meals for HOT weather

[sierra's momma]

It won't be long before it is too hot to cook (we don't have AC). Does anyone have any ideas for dinners during the hot weather?

[oceanbaby]

We are new to an area that has hot summers, so I need some suggestions as well.

One thing that we do is a "big salad." I hardboil some eggs in the morning, which is the extent of the cooking. Then I toss a bunch of lettuce with a basic olive oil and vinegar dressing, pile that in the middle of the plate, and then put stuff around the side: avocado, hardboiled eggs, carrots, celery, radishes, garbanzo beans, etc., whatever sounds good and you have on hand.

[HydeParkB]

Cold or Warm Couscous Salad.

For the couscous, you boil water, dump in the couscous, turn off the stove burner, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
My favorite combo of things to put in it is jarred roasted red peppers, capers, feta, olives, sundried tomatoes. And then splash some balsamic vinegar on it. (These are all pantry staples for us, otherwise we'd make do with what we had on hand.)

Another nice combo is fresh veggies, like spinach, cherry/chopped big tomatoes, zucchini.

[columbusmomma]

Various pasta salads
Gazpacho
Wraps, fill with veggies,meats,cheeses,etc.
Do you grill? If so would keep the heat outside and you wouldn't need to use oven/stove.

[Raene]

These are great ideas!

[*violet*]

We don't have a/c either, and we use the grill outside and the crockpot inside quite a bit in the summer. I also like salads w/protein and roll-ups for dinner at least a couple times a week.

[tricia80]

we do alot of salads, grilling, wraps.. our apt gets waaaaay to hot in summer and we only have a small window a.c.

[kaaris]

So, this is an outside-of-the-box idea, but you could look into doing some solar cooking outside, using a solar oven. It's something I'm interested in and want to explore.

The other idea is you can serve frozen side dishes. For instance, clean and freeze some fresh organic grapes, then serve them as a side with dinner. They are AWESOME! I've heard cherries are good like that, too. Really, they make a frozen dessert - grapesicles. My daughter and I love them.

[b&c'smama]

The couscous salad sounds wonderful!!!

I also think solar ovens sound interesting... I thought that a good solar oven was pricey though. I may have to re-invesitgate.

Some things we do: lots of pasta salads (made in the morning), cold chicken, grilled chicken, bbq, and crock-pot things (like pulled pork) and I put the crock pot out on the deck.

[mysticmomma]

Have you invested in a grill yet?

[luv-my-boys]

the oven is banned in my house from june-sept for this very reason. It makes the house unbelievably hot the rest of the night even with the A/C on we'd have to crank it all the way down. We grill a lot not only in summer so that is what we mainly use. You can grill just about anything...meats/veggies heck even bread! We make an awesome grill dessert (bananas,semi sweet choco. chips,marshmallows and wrap in tin foil-grill about 5 min on low YUMMY) I only do a few sides if they can be cooked on the range quickly. We also use our crock pot and pressure cooker as well.

[jimblejamble]

:

[Quaniliaz]

When it is hot here, we also stick the crock pot and roaster outside on the porch or in the garage and cook in those. I also have a propane burner and an electric burner that I use outside. In the past, I've used a rice cooker in the garage, too.

[LeahC]

Originally Posted by *violet*

We don't have a/c either, and we use the grill outside and the crockpot inside quite a bit in the summer. I also like salads w/protein and roll-ups for dinner at least a couple times a week.

ditto!

I swear I use my CP more in the summer months than I do in the winter.

We love making quinoa salads.

Oh, and another favorite of ours is a pasta salad of sorts where you boil your favorite pasta (any shape will work). Then when it is done, you pour the hot water over baby spinach (in the colander) so that the spinach gets wilted. Then you toss the pasta, spinach, some fresh diced tomatoes, 1/4 pound of prosciutto, some crushed red pepper for some "heat", extra virgin olive oil and fresh or canned parmesan. OMG, heaven in a bowl, I tell you!

[onlyzombiecat]

We use the grill, slow cooker or quick cooking stove top meals.

We love grilled pizza.

Tomorrow I'm going to try grilling tofu for the first time. I plan to put it in a tortilla after it is grilled with some cheese and peppers.

We also use our indoor grill (George Foreman) to make quick grilled sandwiches.

Tomato Bean Salad

[asimplegirl]

I do alot of things like nachos...I will make a roast (chicken, pork, beef, it doesn't matter), shred the meat, put half in the freezer.

Place tortilla chips on a plate. Warm meat, sprinkle with ortega chipotle taco seasoning, and some liquid smoke in the microwave. Layer onto chips. Place jalepenos onto meat, cover in shredded cheese, microwave until ooey gooey. Do not warn until everyone is sitting, they get harder to eat when they cool.

Serve with mashed avacado with lemon juice, salt and pepper, garlic powder on the side. Also serve with sour cream, lettuce, tomato, chopped onion.

SOOO good. Also, you can mix this meat with bbq sauce and place on buns, warm in the microwave, serve with coleslaw.

Serve it on warmed tortillas with fresh salsa made with tomatoes, garlic, onion, cumin, salt, hot sauce. Place it all in the processor and let go until thinned...it will be VERY strong, so you don't need much. Serve this and sour cream on the side.

When I can think of the rest we do, I will let ya know.

[russsk]

We do a cold ravioli salad. Boil the ravioli in the morning, then stick in the fridge. Toss with whatever veggies you have in the fridge, lemon, olive oil, salt pepper. Two nights ago we had roasted veggie ravioli, baby spinach, chopped beets, radishes, cucumbers, red onion, olives, peas, asparagus and feta.