Favorite No-cook (Or Little Cooking Involved) Summer Meal

Fresh mozzarella, tomato & basil salad with oil & vinegar.

Anything on the grill with a big green salad and fresh fruit.

I love chicken salad this time of year and BLT's. My mom used to make egg salad and tuna salad all summer long when I was a kid.

There is a local restaurant that we go to and my kids love ordering the cheese, fruit and yogurt platter. It is so easy we prepare it at home too. My kids have grown to love salad and making it too. They are 2 and 3 and love to tear the lettuce leaves, add grape tomatoes, croutons and shredded cheese. I usually pop in some fish sticks or tater tots for something hot and tasty too.
I hope you get a lot of responses to this question because I am a huge fan of quick and easy ideas when it comes to cooking!
A.

The other evening we had tuna with crackers and veggies with dip, fruit for dessert. (We had a picnic on the front porch). The tuna - my 3 yr old likes it with italian dressing on/in it. I've also done a mayo/Ranch dressing/pickles type of flavoring to it.

Taco salad! It's a little more work intensive than your meal, but I love it in the summer because it's a light meal that tastes great. The only cooking involved is ground beef, add taco seasoning. Chop up tomatoes and lettuce, add a drained can of dark red kidney beans, 2 cups of cheddar, mix in the ground beef and Thousand Island dressing to hold it all together. Throw some Fritos in there for some crunch (but don't mix them into the whole salad because they aren't tasty when they get soggy), and enjoy! (If you have a watermelon to serve with it, it's even better :D)

Asparagus (either baked or grill) with a touch of olive oil, s&p
Toast with butter
Lay asparagus on the toast and eat with fork and knife
Yummo!

Sliced fresh tomato with mayo, s&p

Triscuts thin crisps with whipped cream chees

Tostidos scoop chips with small piece of green pepper, onion, sprinkle of
cheese and throw it in the oven until the cheese gets gooey. Add a
spoonful of salsa, and your done! Forgot to say sour cream too!

Deli Flats bread with a slice of cheese, pop in the toaster oven instance cheese sandwich

We often do what we call 'munchies' for dinner...salami and cheese, olives, grapes, sliced apples and pears, grape tomatoes, sliced baguette w/olive oil...easy and delicious! Sometimes we mix it up and have goat cheese w/honey and more veggies...just whatever sounds good at the time!

Our other favorite 'easy' summer dinners are sandwiches:
~BLTEAO's
Bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg(fried egg, over easy), avocado and onion sandwich on toasted bread! YUMMY!!!
~Super Shaggy Sandwiches
Big loaf of french bread piled high with lots of meats and cheeses and veggies with cream cheese...like what Scooby and Shaggy would eat on 'Scooby Doo'...this is ALWAYS a big hit!

Another one is the ever so popular...
~Vegetable Pizza
Get a pre-made pizza crust--like Boboli (sp?) 'sauce' it with a layer of cream cheese, then add shredded carrots, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, red onions, cheese (optional) and salt and pepper! Way Yummy and NO cooking involved!

mango /corn/bean/ avecado salad (can also add rice and chicken). I season with a little rice vinigar, cumin, olive oil and eat with rosmarry sour dough bread. I use canned beans, fresh mango, avecado, and tomato. No cooking at all unless you add chicken.

It is so hot here most of the year we grill.. everything.. And lots of it so we can freeze it for later. It always tastes just as good microwaved to reheat..

Sausage wraps, Chicken fajitas, beef fajitas.. Instant beans- Bean and cheese burritos.

We grill lots of fresh salmon when it is in season.. (not good to freeze). We cook our rice in the microwave, grill asparagus, 4egglant, squash, Onions, .. All so good.

We purchase the thin frozen pizzas from Costco and grill them. It works best on a gas grill. Pre - Heat grill to med, then pop the frozen pizza directly on the grill. Cook for 12 min with lid closed. check the crust and decide if it needs 3 more minutes. Tastes like the fancy pizzas in restaurants.

Giant salads! All types of toppings. Homemade dressings.. so easy and so much better than any store bought.

HUGE baked potatoes cooked in the microwave, fill with guacamole, cheese salsa. Or sesame seeds , butter and a little lemon juice. Or left over chicken pieces with cheese, real bacon bits and sour cream.

