What's everyone's go to summer dinners?

[EnglishRose1320]

So I've got stuck in a rut with meals and I'm determined to shake it up. I've tried two new meals this week, a paprika chicken and roasted chickpea dish last night, which was okay but nothing amazing and a really delicious somerset stew with cheese & parsley mash this evening.

Please share your light, tasty summer ideas!

Ooh also should have said, am trying to eat 30 different plant based foods a week to see if it does improve gut health, so the more variety the better.

I'm getting back into my summer food too. It mostly revolves around grilled meats, green salads, pasta salads, and lots of garlicky, lemony, herby things like tzatziki, chimichurri, etc.

A couple of things I'm making fairly regularly at the moment are an aubergine and halloumi bake (delicious!) and herby/garlicky/buttery new potatoes (boiled then roasted).
We had them together the other night and it really reminded me of Greek holidays!

Tonight was poached salmon fillet, jacket potato and mixed salad (half the plate was salad with 5 different salad veg).

I eat a lot of salad in summer as I just don't fancy all hot food.

Tomorrow will be marinaded chicken, flat bread and yet more salad!

Oh and I have this with my salads to help gut health - it's very good https://www.lovingfoods.co.uk/products/ruby-kraut

Roast chicken, new potatoes and salad
Tuna pasta salad
Halloumi and couscous salad
Salmon with new potatoes and greens
Burgers with coleslaw and potato salad

Is our menu this week!

Summer rolls
Jerk chicken
Korean fried chicken
Soba noodles
Banh mi
Korean bbq
Fried rice
Stir fry
Sushi
Bao buns
Thai fishcakes

Ooh lots of lovely ideas, thank you.

@DiscoBeat, that Aubergine and Halloumi bake sounds great, do you have a recipe for it?

@Titsywoo I've heard good things about eating that, is it quite a strong flavour?

Definitely need to up my salad game!

No this one isn't too strong. There is a bit of a tang but mixed in with a salad it is really nice. I also got the normal sauerkraut which I haven't tried yet and the kimchi. I only add a dessert spoonful so the jar lasts ages.

Pls can I have the recipe for the aubergine/halloumi recipe.

Lots of salad here too. We do weird things like putting chopped fried bacon and a fried egg on a huge plate of olive oil dressed salad with fresh crusty bread for mopping up the juices! Ditto fried chicken breasts, in various marinades. Roast chicken with Mediterranean roast veg too. Pasta still features, fishy ones are nice when it is hot. Vongole or Salmon.

@EnglishRose1320 here is is!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/aubergine-halloumi-harissa-skillet-bake

@Summerishereagain here it is. It's delicious!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/aubergine-halloumi-harissa-skillet-bake

We had this tonight

Thanks @DiscoBeat

Looks lovely @PrincessHoneysuckle, have you added any flavours/herbs to your chicken? Always after ideas to make my chicken a bit more interesting in a salad.

Thank you. I looks amazing. The huffy kids won’t eat it but I’m going to make it.

Do you have a link for the halloumi and aubergine bake or is it your own recipe? Sounds delicious!

Sorry @DiscoBeat should have read the full thread, I can see you have already posted the link 😊

have you added any flavours/herbs to your chicken? Always after ideas to make my chicken a bit more interesting in a salad.

It wasn't me you asked, but I shake fried herbs/spices onto bith sides of chicken/fish before cooking. If I can be bothered I'll run it in with a bit of oil. Jerk seasoning, tandoori or tikka powder, zaatar, mixed herbs, cajun spice mix, fajita seasoning all work.

@Whataretheodds thanks, lots of great suggestions.

@EnglishRose1320 you have good timing. This month's issue of Waitrose's food magazine ran a feature on the 30 plant food way of eating and they supplied recipes. It's a good issue and I just read it on the plane yesterday, dogearing several recipes: https://digital.waitrosefoodmagazine.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=8b75218f-7711-421b-becd-8798f886329e

Ooh thanks @JingsMahBucket, will definitely have a read of that.

I was trying to work out how many of my 30 I'd ticked off so far this week, still getting to grips with what counts:

1.Nectarine
2.Pomegranate seeds

1. Bananas
2. Honeydew melon
3. Salad leaves
4. Cucumber
5. Peppers
6. Tinned tomatoes
7. Garlic

10. Onion 11. Leeks 12. Chickpeas 13. Butterbeans 14. Flagelot beans 15. Potatoes 15. Walnuts 16. Sunflower seeds

Then about to add

17. Aubergine
18. Haricot beans
19. Couscous
20. Grapes

Plus I've used various different herbs and spices but not sure how much of one, you need to use to count as a whole portion.

So getting there but definitely still have a lot of repetition in my diet, some of these things I could count several times over.

@EnglishRose1320 you're welcome! In the Waitrose article it says that herbs and spices only count as a 1/4 point because we use so little comparatively. Nuts seeds count as 1. That's on page 103 in the magazine. The whole article starts on page 98 though.

Thanks @JingsMahBucket , read the article last night and it helped clear up a few queries, also added some of the menus to my to try list!

I make a lentil salad with a pouch of cooked puy lentils, olive oil, soft herbs like parsley/basil/mint add tomatoes,onions,peppers, capers, olives anything you fancy really and then serve with griddled haloumi/fish/chicken/whatever takes your fancy