It’s August, and just too hot to cook. So what to do, get takeout or make reservations? You could, but that quickly gets expensive. How about some tasty meals that won’t drive up your utility bill when your AC fights with your stove? I’ve got you covered with some dinner ideas that help you avoid that showdown.

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Hi, Again, Dear Readers:

It’s August. Do you really want to turn on your stove and oven when it’s 95F outside? Me either. But James will in a heartbeat, adding several hundred more degrees of misery to the kitchen. Sure, we have central AC, but there is a point where AC is overwhelmed. So for that, I look to alternatives to the stove and oven.

Now, salads and sandwiches are great, but they aren’t the only alternatives. Me, I like salads, and wouldn’t care, but you might get bored with them after a while. With a little help from my BFF (ChatGPT) and my secret boyfriend (GROK AI), I offer some suggestions for eating well without turning your kitchen and home into a furnace.

Warning: this is a link heavy post!

Followup To The Last Post

In the discussion of Oliver Henry, the UK guy who ended up doing a weeks-long US road trip, I forgot to post the link to his extensive YouTube channel. His Instagram videos are listed under Shorts, and he has longer videos under the Live section. He’s back in the UK, and bought himself a vehicle for UK road trips like the did in the US. He plans to show Americans all about his homeland while he misses ours.

Summer Garden Pesto

Yes, I’m still making pesto, and have made three batches so far this year. I use the same recipe as I have for many years (I know, I need to fix that link) and it turns out perfect every time. However, after the previous batch of basil pesto with walnuts a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the basil was growing back nicely. The parsley and mint were getting big, too. I’m always glad to make more before summer ends.

Several years ago, Giada de Laurentiis published a blog article titled, “How To Make Pesto Out Of Anything.” Okay, not LITERALLY anything, but similar ingredients that will get you to the place of pesto. Knowing this, I decided it was time to cut basil and mint and parsley to make more magic in the kitchen. I’ve done this before, too, to use up whatever’s growing in the garden.

Make It

Instead of two packed cups of basil leaves, I used two packed cups of an assortment of basil, parsley, and mint, with the rest of the recipe the same:

• 1 garlic clove
• Half teaspoon salt
• Quarter teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
• 2/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

After picking the leaves from the stems, wash and drain your herbs well, then add them into the blender. Toss in the garlic clove, toasted nuts, salt and pepper. Put the lid on, start the motor, and carefully remove the center insert if yours has one. Slowly pour in the olive oil. You may need to stop the blender and move around the herbs to get it all going. Put the entire top back on, and turn on the blender until it “catches” and begins pureeing. Once everything is incorporated, let it all blend for a minute or so.

Turn the blender off, and pour the pesto into a dish and mix in the Parm cheese. Carefully scrape out the rest from the blender jar into the bowl, and mix it well. Then refrigerate, if you’re going to use it in the next day or so, or freeze until you’re ready to use.

He Still Doesn’t Like Pesto

This mixture SMELLS amazing. Well, I think it smells amazing and delicious.

James, on the other hand, disagrees. He does not see this as making magic in the kitchen. He sees it as a big, green, oily mess to clean up. (Like he’s the one cleaning it!)

Walking into the living room with the blender jar, I offered him the opportunity to experience this delicious aroma. Instead, he recoiled as if I had offered him mustard gas.

This is what he considers “lunch.”

With bread. Look–it’s America’s Favorite!

UGH. It’s all his. I told him that he’d given me express permission to call him “Goober.”

Anyway. . .I need to use pesto more often, too. Something like this. Or on corn on the cob. I’m trying to remember to use it rather than “save” it for something.

We opened up the big freezer and did a little reorg last week, including all the little square glass containers of pesto. I have plenty of this wonderful sauce frozen, and need to take more opportunities to use it in my cooking, especially when James isn’t around.

When the summer garden is but a memory, the pesto will live on to remind us. Right now I have pesto dating back to 2020. I made a lot of pesto in 2020, too.

It’s Just Too Hot To Cook

Summer is great until it’s time to make dinner.

It’s 90-something degrees outside, the air conditioner is working overtime, and the last thing you want to do is turn on a 400°F oven and make your kitchen even hotter. Standing over a stovetop burner isn’t exactly appealing, either.

