We are in the midst of a heat wave and I am still expected to provide meals for my family. I may have scoured every blog post and online article about “best no-cook meals.” No, I will never make gazpacho, every blog post and online article about “best no-cook meals.” My husband and I discussed the options I bookmarked and landed on a good meal plan for the week. There are a lot of chickpeas, quinoa, and pesto on the list. The dinners are kind of cilantro heavy, though, so if you hate cilantro, consider yourself warned.
Dinners for the Week of June 23-June 29
- Vegetarian Chopped Power Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing: My husband okayed this salad, even though the protein comes from quinoa and chickpeas! Maybe I am wearing him down on the whole “every meal requires a meat” thing?!
- Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto: The original recipe calls for goat cheese, but I am going to swap that out for cotija. I am also going to get us some grilled shrimp from the prepared foods section to add as our protein.
- Ground Beef Tacos in the Crockpot: The taco meat requires cooking, but I’ll make it in the crockpot to keep our kitchen cool. I usually heat up corn taco shells in the oven, so I will have to figure out if I can stand doing that or if I can make them in our air fryer.
- Crunchy Thai Quinoa and Peanut Salad: This would be another good salad to pair with grilled shrimp, chicken, or salmon.
- Pesto Farmer’s Market Salad with Grilled Chicken: My husband and I are weary of the (delicious) salads in our regular rotation, so we’re going to give this one a try. Instead of my go-to balsamic, this salad calls for a pesto vinaigrette which is intriguing. I will “grill” the chicken in our air fryer.
- Chickpea Salad Sandwich: My husband is willing to try this as long as I get Good Bread. I may swap out the chickpea salad portion of this recipe for the curried chickpea salad Birchie popularized in 2024.
I am hoping that many of these dinners produce leftovers because I don’t want to use my oven for lunch, either.
When you think of Good Bread, what do you think of? My husband requested sourdough; I am happy to oblige. What’s your favorite summery salad? What else do you like to eat when you refuse to use the oven?
In this heat, it’s “throw meat on the grill and potato chips” for virtually every meal. I’ll also cook up a bunch of chicken breat on the grill and keep them in the fridge or freezer for some easy protein for a stir fry or sandwich.
I’m trying a rotisserie chicken this heat wave. I’ll wrap it in foil and warm it up outside on the grill. Maybe some hobo potatoes? And rice and vegetables can be done in the microwave. No oven at all!
I turn into a melted popsicle the instant I step outside, and I cannot stand even the idea of being near the grill! You are a braver person than I!
Oooh I love a pasta salad this time of year, thanks for the links!
I’m excited for the pasta salad! I already made the pasta in the “cool” of the morning.
I love cilantro, so you had my heart at that mention. I also plan to make the Curried Chickpea Salad this week!!
Yesssss cilantro is so good! I feel very sorry for people who dislike it.
What’s your favorite summery salad? I make a broccoli bowtie pasta salad the hits the spot.
What else do you like to eat when you refuse to use the oven? I’m all about veggies and dip and cubes of cheese and crackers/flatbread and iced tea. Maybe some berries for dessert. That’s it, too hot to eat more.
Veggies and dip and cheese and crackers is an amazing way to beat the heat! I have a bunch of cut up veggies in my fridge as well as some cheese. Maybe one of these nights we’ll do a snack dinner and have those!
You just gave me a GREAT idea. Last week I made a salad with an asian style dressing. It was so, so delicious, but it was just cabbage, carrot and scallions. I COULD ADD QUINOA! That would make it a meal. My daughter even liked it (the dressing was so, so delicious- she couldn’t tell that it had stevia instead of sugar, MUAHAHAHAHA) and I could make it with quinoa for her to have for lunch.
Good luck with the heat wave!
Yes! Quinoa!!!! I’m really happy for you if quinoa is something you are able to enjoy while doing your current eating program.
I think of good bread as any fancy loaf with a nice round shape and a crust.
I made up a batch of peanut noodles for lunches this week and haven’t thought much about food beyond that. Cold food is good food in this weather!
