Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

[alison]

Angie's pasta salad is one of the only things I'm willing to "cook" when it's hot out. I boil some chicken and add it as well. It's great!

What do you make during the summer?

There are some great Japanese dishes for the summer. But they're really time- and energy-consuming...

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

Grilled chicken salad is one of our staples. I use a George Foreman-type grill for the chicken (marinated in Italian dressing or anything similar). Then we dress up the salad however we like.

We also do a lot of stir-fry (marinated, cubed chicken breast; sauteed pine nuts; garlic; an assortment of veggies; softened rice noodles; sauces like sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, hot bean paste, etc.). We vary this a lot and add whatever we want.

Those aren't very fancy, but that's what we eat on a weekly basis. If we have summertime guests, we usually grill outside.

[DCJenn]

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

I use the indoor or outdoor grill a lot. and I'm discovering that the crock pot doesn't heat up the kitchen. I just made a arroz con queso (rice w/ cheese) mexican thing except I used quinoa instead of rice.

Last night I made a modified Salad Nicoise using frozen shrimp and a thing of crabmeat.

It was 103 today with the heat index- there was no cooking in my house tonight.

Jenn

[Vishenka69]

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

Last summer NYTimes did a whole piece about recipes you can do in the toaster oven. I use it to heat stuff up a lot more than the microwave. I've got a recipe for cold borsht if you're interested. It doesn't take long to make on stove top and then it lasts all week long. I tend to cook a lot of fish in the summer because it cooks much faster. Also now that I've got central air, I don't mind using the oven as much and I try to utilize it more if I'm already using it.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

We do A LOT of grilling!

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

I just made a arroz con queso (rice w/ cheese) mexican thing except I used quinoa instead of rice.

in the crockpot? recipe please.

[DCJenn]

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

Here is the recipe using rice- i substituted the quinoa but used about a cup.

14.5 oz can whole tomatoes, crushed (didn't have any but did have a can of tomatillos- which I crushed)
15 oz can Mexican style beans, undrained (didn't have any so used a can of black beans)
1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain rice
3 ozs grated reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese (didn't have any- used grated pepper jack instead)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
4 oz can chopped green chilis (didn't have any, used my own home grown peppers (anaheims and jalapenos)
1 tbsp. canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 oz grated reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese.

Combine all ingredients except final 3 ozs of cheese. Pour into 'well-greased' slow cooker (I just used a generous spray of Pam). Cover. Cook on low 6-9 hours (it was done with the quinoa in 6)
Sprinkle w/ remaining cheese before serving. Serve w/ salsa.

It was quite tasty, even with all of my substitutions.

Re: Recipes for when it's too hot to turn on the oven

That would probably be yummy with some pollo thrown in too! Thanks Jenn!