Summer cooking...

[AuntJamelle]

I have hit a big ole pause button on my desire to heat up the kitchen! The heat of summer is upon us and as a result when dinner time rolls around we've been eating fast food or ordering pizza way too much!

I have all the stuff for salad in the house but it never sounds "good".

What have you guys been making lately? What are your go to meals for hot weather?

 

[Minta]

My Crock pot and the Grill are my go tos when it to hot to fire up the oven.

Crockpot: cook a whole chicken or a pork roast and shred for salads, sandwiches, tacos, etc.

I like to make a big batches of macaroni salad and a cold corn salad to have as side dishes.

BLTs with slices of watermelon is another good one.

During the evening or early morning cook up some ground beef for tacos or taco salad.

 

[teachermomof2]

I use the grill and crockpot a lot too. I had planned ribs in the slow cooker for tonight, but didn't get home as early as I thought to get them in there, so they'll go in the oven on low.

I use the slow cooker for meatballs, sloppy joes, beef sandwiches (put in a beef roast sprinkled with a packet of good seasons Italian dressing and a jar of pepperocinis in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high, shred the roast and return to the juices on low for another 30 minutes and serve on crusty rolls), whole chickens, pork roasts which we shred with bbq.

We grill burgers, steaks, chicken breasts, hot dogs, kielbassi, pork chops and such. I also serve pasta salads, potato salads, fresh fruit, and fresh raw or grilled veggies for sides.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I'm a griller too. Anything that I can put outside is good. I use to cook pizza on the grill but the grill we have now isn't large enough. I do a lot of pasta salads in the summer.

 

[luludou]

we are using the grill too, Tonight we had smoked meat sandwiches so that was no cooking.

 

[angelpugs]

I'm a griller so i cook outdoors and i have salads,chips,usual summer eats.

 

[AuntJamelle]

I need to get more comfortable with using our grill! I haven't used it since we moved back home but I've done it in the past!

I like the idea of grilling pizzas! I've seen that before and I bet it turns out great!

We have a NuWave oven and I do haul that out sometimes to avoid heating up the kitchen. Part of my struggle with using the crockpot is that most of recipes for it are heavier type foods that are more suited to cooler weather.

 

[ejagno]

Please tell me more about your NuWave Aunt Jamelle. My daughter in law bought me one to use in the camper. Now I see that special pots are needed and then came across a stainless screen that can be used so that it takes any cookware. I haven't cooked on it yet.

For summer I do prepare a lot of pasta salads that are refrigerated so that it's cool and filling during our tropical summers down here.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Hmmm...our NuWave oven came with two racks and an 8" pan that kind of looks like a round cake pan. One rack is 1" high and the other is 4" I believe.

I cook chicken breasts, burgers, turkey breast, brats, etc. on the racks. I like to line the removeable drip pan at the bottom with foil for easy cleanup.

I also cook chimichungas in it, brushing the soft tortilla shells I've wrapped the filling in with oil produced a "fried" taste. I've also made french fries in it the same way and they were very good - I watched a YouTube video on that.

There are actually a ton of You Tube videos on using the NuWave which are helpful!

When you buy one they push to buy all sorts of extra pans and gadgets to go with it but we've gotten by just fine without them. I do use the 8" round cake pan like dish but I'm sure any oven safe pan that fits would be fine.

The only thing extra we purchased - and not from NuWave - is a round silcone mat the size of the rack. When you cook frozen pizzas in the oven you need to cook them upside down for 15 minutes and then flip for the last few.

I place the silcone mat on the top of the frozen pizza, put the rack upside down on that and then flip the whole thing over to put in the NuWave. Then after the 15 minutes I take it out, put the other rack upside down on the crust, flip everything over again and remove the previously used rack and carefully peel off the silicone mat.

Then the pizza can go back in the oven for a few minutes to finish browning the cheese/toppings. Works great!

Ours did come with an extender ring that makes the oven taller so you can cook a turkey - I've done that a couple of times (watching the YouTube videos for tips) and it worked perfectly!

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I think I have a Nuwave but have never opened the box. I should go get it and take a look. lol

 

[AuntJamelle]

lol, Ahorsesoul! We really do like ours! We bought it while we were in an apartment during our whole house fire situation - the smoke detectors would go off in the kitchen at the drop of a hat so we started using the NuWave instead to avoid it. Worked great!

After 3 years the plastic casing cracked and we went ahead and ordered a replacement ($25 I think?) as we didn't want to give up having it to use

I used it last night to "grill" some brats actually!

I like the idea of cold salads during the summer - there are several options! I'm trying to expand my list of those, but tailored to an amount that isn't too much for just DH and I!