Weekend Cooking- It's Too Hot to Turn on the Oven

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The weather in New York City and across a large swath of the country has turned oppressively hot, with the temperatures soaring into the 90s. It's just too hot to cook dinner, so I turned to Pinterest to find some recipes that I can make without turning on the oven.

My husband loves Sloppy Joes, and I found a twist on that with Big Mac Sloppy Joes from This Is Not Diet Foods. The recipe is simple, browning ground beef, then adding a little mayo mixed with Thousand Island dressing, salt and pepper to replicate the Big Mac sauce. Toss in chopped pickles and onions, add some shredded cheddar cheese and heat in a skillet. Brown hamburg rolls (which I did in a toaster oven), top with shredded lettuce and you are all set. It really did taste like a Big Mac, which, depending on your opinion of the Big Mac, is a good or bad thing. I'm wondering what it would taste like if I swapped out ground turkey for the ground beef. The recipe can be found here.

Photo from thisisnotdietfoods.com

I was looking for a salad to pair with the Big Mac Sloppy Joes, and I found a recipe for Columbia Restaurant's famous 1905 Salad. We love going to the Columbia Restaurant in St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota, Florida, and frequently we go to share the salad and their scrumptious Cuban bread for a nice lunch. This recipe took us right back to sitting at a table at Columbia, all we were missing was the red sangria. Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen had the recipe posted here.

You start with iceberg lettuce (which my husband loves), add chopped tomatoes, julienned ham and swiss cheese, and green olives. The dressing is a simple olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper blend, then you add some grated Romano cheese, a squeeze of lemon and the secret ingredient- Worchestershire sauce. Toss well and you have a tasty side or main dish salad. 

You can find bottled Columbia salad dressing in the Publix in Florida, but it's so easy to make yourself, why would you?

Photo from cantstayoutofthekitchen.com

It's probably hot where you are too, what do you make for dinner when the temperature hits 90 degrees?