Let’s be honest. It is July. As a stay-at-home mom of three and the significant other of a farmer, I am BURNT OUT. It has taken all of my motivation to get the kids outside daily and not let the TV raise them until September. Unfortunately, on top of making sure the kids don’t just sit in front of a screen all summer, feeding everyone is also my responsibility. Three meals a day seems like a reasonable request, but add in – infinite snack requests, meal refusal, and ninety-degree weather – and try to tell me cooking sounds appealing. So as it goes, for now, I aim to use the oven less and eat easier.
In our house, I’ve basically lost the battle over breakfast. Eggs used to be a winning choice, but the children discovered cereal and waffles. Lunch basically consists of wraps and sandwiches. My four-year-old will even eat spinach in his wraps.
Dinner is the meal of wars. If I try to feed my sensory sensitive daughter anything but DINOSAUR chicken nuggets or tacos, she just glares at her food. Her brother follows suit. The baby eats his gourmet baby food, but I am sure her influence will affect him soon, too. Some nights I dig my heels in and other nights I make a kid’s choice and a meal for the adults.
While I am not a Pinterest mom, I still use various food blogs as inspiration for our adult meals. These are my top five choices for delicious, oven-free meals.
Basically, this hearty soup is a quick stovetop meal or can be slow cooked in your crockpot. Also, using rotisserie chicken can make it quick for a weeknight meal. With pasta and chicken, a simple salad pairing makes it one of my favorites.
This salad is exactly what it sounds like. A quick, ranch-based dressing, pasta, and the BLT components are so tasty. I have eaten it alone or paired it with a juicy burger. It is also a huge hit at cookouts.
My favorite thing about this meal is that I line my slow cooker with foil and basically have no cleaning to do. In the CrockPot, the meat stays really juicy and doesn’t dry out like in the oven. Fresh green beans and mashed potatoes make the meal.
Letting the meat marinate for 24 hours really sets in an ultra-authentic flavor. I have used the meat for both fajitas on the stove or kabobs on the grill. I absolutely love peppers and onions with both.
Using either ground beef or chicken with taco seasoning makes eating tacos look healthy. You can add as many side ingredients as you would like. Guacamole and corn can make it more southwestern, while Doritos instead of plain tortilla chips make it more “kid-friendly”.
What is your go-to recipe over the summer {sans oven}?
