Some of you out there are lucky enough to have air conditioning. When you want to bake cookies or slow-cook a chicken in the middle of July, you just crank it up and stay cool. Well, I’m not one of you. When I want to cook something in the middle of summer, it means I’m going to sweat. And sweat. And sweat. Barcelona is a pretty humid place.

Which is why people like me need a few no-cook food ideas and oven-free recipes to survive. Without some of the foods you’ll find listed below, I would be like the Wicked Witch of the West come August– nothing but a large, steaming puddle on the floor.

Just because it’s hot doesn’t mean you have to sweat your family’s dinner (or even a bigger dinner for a dinner party). Read on for some of my favorite no-cook recipes and food ideas.

“Meal in a Bowl” Salads

Just because sweat is pooling in your pits doesn’t mean you’ve given up on eating. And so while a simple tossed salad might be the easiest thing to make, it’s not the most likely to satisfy you. Make a simple salad into a meal by adding lots of extras, such as:

• Chopped up rotisserie chicken (I like to keep one in the fridge all the time)
• Chunks of feta, cubes of cheddar, or hunks of soft goat cheese or Roquefort
• Fresh chopped herbs
• Thick-cut lunchmeats like ham or turkey
• Garbanzo or other beans
• Hard boiled egg
• Crisp cooked bacon
• White tuna
• Avocado
• Salsa, chutney, or guacamole
• Chopped nuts
• Seasoned shredded chicken, beef, or pork

You can take combinations of any of these ingredients to make some great no-cook foods and dinner salads. Just keep them handy (I like to make extras of things like taco meat or cooked chicken and keep them in the freezer for salads), and you can whip up a quick meal salad in no time. Some of the best are:

Chef Salad: Your favorite greens get tossed with chopped ham and turkey, hardboiled egg, and cubed cheese. Filling and delicious.

Cobb Salad: This salad can be summed up in one word: perfection. Chopped hardboiled egg, chicken breast, cooked bacon, avocado, blue cheese, and onion on a big bed of greens. Smother it in blue cheese dressing for a heavier meal, or oil and vinegar to keep it light.

Taco Salad: I always make double the taco meat –whether made from shredded chicken or ground beef– and freeze some for salads. When the meat’s already ready, this salad comes together lightning quick. Combine your meat with your greens, some cheese, black olives, crushed corn chips, salsa, and sour cream, and you’re ready to go.

Greek Salad: Light and full of flavor, Greek salads are always wonderful. Combine a lemony vinaigrette with greens, feta, oregano, kalamata olives, and onions. Then add some sliced cooked chicken breast to make a great no-cook meal out of it.

Speedy Summer Sandwiches

You can basically take any salad recipe, slap it between some bread, and make a sandwich. And when you can do so much with this insanely simple type of food, there’s no way that sandwiches can get boring. Ask my husband: he’s labeled me the Queen of the Sandwich. Some of my favorite sandwiches for summer are:

Hummus & Veggie Sandwich: This sandwich is seriously healthy and unbelievably good. Especially if you’re into vegetables like I am. Spread two slices of multigrain bread with prepared hummus, sprinkle the hummus with minced onion, and layer it with your favorite combination of thinly sliced carrots, chopped broccoli, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, etc. Then add a protein, like cheese (I like queso fresco if you can get it where you live), tofu, or hard-boiled egg. The best veggies for this sandwich are ones with a lot of texture and crunch.

Chicken Aioli Sub: I think I could make this sandwich every day and not have my family complain. Simply spread a sub roll with garlic aioli (make your own or buy it prepared), the add thinly sliced chicken breast, thinly sliced purple onion, sliced avocado, fresh baby spinach, and chunks of Roquefort cheese. If you’re like me you’ll want to eat it every day for a week.

Raspberry Brie Sandwich: Creamy slices of brie, raspberry jam, and slivered almonds. Take one bite and tell me if you don’t get addicted.

Check out some more of my favorite summer sandwich recipes here.

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