While I love this steamy hot summertime weather, it’s sapping my already-nominal culinary inspiration. I’ve completely run out of fresh summertime food ideas. We’ve done burgers to death, and I’ve lost my taste for hot dogs. It’s too hot to boil pasta, and we’ve had enough corn on the cob to pluck an entire corn field clean.
Last night, we had one of my summertime favourites: steak and veggie kabobs rolled in peppercorns, grilled on the BBQ and then served as make-yer-own pita sandwiches with tzatziki and feta and fresh cucumber and tomato slices. Mmmmmm!
Save me from another pizza; I’m desperate for inspiration. What’s your favourite summertime meal?
Nothing beats a Greek salad… my mom and hubby make it best. 🙂 And thank goodness for pasturized feta, I am over my fear and am eating that. I love to dip toasted Greek pita bread in the olive oil, too. Mmmm! And I love salmon on the BBQ. And of course… ice cream!
P.S. Did I tell you I was having a BOY??? Yippee! 🙂
Congrats Loukia! I’m glad to hear you are able to go guilt-free for the feta now, too! 🙂
Favourite summertime foods:
Salad fresh from the garden with some grilled chicken on top
Mango / red pepper salad (yummm!)
Individual foil packets of taters and veggies, grilled (check out this recipe online: http://www.rebecca-writes.com/rebeccawrites/2007/8/2/hobo-bundles.html
Pork tenderloin is wonderful on the grill. Buy it plain, or get the delicious apple-butter marinated ones from M&Ms. Serve with rice (get a rice cooker – so worth it!) and instead of soy sauce, use bottled meditarranean salad dressing. Mmm…
Anything prepared by someone other than me.
Have you ever made couscous? I never enjoyed it until I tried it with a Morroccan-style “curry” last winter. So I just had to try making it myself and was delighted to discover you can make it in a bowl (no pots or pans required) in FIVE MINUTES! To make it flavourful, use half water and half orange juice, or use chicken stock instead of water.
For the curry, I found a way to make a really simple one that cooks up in less than 20 minutes. In a pot, throw in a can of diced tomatoes, a can of chick peas (rinsed), one zuchinni (chopped), and any other veggies you might have on hand (celery, frozen corn, black beans…). Add some coriander, cumin, a teeny bit of cinnamon, turmeric, and salt to taste. We also enjoy adding raisins to ours. Grill up some meat if you don’t want to be vegetarians, and you’ve got a super-quick and tasty meal!
*contented sigh* I love to cook. It’s coming up with meal ideas and the clean-up part I don’t like! LOL
Mmmmmm shish kabob…
I like chicken souvlaki with greek salad and rice on the side. It’s tough to find a good greek salad these days but there’s one local place that I like for it.
I love this bow-tie pasta salad with smoked salmon from Cooking Light: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=338369.
I also love my Summer Couscous Salad: http://chieffamilyofficer.blogspot.com/2005/10/summer-couscous-salad.html.
Of course,when I don’t feel like cooking, nothing beats a sandwich and a slice of cake from my favorite bakery!
My summer favourites are: pork tenderloin on the BBQ with yellow and/or orange peppers, also done on the BBQ with coleslaw. Also love any white fish on the BBQ, again with the peppers and coleslaw. Leave the BBQing to your spouse(Beloved).
Big salad with grilled salmon.
Grilled sausages – any kind of critter – Chicken, Turkey, or Meatless (there’s an awesome Pesto Parmesan one from Meat on the Beach, though the casing is critter…with carmelized red pepper and onions for the adults (cooked in a cast iron pan on the grill…on buns for us or not for the toddler…and/or a fun dip/spread like mayo with teary toddler rub, or homemade honey-mustard maybe)..with tiny asparagus steamed in foil packets…and cherry tomato salad made with red onion, cucumber, raspberry vinegar and oil and shaved Parmesano Reggiano…and corn bread…
Leftovers can be cut open, crumbled and mixed with the corn bread, adding chopped celery and some broth to make a delicious stuffing…
But there are never any leftovers.