HEAT WAVE dinner suggestions

[JessieBird]

Ugh, we're on day 5 of a brutal heat wave. Temps are about 35C/95F which I know is normal for many of you but we have REALLY high humidity. Summers are always humid here but we're not used to it combined with such high temps and it's crippling us. We don't have a/c at home because we so rarely need it. We thought the heat would break tomorrow but now they're saying we could be in for another week of it. I'm praying that at least the humidity will clear because that will make all the difference.

Anyway, enough of my complaining! We'll survive but I need help with dinner ideas. DS is not eating well and we're all so grumpy by evening. I've hit the wall when it comes to dinner ideas.

What cold, easy toddler-friendly dinners work best for you when it's smokin' hot out?

[ellairiesmom]

we have done lots of sandwiches this week...pb&j & yogurt was a meal last night. we also did end up ordering out tues night because dd1 really wanted pizza & there was no way we were turning our oven on.

one night we cut up cheese, apples & strawberries & had crackers, olives, hummus & veggies.

i haven't been focusing on "meals" this week-just trying to keep the oven off while having a few of the food groups represented.

i have had dreams of snow, sleigh riding, hot cocoa & soup...can you tell the 100 degree days have gotten to me!!!

[BetsyS]

It looks like you're having our kind of weather right now! The difference is that we have AC, cause it's like this for months at a time.

When it's this hot outside, my kids don't eat huge suppers. We eat bigger breakfasts. then a decent mid-morning snack. They eat their regular lunches (which tend to be cold food anyway, like pb&honey, sliced cucumbers, nad fruit is a favorite). Sometimes, they'll eat a snack around 3. But, by supper time, they just aren't hungry. Thirsty, yes, but not hungry.

So, I just feed them when they're hungry, and it balances out.

Now, for the grownups, we do a lot of grilling, a lot of main dish salads, some sandwiches, and basically anything I can make without heating up a lot of dishes. Tacos is easy, cause you just heat the meat and beans. Sometimes, I cook in the morning. And NEVER any oven meals in the summer. It's just too hot.

[PinkinPA]

My suggestion, because we are in the heat wave as well, use a crockpot to cook your dinner overnight. OR of you need to cook for that particular day, do it in the morning, if you are able.

[rhiOrion]

Hummus.

Caprise salads (basil, tomatoes, mozzarella, with a balsamic drizzle)

Gazpacho

Salad as a meal... I like spinach, mandarin oranges, thin slices of red onion, a bit of bacon, some candied nuts, goat cheese, and maybe some diced up chicken to make it a meal. Balsamic as the dressing. Or some sort of flavored balsamic type dressing.

Sandwiches. You could even do quick grilled sandwiches without heating things up too much. Turkey, ham, havarti, russian dressing, grilled panini style. OMG, yum. Could do just ham and cheese for the littles, if they're picky.

Grill outside. Of course, it may just be too hot to even go outside to do that.

I'm hungry now.

[PennyRoo]

I was going to post this very question last night!

It has been in the high 90s here for several days running as well. One day it hit 100, with extreme humidity - just unbearable. I've let the whole dinner thing slide and am focusing on cooking as little as possible.

One night (the day of the 100 degree heat) we had creamsicles - vanilla yogurt mixed with orange juice concentrate and frozen into a popsicle. Almonds on the side. I figure that can't be too bad, right?

We've also done wraps - - spread with hummus, some chopped cukes, carrot strips, lettuce, olives, feta.

Often at night when it cools down I boil a pot of water for whole wheat rotini, then toss it with some home made dressing while still warm, plus a can of drained chick peas, sometimes tuna, cukes, green olives, cherry tomatoes and basil from the garden, plus small shavings of parm cheese. That's dinner for 2 nights.

I'm feeling hot and uninspired, so I'd love to hear from others. I wonder if anyone has a great recipe for a cold, garlicky, cucumber-based soup?

