Healthy Summer Meals that Wont Heat Up the Kitchen
Trying to create healthy summer meals isn’t always easy when you are dealing with sweltering days. And while some homes are equipped with central air, living in the northeast many of us get by with just window units. These units aren’t always good for houses like mine that is kind of open floor plan so my kitchen and dining room gets hot in the summer, making me not want to cook or worse-resort to unhealthy take out!
Breakfasts and lunches are easy enough, a bowl of cereal with skim milk or a piece of peanut butter toast is quick and easy while diet smoothies make great lunches that are cool and refreshing. Still, dinner can be tricky so here are a few healthy summer meals that I have come up with that keeps me from going on an unhealthy fast food or pizza run.
Subs and Wraps
Sure a sandwich can be boring but creating your own sub or wrap using lean cuts ham or turkey from the deli, thin slices of low fat cheese mustard and low fat mayo along with lots of fresh lettuce and tomato will fill you up on less calories than visiting a sub shop. Just watch that the rolls you use aren’t too high in calories.
Pasta Salad
Pasta salads make delicious and healthy summer meals and can be prepared using less pasta and more vegetables along with low fat cheese and chunks of lean ham for a meal in one. Just prepare early in the morning before it gets too hot.
You may have to watch the dressing so use a low fat version or simply make your own low fat dressing and use heart healthy canola oil. Olive oil can be used but keep in mind that once you regrigerate the salad the olive oil will begin to solidify. If you do want to use olive oil just make your pasta salad early in the day and prepare the dressing right before serving. I like to use Good Seasons Italian, which has instructions for preparing with less oil right on the label.
Garden Salad
Garden salads don’t have to be boring. Besides adding lots of lettuce, tomato and other fresh vegetables you can add leftover grilled chicken, and different cheeses such as low fat feta. Fruit also tastes great on a salad. In fact, one of my favorites is a salad that consists of romaine, red onion, diced apples, a few slivered almonds and a low fat dressing such as Paul Newman’s Balsamic Vinaigrette (his dressings are so good, and although they may cost a little more all profits go to charity so why not splurge).
The trick to keeping salads low in fat and calories is to use just a small amount of nuts and cheese while adding a moderate amount of lean protein and lots of veggies. I prefer oil based dressings over creamy dressings because a little goes a long way.
These are just a few ideas for delicious healthy summer meals that wont heat up the kitchen.
