Meals, not recipes....

[Icantremembermyusername]

Please help! I love cooking but it's summer and I'm (menopausal) too hot!
I need quick and easy meals which allow me not to be near the cooker for too long!
So far,
Chicken Kiev, oven chips and corn on the cob.
Quiche, microwave new potatoes and salad.
Diced marinated chicken cooked in the oven with pitta breads and microwave rice.
Please hit me with some ideas before I melt into a pool of goo :-)

Any kind of one pot meal where you just chuck ingredients in the slow cooker and walk away ?

Jacket potatoes ?

Salmon fillets don't take long at all and can be served with new potatoes, or rice or just a bed of green veg.

Chicken/veg kebab sticks in the oven with rice and salad.
Fish finger sandwiches/chicken sandwiches with salad, rice/chips.
Pizza - homemade on naan bread or shop bought with salad.

Tray bakes - roasting tin recipe books

Diced chicken and peppers mixed with some herbs and olive oil, chuck into a baking dish and bake in the oven. Serve with cous cous or flat breads.

I cook an ‘indoor bbq’ so sausages and chicken wings, with salads and bread and jacket potatoes/new potatoes

pasta salad with chicken/bacon and chopped veggies.

quesadillas are a hit in our house but can take a while standing close to the hob cooking while you’re getting hotter and hotter !!

Fish finger tacos
Couscous salad
Peppers stuffed with flavoured microwave rice and either mozzarella or feta, baked in the oven for about 30mins
Croque monsieur
Look out for quick-cook pasta in the supermarket. Add pesto, mozzarella pearls and chopped cherry tomatoes, or tinned tuna, sweetcorn and tomato sauce

Fish cakes and peas
Burgers
Hot dogs
Bangers and (instant) mash
Falafel, humous and wraps

We're doing a lot of bbq-ing at the moment. Fish on BBQ and salad and rice from the rice cooker. It's cooler standing outside.

One tray meals - put in oven - walk away....

Agree with any kind of tray bake or one pot dish. Served with salads and new potatoes at this time of year.

My favourite no-cook pasta dish is: cook penne in your largest pot with lots of salted water. In a mixing bowl, mix a tub of cream cheese or ricotta, the zest of one lemon, a teaspoon of crushed garlic, some grated parmesan (about 2-3 tablespoons worth?), and a generous glug of olive oil, salt and pepper.

When pasta is just about ready, remove some of the cooking water then add a large bag of baby spinach to the pot and push it all down into the water so it wilts. Drain then put straight back into the pot. Stir the pasta around to spread the spinach if necessary. Then add the cheese mix and stir in - use some of the reserved cooking liquid to loosen if necessary.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, more parmesan and black pepper.

Salads salads and more salads; potato, four bean, tabouleh. Then a quick cut of any meat.

Salads, especially bulky ones like rice, pasta. grain or spud based salads. Serve with grilled chicken, sausages, burgers, halloumi - whatever protein you want.

Scotch eggs, quiche, omelettes, hard boiled eggs, with salady bits, dips and crisps. Picnics , basically.

Pasta with pesto and extra mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, plus olives if you like them

Nice crusty breads with a spread of cold meats, prawns, cheeses, pickles, olives and the usual salady bits

Bacon roll. Sometimes I crave salt in the heat and I'd happily scoff a bacon roll for tea any day.