Would you believe that I only made the curried chick pea salad once? The holdup is that I’m out of chutney and for whatever reason I haven’t remembered to buy more.
I do like good bread, but it’s hard to come by where I live. The bakery has “better than Wonder bread” options, but they’re still not that good. I got so spoiled when I was in SF because the bread was Too Die For.
Bread is not valued in my family! Obviously my options are awful as someone with a gluten intolerance. And Phil is just not a bread person. He eats pb toast every morning but eats it on cheap aldi whole wheat bread and that is good enough for him! So I can’t even tell you what good bread would mean to me!
We are grilling turkey burgers tonight with asparagus and then Will and I skip town on Wed for our short trip to Chicago. The heat has broke here, though. I just went outside and there is a deliciously cool breeze. Phew! It was so gross here this weekend so I am glad the temps are dropping.
I’ve never heard of Good Bread–is it a brand? Sorry about the hot weather; ours will be pleasant this week which means I’ll need to do some yard work!
Ooh, making ground beef tacos in the crockpot—that’s such a great idea. I used to use my crockpot so much more when the kids were little. I hate turning on the oven when it’s this hot. It’s been in the 90s here all weekend!
When I think of good bread, I always think of sourdough. I used to run to Panera to get theirs sliced, but we also have a few grocery stores around here with really great bakeries.
And summer salads… I’ve been seeing this Dublin Pea Salad pop up a lot lately. I might give it a try, though it seems a little heavier (mayo, cheese etc).
Heat wave/warning here too. Matt is in Germany and I am sick, so Eve and I are on easiest-possible meals. We have a couple of leftover hamburgers Matt grilled on the weekend, Eve made us grilled cheeses last night, and tonight we’re doing macaroni and cheese (microwave) with hot dogs. My favourite salad is greens with balsamic dressing, goat cheese and candied walnuts, and some kind of berry. Sourdough is probably my favourite bread too.
I can’t bear to cook anything when it’s hot! It’s sandwich and salad season for me. Good bread to me is a loaf of French bread. I also love cheese & crackers.
We’re in the midst of a heat wave, too, and I wanted to make a cold soup, but North doesn’t like gazpacho or yogurt in soups (Beth had requested cucumber-yogurt soup) and I just didn’t feel up to making multiple meals because it’s a busy week at work so I gave up on that idea. I went with a cold quinoa-vegetable-chickpea salad last night. It did require cooking the quinoa and the veggies, but it was eaten cold.
These all sound amazing and I may steal some of them 😂 we’re also roasting and I’m like “nope, not turning on the oven…” I will use the toaster oven, but that’s it. We even resorted to buying a rotisserie chicken so we didn’t have to cook it 😂🥵
Stay cool!!
This heat is unreal. We’re surviving by using the crockpot. I’m all about my crockpot. I also will use my basement oven if need be. That doesn’t heat up my kitchen. I eat a cobb salad every day for lunch, so I don’t make salads for dinner very often. I did that this week and it was well receiving by the younger girls. My big eater/athletes were like, WHAT? I made sure they found leftovers that would fill them up.
My sister is straight vegetarian, so these titles gave me some great ideas; thank you!!! The rest of the fam will expect animal protein, so I’ve stocked up on black bean burgers and burritos to offer on the side.
I cannot imagine you will enjoy my fave summer salad, but here it goes:
1 pound green beans (I boil them for three minutes and then cool them off immediately)
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Cucumber (measure with your heart or what you have in the fridge) diced
1/4 cup black olives, roughly chopped
Some goat cheese (the recipe calls for four ounces – you do you)
Mix that all up. Yum yum. The dressing is 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (measure with your heart), salt, and pepper to taste. Live your best life!
Good bread: sourdough, rye, Italian loaf, olive loaf, anything artisan. Not the pre-sliced white kind.
Favorite anytime salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, dill, and parsley. Mix everything with sour cream, add salt and pepper. Delicious! Refreshing.
We are starting our kitchen reno on June 30th soooo no oven for a while. We have a hot plate, and a hot pot… Not sure what we will be eating.. salads and wraps? Tacos?
I really need to get my shit together with that…