Last Tuesday it was 91 degrees in our kitchen at 5:30 p.m. The twins were melting into the floor in just their diapers, Dan was still on a service call in Hayward, and I stood in front of the stove holding a box of pasta and thought: absolutely not.
Our duplex has one window in the kitchen and it faces west. Turning on the oven in late June is basically a declaration of war against everyone in the house. So every summer I switch to a rotation of dinners that need nothing hotter than a kettle, and sometimes not even that.
These are the five that stuck this year. They're not fancy. They are fast, they use mostly things I already buy, and Theo and June (26 months and opinionated) will eat at least some part of every one.
The rules I cook by in a heat wave
I keep it simple so I don't have to think at 5 p.m.:
- One protein that's already cooked: rotisserie chicken, canned beans, canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs from my Sunday prep, or leftover grilled stuff.
- One crunchy thing: cucumbers, snap peas, bell peppers, shredded cabbage.
- One carb that can sit cold: tortillas, pita, cooked rice, pre-cooked noodles.
- One sauce that makes it taste like I tried.
If I have those four, dinner happens.
1. Chicken and white bean salad wraps
I pull a rotisserie chicken apart on Sunday and keep it in a container. For this one I mash half a can of white beans with lemon, olive oil, garlic powder and salt, then fold in chopped chicken, celery and a handful of parsley. It goes into big tortillas for Dan and me. The twins get a "deconstructed" plate: chicken pieces, a spoonful of beans, and tortilla strips. June eats the beans with her fingers like candy. Theo eats the tortilla and nothing else, and I have made peace with that.
2. Cold peanut noodles
This is the one exception where I boil water, but I do it in the morning before it gets hot and stash the noodles in the fridge. The sauce is peanut butter, soy sauce, a little honey, rice vinegar and hot water to thin it out. Toss with the cold noodles, shredded carrots, cucumber and whatever cooked protein is around. For the kids I skip the chili flakes and cut the noodles with kitchen scissors so they're not wrestling a two-foot strand.
3. The "snack board" dinner
Some nights I don't pretend. I put a big cutting board on the table with cheese cubes, crackers, turkey slices, hummus, grapes cut in quarters, cherry tomatoes cut in quarters (always quarters with these two), cucumber rounds and a few olives. Everyone builds their own plate. It costs about the same as a regular dinner, maybe $14 for the four of us, and there's something about little piles of food that makes toddlers far more willing to try things.
4. Tuna and chickpea stuffed pitas
Two cans of tuna, one can of chickpeas, a spoonful of mayo and a spoonful of plain yogurt, lemon, chopped red onion (just for the grown-ups' portion) and dill if I have it. Stuff into pita pockets with lettuce. Dan likes his with pickled jalapeños. The twins get theirs mashed a little smoother on a cracker.
5. Gazpacho-ish and grilled cheese... without the grill
Okay, this one's a cheat. I blend tomatoes, a cucumber, half a red pepper, a slice of stale bread, olive oil, a splash of vinegar and salt until smooth, then chill it. Dan and I drink it out of mugs. With it, we have "cold cheese toast," which is just bread, butter and sliced cheese the kids help assemble. It is not the same as grilled cheese. They don't know that yet.
What made it easier this year
A couple of small habits did most of the work:
- Batch the boring parts on Sunday. A dozen hard-boiled eggs, a pot of rice and one shredded chicken cover three dinners.
- Keep two sauces in the fridge. This month it was the peanut sauce and a lemon-garlic yogurt. Almost anything tastes intentional with one of them on top.
- Eat outside when we can. Our tiny back patio gets shade after six. Crumbs outside are the birds' problem, not mine.
- Freeze fruit for dessert. Banana coins and blueberries straight from the freezer are the twins' favorite hot-night treat and cost pennies.
None of this is going to win a cooking award. But it keeps the kitchen from turning into a sauna, it keeps our grocery bill in line with what I planned, and it means I sit down at the table instead of sweating over a pot. On a 91-degree night, that's the whole goal.
If you have a no-cook dinner that your kids actually eat, I want to hear about it. I need a sixth one before August.
