of ribs in half. Smear with mustard and then sprinkle with your favorite BBQ seasoning (we like Costco's mesquite seasoning). Don't go too heavy on it the seasoning, they have salt in them usually. Stand the ribs up against the sides of your crockpot and let them cook all day on LOW. When you get home, pull them onto a cookie sheet, brush with BBQ sauce and either grill them for a few minutes on each side to carmelize the sauce or run them under your broiler for a few minutes on each side. The broiler works quickly so it wont heat up your house that badly. You can use the same method for chicken wings - throw in a tray of wings tossed in some seasoning but cook them on LOW for about 4-6 hours (so better on the weekends). Smother with your favorite sauce (BBQ, buffalo, etc) and grill/broil on both sides until the skin is crisp.
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The slow cooker is always a huge help on hot days. This thread makes me want to make a pasta salad now!
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We grill a ton on hot days. I know it's still cooking over something hot, but at least it's outside and not warming your house.
So far this week, we've made grilled salmon, grilled sausage, grilled chicken and steaks are on the menu for tonight!
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@sandy: that sounds soooo good!
DH has been grilling a lot this past week. But it's all been chicken. I'm sooo tired of chicken.
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Hot dogs and fruit
Salads -
@sandy: That sounds so good!!!
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@sandy: yum!
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Oh also, when we grill, we grill a bunch of different meat at once and just reheat the rest of the week. Its not as good as "fresh" grilled food, but its definitely a time saver and you only have to get hot/stinky once (since it gets to over 100+ degrees here in the summer). We usually do one larger piece of meat, like a tri-tip or pork tenderloin, then a few sausages, and maybe a chicken or veggies (corn, asparagus, onions, peppers).
The tri-tip or pork can be eaten that night with some grilled veggies, then the rest of the meat can be chopped up and put on salads or in Greek pitas or used for fajitas another night. The sausage can be reheated and slapped on rolls with more grilled peppers and onions with marinara sauce and cheese for a tasty sandwich. Etc. etc.
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@sandy: That's exactly what we had last night!
My default summer meals are grain salads, crockpot pulled chicken/pork, grilled shrimp, BLTs and caprese sandwiches. It's not as good, but I'll make bacon in the microwave for the BLTs if I don't want to stand over the stove. I've shared it once before, I think, but I really like this couscous salad: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-whole-wheat-couscous-wi-150125
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Cooking light has 6 different pasta salad combinations you can make. I'll make a pound of pasta and get stuff for 2 of the combinations. Also a grilled chicken with avocado salad: sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes, corn on the cob but carved off, some lime juice and some cilantro. Lastly, I'll get a rotisserie chicken and some greens and veggies and just have a nice big salad with chicken on top.
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