Help! We're oven free this summer

[DeerMother]

We decided not to use the oven this summer as it heats up the house and our ac d/n work well anyway. A lot of my standbys require oven - homemade pizza, spaghetti pie, shepard's pie. . . I'm already in a rut!
We have a toaster oven. I have one small pan that fits in it, it is enough for a meal, but no leftovers. I have a bread machine, george foreman grill and an outside grill. Though neither dh or I want to grill in this 100 degree weather. I've been doing paninis (sp?) on the foreman grill, lots of pasta, mini pizzas in the toaster oven, grilled chicken breasts on the foreman grill w/ rice and beans. I have a crock pot, but have never been wild about any recipe I've tried (and I've tried many). Care to help me brainstorm?

[Ruthla]

Hot and cold pasta dishes work well on the stovetop.

Macaroni and cheese (minus the cheese melted on top in the oven)

Pasta primavera (pasta with assorted veggies and cream sauce)

Spagetti and meatballs or meat sauce or bean sauce. Lentils work really well as a "ground beef substitute", especially in tomato sauce.

Tacos

A huge salad with meats and stuff added, to make it a whole meal

Assorted salads: tuna, egg, tossed, pasta, etc

Chilli

sandwiches (you can make this really fancy with french bread, assorted meats for fillings, assorted veggie toppings, etc.)

[cristeen]

Pizzas can be done on the grill, as can flatbreads. On the George Foreman as well, for that matter. With flatbreads, then I'd probably do shish-kebabs and have a gyro style dinner.

What are some of your stand-bys that you're really missing? Maybe we can make suggestions on how to alter those. Personally, I only use my oven when I'm baking (cookies, cakes, etc.) or roasting (meat or veg) - and at this time of year I'd rather fire up the grill than heat up the inside of the house, so roasting is right out. There are plenty of other things I can do with my meat and veggies, so it's never bothered me.

[DeerMother]

Maybe the thing I'm missing the most is preparing meals in advance. For the past six months I've made dinner during afternoon nap. This prevented me from feeling rushed at dinner time, allowed me to spend quality time w/ dh and prevented frustration when the surprise evening chores came.

eta - And brownies. I never had such a need for chocolate until dc were born.

[lil_earthmomma]

You can do your homemade pizza on the grill!!!

Brownies can be done in your toaster oven, or wait for a rainy day and they will be an extra special treat!

Our oven free meals include:

Salad!!! Giant salad with any combination of hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese, shrimp, chicken veggies :

This salad: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2...ver_ever_ever/

Steak salad: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2...r-steak-salad/

We love to have fruit salad and grilled quesadillas

We grill everything. Even in the winter we use our grill a ton. Grilled steak, pork tenderloin, pork loin steaks, chicken in a million incarnations... grilled meat and a salad and some grilled garlic bread, or baked potatoes on the grill (I just slice the potato the long way, throw in some onion rings that I sauteed in butter and wrap the whole thing in tinfoil. Grill until you can poke a fork through! These are a great prepare ahead thing) or veggies in tinfoil with butter and slices of lemon grilled.

We do potato salad, coldcuts cheeses veggies and buns. Everyone makes their own bunwiches.

Kabobs! mmmmmm I just cube up a roast and veggies, soke the skewers and prepare the kabobs ahead. Then all you have to do is grill them.

The possibilities are endless. You can do all of the prep work ahead and then you or dh just has to grill.

I'm going to try some stuffed chicken breasts on the grill tonight... mmmmm...

[azedazobollis]

You could also grill up batches of chicken or beef cuts ahead of time and freeze them into family portions. Then take them out and dice pieces for skillet meals of wok meals.:

[painefaria]

Try this site
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
She is wonderful. The other thing that we do is to cook extra when we do. If I need to bake something we bake extra while things are in the oven and then freeze the baked item. I have bake a number of chicken thighs and froze them individually, they only take a few minutes to warm up.

[hibana]

We like grilled pizzas so much that we use the grill in the winter. : There's nothing like trying not to slip on ice or set your coat on fire while grilling. It works best with a pizza stone on the grill, though you have to be careful about heating and cooling slowly, no temperature shocks, etc. If it cracks in half, you can still use it- we have a "grill stone" that's in 3 pieces.

You can bake all kinds of unexpected things on the grill or in a crock pot. Google is your friend in this endeavor.

(yes, I felt like illustrating with smilies today)

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by esaesa

Maybe the thing I'm missing the most is preparing meals in advance. For the past six months I've made dinner during afternoon nap. This prevented me from feeling rushed at dinner time, allowed me to spend quality time w/ dh and prevented frustration when the surprise evening chores came.

eta - And brownies. I never had such a need for chocolate until dc were born.

Then maybe cold salads would be the way to go? You can do most of the prep work in advance- cut veggies, cook pasta that you plan on serving cold, make the dressing in a separate container, etc. Then it only takes about 5 minutes to put everything together at dinnertime.

Using a crock pot may be another way to go- that doesn't heat up the kitchen too much.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by azedazobollis

You could also grill up batches of chicken or beef cuts ahead of time and freeze them into family portions. Then take them out and dice pieces for skillet meals of wok meals.:

Oh my gosh! Sorry to be OT, but I know you! Remember me, Vikki, from the apchat board??? Hi!!

[Zenzero]

Originally Posted by esaesa

eta - And brownies. I never had such a need for chocolate until dc were born.

I know it's not quite the same thing but I posted this raw 'brownie' recipe recently on another thread, which is really good and might fill that hole!

We are currently oven free too (but because ours died a couple of months ago and we don't have the money to get a new one at the moment) but I really don't miss it...if you have a crockpot and a bread maker you can manage really well without it once you get used to it!

[onlyzombiecat]

stove top-
stir fry- veggie or meat
rice
tacos
soup
pasta- ravioli, spaghetti, tortellini, etc
goulash
pancakes
eggs- scrambled, omlet, hard boiled, etc
lentils or beans
red beans and rice
quesadilla- you can add meat or refried beans to it
blt sandwiches
potato salad
macaroni salad
veggie burgers
mashed potatoes
fried chicken
dumplings
fry bread
Indian Chicken Curry

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.ph...earch&Searcht=



indoor grill-
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/grillgf/grillgf.html
http://busycooks.about.com/cs/applia...oorgrills2.htm
http://www.georgeforemanrecipes.com/

outdoor grill-
pizza
meat
vegetables
foil packets

slow cooker-
cook a whole chicken, remove the meat from the bones add bbq sauce and heat, serve on buns... also can use beef or pork

baked apples

soup

no cook-
tomato bean salad
lettuce salad
gazpacho
no cook vegetable pizza
cold sandwiches
tortilla roll ups or spirals
coleslaw
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25273648/

[vioburn]

Have you thought about making or buying a solar oven? You can still bake things, although it takes a little longer, but it's all outside using all that 100* weather you're having. Here's a link to some plans. http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/ or you can search online for other plans or places to buy. All you need is a sunny spot.