When it’s 90 degrees outside, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. Here’s 5 dinner ideas for hot nights!
Cowboy Caviar
This is a bean and vegetable salad that is great in a wrap or as a dip for chips. Even better? This is a no-cook recipe. All the prep time is chopping the vegetables. You can also marinate it overnight but it’s not necessary. For a Mexican style recipe, combine avocado, bell pepper, black beans, black eyed peas, cherry tomatoes, onion and corn. Then dress it with cilantro, lime, olive oil, honey and some spices – recipe here. This recipe is also very versatile. I like to make a version with Italian dressing. I use bell peppers, tomato, cucumber and celery with chickpeas. This is a fun one to get creative with and try different combinations of dressings and vegetables.
DIY Deli
This one makes sandwiches a little more fun. Start by offering several choices. Have options for deli meat, cheese and toppings. Use the last two random hotdog rolls or buns you have laying around. For younger kids, it becomes an activity. You can set it up like the store with the stations along a counter and have someone prep and someone be the customer. For the adults or adventurous kiddos, add this Italian grinder lettuce to the mix to take your sandwiches to the next level.
Charcuterie board
Kids love snacks, and a charcuterie board is basically a meal of snacks. You can make it as aesthetic or as simplified as you’d like. Raid your pantry and fridge and have your kids pick out the different elements for their plates. You can create a theme or color scheme to add a creative twist!
Shredded Chicken
A rotisserie chicken can turn into so many no-cook meals. Tacos are always a crowd pleaser in our house. Barbeque sandwiches are another option. Over a salad. In quesadillas. The possibilities are endless! If you have an instant pot, shredded chicken is super easy without generating too much heat.
Grilling
If you’re not opposed to sweating by the grill for a little while, you open up all sorts of possibilities for meals from burgers to kababs. Lately in our house our top grilling meals have been chicken thighs with adobo seasoning or barbeque sauce, turkey burgers and chicken sausages. Side note – am I the only toddler mom that has to scrape the grill lines of the kid’s food? Sometimes my husband will grill their meat wrapped in foil so we don’t have to.
I hope this article gave you a couple new ideas for summer dinners to beat the heat. Comment with your favorite summer dinner and we’ll build a great list of options in the comments!
