No-Heat & Low-Heat: 20 Refreshing Recipes for Hot Summer Days

Is it just too hot where you are? Yes, here too. Maybe you have no power at all, after the storms that ripped through the Midwest and Atlantic regions on Friday afternoon, and you’re looking for something nourishing that doesn’t require a fridge or any heat from the kitchen.

Well, we have some answers for you here, from quick lunch salads that take almost no cooking, to cool and creamy desserts that never see the inside of the oven. Some favorites: chickpea and cumin salad with cucumbers, lemon icebox cupcakes, chilled arugula wraps, a no-cook breakfast salad, and — why not! — the most perfect strawberry milkshake.

COOL LUNCHES
• 1 Warm Chickpea Salad with Cumin and Garlic – Very little cooking required. Make a double batch and eat it cold for a few days!
• 2 Soba Noodles with Wilted Bok Choy – A cool and yummy salad.
• 3 Cilantro-Lime Sardine Salad in Avocado Halves – Refreshing but also filling.
• 4 Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese – Nothing quite so refreshing as a big crisp wedge of iceberg lettuce.
• 5 Colorful Lentil Salad with Walnuts & Herbs – A hearty and filling salad.

LOW-HEAT BREAKFASTS
• 6 No-Cook Overnight Steel-Cut Oats – A cooler way to make oatmeal.
• 7 Breakfast Grain Salad with Blueberries, Hazelnuts and Lemon – This grain salad does take a little bit of cooking, but then you can eat it cold.
• 8 Raw Avocado Lime Mousse on Rice Cakes – Refreshing and tasty breakfast.
• 9 Breakfast Salad, plus another iteration – Poach an egg in the microwave to top some greens and sliced meat, maybe an avocado, for a filling and tasty breakfast salad.
• 10 Avocado Breakfast Pudding – Creamy and bright.

SUMMER SUPPERS
• 11 Arugula, Apple and Chickpea Salad Wraps – Fresh, simple wraps.
• 12 Malaga Gazpacho – A creamy, different sort of gazpacho.
• 13 Uncooked Tomato Sauce – Eat over pasta, bread, or steamed potatoes.
• 14 Chilled Buttermilk Soup with Tomato and Basil – Very refreshing.
• 15 Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles – Scrumptious!

NO-BAKE DESSERTS
• 16 No-Bake Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies – Chocolate, Nutella, no-bake!
• 17 Green Tea Shake – Cold and creamy.
• 18 Lemon Cream and Coconut Icebox Cupcakes – No cooking required at all for these little lemon delights.
• 19 How To Make a Killer Strawberry Milkshake – In our humble opinion, one of the best milkshakes out there.
• 20 Mixed Berry Fool – Whipped cream and fruit. Easy and delicious.

More No-Bake Desserts
Sweets Without Heat: 25 Cool & Scrumptious No-Bake Summer Desserts

(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)