Summer Meals

JodyLynC

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 7, 2001
When it is hot outside and you don't feel like heating up the kitchen, what is your favorite go to Summer Meal?
 
I tend to grill or use the crockpot- I don't have any no cook meals that we eat. I would love to hear about some though.

Rebecca
 
I'm big on pasta salads. Sometimes I will use leftover cooked veggies and or pasta, (or even another grain like rice, couscous, etc) or just raw veggies. It's not bad if I do have to cook the pasta and or veg, that I can cook once and get about 4-6 meals from it. If I see it's going to be a hot week, I will often cook up extra veg or pasta to have on hand. I cannot really swallow meats, so I tend to add beans in mine to get more protein in me. But leftover meats are always a nice addition to add instead. The main ones I tend to make most often are variations of the following:

A "Greek" one:

Cooked pasta
Chickpeas or small white beans
Kalamata Olives
Feta
Cucumber
(Grape tomatoes if you like. I can't.)
Chopped fresh dill
Chopped flat leaf parsley
A little diced red onion if you like
Tiny bit of garlic
A lemon & olive oil dressing


A "Southwest" one:

Cooked Pasta
Black beans
Diced green pepper
(Jalapeño if you like, I can't)
Queso fresco cheese
Diced avocado
Diced tomato
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped green onion
If I could swallow corn, I would put freshly grilled corn kernels in there, but since I cannot, I make a dressing with the corn. Roasted or grilled Corn and Cumin salad dressing. When I whiz up the dressing, I put the corn in there and blend. Corn taste, but no swallowing issue for me.



An Italian one:

Cooked pasta
Cannellini beans
Diced roasted red peppers
Tiny fresh mozzarella balls
Olives
Diced red onion
Chopped flat leaf parsley
Chopped oregano
Roasted garlic
Diced artichoke hearts. Since I cannot swallow them, I make a balsamic & artichoke heart dressing.


Roasted Veggie Pasta Salad:

I do a salad from the items we grow in the garden. Roasted zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, red onion, and sometimes, fennel. We also grow fresh herbs, so I will switch up and add, fresh basil, or tarragon, or flat leaf parsley, depending on what I feel like.


"Cobb Pasta Salad"

Pasta shells, cooked
Diced avocado
Finely chopped chives
Hard boiled eggs, sliced
Bacon, crumbled
Blue cheese, crumbled
Cobb salad dressing

Serve on chopped romaine lettuce


I also love my crockpot to make meals in, because it doesn't heat up the kitchen. Tonight I made a bunch of Caponata (sort of the Siciian version of Ratatouille, kind of), it's a sweet and sour eggplant dish and it's good cold/room temp. I love it on a nice bread or even over pasta. I also did sausage and peppers in the crockpot this week for my gram. Just serve on some good bread.

Can do pulled pork or cook a whole chicken in the crockpot to use through the week in salads.
 



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