This week we’re experiencing hot, hot weather in North Carolina! I’m doing everything I can to keep the oven off… but of course I still want to feed my family healthy, delicious meals!
I got a little help from my facebook friends last week in order to come up with some creative meal ideas and summer recipes to beat the heat! I also found a really awesome YouTube channel: The Domestic Geek, which provided several recipes and lots of inspiration.
I cooked about 5.5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (on sale at Aldi this week for $1.89/lb.) in two different ways: pan-seared thyme chicken and marinated Greek chicken. This did require turning on the oven, but because I cooked it all on Monday, I won’t have to worry about heating up the kitchen the rest of the week!
If you really don’t want to turn your oven on even to cook the big batch of chicken, you could easily pick up a rotisserie chicken or two!
Last night for dinner, we had Greek chicken (served cold… delicious!)…
…hummus (made the day before) and veggies…
…quinoa salad (with zucchini, peppers, and feta)…
…and for dessert, Greek yogurt topped with raspberries and blueberries with a drizzle of honey!
This meal came together in about 15 minutes because I had already done the prep work ahead of time. The girls helped me plate everything on serving platters and carry it to the table. They loved this meal!
On Sunday I also made a broccoli salad, so I’ve been enjoying that on the side with a few other meals.
We ate chicken salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday (again, with previously cooked chicken) with pickles and strawberries on the side.
Other things that are on the menu this week (lunches and dinners are on this list):
– Greek chicken wraps with Greek hummus
– Caesar salads with chicken and croutons (I need to blog the Caesar dressing recipe… it’s amazing!)
– tuna salad wraps or sandwiches with hard boiled eggs and fresh veggies and fruit
– tacos with corn salsa and black bean dip (I will have to cook the taco meat on the stovetop, but I plan on making it the night before)
– nitrite/nitrate-free deli meat, crackers, cheese, veggies, and fruit
– leftover chicken and pasta salad (and whatever other yummy leftovers we have!)
– peanut butter sandwiches
– taco salads and tortilla chips
We’re also enjoying raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and watermelon! I love summer produce!
What do you like to eat in the summertime when it’s too hot to cook?
How nice that your children like such good food. So often you see children who only want to eat pizza, hot dogs,
fast foods. My children didn’t know they shouldn’t like vegetables, they ate almost everything we put in front of
them.
Michelle
Yes! We are so thankful that they are all good eaters!