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Any one else avoiding the oven in this heat?
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Dh asked me to avoid using the oven in the heat. He is a commercial electrician and commutes in the car with no a/c…and we are in Geogria. He dreads coming home to face the oven at dinnertime.
So far, I’ve cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot. It was a total experiment. I pulled it out of the freezer and put it in the crockpot with bay leaves and some other seasonings, and it was delicious. I did a casserole in the crock last night and it too was a hit. Any other suggestions? This is new for me. I usually mill, cook from scratch and give my oven overtime, so I am at a bit of a loss as to what to try next. Any ideas?
Oh and I have a rice steamer which I’ve also used for rice and steaming vegetables.
Thanks!
Tacos (fry meat on stove top in just a few minutes, everything else is cold (tomato, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, tortillas).
Order pizza (ahem…just sayin….)
Lunchmeat sandwiches, salad.
Fruit salad.
Find a friend who has whole-house a/c, ask her to use her oven for an afternoon, and cook a couple of things that can be reheated in the microwave. Or ask a neighbor who has a/c if you can “borrow” the use of her oven once or twice during the week.
My husband is the same way, we have AC but it just can’t keep up well when I use the oven on these hot afternoons. I do any oven cooking I need to first thing in the morning and other then that use the crock pot or stovetop.
suemom, That would be a great idea, but we do have a/c in the house. As Ladyofthehouse stated, it just can’t keep up with the oven when it is so hot outside. The problem is exasperated because my husband drives home in a car with no a/c, and with Atlanta traffic he’s already in a “great” mood when he gets home.
That is a good idea about baking anything that needs to be baked in the morning!..and tacos, yum!
We have done the sandwich thing alot lately too, which is weird for me because dh is the one who has to have a hot dinner..or at least he’s always been that way in the past. I am actually enjoying this little cooking break although I do like to cook…we’ve started school already and it’s one less thing I have to think about until we work our routine out smoothly.
Anyone have a simple crockpot recipe to share?
We are doing tacos, sandwiches and using the crockpot a lot – can’t bear to add any more heat to the house – the a/c cannot keep up with here in our area of teh mid west either, still fall and winter will be here before we know it, then lots of yummy smells will be coming from the oven again….I can’t wait!
We do totally avoid the oven on hot days here, and if we can’t, then we do it very early in the a.m. Works much better. It’s such a good time to take advantage of all the produce available now anyway, so salads, food lightly cooked in a wok, grill, etc. are much better options right now anyway. I don’t WANT heavy baked meals in this weather. Of course, all I REALLY want is ice cream, lol, but I try to drown that voice out by eating enough tomatoes. LOL
We avoid it too, same problem, the a/c just can’t keep up even without adding the oven to the mix. Have you checked out this website for crockpot ideas? I have heard good things about it but can’t vouch for it personally…
You can cook tons of things in the crockpot. I have horrible morning sickness so most of my pregnancies I cook things in the crockpot except I plug the crockpot up outside so I don’t have to smell it cooking. I have done baked potatoes, pot roast, chickens can also cook one and shred it for chicken salad, BBQ sandwiches, soups, but no one wants that right now. Sausages, meatballs, spaghetti sauce. Could also cook something earlier and then just keep it warm in the crockpot.
Another option is an outside grill if you have one. Lots of meats can be marinated, cooked and then cut up to be placed on top of salads. For more ideas you could google crockpot cooking. I personally like to look at all recipes.com because the recipes are rated.
Don’t forget to make use of the grill! Our favorite for super hot days – of course it’s no fun standing out in the heat in front of the flames for 15 minutes, but it keeps the heat outside – the food hot and is always delish!
I never use my oven in the summer – I actually have a good toaster oven plugged in outdoors in a sheltered location and use that to bake in the summers. I just use pans that will fit in there – I make a lot of casseroles in loaf pans and freeze them, for instance, and I can fit in an 8″ cake pan and square pan. Bottoms of springform pans make good little pizza pans.
I dream of having a whole outdoor kitchen someday – maybe then I could do some canning…
Now that would be nice, an outdoor kitchen – I think that will remain just a dream though for me…:((( Some great ideas here ladies. Linda
Is it time to build a solar oven as an educational project?
http://solarcooking.org/plans/Dublin_Ohio_class_project.pdf
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/%22Minimum%22_Solar_Box_Cooker
By the way, we just got our air conditioner recharged and it made a huge difference in how well it can keep up.
I second the toaster oven! We have one that uses convection/bake. It does not heat up the kitchen at all. It is my go to for heating lots of things w/out turning on the whole oven!
HMM, have to check in the recharging the AC. My mil just got a new unit and it has made a huge difference in not only how cool it is but the electric bill decreased a lot! The only thing is that a new AC costs an arm and a leg and throw in the other arm and leg too!!
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