Dinner on Hot Days

TACOS! They are my fav to make PERIOD.
Sub sammy night is fun - get a combo pack of meat and cheese, sub bread, and toppings let everyone make their own. Get some pasta and or potato salad from the deli and a fresh veggie as sides.
White fish is a popular choice with rice and fruit as the side. My son likes to top his white fish with applesauce (he's 6).
White Chili (aka chicken chili) I have a brand that I use Carroll Shelby's the white chili is harder to find though it's very tasty and I use cannalini beans.
Cold pasta salad is a hit in my house with cold chicken and a smoothie for dessert.
BBQ's are very popular here once it gets cool and we also have home made Pizza.

On really hot days we eat a lot of sandwiches, good ones, on good rolls with lots of different fixings. Cold salads, pasta salads, smoothies, stuff like that.

I live in Texas, I am just tying to picture what hot in NJ looks like in early April?! I am thinking 80s? Try 104-110.

POPEYES Chicken!!!

Mexican food - tacos, burritos, tostadas! All you need to do is fry up some beef or chicken chunks and VOILA!! DINNER!!

Bon apetit!!

My mom used to make a macaroni tuna salad. Basically however you like your macaroni salad plus tuna. If she was feeling extra lazy, she would just make kraft mac and cheese and mix in tuna, then serve chilled!

You can do chicken /ham/or turkey salad. Pasta salad. Steak sald sounds good. Make your own sub?

I wish it was warm.. 40;s and rain here. :(

pasta with artichokes, with asparagus...
which i was going to make today yet kids asked for meatloaf. bla

If it's really too hot to cook, take out works very well.
Sandwiches and salad are good, too.
Gazpacho soup is great.

That's usually a sandwich night in our house.

Tuna or egg salad on T-ball nights (like tonight) when it's hot and we'll get home pretty late.

Grilled sandwiches when we have the time... my favorite to make is one I found years ago in Real Simple: use a ciabatta roll, spread premade pesto on both halves, layer thinly sliced red onion, swiss cheese and sliced deli turkey and grill it (or sandwich press) it until the cheese melts! Add some sliced watermelon and you're done.

We do a lot of salad in the summer as well- grilled chicken, shrimp, homemade chicken tenders, steak, grilled fish.

We're doing tuna and egg salad tonight b/c we will get home in time to change and head out the door for T-ball. It will be late when we get home and the kids will be hungry and tired.

Salads, sandwiches, grilled everything, and meals in the crockpot. My guy loves tomato soup so I make a pot and heat some up when he wants it, he likes warm stuff in summer and cold stuff in winter, lol.

grill, grill, grill. Grilled pork chops, pork loin roast, bugers, steak, chicken, sausage, vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower, onions, carrots, etc.). Or a salad of tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, corn, etc. mixed with your favorite salad dressing diluted with water and some balsamic vinagrette. Hmmm.. I know what I'm making for dinner!

To the Texas mom - yes it's not as hot here as it is in TX - but it was 40 degrees two days ago and i was wearing gloves! Our summer clothing is still stored away and our wintercoats, sweaters, snow scrapers and shovel and ice-melt are still not stored! My shorts, capris, t-shirts and sandals are still in the cedar chest!!! So it seems much hotter than 80 cuz we're wearing corduroy pants and wool sweaters!!!

Salads! Pasta salad, green salad, etc. and top them with grilled meat. Sandwiches are good too. I use the crock pot to make pulled pork for bbq sandwiches. I use the leftovers to make into enchilladas.

Something quick is also good - we do fish (salmon, tilapia) or we might do kabobs or we might do soup and sandwiches. Pasta salad can be served cold.

Today it is supposed to be 89 here. Miserable. It's APRIL and this area is HUMID. I fully admit we are inside with the AC on low. It's not supposed to be this hot yet.

Love Beenthere's response! Hell is cooler than Texas. Yesterday was not hot, it was beautiful! But to answer your question, get creative with salads, grill everything. We eat much lighter in the summertime. There is also tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad (grill extra).

We pretty much eat the same food in the summer as we do in winter, although we do grill more often in the summer. We do grill when it is 40 below outside, and I often cook a turkey in July. Anyway, we still have three feet of snow and the temperature is still well below freezing.

We make lots salads - green leaf, chicken salad, tuna salad, pastas.

Try grilled vegetables like kabobs.

My favorite salad to make which everyone loves is baby spinach, sprinkle feta cheese, chunks of mango and top with blueberries. Serve with a fruity vinegrette.

And down here, its not so much the food on a hot day as it is the quality of your ice tea (make mine strong and sweet with just a bit of lemon!) :)

Rotisserie chicken broken up and served over a gigantic cobb salad-hard boiled eggs, cheese, bacon, all the veggies, the works!

One of my summer favorites. Brown some butter. Add a veggie you can sautee in there (I use asparagus, but you can use whatever you like). Add a box of your favorite pasta (cooked). Put in some lemon juice to your taste (this makes it so fresh and light). Fold in 4 cups (one package) of arugula until it's settled in. I also add toasted sliced almonds and parmesan cheese. It's so versitile - you can really add in anything you like. And it's not served too hot because the pasta cools as you are mixing it. Very light and summery.

I also like sub sandwiches and chips/fruit in the summer.

Waldorf salad-add tuna or cooked chicken.

Also, to supplement NYMetroMom:

you can grill romaine lettuce with a little caeser dressing drizzled on before grilling and grill pineapple for dessert

How about something like egg salad sandwiches or a cobb or chef's or taco salads or even macaroni salad with tuna added is something we love when the weather is warmer.

HTH :)

when you are grilling throw on extra chicken and steak. cut up into bite size bites and freeze in family size bags. Though out and heat in microwave and put on salads! YUM! also tacos, fahitas and pasta salad with pepperoni or other lunch meat in it are favorites for us in the summer. make your own subs and on really hot nights we have been known to have huge bowls of cold fruit. I know there is not much "substance" to just fruit but when it it too hot that is all I can get the kids to eat. It does keep them from getting dehydrated though!!!

Taco salad with crunched up Doritos! Yum
Grilled beef or chicken skewers and some orzo salad
Cold sandwiches
Fish tacos

I usually like to do picnic days when it is really hot. We have a large wrap around porch so it makes for a great picnic spot or off to the park! Usually cold sandwiches, chips, fresh veggies, and some cold water... I cant wait until we get out of this spring rain/ coldness so that me and ds can go enjoy life outside without bundling.

Also if its really hot I try to grill a lot. ( ok try to get trav to) Then we sit outside and eat. Lunches are usually always left over's so I dont worry about them much!