5 Chill Meal Ideas to Beat The Heat This Weekend

At first, I figured I'd do a bunch of recipes for dinners in the heat. But as I got looking at ideas, I realized that it seems relegated to one of two things.... Salads and sandwiches. Those are great, and we'll address those in a minute, but what about just coming up with a good game plan to eat something halfway decent that doesn't have to be either of those?

Leftovers - This is just obvious right our of the gate. Sure you just had pizza two nights ago, but there's also like 5 pieces probably still sitting in the fridge. Yum! Or maybe you have most of a rotisserie chicken that you picked up in a hurry the other night. Finish it up! Cold Chinese food? Awesome!

Fire up the grill - Now, it could be argued that firing up the grill will not necessarily do anything to cool you off, but it also won't heat up the house. Do you really wanna turn on the broiler to cook up steaks when it's 95 degrees? But at least the heat from the grill stays outside.

Go out to eat/takeout - This pretty much speaks for itself. It's the single most self-indulgent way to get out of the heat and get fed at the same time. You'll sit in a nice air-conditioned booth, having a person cater to your every whim, and won't need to do any dishes after. Close second would be takeout. You may sit in your hot living room to eat, but you didn't slave over a stove to make it.

Ok....so let's say these options are off the table for whatever reason. There are still the good old standby's that we mentioned before. They're both cheap, easy, and as chill as it gets.

Sandwiches/cold cuts - It doesn't matter if it's a fluffernutter or salami, nothing beats a good sandwich. And the beauty is, you can make it whatever you want. If you just want a peanut butter sandwich, you're only in for two ingredients. Bread, and peanut butter. But if you wanna go all-out, you can stack up all the tasty treats you want between two slices of whatever, and boom! You've got a sandwich!

Salad - What cool summer meal list would be complete without salads? If you search for salad ideas online, you will find that there are more ways to stack uncooked things on a plate than you ever dreamed possible. Then never mind all the cooked things you can throw on one too.

If you want recipe ideas there are tons of great resources. Delish.com, BonAppetit.com, and of course, Pinterest. Those three links alone will offer up about 100 different recipes. So knock yourself out, and do what suits you best. Make your own, or make someone else do it. It's your summer.