6 oven-free summer meals
Summer is the prime season for filling your Instagram with snaps of colorful salads, sandwiches, and even veggie-filled, chilled soups. Of course, you don’t really want to have to heat up your oven in the process of making these trendy eats. So don’t. Try any of these six recipes to craft Facebook-worthy meals sans the sweat factor.
- Green Goddess salad [EatingWell]. You’ve probably drizzled Green Goddess salad dressing over your veggies before, but have you ever Pinterested hard enough to find a DIY recipe for it? This salad recipe includes the components to make your own Green Goddess dressing: avocado, buttermilk, various herbs, vinegar, and, believe it or not, anchovy. Blend them all in your food processor until smooth, then drizzle the homemade dressing over a blend of lettuce, shrimp, cucumber, tomatoes, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, and celery.
- Apple-herb club sandwich [Taste of Home]. Get out of your almond-butter-and-jelly rut and try this foodie-friendly apple-herb club sandwich instead. Your cubemate will think you’re pretty fancy when you explain that you DIY-ed your own spread, complete with a special blend of tarragon, thyme, and dill that you made at home. Go ahead; Facebook-brag about this turkey-ham-apple creation.
- Tuscan-style tuna salad [EatingWell]. Tuna salad is a summertime staple, but the standard recipe really has no place in your grown-up diet. This glammed up version does, though. White beans, cherry tomatoes, scallions, and olive oil and lemon juice jazz up your standard canned tuna in this easy, cheap recipe.
- Chilled avocado soup [Martha Stewart]. If you think avocado is only useful for guac and morning toast, then you’ve obviously never explored the array of other avocado recipes on Pinterest. Among them, you’ll probably find chilled avocado soup similar to this recipe from Martha Stewart. She breaks down the recipe simply: just add avocado, buttermilk, walnuts, dill, red onion, vinegar, salt, and water to your food processor or blender. Then whip it into a smooth consistency and chill for at least an hour. Voila! Soup you can eat in the warm summer sun.
- Shredded root salad [Health]. Who says a salad has to have greens to be complete? This shredded root salad packs antioxidant power with a blend of shredded root veggies including carrots, celery root, radishes, and beets plus chunks of a tart apple-and-yogurt-based salad dressing that you can make yourself. Lemon, mustard, and vinegar collide in the dressing, resulting in a tangy, savory flavor that highlights the natural sweetness of the veggies in your salad without adding any empty calories to the mix.
- Blender gazpacho [Martha Stewart]. Start up Snapchat before you begin the gazpacho-making process, because this chilled soup requires photographic documentation every step of the way. Start by pureeing cucumber, roasted peppers, and day-old bread (yup, you heard Martha) in the food processor, then add blended tomatoes, salt, oil, and pepper. Chill and serve in your cutest vintage bowls for the most powerful wow factor—and final Snapchat of your dinner.