5 Recipes to Save for Summer

I will enjoy hot drinks and warm soups for a little while longer, but my thoughts are already turning towards summer! It’s my favourite season. I welcome the heat, the everlasting sunshine, the cobalt sky and the smell of water.

I also relish the foods of summer–I want to take a picnic to the lake, to push open the balcony doors and eat outside. We’re a long way from that, yet, but I’m already dreaming up menus!

Here are some of the foods I can’t wait to enjoy this summer:

1. Watermelon Limemade

This beverage is juicy, thirst-quenching on a heat-drenched day, and the most gorgeous colour of pink! What’s not to love?

2. Sauteed Summer Vegetables with Fish

You can make a wonderful dinner in minutes when you have lots of fresh summer produce on  hand! Toss vegetables into a skillet and saute with herbs and olive oil.

3. Tabouli

I call this “summer on a plate.” When summer comes, we’ll make this with peak-of-freshness tomatoes, crisp parsley, and tart lemon juice. It’s a perfect side dish, but we like to serve it with bread and cheese as the main part of the meal!

4. Banana Coconut Pudding

I shared this recipe in my recent post at The Humbled Homemaker. It makes a light and creamy dessert–no oven or stove use required, so it’s perfect for summer! The ingredients in it are naturally sweet (bananas, coconut milk, nutmeg) so there’s no need for added sweetener!

5. Plum and Black Raspberry Mini Pies

The woods in Michigan brim with berries in the summertime. In a good year, we can gather them by the bucketful! With each new batch we freeze half for winter and eat the other half fresh. One of our favourite ways to enjoy the fresh berries is with raw cream poured over, but I also love baking pies with them! I can’t wait to spend a morning in the woods with the deer, picking wild black raspberries again!

What are your favourite summer foods and dishes? What summer produce are you looking forward to picking/eating again? Check out my recipe index for more summer recipes, and follow my Summer Stuff board on Pinterest!