Light Summer Dinner Recipes

When the weather warms up, it's time to start thinking about light summer dinner recipes. No one wants to cook when it's hot out, so these recipes will whip up quickly with minimal preparation!

Vegetables make for great summer dinners.

Putting together your own light summer dinner recipes is as easy as making a list of easy to prepare foods. Once you have a list of ingredients, it's simple to put together a series of meals – sometimes without any cooking at al!

Here is a simple list of easy summer foods to get you started:

• Fruit
  • Orange slices
  • Pineapple
  • Grapes
  • Cantaloupe
  • Watermelon

• Vegetables
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes
  • Spinach
  • Zucchini
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli

• Fish
  • Halibut
  • Tilapia
  • Rock cod
  • Trout

Now, what can you make for dinner that's quick and easy? Here are a few recipes that will have you counting the minutes until supper.

This platter will touch on all four food groups without requiring even a glance towards your oven.

• 1 cucumber, sliced into 1" rounds
• 1 carrot, sliced into 1" rounds
• 1 zucchini, sliced into 1" rounds
• 2 oranges
• 1 can of pineapple chunks, drained completely
• 1 bunch of grapes
• 1 cup watermelon chunks
• 1 pound of mild cheddar cheese, cut into 1" chunks
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 1" chunks
• 1 box of crackers
• 2 cups ranch dressing
• Sea salt

1. Get a large platter, as big as you possibly can (or use several smaller platters).
2. Fill the platter with fruits and vegetables, creating circles of each kind in patterns around the platter.
3. Scatter the top of the platter with cheese and chicken breast chunks.
4. Serve with toothpicks, crackers, ranch dressing, and sea salt for seasoning.

Pasta cooks up quick and easy.

Pasta cooks up quickly and all you need to do to add a little flavor is to toss it with some tasty dressings. Butter, extra virgin olive oil, and a little parmesan cheese makes this a super fast, yet satisfying, dinner recipe.

When it comes to cooking pasta, a lot of people aren't aware that you need to salt the water you're cooking it in. This prevents you from having to salt your sauce, which can easily be over-seasoned to the point of no return. By salting your water to the degree that it tastes like seawater, you'll season your pasta before it even hits your plate.

Also, here's an old Italian trick when it comes to preparing dried pasta: it's a good idea to reserve some of your cooking water once you've drained your pasta so that you can use it to stretch your sauce a bit and give it a nicer texture. The starch from the pasta will give your sauce a velvety quality, as well as act as a salting agent to give it an additional level of flavor without going overboard.

• Pasta servings of pasta, uncooked
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or regular parmesan)
• Sea salt to taste

1. Boil pasta to specifications on the package, adding four tablespoons of salt to the cooking water. Once the pasta is done, drain pasta and reserve 1/4 cup of cooking water.
2. Place one serving's worth of pasta on each of four warmed plates.
3. Top each with one tablespoon of butter, one tablespoon of olive oil, and one 1 teaspoon of cooking water.
4. With a fork, toss pasta and butter, olive oil, and cooking water until butter is completely melted.
5. Sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup parmesan reggiano cheese, tossing again to incorporate.
6. Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.
7. Serve very hot and freshly mixed!

.

• Easiest Finger Appetizers
• Ideas for Dinner Tonight
• Ideas for Finger Buffets

• French Toast Recipe 1
• French Toast Recipe 2
• French Toast Recipe 3
• Basic Pancakes Recipe
• Pancakes Recipe

• Grilled Leg of Lamb
• Lemon Chicken Recipe
• Category:Cooking Tips
• Main Page
• Cool Summer Recipes