Easy Summer Meals
I love to barbecue. We use our barbecue all year long and in the warmer months it is pretty much a daily affair. Most of my favourite summer meals are easy meals involving the barbecue and something quick and easy like a salad.
Most weeks you’ll find us enjoying burgers at least once, most times twice – I don’t like freezing buns unless I have to. We usually enjoy our burgers with a side of a salad, grilled veggies, corn on the cob, or potato wedges. I’ve recently started adding a spicy broccoli slaw to my burgers, DH is happy with his ketchup and mustard:)
Another certainty is an easy salad with a nice sliced steak, or grilled chicken (even sometimes the easy rotisserie chicken from the grocery store!), and occasionally tuna. I love adding chick peas and a hard boiled egg to my salad. And avocado, I love avocado. It’s bordering on a habit. Recently we’ve been having lots of taco salads allowing me to feed my habit:) DH enjoys his tacos in the soft shells and I have the salad to avoid the carbs.
Another favourite is quinoa. It is so easy to cook and I usually make a big batch so we have enough for a few meals. Which works well because usually I cook enough steak to give us two dinners and a few lunches as well.
Last summer I started making a curried quinoa with grilled veggies and cilantro lime shrimp, which I love. It’s super easy and can be served al fresco, which is awesome for taking to pot luck parties – which we did on Saturday night. (Instructions below)
Really, the easiest meals are the ones you enjoy making no matter how long they take. It’s also really helpful to make enough for two nights each time you cook. That way you can plan for the leftovers or figure out a way to spin them into something new, which I love doing.
Here’s to easy summer meals! What are some of yours?
Curried Quinoa, Grilled Pepper & Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad:
Marinate shrimp in cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, a dash of cumin for 2-3 hours.
Cook quinoa according to package instructions, adding 1-2 tbsp of curry powder to pot while cooking.
Chop peppers and cover with olive oil, salt & pepper.
Grill peppers and shrimp until cooked. (I find it’s best if the peppers are still a bit crunchy).
Toss cooked quinoa with grilled peppers and grilled shrimp.
Serve whenever:)
Refrigerate for storage. Eat within 2-3 days.
All of it just made so darned hungry. Looks so good! Pinning for when I'm done this darned diet!
Lol:) thanks Bette!
Looks delicious! Love the idea of keeping it EASY in the summer - those are the best kind of meals for me!
Agree! The simpler (but tastier) the better!
Yum! Your salads have me craving one. Maybe with egg, chick peas AND steak. I think that would have the whole family happy. Thanks for the inspiration for dinner tonight :-)
Mmmmmm one of my faves!!!
I'm definitely going to have to try the quinoa and shrimp! We love salads, grilled meats and burgers around here too during the summer. Why turn on the stove if you don't have to?
so with you Heather - we don't have a/c so turning our stove on in the summer is almost next to never done:)