What’s Cookin’ Wednesday-I Don’t Want to Cook!

No one feels like cooking when it’s 90 degrees outside, but eating out is not in the budget.  Here are some options.

GRILLING

The easy answer is throw some meat or fish on the grill.  The heat remains outside and you can’t beat the flavor. You can also grill your veggies while the meat cooks by either placing them directly on the grill or wrapping them in a foil packet first.  Easy and delicious!

COOKING AHEAD

My favorite plan is to cook ahead (read more here and here).   I have a store of pre-cooked meat in the freezer that I can reheat quickly on the stove or in the microwave.  This plan keeps the kitchen cool and makes dinner prep a snap.

A few of our favorites are:

Taco Salad-romaine lettuce and tomatoes topped with “taco” meat (ground beef from the freezer heated with my own taco seasoning-recipe here.)

BBQ Chicken Nachos-nacho chips topped with shredded chicken mixed with BBQ sauce (we like Williamson Brothers) and shredded cheese.  We prefer to broil these for a few minutes, but if it is too hot we microwave them to heat the chicken and melt the cheese.

Chicken Salad– combine chicken, celery, onion, mayo and serve on toasted bread with melted cheese on top.

Breakfast for dinner- Scrambled eggs along with frozen waffles or pancakes (reheated in the toaster oven) topped with fruit make for a light and quick dinner.

EAT RAW

Another great way to beat the heat is to eat lots of raw veggies and fruit.  There are a million ways to do salad and fresh fruit is a very budget friendly way to end the meal.

With a little bit of creative thinking, you can avoid the heat and breaking the budget.