Summer is usually a hot and hungry time for many people. It is a good time to pull off a couple of robust recipes from somewhere and let your palates dance with delight. As the warm weather worms its way into your heart, the best way to welcome it is to make something nice and cool for your family.
Try something unique, something that will not take too much of your time and if it does, then it had better be worth it. With so many cool summer recipes for you to try out, what can you start with? Here, we will bring you just four simple recipes that will have great results. These foods will help your body stay cool in the hot weather.
Frozen fruit recipe
Nothing could be cooler than a frozen fruit recipe. This is like the easiest recipe to make ever. You just need to buy the readily available fruit in your area and the freeze them in the fridge.
Wait for when the weather is really hot to serve them and see just how much your family is going to enjoy them. If you are truly unsure what to get, just go for blueberries, red grapes, raspberries and even blackcurrants.
You can freeze them and serve them together. Nothing whips up energy and quenches thirst like a plate of cold berries. If you can throw strawberries in the mix for good health, the deal becomes even sweeter.
Roast chicken served with pepper salad
Granted, this is not as easy as the frozen fruits recipe that we have discussed above. However, it is light and satisfying, sweet and has a lot of nutrients for your body. The preparation time for this is 15 minutes and then you will need about 38 minutes of cooking time. It is a nice recipe to prepare for Saturday lunch in summer when everyone is at home.
To make this meal, get the following things:
- Chicken – 3 skinless breasts
- Pepper – 3 (one red, yellow and orange pepper, must be deseeded and sliced)
- Green beans – 150g
- Baby spinach leaves – 125 g
- Italian dressing – 6 tablespoonfuls
- Ciabatta loaf – ½, shredded into 2cm pieces
- Olive oil – 2 tablespoonfuls
- Parmesan cheese – shavings
Preparation and cooking
You have to preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, then place the chicken breasts on your baking tray and sprinkle them with your Italian dressing. You can also add the salt and pepper for seasoning. You may then commence baking your chicken for 25 minutes. You can test with a skewer to see whether it is cooked by piercing the meat at the thickest point.
Boil water, add the beans and boil for 3 minutes more, then drain the water. You may then season the ciabatta in a bowl with salt and fresh ground black pepper, mix, then drizzle everything with oil and then bake on a baking sheet for 5 minutes only.
Toss the beans with your baby spinach, give them a dash of a dressing and then scoop servings on plates. You can then slice the chicken and spread it over the leaves, add the shaved parmesan and serve.
Cucumbers dipped in hummus
Whoever said that you can be as cool as cucumber must have summer and food in mind. This is yet another of the simplest snacks that you can make to keep you cool in summer. It is very nourishing too.
When the temperatures go up, you should chop up your cucumbers and then dip them in hummus or in cool ranch. They make a good and hydrating snack, which is very good for when you have sweated a lot in the summer heat.
Exotic fruits salad
How often do you treat your family to a nice fruit salad? Not that often? Summer is a good time to start doing it. Do not let the term exotic deceive you into thinking that this is expensive, because it is not and most of the fruits are readily accessible at the grocers.
You will need a papaya, small pineapple, kiwi fruits (about three of them), a mango, oranges, passion fruits, a lime, muscovado sugar. You should then mix all the fruits in a big bowl, taking care not to break and mess them up.
Of course, by this time, the papaya is sliced and deseeded, oranges segmented, pineapple cored and sliced and so on. You can then sprinkle muscovado sugar on them and scatter the lime zest on the fruits. Chill in the fridge and serve.