Well, it's summer & a million degrees here, and DH & I have not been wanting to eat hot foods or heat up the house to cook dinner & want to keep it that way until summer is over. Sandwiches & salads are going to get old & we can't go & get sushi everyday (yummy, but not cheap!). So, I was wondering if y'all had some great cold recipes or some suggestions on what to eat, preferably something different.
Edited to add - Unfortunately grilling is out of the question since we are currently grill-less (boo!).
Thanks!!
Greek salad
Combine chopped and seeded cucumbers and tomatoes, green pepper, green onion, green olives, pepperoni, and feta cheese with zesty italian dressing.
We eat this alone, on lettuce, or on rice or pasta with chunck chicken.
Eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies.
That will help you feel great.
Do you have a porch? you can crock pot out there... and if you have a toaster oven cooking can happen there too!
You can always make spam sushi... look it up.
NACHO DORITO TACO SALAD
1 lb. ground beef
To taste; chili powder, onion powder, season salt, garlic powder, Worcestershire
Brown it.
1 head lettuce
Tomato
Green pepper
Onion
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 lb. Doritos nacho chips, crushed up
Kraft Catalina dressing
Shred lettuce. Cut tomato, green pepper, onion. Add shredded cheddar cheese. Toss with the beef mixture. Put the nacho chips crushed up in with lettuce. Toss. Put Catalina dressing in to taste and mix.
It looks like a hot mess but it's awesome. Brown your meat and you're basically DONE! Mix together before eating otherwise it gets soggy if you do it in advance. (We eat it cold too!)
This is one of those things that barely hits the table and it's G-O-N-E
I just decided I'm TOTALLY making this tomorrow! YUM!
Here's a salad recipe that we just discovered...
Black Bean salad
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/black-bean-salad/Detail.aspx
There are several variations.... you can alter it to your likes. The first time, I left out the cilantro, since I usually don't like it. I use the Zesty Italian salad dressing to give it a bit more zip.
The beans provide protein, and there are different textures and flavors involved. I don't put pimento in it, since I don't usually have any around.
Lots of fiber, and veggies are good for you... we usually don't eat enough of them.
Nice cold salad on a hot day!
I'm in Gilbert and have posted this question a few times if you want to look in my history. I have to laugh at the people that said to use your grill and especially the one that said to build a fire and roast hot dogs. I guess they don't really get it when you say its HOT here. Maybe if you said its going to be 112 on Wednesday and the last thing you want to do is be outside, then maybe they will "get" it! LOL! Ok, that being said, we had tostadas tonight, super simple and easy and NO COOK! Tostada shells, heat up refried beans in the micro, shredded cheese and lettuce and that's it! Hope you get some good ideas...good luck!
My suggestion is to go buy a charcoal grill. LOL! We couldn't live with out ours.
This link has a favorite recipe of ours from when we lived in the valley. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/delicious-black-bean-burrito... Also, we cooked a lot on my Pampered Chef grill pan (which uses the stove, but cooks just like a grill). Email me if you want to discuss ordering one!
gazpacho is a great cold soup.
Steak salad with baby or bibb lettuce, walnuts, bleu or feta cheese, and dried cherrries. A vinigrette dressing to marinate the beef slices and cook them on the stovetop, then more dressing to sprinkle over the salad.
Have you tried www.allrecipes.com for ideas? Thai Noodle Salad, Thai Salmon Salad, Salmon Ceviche (I'm going to have to try these!)
You can cook entire meals on the grill. I have done roast beef, potatoes and a veggies. I was gonna say eat outside but even after sundown Phoenix is HOT. You can make enough cut up chicken on the grill to last a few days and serve cold with potato salad and fresh fruit.
Cold pasta salad: boil in salted water short-type pasta (penne or rotini are great) until al dente (don't overcook), in the meantime dice sweet, ripe cherry tomatoes and mixed them in a sald bowl with mozzarella (also diced), black olives, extra vergin olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the pasta when cooked, mix ingredients well and add fresh basil leaves in the end...very yummy Italian cold plate. Also you could make skewers with fresh fuit or a summery caprese salad (sliced mozzarella and tomato, back to back and seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano sprinkled on top).Buon appetito!
The Pampered Chef has tons of quick and easy recipes. Feel free to check them ____@____.com/santanaskitchen
We're in Gilbert and did brats on the grill with salad and cottage cheese tonight. I agree, I don't like to use the oven much in the summer. I do use my toaster a lot in the summer and also my goerge foreman if I don't want to start up the big grill. BLT's are great for summer too. Pasta salads loaded with stuff to make it a meal.
Feeling hot, hot, HOT!! Yep, I hear ya. Although, I was confused on whether you didn't want to eat hot foods at all or just hot foods because they heat up the house. One cold recipe that I like to make, especially in the summer, is stuffed peppers. But I don't make the hamburger/hot version - I make it with tuna, pasta (ditilini? or mini shells), diced tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced olives and some light mayo or miracle whip. The pasta salad in the cool, crisp bell peppers is so yum!
If you still want yummy foods without heating up the house, get a crock pot! Or a pressure cooker. I need to get one of those because apparently you can make super yummy meals way faster than a crock pot and the food retains more vitamins/minerals. My neighbor told me about a good crock pot blog - http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/.
I made homemade chicken taquitos a few weeks ago. Chicken tenders and onions in the crock pot on low for a few hours with some chicken broth and seasoning like cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper (you could even add shredded carrots and zucchini, maybe spinach? for a healthier version). The chicken just shreds so easy. Then just add in some cream or neufetzel(?) cheese, put it in a taco sized flour tortilla with some shredded cheddar cheese and bake in the toaster oven for 10-15 minutes. Super good.
Good luck! Yay for the 113 temps coming this week. bleh.
build a fire in a big terracotta pot on the lawn and roast hot dogs over it. Follow it with marshmallows.
