July Oven Free Menu Plan
Are you looking for easy recipes that taste great but also help you beat the summer heat? Use this summer oven free menu plan to keep your family fed and your home cool.
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I love versatile recipes that can be served year round. It’s an added bonus when those recipes provide high nutritional value, but are inexpensive and easy to prepare at the same time. Summer, however can post a bit of a problem. It’s super hot outside, and we want to stay cool.
Oven Free Cooking Methods
There are several ways to keep prepare a delicious dinner without ever turning the oven on.
Cold Main Dishes
Summer is the perfect time to serve cold dish dinners. Salads like the 30 hearty salads on this Easy Summer Salads Menu Plan. Filling for flour tortillas or lettuce wraps also creates a cool but filling dinner option, like this Make Ahead Wrap Filling with brown rice and black beans.
You could also try one of these twenty-four delicious cold main dishes from Traditional Cooking School.
Crock Pot or Slow Cooker
If you want a hot dinner without heating up your house with the oven, you can use your slow cooker instead. As the summer garden starts to yield vegetables, toss them in the crock pot with some yummy spices for a hearty and healthy dinner.
A deliciously lighter White Chicken Chili in the crock pot pairs well with a garden salad. You can also feed yourself progressively by starting out with some Southern Pinto Beans and some Cornbread, then turning the leftovers into a hearty Chili, and finally using the leftover chili to serve with some hot dogs on the grill.
Use this Completely Crock Pot Menu Plan to discover an entire month’s worth of recipes for dinner from your slow cooker.
Instant Pot
I confess, I am an instant pot newbie. However, summer is the perfect time to figure my instant pot out. We like to spend most of our time outdoors, traveling or just relaxing in the summer once we have finished our school work. The less time I can spend on dinner, the better.
I’ve had my eye on some tasty instant pot meals like these Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls from Corinne at Wonder Mom Wanna Be, and these Instant Pot Smothered Pork Chops from Crystal & Co.
I’ve been using my instant pot for rice for quite a while and loving it, but I am really looking forward to doing some new things in it this summer.
Outdoor Grilling
For those perfect outdoor summer evenings, take you can leave the kitchen altogether and just enjoy something delicious from the grill like these Easy Seasoned Hamburgers. We make these ahead and freeze them when I find a good deal on beef at the local grocery.
Summer grilling offers endless possibilities. Grill peppers and squash straight from the garden or enjoy something like these Grilled Mango Kebabs from Everyday Southwest.
July Oven Free Menu
When the heat of the summer sets in, the last thing we want to do is heat up the house by using the oven. During the hot summer months, I cook in my oven as little as possible. I hope this Summer Oven Free Menu Plan helps you eat healthy and stay cool.
Free Printable Oven Free Menu Plan
