Cooking Dinner Without Heating Up the House

Like many of you, this summer has been one of constantly battling the heat.  Especially when it comes to cooking dinner.  We have an open layout for our main living area, which means that if we heat up the kitchen, we heat up everything.  So I've been limiting how much I turn on the stove for cooking dinner.  But, while we can grill the meat, the sides were posing a problem.

Thankfully, we finally realized that we could use an old pot that we had and the side burner on our grill.  I'm not sure why it took us so long to figure this out, but I'm thankful that we finally did.

Last night's dinner was cooked completely outside.  We had barbecue pork chops, corn on the cob and macaroni and cheese.  The mac and cheese was cooked using the side burner and the corn was wrapped in foil and cooked for 10 minutes on the main part of the grill.  I also had a salad.

What are some ways you cook differently in the summer to beat the heat?

Pantry Side Dish - Mexican Vegetables

One of the issues that I've had lately with meal planning is side dishes.  I'm sick of the same boring ones.  So I began looking for some inspiration and came across a recipe for a Mexican veggie dish.  I can't even remember what all it had in it, but the ingredient that stuck in my mind was seasoned tomatoes.

Cans of tomatoes aren't all that expensive, and while I don't usually have them around, they are something that can easily be added to my pantry.  That just left the veg part, and one thing that I always have in the freezer is a bag of mixed vegetables.  So now I have a quick and easy side dish that's flavorful and a break from the norm.

Mexican Vegetables
8 oz frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 can Mexican seasoned diced tomatoes

Combine both ingredients in a pot, cover and heat until warmed through.

 

This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show, Totally Tasty Tuesday, All My Bloggy Friends, What's Cooking Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Raising Homemakers, Creative at Home Wednesday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Show Off Your Stuff Party, and Fantastic Thursday.

Menu Monday - August 13

We were actually out of town until Saturday, and then had a 40th birthday party to attend.  We're also looking at possibly moving.  One of the areas we're looking at we weren't sure how the evening commute would be, so we decided to just head there after work on Thursday, since we had to be in the area for our midweek service anyways.  Turns out it's not that bad of a drive.  Now we just need to see if that's where the Lord is moving us.

At any rate, here's the recap of last week's menu

Saturday - birthday party

Sunday - Hamburger Rice Skillet

Monday - cheeseburgers, Pringles, and pickles

Tuesday - grilled pork chops seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, Mexican Vegetables (recipe to be posted tomorrow), rice

Wednesday - grilled marinated chicken breasts, macaroni and cheese, carrots

Thursday - Chick-fil-A

Friday - beef and bean burritos


   

This post is also a part of On The Menu Monday at Stone Gable

A Kids Club, A Birthday and Other Weekend Plans

This weekend should prove to be a hectic one.  On Saturday, we have canvassing and then a Neighborhood Kids Bible Club.  I'm looking forward to it.  I always enjoy working with kids and having the opportunity to tell them about Christ.

On Sunday, we will be attending my little cousin's birthday. Though considering she's now a tween, I don't think I can keep calling her my little cousin :)

Other than that, which will take up most of our time, it's just the regular stuff.  I have started a new blanket, and need to work on that this weekend.

My Latest Kitchen Gadget

I've always liked the idea of single serve coffee makers like Keurig, but was not about to spend the money on one.  Even if I could find one on sale, the price of the cups is ridiculous.  So it wasn't something that I wanted to invest in.

Then I decided to start drinking tea most mornings instead of coffee.  But having both a coffee pot and something to heat tea water with was going to cram our already limited counter space.

Thankfully, my husband found this:

 It does both.  It makes one cup of coffee - using your own grounds.  Or you can use it to just heat the water for tea.  I love it!  It is working out so well for me.  Most days I have tea, but Sundays I can easily make coffee.

Ranch Dressing

I love making my own salad dressings, and ranch happens to be one of my favorites.  The only issue is, the way I learned to make it used buttermilk, and that's not something that I tend to have on hand.  We don't use it that much, and it doesn't have the best shelf life.

A few weeks ago, I was watching a cooking show, and they used sour cream to make their ranch dressing.  It's cheaper and it has a longer shelf life, so I decided to give it a try.  And I'm glad that I did.

For once I also measured what I put in, so that it's easier to share.  I hope that you give it a try.  It's quick, easy, and delicious.

Sour Cream Ranch Dressing
1/4 mayonnaise
1/4 sour cream
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon sorghum molasses or honey
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and toss with your favorite salad fixings.

This post is part of Tuesday Talent Show, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, All My Bloggy Friends, Traditional Tuesdays, Healthy 2day Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Real Food Wednesday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Show Off Your Stuff, Fantastic Thursday, Saturday Show and Tell and Summer Salad Sundays.

Menu Monday - July 30

I decided to do something new with my menu plan posting.  I'm posting what we had the past week, not what we're eating this week.  That way I can include sides and for things like pork chops, how we actually cooked it.  Well, at least that's the plan.  For the life of me I can't remember what we had last Monday :)  I think that I'll need to do this as a draft post throughout the week.

Last week we had things going on Tuesday and Thursday.  Actually Thursday we didn't get home until 9:30.

Saturday - cheeseburgers and potato salad

Sunday - marinated chicken and confetti rice

Monday - steak

Tuesday - pizza

Wednesday - tacos

Thursday - Chick-fil-A

Friday - Southwestern casserole

   

This post is also a part of On The Menu Monday at Stone Gable