It is so hot here. Is it hot where you are? So hot. Carla got invited over to her first ever sleepover this weekend and the child’s parents invited us to come have drinks and wine when we dropped her off, and I was DRIPPING SWEAT the entire time we sat on their beautiful lanai. Just like… sopping wet. I had to use a napkin to blot my face sweat, but I refrained from using it to blot the many other areas where sweat had pooled.
I am not a hot weather person, is what I am saying. I CHOOSE not to live in Florida and so I very much object to living in a sauna.
Anyway! Let’s talk about dinner! Because the very best thing to do when it is boiling outside is to think about turning on the oven!
Dinners for the Week of August 8-14
- Shrimp and Arugula Salad: Let’s beat the heat with SALAD.
- Greek Chicken Kebabs: Perhaps I can bear grilling something, if I am not eager to turn on my oven. And I had this AMAZING quinoa salad over the weekend that I think I’ll make alongside.
- Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad: Can we do a second salad? Yes, I think we can.
- Citrus Chicken Rice Bowl: This sounds fun and different and flavorful, plus I can grill the chicken and make the rice in the microwave.
- Soy-Ginger Pulled Pork with Tangy Slaw: A slow cooker meal is another way to avoid the oven!
- Lemon Cheesecake Yogurt Cups: These sound yummy and they MUST have some calcium in them. Perhaps I can tempt Carla with them.
What’s on your menu this week?
It is hot here, but Calgary Hot, not Actual Hot. When we were on vacation in Kelowna, it was Actual Hot – like 100 degrees a couple of days (I’m switching to F because it sounds so much more dramatic than 39 degrees). I’m making an assortment of noodle/ pasta salads this week, from Vegan Richa’s site. Some of them are new recipes, we will see how they go!
Lol – Fahrenheit is definitely more dramatic. Noodle dishes sound like a great way to beat the heat.
We’re at the beach with a big group and we’re eating out a couple nights, so I only had to cook once (last night). Noah and I made minestrone. The night before North made veggie burgers, corn, watermelon, tomato-mozzarella salad, and agua fresca. Tonight Beth’s making gazpacho, salt-crusted potatoes with garlic-cilantro sauce, and fancy cheeses. My mom’s making an asparagus frittata at some point and I don’t know what my sister and brother-in-law are making.
That Asian pulled pork sounds good! Might have to try if I can find Chinese 5-spice. On my menu this week are Fried Rice w/chicken, a bunch of leftovers, and last night we grilled burgers. We did not eat them outdoors, however — too HOT. Ugh. Hurry, Fall!
Oh, I loathe the humidity!! I tend to pull out my frozen leftovers and heat them in the microwave so I don’t have to cook.
I used to opt for grilling but I do not grill – Dave used to. So last month I pulled out the electric grill and used that. But I was SO HOT, standing outside in the heat/humidity, next to a hot grill. So apparently I did not mind sending someone else out to grill, but I do not consider that a cooler way to cook for myself, lol.
The slow cooker though, that’s a winner! I put it out on the porch so it doesn’t heat up the house. 🙂
It’s been pretty hot/humid here in Minnesota. We had a ton of rain this weekend and thankfully the humidity cleared. It was a glorious 58 degrees this morning when I ran and I was shocked by how people were dressed – long sleeves and such. I was like – come on, Minnesotans!! Even if I was just walking I would have been warm in long sleeves. But we’ve already exceeded the average number of days in the 90s and still have lots of hot weather ahead of us, and it’s been very dry.
You meal plans sound wonderful. I am impressed by how many meals you make each week! I make 3 meals/week and that is enough to get us through the week since my husband buys lunch when he goes into the office. We grilled steaks and asparagus last night. I’ll make a marinara sauce which blitzed vegetables to try to sneak more veggies into my kids’ diets and then we are grilling Greek turkey burgers one night. The boys won’t eat the burgers, though. Sigh.
Yes, it’s hot here. And today it’s raining! (What a Monday.) It’s going to start cooling down at night, though, and we’re looking at some high 50s, so maybe we’ll be able to turn off the AC at night and open the windows soon.
I’m with Lisa. We generally only make 3 dinners a week and rely on leftovers to get us through. This week we’re doing our chickpea curry recipe, a frittata, and enchiladas. It’s literally the same thing we make over and over again every week. We’re so boring.
This her my thing- turning on the oven when it is roasting outside is the reason why we have always had an extra oven in the basement. It helps.
I am leaning into my offspring to cook dinner this summer and particularly right now when they are about to leave. Ed was in an internship that just finished, so now he has time. Hooray. We returned from a long weekend away yesterday and I had taco meat that I thawed because I’d stuck it in the freezer right before we left town.
Sorry about the pooling sweat, but the drinks before a sleepover sounds delightful. Could they not have invited you inside to sip a drink in the kitchen surrounded by AC?
It’s low 90s today (HOT for us) but high 70s/low 80s after that. I’m not a hot weather person either which is why I live in Western WA.
Is it hot here??? Hahahaha! Yes. Very. AND extremely humid. The weatherman has promised that this weekend will be “cool” (80s) and no humidity. He better be right!
My pregnant self is basically refusing to go outside unless I absolutely have to. It is hot and humid and gross and I am so thankful to work from home.
We have a ton of leftovers in the fridge and will not be home for meals Thursday-Monday, so dinners this week are self-scavenged from the contents of the fridge that will become scary science experiments between now and then.
Would Carla eat blackstrap molasses in oatmeal? I admit that I love molasses cookies but I do not love molasses in and of itself, so I am not sure how Carla will feel about it. But it looks like 1tbsp is 20% of RDA, so that might be an easier way to get some calcium into her.
Thanks for the dinner inspiration: shrimps and arugula sounds lovely!