The temperatures and humidity have been extra high in Northern Minnesota this past week; pretty typical for August. It is weird, though. We were without an oven for about a month and my husband/father-in-law were able to figure out how to fix it just last weekend. Now that we have it back we don’t even want to use it as it would just add extra heat into our home. I was searching my recipe books for lighter meals that don’t require the oven and found these two to share. Enjoy the heat and these eats!

Taco Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag of lettuce

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Bag of shredded cheese

Can of black olives, chopped

1 lb ground beef, browned

Packet of taco seasoning

Use taco sauce instead of water when making the taco meat

Thousand Island dressing

Doritos- Taco Flavored

Directions:

Cook taco meat per taco seasoning directions, but replace taco sauce for the water.

Add all ingredients, except Doritos, to a large bowl and toss

Crunch chips on top

Caribbean Burgers w/ Mango Salsa

From: Woman’s Health Magazine, May 2006

Ingredients:

1.5 lb ground beef

2 T jerk seasoning

1 mango, peeled and chopped

1 T chopped fresh cilantro, chopped

1 T green onion, chopped

1 T jalapeño, seeded and chopped

1 T lime juice

Buns

Directions:

Combine beef and jerk seasoning, make into patties

Grill until cooked

Combine rest of ingredients in a bowl to make salsa

Top burgers with salsa