cold supper ideas for summer?

[caedmyn]

Looking for some supper ideas for those days when it's just too hot to turn the stove on at dinner time...preferably meals with no dairy since all of us are intolerant to it.

[sewchris2642]

Salads and sandwiches. Cold chicken, potato salad (German style, no dairy http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/authen...ad/Detail.aspx). Think picnics. Flat breads and hummus. Use goat cheese, meats, beans, and nuts for protein in salads. Cook the meats early in the day when it's not so hot. Spread hummus on a roll. Pile up with red onion, sliced cucumber, chopped broccoli (or chopped veggies of your choice), tomato, mushrooms, spinach leaves. Sprinkle with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Do fish tacos: cold, cooked and flaked tuna, salmon or fish of choice, onions, shredded lettuce (greens of choice) or cabbage, chopped tomatoes, avocado, salsa in tortilla.

[pixiepunk]

you can also cook your meat or beans in the slow cooker so it doesn't make the whole kitchen hot. same with rice if you have a rice maker. we also grill a lot of meat in the summer so the heat stays outside.

we do a lot of salads, too. often adding some leftover chicken or steak on top, or an egg or cheese for added protein.

[newcastlemama]

Tonight I am making crockpot shredded beef tacos.
I cook a lot of meat at once and keep it in the fridge to make into salads or use canned fish.

[rhianna813]

We've been doing a LOT of large salads, since we have lettuce and spinach in the garden. We top the salad with leftover roasted chicken, taco seasoned ground beef, tuna or salmon cakes.

To get away from the lettucy salad, I also like a greek salad with cucumbers, red onions, red peppers, oregano, olives. Mixed with vinegarette. You can add chicken or fish to this to make a complete meal.

I also like to make gazpacho soup and have a bowl with dinner throughout the week.

German style potato salad with bacon! Adding mayo to make it creamy.

And for a storage tip, when I made larger amounts of cold soup (or whatnot) I sometimes store it in plastic juice pitchers. Because they hold lot but are tall, not wide like a bowl.

Rhianna

[ltlmrs]

Viana La Place (my favorite cookbook author) has a great cookbook of room temperature or cold foods called (I think) Cucina Fresca. I've checked this book out from the library and many of the recipes are TF friendly or easily convertible.

My favorite meal that doesn't heat up the kitchen in the afternoon is a frittata (made that morning before the heat gets bad) or grilled cheese sandwich (only a few minutes in the pan, or make it on the grill outside) and/or salad with a cold soup. There are so many variations to this that a different meal can be had each day based on what you include in the frittata and soup. We're not big fans of very light meals around here, and I personally do not care for the American sandwich/chips (even if home made) cold meal on a regular basis, however this type of room temp meal is very satisfying.