Healthy, Cool, And Delicious Summer Meals

If we let it, this Texas heat is enough to make us forget how thankful we should be. It can also make me want to stay as far away from an oven and a stovetop as possible.

But alas, we must eat.

And being blessed with working refrigerators and more than enough fresh ingredients from which to choose, cool and creative menu items have been on my mind.

Yesterday, I dreamed up a Greek salad which included stir fried chunks of chicken breast and quinoa, an amazing light and healthy grain which supplies six grams of protein per serving.

Preparing the quinoa according to package directions took only twenty minutes. I then spread it all onto a cookie sheet to remove the heat.

While that was going, I cut the chicken breast into small pieces, seasoned it with kosher salt and freshly ground peppercorns, and cooked it in a small amount of olive oil. This was also set aside to cool.

The Greek salad dressing consisted of olive oil, pomegranate infused red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, minced garlic, dijon mustard, Greek seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Shaking that up in a jar, I put it into the fridge to chill. You might consider changing over to homemade dressings instead of the bottled versions, because they truly are so simple, much healthier and far more delicious. Need a little help getting started? Just give me a holler through this site or facebook. I'm always happy to answer any questions.

From our produce fridge, I selected colorful artisan lettuces (straight from Salinas Valley, CA), a red onion, cucumber, and garlic. I also chose green and kalamata olives, feta cheese, and pepperocini rings. Grape tomatoes were taken from the countertop.

Prepping the salad ingredients took little time as I washed, sliced, chopped, diced, and tore according to preference.

Once the chicken and quinoa were cooled sufficiently, I added both to the bowl and put it all in the fridge until ready to serve. All that remained was tossing with the dressing, which I did at supper time. It was a complete meal I will definitely make again. And since I prepared more than enough dressing, that's one step I won't have to do next time.

If this sounds as good to you as it was to my whole family, don't hestitate to ask for more detailed directions.

Tonight's newly created menu is Grilled Fish Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw, Creamy Lime Dressing and Spanish Rice: all suprisingly simple, delicious, and definitely healthy. I've already gotten most of the prep done and I know my guys are going to love it!

In the meantime, stay cool....AND thankful!

Happy Eating!
Polly~ The Food Snob