ThePrep: No-Cook Dinners to Keep You Cool This Week

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With most of the country experiencing a significant heat wave, now's the time to lean into easy no-cook meals to help you—and your home—stay cool. The easy dinners in this week's plan use convenient, ready-to-use ingredients in creative ways to help you get a healthy dinner on the table, without having to touch your stove or grill.

Your Meal Plan

The first no-cook dinner in this week's plan is Sunday's Chopped Cobb Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing. This hearty salad is filling enough to stand on its own as a main course, plus the creamy garlic dressing that goes on top is incredibly delicious. I often double (or triple) the recipe, so I have plenty to use all week long.

Next up: Monday's Loaded Cucumber & Avocado Sandwich. While sandwiches are much more of a lunch item, they make for a great dinner on hot nights. Plus, they can be easily wrapped up and enjoyed as a picnic dinner. This loaded version is packed with veggies and has an herby cream cheese as the spread. Friday's Caprese Sandwich is another delicious sandwich-for-dinner.

Ingredients like rotisserie chicken, cooked shrimp and canned chickpeas come into play in the rest of the dinners for this week. These ready-to-use items deliver satisfying protein and, in the case of the chickpeas in the Mediterranean Chickpea Quinoa Bowl, fiber, too, to create balanced meals without needing to touch your stove or grill. Enjoy and stay cool, everyone!

Sunday: Chopped Cobb Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

Monday: Loaded Cucumber & Avocado Sandwich

Tuesday: Avocado Chicken Salad over mixed greens with Lemon-Garlic Vinaigrette

Wednesday: Brown Rice Shrimp Bowl with Tomatoes & Avocado

Thursday: Mediterranean Chickpea Quinoa Bowl

Friday: Caprese Sandwich

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Meal-Prep Snack

I'm excited to dig into this brand-new Chunky Black Bean Salsa with Corn & Bell Pepper recipe this week. It can keep in the fridge for up to four days—and gets more flavorful the longer it sits. So, I'll be making a batch to enjoy with tortilla chips this week. As an added bonus, it doubles as an easy dinner side and would be particularly tasty with Tuesday's Avocado Chicken Salad.

Get the Recipe: Chunky Black Bean Salsa with Corn and Bell Pepper

Treat Yourself

I love a cold ice cream cone on a hot day, but all that added sugar can make me feel jittery. Enter: no-sugar-added Orange Creamsicle Nice Cream. It's made with orange juice, unsweetened coconut cream, lime and vanilla extract to achieve that "creamsicle" flavor, plus just a little added sugar in the form of honey to sweeten things up.

Get the Recipe: Orange Creamsicle Nice Cream

I hope you all have a great week! If you have any questions or requests for future newsletters, please let me know by emailing ThePrep@eatingwell.com!