#sohotoutside

I cannot take this heat!

These recent temperature spikes have made me plan my meals. Between the heat and power outages due to the combination of heat and thunderstorms, I’ve had to be strategic with my meals. I’m still baking the cookies, cakes, and pies (when the overall temperatures are cooler), but not doing any extra baking for meals especially not during the day. 

Got canned meat?

If you are a can stocker, I know you have canned meat. These cans come in handy especially when you want to make quick meals that can be stored in sandwich bags. 

Canned Chicken - I’ve even seasoned and diced the meat for a barbeque chicken pizza first then experimented on a buffalo wing and blue cheese pizza. Why not use this meat in a chicken salad mix? The ingredients can be combined without heat, and we’d normally eat them cold with crackers or on a sandwich anyway, right?

Canned Tuna- Great for Tuna salad sandwiches. You can toast croissants or the bread of your choice, add a few ingredients to your tuna and viola you can eat it chilled or room temp. Not in the mood for a cold tuna meal? Try tuna melts. You could make these in a skillet or by using your air fryer and not increase the temperature of your home by much.  

Don’t forget about the cruciferous greens!

Salads- Cold ingredients are welcome here! Although, you may want to add boiled eggs. Many have the alternative rapid egg cookers which quickly prepare hardboiled eggs, or you could boil these late at night while prepping for the next day or week. The toppings are endless, guacamole, croutons, bacon bits (if you’re into that), tortilla strips, dried fruit, nuts, cheese and of course a dressing which you could create yourself.

    Salads w/pre-grilled meat- I know I said not to heat up the house by using the stove/oven... but this can work. I have an air fryer and it will heat up my kitchen some, BUT in a small area and for a shorter amount of time than what I’d need cooking on the stove or using the oven. I’d be okay with containing the amount of heat and reducing cook time- I would just use the air fryer at night, prepping for meals the rest of the week.

Now I don’t know about you, but between the pizzas and salads I make, I keep feta, blue, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses in addition to other toppings that work for pizza and salads like olives, pepperoncini peppers, onions etc... So, I’m able to load my salads! I CAN have meatless salads, but if it’s the largest meal of my day then I will add marinated meat to the salad. This is quite an easy step since I keep 3-4 freezer bags of different flavored marinated meats in the fridge during the week. I can simply skip the seasoning step and cook the meat or pull out the cooked meat. It saves me time. 

In the mood for seafood-?

Ceviche- Ceviche doesn’t require heat. Acid cooks the delicate meat, and you can devour everything chilled. Select the seafood of your choice and make sure your acidic liquid (likely some citrus) pairs with various seasonings and you can even create tacos with this mixture OR top on tortilla chips. I want to add- it’s likely you already have most of these ingredients. It’s absolutely delicious!

Liquid meals!

Smoothies- What are you in the mood for? Green smoothies, turmeric smoothies, fruit smoothies there are so many possibilities. I like coconut water, spinach, ginger, strawberries with a tbsp of honey. It’s spicy and full of fiber too! Maybe you want a 100% green smoothie with celery, spinach, wheat or lemon grass, and with a hint of honey or coconut milk. Either way, if you have a blender and some healthy ingredients, this is doable.

Cold soups- Take advantage of the fresh produce that’s in season and retain all of the nutrients housed within the vegetables. Have you ever heard of cryo-blanching? Yes, that’s a thing. You can freeze and thaw veggies to break them down. This process is beneficial to no cook soups. Don’t forget to top your soups with some chilled, grilled, meat if you can!

Homemade sandwiches 

Good old- fashioned meat and bread- You can purchase the cold cuts and sliced cheese from the deli section in your local grocer. OR you can cook your own seasoned meat using an air fryer or your oven at night and chill the meat. Slice as needed and build your sandwiches. I like my sandwiches with the works, but I promise not to judge if you’re a meat and, bread type of person.  

Deli style- I like tomatoes, lettuce or kale, onions, cheese, mustard, sandwich sprinkle OR a deli dressing such as oil and vinegar with herbs. I will admit, I’m a bit of a sandwich snob 🤤. 

Make your sandwiches great!