Fortunately, summer meals don’t have to mean living on salads, sandwiches, and cereal until September.

There are plenty of ways to make a real dinner without heating up the entire kitchen. Small appliances such as air fryers, slow cookers, Instant Pots, and countertop ovens can handle much of the work, while no-cook meals and a little advance planning can make hot-weather cooking considerably easier.

Here are some ways to keep dinner on the table without turning your kitchen into a sauna.

Let the Slow Cooker Do the Cooking

The slow cooker might seem like a winter appliance, but it’s actually one of my favorite ways to cook during the summer. I wrote about this in 2015 in a blog called Summer Simmer: The Crock Pot. (I just did some updates to that post to make it easier to read, and improve its SEO.)

The biggest advantage is that you can put dinner together earlier in the day, when the house is cooler, and let the slow cooker handle the rest. You don’t have to stand over a hot stove at dinnertime, and you don’t have to turn on the oven.

Slow cookers are especially useful for making things like:

• Pulled pork
• Shredded chicken
• Chicken taco filling
• Meatballs
• Beef
• Chicken thighs
• Stuffed peppers
• Large batches of protein for meal prep

And there’s another advantage: one cooking session can provide several meals. I used to do this when I lived in Houston and worked 40+ hours a week. But at the time, nobody called it “meal prep.”

Make a batch of pulled chicken, for example, and serve it hot one night. The leftovers can become chicken salad, lettuce wraps, tacos, or a cold salad topping the next day.

For a delicious hot dinner, check out this James-approved Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Chipotle Chili. And then there’s dessert, a Chocolate Fudge Custard that you can make the night before and cool it overnight. I’ve got more recipes here, even though the post is all about Christmas. And slow cooker guru Stephanie O’Dea’s recipes are all indexed here so you can do a search for whatever you like or to get new ideas.

The Instant Pot: Not Just for Winter

If you think of your Instant Pot primarily as a tool for making soup and stew, summer is a good time to expand its résumé.

An electric pressure cooker can cook meat and other foods quickly while keeping most of the heat contained inside the appliance rather than filling your kitchen with heat from a burner or oven.

It’s particularly handy for:

• Shredded chicken
• Pulled pork
• Beef
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Large batches of meat for meal prep

One of my favorite summer strategies is to cook a large batch of chicken or pork once and then use it in several different meals. That means you get the convenience of cooking without having to cook from scratch every evening.

And another thing: that saute function can also be used for many things that are generally done on the stovetop, like browning meats. It’s 110 vs. 220, and how much heat it will dissipate if you use the Instant Pot like a pot on a stove.

Pot Roast in August? Well, why not? With the Instant Pot, it’s totally doable, and in a lot less time. So is a little cheesecake if you start it early in the day, or the night before.

You can find lots of pressure cooker recipes from Corrie Cooks and Jen Fisch’s website Keto In the City. Pressure Cooking Today even has a section just for popular summer meals including sides.

Turn on the Air Fryer, Not the Oven

The air fryer has become one of the most useful small appliances for hot-weather cooking. James became an Escoffier of the Air Fryer when his manager brought one into work a few years ago. He’s been known to get a steak or other cut of meat from the grocery store next door and cook it up in the air fryer at work rather than just microwave a frozen meal. People get curious when the place begins to smell like a steakhouse.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, air frying is essentially a small and upright convection oven.

However, you aren’t heating a full-size oven every time you want to cook a couple of chicken thighs or a small batch of vegetables.

Air fryers are particularly good for smaller portions of:

• Chicken
• Burgers
• Salmon
• Shrimp
• Sausage
• Bacon
• Vegetables
• Potatoes

They’re also great for reheating leftovers. A few minutes in the air fryer can make leftover chicken, vegetables, or other foods taste much better than they do after a trip through the microwave.

And because the cooking chamber is small, you don’t have to wait for a huge oven to preheat.

Conversely, larger air fryers can make larger portions, or even an entire family-sized meal, depending on its size.

This is my previous blog post where I discussed a few recipes for chicken wings, other recipes, a big cookie, and other desserts. Pinterest, and even a Google search are also great for finding new air fryer recipes.

