That's it.

One more day over 90 degrees, and we're going to scream.

OK, we know we're in Richmond. We know it's August. We know we've got air conditioning, but we've jacked up the thermostat to save energy.

We're sick of the heat. The idea of coming home and turning on the oven makes us, well, glow.

You probably feel the same way, and that's why we're helping with our Top 10 ways to get dinner on the table without getting steamed.

We tried to get away with not turning on the stove at all, but we couldn't. And we don't recommend that you try cooking pasta in the microwave, either.

10. Take it outside. Cook dinner -- all of it -- outside on the grill. Grill potatoes and veggies along with the meat. Consider kebabs, a complete meal on a skewer.

Try to get someone else in the family to do the grilling. Tell them you have to stay inside and, um, slice lemons for iced tea.

9. Be neighborly. Organize an it's-too-hot-to-cook potluck with your neighbors and see what good ideas they have for next week's meals. Since you're planning this, you get to volunteer to provide the ice and the drinks -- no cooking there -- and the party location, but only if that doesn't require cleaning your house first.

8. Open the freezer door. Don't take anything out; just stand there and look inside till your attitude adjusts.

Seriously -- and we are serious about staying cool -- poke around in there and find that soup you made in January. Let it defrost overnight in the refrigerator. Then either heat it up in the microwave or purée it in the blender and serve cold.

Cold soup? Heck, yes. Spike it with sherry, thin with water if necessary, pile on the sour cream and no one will ever know you once called it split pea.

Or start from scratch and call it gazpacho.

7. Downsize. Boiling water to cook pasta is one stovetop step we couldn't work around. But if you choose angel-hair pasta over a longer-cooking choice, you can pour that boiling water down the drain faster. It takes 4-6 minutes to cook angel hair; thick spaghetti takes 12-13. August is the right time to top the pasta with a no-cook tomato sauce.

6. Let someone else cook the chicken. Buy a rotisserie chicken, and you've got anywhere from two to four cups of meat to use in sandwiches and salads. Go for it.

5. Skip the skillet. The pre-cooked bacon sold in boxes is actually quite good, especially the thick-cut variety. Crisp it in the microwave, and you can make a BLT without putting heat under a skillet and hot grease in it.

4. What's for dessert? Buy an angel-food cake, a jar of lemon curd and some fresh peaches. Slice the peaches, sprinkle with sugar and fresh lemon juice. Slice the cake, then top each slice with spoonfuls of lemon curd and peaches.

Even easier: spoon those peaches over store-bought vanilla ice cream.

3. Speaking of ice cream. If you're going to make it yourself, don't even think about choosing a recipe that requires cooking custard on top of the stove. Make the no-egg kind instead.

We still get prickly heat just thinking about the time our grandmother made peach custard ice cream in August in New Orleans in an un-air-conditioned kitchen.

That meant two big pots on the stove: one held the custard; the other, boiling water for dunking the peaches to get their skins off.

Valuable lesson learned at age 6: Unpeeled peaches make a mighty fine peach ice cream.

2. Speaking of dumb ideas. Nothing steams up a kitchen more than firing up the water-bath canner, then leaning over it to process pickles. If you give them as gifts, we understand this is a labor of love, and we'd like to get on your gift list.

But if making pickles has become a chore for you, try refrigerator pickles.

What to do about that gift list? Surprise your friends with Christmas in August.

1. A smart idea: Order pizza. Contact Jann Malone at (804) 649-6820 or jmalone@timesdispatch.com.