Looking for quick, nourishing recipes you can throw together this Summer and even take on the go to the pool or beach? Here are some I’m LOVING lately that combine the abundance of Summer produce with the necessity to be in the kitchen just a little bit less ❤️
A Simple Greek Salad
I recently picked up some lamb chops and when I was thinking about what to serve with it, my husband suggested some kind of greek-style salad. So here’s what I threw together that turned out sooooo good. (The lamb chops were also a slam dunk—here’s the recipe I used for those.)
Ingredients
For the salad (serves approx. 4):
One English cucumber
Three Roma tomatoes
1/2 of a red onion
Small block or container of feta cheese
6oz jar of pitted, black olives
For the dressing:
I used this recipe that I found on Pinterest. FYI I halved the recipe below when I made it and didn’t need the whole thing, so you could either cut up more veggies and use up all the dressing, make even less than half of this recipe, OR save any extra for a marinade on chicken. This recipe calls for:
2/3 cup EVOO
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of oregano, basil and salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper and onion powder
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Directions
Slice cucumber length-wise and then again before chopping to get small chunks
Dice tomatoes into bite-size pieces
Dice onion
Drain your jar of pitted olives
Toss all ingredients together with the cheese and dressing
I like to place this salad in the fridge for an hour or so before dinner so it’s served really cold. Perfect to pack for the pool or a cookout with friends!
Chicken Salad
I love this recipe for chicken salad because it swaps mayo for greek yogurt, which helps boost the protein content. I triple the amount of grapes it calls for because I like the grapes a lot 🤣 This chicken salad is perfect to throw on buttered bread for a day at the park or put it on top of a bed of mixed greens with a drizzle of balsamic for a Summer-y, protein packed salad.
This is also a great make-ahead meal. I’ll whip it up during nap time so that I can run the kids to the park or the pool when they wake up and stay right up until dinner time (mom hack: parks and pools make kids REALLY hungry and I love serving dinner to a truly hungry child).
One other hack for this particular meal: This is a great way to use up leftover chicken when you cook whole chickens for your family. Buying whole chickens is way more affordable than buying chicken that has already been butchered into different parts (for example, I recently purchased some organic chicken tenderloins and it was about $11 for ONE POUND. Holy smokes. On the other hand, an organic whole chicken that is 4.5 pounds costs about $15. You not only get all the meat, but you get lots of bones for bone broth, too).
Whenever I roast a chicken, we eat it for dinner and then I pick all the meat that’s leftover off the bones and put it in the freezer to be used another day in a soup, casserole, or this yummy chicken salad.
Freezer Burritos
Didn’t think you’d see this here, did you?
I love anything that freezes well because it makes feeding myself and my family so much easier. These burritos call for SIX ingredients—that’s it! And they’re actually delicious. Here’s the deal: this recipe calls for chicken, but my family prefers them with ground beef, so I make that swap. Other than that, they’re *chef’s kiss* good.
Here’s my recipe for homemade tortillas if you’re like me and want to avoid the ones at the grocery store that have 100 ingredients:
Three cups of organic, all purpose flour
1 cup of tepid/warm water (not hot!)
1/3 cup of melted coconut oil (let it cool after melting)
1.5 tsp of fine sea salt
Directions
Combine all the ingredients into a ball of dough then let it rest under a tea towel for 30 minutes (but can be longer if you’re busy)
Flatten the ball onto a floured surface and slice/divide like a pizza into 16 pieces (I use a sharp dough scraper for this but you could also use a pizza cutter).
Get a cast iron skillet really hot with a little coconut oil
Begin to roll out each piece of dough until really, really thin
Fry on the pan for about 90 seconds on each side (until bubbles start growing… lower the heat if the tortillas are getting really dark spots)
Let them cool and use or freeze for later use
For the burritos, you can make a bunch and then individually wrap them in parchment paper/plastic wrap and stick in the freezer for a day you need them. Just pull them out in the morning or the night before to thaw in the fridge!
Chicken Tenders
These might sound complicated, but I can assure you that these chicken tenders come together in about 30 minutes (if you have the breadcrumbs ready) and they scream summer to me. These are made with sourdough breadcrumbs and fried in lard or coconut oil. The recipe linked above calls for chicken breast, but I’ve always made them with tenderloins. They fry in no time.
The Sourdough breadcrumbs could keep you from making this if you’re not in a regular rhythm already, but don’t be intimidated! I always freeze the odds and ends of bread I make—the “butt” of the loaves, portions that weren’t sliced well, overbaked bread, etc.—and when I have a full zip-loc bag, I pull them out, let them thaw, cut them into small chunks (think croutons), and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350, or until brown and very crispy. Then I throw them in my blender until they’re the consistency of breadcrumbs. Store in your pantry in a glass container until you’re ready to make some chicken tenders!
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Serve these up with some honey mustard dipping sauce (I use this recipe), roasted potatoes, or even a simple fruit salad. I promise, they do NOT disappoint!
Speaking of a simple fruit salad . . .
Fruit Salad Dressing
It’s not Summer time unless your counters and fridge are FULL of beautiful, fresh fruit. I love throwing a fruit salad together as a side for a meal or as a snack at the pool. You can literally combine any fruit you like—mine usually consists of apples, grapes, blueberries, and even mandarin oranges.
The best part about a fruit salad is the dressing, of course!
I don’t have an exact recipe to share, but I’m going to attempt to share what I do from my head. These are not exact measurements, but you really can’t go wrong with these three ingredients!
Greek yogurt—about 1 cup, depending on how much fruit you’re using
Fresh lemon juice—about 1 tablespoon (this will help keep the fruit fresh)
Honey—about 1-2 tablespoons
Combine the ingredients and toss into your fruit salad!
Veggie and Chip Dip
Okay, I’ve got to share this one last dip recipe before I leave you. I stumbled upon this recipe last year and it’s so versatile. It stands as an excellent veggie dip, roast chicken dip, and even a chip dip! (Pssst Costco now has a really yummy ruffle chip that’s fried in avocado oil! They’re really good.)
I usually halve this recipe for my family and instead of seasoning salt, I add a combination of sea salt and paprika.
I hope y’all are enjoying the Summer as much as I am—it’s my favorite time of the year! The abundance in the kitchen, the time spent outdoors, the trips to the beach . . . all of my favorite things. I hope these recipes and meal ideas make your Summer even more beautiful this year ❤️
Whoops, I’m sorry friends, I forgot to link to the burrito recipe! Here it is: https://thelemonbowl.com/chicken-and-black-bean-freezer-burritos/