Give the Countertop Oven a Summer Job

Sometimes you really do need an oven. But it doesn’t have to be your big one.

Maybe you’re making roasted vegetables, baking chicken, or preparing something that simply doesn’t work in an air fryer. That’s where a countertop convection or toaster oven can come in handy. Some even have “air fryer” settings, like this Hamilton Beach model that we now have. (My Cuisinart bit the dust a couple of years ago.)

You’re still producing heat, but you’re heating a much smaller cooking chamber rather than a full-size oven.

Longtime readers know I’m a huge fan of this sometimes overlooked appliance. A countertop oven is especially useful when you’re cooking for one or two people. There’s no reason to heat a large oven to cook two chicken breasts or a small casserole. It also helps when you’re baking something smaller like a single cake or  brownies. Remember: 110 vs. 220 volts.

It’s also handy for small batches of baked foods, roasted vegetables, fish, and other dishes that would normally require the big oven.

Don’t Underestimate the Microwave

The microwave has a bit of a reputation as the appliance responsible for reheating yesterday’s leftovers.

That’s a shame because it’s actually a useful summer cooking tool.

You can use a microwave to steam vegetables, cook bacon, prepare eggs, reheat cooked meat, melt butter, make sauces, and handle plenty of other small cooking jobs.

If you like eggs like we do, Amazon carries a myriad of microwave egg cooking utensils. Years ago I bought this Casabella microwave egg cooker that cooks one or two square just for egg sandwiches. Casabella doesn’t make them anymore (they only have cleaning supplies now) but I still have mine and use it every now and again.

A microwave is particularly useful when you’re cooking for one or two people and don’t need to fire up an entire appliance for a small amount of food. Even baked potatoes don’t take long.

And let’s be honest: on a brutally hot summer afternoon, there is nothing wrong with letting the microwave do some of the work.

What About an Electric Skillet?

An electric skillet won’t make your kitchen magically cool. You’re still cooking with heat.

But it does move the cooking surface away from your stovetop, which can be useful if your range generates a lot of heat.

Electric skillets are good for cooking foods that normally require a skillet or frying pan, including burgers, chicken, vegetables, eggs, and other quick meals.

They’re especially handy if you can set them up somewhere with good ventilation or in another suitable area rather than standing directly over the stove.

I don’t have one of these, but I used to. We had one growing up, and I bought one when I lived in Metairie. Dash has a few versions of this appliance for both small and large capacity cooking. Their mini-maker grill and mini-maker griddle are great for cooking small, while the others can handle more for a crowd.

Bonus: you can plug one of these into a generator during a power outage.

And Yes, You Can Cook Outside

Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of your grill when the weather’s good.  Texans grill nearly all year long, so we’re used to it.

Grilling moves the heat completely outside. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish anyway.

Chicken, burgers, steak, shrimp, sausages, and vegetables are obvious choices, but don’t overlook foil packets and other simple grill meals.

And just like with the slow cooker and Instant Pot, think beyond dinner tonight. We’ve done this many times.

Grill extra chicken tonight and use it cold in tomorrow’s salad. Grill extra vegetables and add them to eggs, wraps, or bowls. Make extra burgers and reheat them later instead of cooking from scratch.

The less often you have to cook, the less often you have to heat up the kitchen.

No-Cook Meals Are Your Friend

Of course, the most effective way to avoid heating the kitchen is not to cook at all.

Summer is the perfect time for meals that can be assembled straight from the refrigerator.

Think:

• Chicken salad
• Tuna salad
• Egg salad
• Shrimp salad
• Lettuce wraps
• Deli meat and cheese roll-ups
• Cold chicken salads
• Big dinner salads
• Cheese, vegetables, and other snack-style meals

And don’t confuse a dinner salad with a bowl of lettuce.

A substantial salad needs protein and fat if it’s going to keep you satisfied. Add chicken, tuna, shrimp, eggs, cheese, avocado, olives, nuts, seeds, or whatever combination works for you.

A good dressing helps, too. I recommend ranch.

Alternately, you could make my favorite White Bean And Olive Salad, which takes about ten minutes. Just make sure nobody dislikes olives, onions, Dijon mustard, or white beans. It’s a great side dish, or one of those “I don’t feel making like anything else” salads.

