It's a fast day today, so what else is there to talk about besides food? Nothing, that's what.
And so in that spirit, the kids and I sat down and made a list of meal and snack ideas that are summer-appropriate. Because really, the goal this summer, besides for all the packing and whatnot, is to avoid turning on the oven as much as possible. And when we do turn it on, it's because we are baking a truckload of zucchini muffins to freeze, freeze, freeze.
At first I was going to make two lists, one for snacks and one for meals, but then I decided that when it's this hot (its actually not that hot here at all just yet, but for list purposes we're pretending that we already moved to Florida), all these food ideas are interchangeable. I mean, who said watermelon and string cheese is not a meal? Exactly.
After some explaining on my part (sorry, ice cream in a cone is the same as having ice cream in a cup), we came up with this list of Top Twenty Summer Snacks and Meals:
- Smoothies
- English muffin pizza
- Hard boiled eggs and almonds
- String cheese and frozen grapes
- Hummus and cut up vegetables
- Cereal and chocolate almond milk
- Lafa bread pizza with veggies on top
- Sliced turkey wrapped around pretzels
- Salmon or tuna patties with a dipping sauce
- Sliced apples and almond or peanut butter
- Yogurt parfaits with fruit and nuts or granola
- Big batches of freezable banana or pumpkin bread
- Chicken salad sandwiches with pickles, onions and mayo
- Diced watermelon, mangoes and honeydew and toothpicks
- Diced turkey and avocado pieces on whole wheat crackers
- Big freezer batches of healthy pancakes and waffles: heat and eat
- English muffin sandwiches with slice of melted cheese and a scrambled egg
- Tacos - sloppy joes in a taco with diced tomatoes, cucumbers and some cole slaw
- Fro-yo popsicles - pour your favorite yogurt into cups, add a popsicle stick to and freeze
- Homemade trailmix (cashews, almonds, raisins, cranberries and a few mini chocolate chips)
Can you think of any other ideas?