[InMediasRes]

I cook up a whole chicken in the crock to use for salads and whatnot. We like stir fry, cold soups like gazpacho, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Main dish salads are good too, and pasta salad is always a favorite.

We do one night a week of "fruit and vegetable dinner" where I just cut up various fruits and veggies, hummus, cheese, maybe crackers, nuts, etc. It's very filling, and if the weather's not too hot, we go out in our front yard for a picnic.

[Violet2]

We uh went to the mall food court yesterday

Tonight we're grilling. I haven't thought past tonight.

The heat is brutal!

V

[maciascl]

Originally Posted by InMediasRes

We do one night a week of "fruit and vegetable dinner" where I just cut up various fruits and veggies, hummus, cheese, maybe crackers, nuts, etc.

This is our favorite when it is hot!!

We also tend to do alot of pasta inthe summer since it is quick & can be very light depending on how you top it.

[2xy]

We had an antipasto platter last night with lots of greens.

[SollysMom]

We've been struggling with this too, especially because DH and I don't like any of the same cold-food type stuff. He hates salad, anything with mayonnaise/dressing so that rules out pasta salad type stuff, doesn't like hummus or raw veggies...

We've been doing a lot of smoothies for dinner lately. Loading them up with greens, yogurt, flax seed meal, and lots of fruit. DH never seemed like a green smoothie type of guy, but he loves them. I'm thinking of making a cold black bean/quinoa salad for tonight.... he likes both of those hot so hopefully he'll like them cold too. He doesn't love tomatoes or corn but he tolerates them so I'll probably add them anyway, and avocado on my portion.

The kidlets don't eat much in the way of solids, so I've got nothing there. DS1 does like hummus and I think I'll introduce it to DS2 soon (recently started on solids) so raw veggies and whole wheat mini-pitas with hummus might be fun. I'd totally make "popsicles" out of smoothie ingredients for them if they'd eat them.

[InMediasRes]

Forgot to add that we usually do tomato, basil and feta grilled cheese, not traditional style, to mix it up.

[melon]

Originally Posted by SollysMom

.... I'm thinking of making a cold black bean/quinoa salad for tonight....

i loosely followed this recipe last week and it was awesome.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...an-Salad-12245

DH even liked it. Next time i will add chicken, and he will eat it as a meal.

[Kathy2579]

I am in the north east as well..
Monday _left overs
Tuesday - salad
Wednesday-pasta salad made in the morning with peperoni in it
Thursday- we had crock pot sloppy joes and chips
Friday... grilled pizza

Thank goodness it is going to break cause just YUCK

[IndigoKoi]

Originally Posted by PennyRoo

I'm feeling hot and uninspired, so I'd love to hear from others. I wonder if anyone has a great recipe for a cold, garlicky, cucumber-based soup?

White gazpacho is always yummy! There are tons of recipes out there but here's one just for reference. They are all pretty similar, I always put tons more garlic in everything that recipes call for b/c I love it so much, so adjust the ingredients to suit your taste

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/soup...achoblanco.htm

[Ola_]

I'm a big fan of quinoa salad too. The recipe for the one I make comes from a food blog: link. I usually add a cup of frozen peas and frozen corn while the quinoa is still warm, it helps to thaw them and the hot stuff cools in the process. It makes a great lunch, and for dinner I usually just grill a couple of chicken breasts to go along side.

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by IndigoKoi

White gazpacho is always yummy! There are tons of recipes out there but here's one just for reference. They are all pretty similar, I always put tons more garlic in everything that recipes call for b/c I love it so much, so adjust the ingredients to suit your taste

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/soup...achoblanco.htm

funny you should mention it! simply recipes had a recipe for white gazpacho today. i'd never heard of such a thing
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/white_gazpacho/

[IndigoKoi]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

funny you should mention it! simply recipes had a recipe for white gazpacho today. i'd never heard of such a thing
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/white_gazpacho/

YUM!! That actually looks like a much better recipe!