Want something a little more interesting? This Mango Lentil Salad from Gimme Some Oven is really tasty. I added some grilled shrimp to it because I could, and because James was working that night. Time to revisit that one for sure.

Cook Once, Eat Twice—or Three Times

One of the best summer cooking strategies isn’t an appliance at all.

It’s not cooking every day. I did this for many years when I worked in Corporate America. Cooked several dishes on Sunday and packed them up for the week. Sometimes I also made food using the slow cooker during the week. Add the food to the crock in the morning, and I came home and dinner was ready. That meant I could spend more time with my cats and my sewing.

If you’re going to turn on the slow cooker, Instant Pot, air fryer, grill, or countertop oven, consider making enough food for more than one meal. For example:

Air fryer chicken → dinner tonight → cold chicken salad tomorrow.

Slow cooker pulled pork → dinner tonight → tacos or lettuce wraps tomorrow → salad topping the next day.

Instant Pot shredded chicken → dinner → meal-prep bowls → omelets or wraps.

This saves time, saves energy, and means you don’t have to stand in a hot kitchen every evening.

Cooking ahead can also save money, because you’re more likely to use the food you’ve already bought instead of deciding that cooking is too much trouble and ordering takeout. It’s right there, ready for you anytime.

Summer Cooking Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

You don’t need to completely stop cooking during the summer. You just need to change how you do it.

Use the slow cooker when you want dinner waiting for you. Use the Instant Pot when you need something cooked quickly. Pull out the air fryer when you want crispy food without heating a full-size oven. Use a countertop oven for smaller baking jobs, and let the microwave handle the little things.

And when it’s simply too hot to cook?

Don’t.

Make a cold meal, eat leftovers, or put together a big salad and call it dinner. Check out my previous post on Lazy Keto Meals You Can Make in Under 10 Minutes Without A Recipe.

After I published that blog, I made some of those Deli Meat & Cheese Roll Ups and then went for the Rotisserie Chicken + Bagged Salad option. Later this week there might be some cottage cheese in my Aldi run, or another Microwave Keto Bowl on my menu. Maybe next time I should add some pesto to the bowl.

You’re not cooking, you’re just assembling.

I’ve made so many egg scrambles over the years I’ve lost count. I’ve made them in the microwave, sometimes in a mug, on top the stove (when it’s not so hot) and in a couple of Dash appliances, too. Don’t under-estimate the rice cooker for more than just rice.

There will be plenty of time for turning on the oven when the weather cools down.

Much as I love cooking, I’m also enjoying *not* cooking, too. For now, keep the kitchen cool, keep dinner easy, and save yourself from standing over a hot stove in the middle of August.

Caveat–Don’t Buy New Stuff!

This is not to say that you should run out and buy a bunch of new countertop appliances. That’s not the point–use what you have. No air fryer? That’s OK. You may already have at least one or two other appliances that can help. Most people have microwaves in their kitchens. Many people have air fryers now, as well as Instant Pots and other appliances, but I’m not suggesting you need to buy one, either.

If you don’t have or want something, take stock of what you have available first. For instance, if have a slow cooker you haven’t used in a long time, dust it off, rinse it out, and start using it regularly. There’s no reason why it should sit there collecting dust when it can make your dinner for you and your family. Your countertop oven can make more than just toast–some are big enough to roast a whole chicken.  Countertop grills and even waffle makers can do much the same thing. Just look at what you have and go from there.

And if something doesn’t work anymore and can’t be fixed, maybe it’s time to send it on its way to the junkyard.

Fall Will Be Here Soon. . .Eventually

In the northern states, they’ll feel those crisp fall mornings in the next month or so, and happily sip piping hot Pumpkin Spice Lattes. But here in the south, we’ll get them later, so we stick with our iced PSLs a little longer.

Until next April or May, we’ll have what Texans call “typical Texas weather.” That is, freezing today, warming up tomorrow, and turning the AC back on by the end of the week. It happens frequently during fall and winter months. So we’re enjoying the summer as long as it lasts.

I’m thinking about the next blog post, and will have a confab with my BFF and maybe James in the next few days for ideas.

Until next time,

Happy Dining!