Bagels with cream cheese, capers, tomato slices, sweet onions. lox..
Or cream cheese and apple slices..

Cold cereal with fresh fruit.

I make a quick enchlada sauce with plain tomato sauce, garlic, salt and chili powder and heat it. Then coat corn tortillas very lightly with veg oil, and wrap in tin foil, and heat in the oven until warm, you can steam these if you like for fewer calories, but it is more work. I dip the tortillas in the sauce, put it on a dinner plate, put a handfull of shredded iceberg lettuce (you can buy shreds for easy meals) put on a handfull of shredded colby, jack, or cheddar cheese, put on anohter dipped tortilla, and keep stacking for as many per person as you like. For extra zip, add a chopped onion, or some browned seasoned ground beef or shredded chicken from grocery (the pre cooked rotisery chickens.)

To save calories, for me, I skip the tortillas, and make mine an enchelada salad.

M.

We do a LOT of salads in the summer: Chef's salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avacado, grated cheddar cheese, sliced ham, sliced hardboiled egg, your fav dressing); Greek pasta salad (green and red peppers, cucumber, red onion, olives, feta cheese, fresh tortelini (cooked and cooled) and a dressing of 3T olive oil, 1T lemon juice, garlic, basil and/or oregano). I also make a cesaer salad (with or without chicken) where instead of crutons we use ravioli that's been fried so it's a little crispy. Just make sure to cool the ravioli or it will brown the lettuce.

One of my favourites from when I was a kid is a sandwhich with cream cheese and tomatoes (SO good). I also loved radish and cucumber sandwhiches, with just a little mayo and salt.

deli roast beef thrown into a really good salad. Yumm.

pasta salad with ham & salami.

My Gma's tuna salad: mac noodles, Miracle Whip, tuna, relish, & sweet peas. Weird combo, but very tasty. My family has been eating this for 50+ years!

I like doing soups in the crockpot. Our fav is meatball soup: jar of spagh sauce, 1-2 jars water (depending on how much you're making), 1 can of Italian diced tomatoes, large bag of frozen vegies, bag of frozen meatballs (I warm them in the oven before adding to the crockpot). Garlic, onion, S&P, & some Italian seasoning. That's it! Sometimes I add red pepper flakes to it.....sometimes we top it with Parmesan when serving. Yumm. Oh, & lemon pepper is very good in it!

Since I have an in-home daycare, I rely on my crockpot a lot. Toss the meat in.....8 hours later, serve with a salad & a potato. !!

When the boys were younger & my husband wasn't home.....we used to do Tea Party trays for dinner. Chunks of deli meat (roast beef, turkey, ham). Chunks of cheese. Pickles, olives, peppers. Crackers, fruit, & fresh vegies. They loved it for dinner. ....but you know what? By the time I cut up everything....it was time-consuming!

Oh, & the boys also loved having chunks of Velveeta with crackers & ....are you ready? Prunes! I always had to limit them on the prunes.....!! My husband was horrified that the boys loved that dinner combo!

Thanks for the memories!

BLT's This is esp. nice now that they have pre-cooked bacon.

one of my favorite things is to buy a pre-cut brown sugar ham (could be any ham, but i like the sweetness of it. and put cream cheese on a tortilla then some ham, and then some shredded sharp cheddar cheese. if i'm wanting a bit of salt i'll add garlic salt or seasoning salt to it. it is sooo delicious. i also pair it with pretzel sticks dipped in ranch. one of my favorite lunches. i don't make it for a dinner because my two year old doesn't eat it well (will take it apart and make a mess, lol) and i eat lunch after she does, cause her nap time is too early for me to eat lunch, but its just right for her, lol.

my fiance has been making meals out of pickles lately... and he's gotten me pretty addicted too.

Anything on crackers - tuna/chicken/egg salad, cold cuts, cheese, spinach dip - with fruit and/or raw veggies on the side is great.

K-Bobs!!!! Everything and anything we can skewer! Chicken, steak, with potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, onions, shrimp, everything sprinkled in garlic and pepper!!!!!
We love grilled lemon-honey chicken. Or grilled chx with peach surfing. Grilled peaches are amazing!!
My kids also love pasta salad with tuna. And sandwiches!!!