Go-To Summer Meals

What are your go-to meals in the summer? I have a repertoire that I fall back on when we're at the pool all day and I need to throw something together quickly when we get home. Or it's just too dang hot to cook and I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Here are a few ideas:

Barbecue Chicken (Or Pork) Sandwiches with chips and watermelon: throw a pork tenderloin or chicken breasts in the crockpot in the am and cover with your fave bbq sauce. Cook all day, then shred meat with forks. Serve on buns. A bag of your favorite chips and one of those containers of cut-up watermelon from the produce section and you're in business.

Chicken Tacos-- put chicken breasts in the crockpot and mix a packet of taco seasoning with a cup of chicken broth. Pour over top. Cook all day on low, shred with two forks and serve with flour tortillas or tortilla chips and a variety of toppings. We often make a taco salad with this meat.

Marinated London Broil over salad with French bread: We had this this weekend because London Broil was bogo free at my grocery-- that's $7 for enough meat to feed my whole family. All I had to do was mix up a quick marinade in the morning and let the meat sit in the fridge covered in it all day. Then Curt put it on the grill and I literally opened a bag of field greens and cooked a loaf of French bread while the meat was cooking. I used a variation of this marinade and it was delicious!

Grilled Chicken with pasta-- Marinate the chicken in some Italian dressing all day, then grill it and toss it with some bottled marinara sauce. Serve it over some whole wheat pasta to make it even healthier.

Grilled Chicken with a starch and roasted asparagus or broccoli-- Use your fave marinade and then grill it. Make some wild rice or couscous or whatever your family's favorite starch is. Toss your broccoli or asparagus in olive oil and sea salt and fresh ground pepper. (I buy the bags of the already cut up broccoli to save even more time.) Roast or broil it. Here are some directions:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roasted-broccoli-with-garlic-recipe/index.html

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/broiled-asparagus-10000001727347/index.html

We eat some variation of this meal just about every weekend in the summer. It's fast and consistently delicious.

On Wednesday I'm going to share a recipe for beef tips that, while not quintessential summer fare, are easy to throw in the crockpot in the morning and serve over egg noodles with some type of green veggie for a quick meal that is very, very delicious. Be sure to check back!