Although I've gotten requests for it in the past, I'm always hesitant to share what I'm eating throughout the week because food and eating can be a trigger point for people. But as someone with a healthy and improving view of food I always enjoy seeing what recipes other people are making and eating throughout the summer months.
So here's what a typical week of summer eating looks like for my husband and I.
Summer Dinner Idea
*gluten free
**I rarely follow recipes when I'm cooking, but I will link some similar recipes if you want to follow them!**
Soup in the summer might seem counter intuitive, but if you pair the right soup with a crusty bread it's a great way to use up all those fresh summer veggies without turning the oven on. This chowder is nourishing and filling without feeling like a heavy fall soup. I'll often pair it with a no-nitrite fresh smoked chicken or beef sausage. The beauty of this soup is you can throw so many veggies in there if you're trying to up your veg intake. I used fresh, organic:
- zucchini
- onion
- leek
- fennel
- corn
- tomato
- potato
- carrot
- celery
Summer Sunday Dinner
*gluten free/ dairy free
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Wings & Roasted Veggies
Sunday evenings I love to do some experimenting in the kitchen. I have some extra time on Sunday evenings and love to find unique recipes to make. Although baked chicken wings are nothing revolutionary, it's fun to play around with sauces like a homemade honey mustard (so easy!) and different types of roasted veggies.
The best way to bake chicken wings is to marinate them in your favorite sauce for 1-4 hours then put them on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet in the oven. The extra air flow around the entire wing will make them extra crispy. The veggies here are a collection of ones I wanted to use but you can use whatever you prefer.
Summer Pizza Dinner
*gluten free
Honey & Burrata Roasted Veggie Pizza
I love a good pizza or flatbread, but being gluten free I have to think about what I can and can't eat a little more than before. I've found a pizza dough and bread dough that I can make in about 2 hours (including rise time) that makes incredible pizza.
This pizza was a bit of a mixed bag of toppings but it worked in our favor. Do yourself a favor and add burrata, roasted veggies and honey to your pizza the next time you make an at home pie.
Summer Grilled Dinner
*gluten free & diary free
(most of these recipes use beer as the moisture for the chicken, but since beer = gluten we just do chicken broth in the can and it turns out just as good!)
This is arguably one of our favorite summer dinners. It's a whole grilled chicken, some sort of salad on the side - this one was a Tuscan antipasto salad and homemade gluten free focaccia.
A whole chicken on the grill is the easiest thing you just need a charcoal grill (it doesn't work well on gas), this pan, and a whole chicken. It takes about an hour depending on the size of your chicken but you're left with a beautifully cooked, slightly smokey whole chicken that's good for 2-3 meals depending on the size of your family.
The BEST Gluten Free Homemade Focaccia Recipe
I can take absolutely no credit for this recipe, but I have finally started to get the hang of it and have made a few loaves of absolutely perfect gluten free bread. I use the King Arthur Test Kitchen Garden Gluten Free Focaccia Recipe and it's been the perfect compliment to so many summer dinners. A few notes about the recipe:
- The dough should be very sticky and soft after mixing like alarmingly so
- I use the dough hook on my kitchen aid mixer and let it run about 2-3 minutes
- I use the dough proof setting on my oven and let it rise the full amount of time suggested
- I normally just use the 00 Gluten Free Bread Flour from King Arthur but the last time I used a mix of that flour and the King Arthur 1-1 Gluten Free Four and it turned out really well too
- I like to brush it with some olive oil right before baking
- Adding tomatoes to the top during baking makes it a little watery for my liking so I just normally add some fresh rosemary or basil to the top
Easy Summer Snacks
*gluten free
Yogurt Bowls
One of my favorite summer snacks - whether it's an evening snack or a mid-afternoon treat - is a sugar free, gluten free yogurt bowl. You can make this to your own preferences so easily but to get a fully spectrum of healthy fats, cultures, and carbs I like to create them using:
- Organic White Mountain Bulgarian Yogurt - this is a no-sugar, fermented, probiotic yogurt that is no as thick as Greek Yogurt and definitely doesn't hurt my stomach.
- Walnuts or Walnut Butter – an excellent source of nuts for the day!
- Bananas
- Blueberries
- Purely Elizabeth Grain Free Granola
- A drizzle of local honey
What to Do with Grilled Chicken Bones
I rarely buy chicken broth or bone broth in the grocery store because 1. have you seen the price? 2. I make it at home.
It's the easiest thing to make and as long as you have a high quality, organic, pasture-raised chicken you can make anywhere from 3-4 quarts of bone broth from each chicken.
After cooking, I clean the excess chicken off the bones and add them to a crockpot with:
- whole garlic cloves
- tumeric
- apple cider vinegar
- knob of ginger
- organic carrot tops (that I always have frozen in my freezer)
- any leftover onions/carrots/celery
- Celtic sea salt
- filtered water
Let that cook in your crockpot on low for anywhere from 24-48 hours. Decant into quart containers and freeze.
Of course this isn't everything we eat in a week. Our breakfasts are typically either Avocado Toast with a poached egg or Oatmeal with fruit and nut butter for variety. And lunches are easy, no fuss meals like leftovers, sandwiches, sometimes a cauliflower crust pizza, etc.
I'd love to know what your favorite summer meals are. Leave a comment on my latest Instagram post or visit my Pinterest Recipe Board and share your favorite meal!