Bust-a-Rut Summer Recipes!

July 13, 2021

We all have our go-to recipes for the seasonal menus of our lives – and summer tends to include more sandwiches and salads, less oven-baked dishes, and more meat magic from the grill. If you find yourself in a rut this summer, here are a few recipes that will help you out of it!

Easy Dinner Ideas for Summer

Credit: Teri Lyn Fisher

From grilling recipes to Instant Pot® dinner ideas, these summer weeknight wonders are quick, easy and perfect for a delicious family meal.

Garlic Butter Shrimp and Corn from the Food Network comes together in a flash and with a little fennel and cherry tomatoes, the combined protein and veggie meal is broiled for only eight minutes. Or use your air fryer on the toaster/broil setting and keep the kitchen cool. Topped with feta, fresh basil and a squeeze of lemon juice, this is the ultimate collection of recipes for all shrimp lovers. And, you can be eating in the time it takes to set the table!

The Food Network collection leaves no food group untouched, there’s more seafood, but also Steak and Potato Kebabs with asparagus in between, and Tofu Lettuce Wraps. You’ll find a refreshingly simple Chilled Zucchini Soup and Instant Pot Greek Chicken Bowls, too, among the 80 recipes here to add to your summer of fun food feasts.

Unbeatable, Repeatable Recipes 

Growing squash in your garden? Not only can the ubiquitous zucchini make a great cold soup, it can be stuffed, frittata’d, zoodled and grilled. And we’ll wager you’ll still have a few green gourds left for a zucchini bread bonanza. The Food Network comes through again with 50 recipes for your zucchini harvest, from waffles and tarts to fried zucchini sticks and parmesan crisps. It’s a zucchini-pallooza with enough diversity to make it all the way through summer.

For 74 more insanely easy summer dinner ideas, keep swiping through these Delish offerings to find pasta salads, fruit salads, stuffed avocados (with chicken salad), grilled meat recipes, Panzanella a few different ways, air fryer fish, chicken, and pork, plus tacos, roll-ups, enchiladas and more. 

Gazpacho is that warm weather favorite that requires no cooking and is the ultimate beat the heat at mealtime refresher. Food & Wine has some of the best gazpacho recipes from the classic version to a grilled veggies alternative (which adds a smoky flavor), to varieties with watermelon, cauliflower, green grapes, tomatillos, cucumbers and shrimp, and even habanero and poblano chiles and crab meat.

For 26 more cold soups to enjoy on hot summer days, click on this Food & Wine link. You’ll find chilled spring pea, avocado with crab, peach with goat cheese, fennel/grapefruit, Persian yogurt soup, tomato with goat milk, edamame and beet.

Grilling for Grownups

All Recipes is another favorite fallback and its grilled chicken and steak recipes include salads ranging from a fruit plus greens combo with toasted almonds and red wine vinaigrette to Amy’s Barbecue Chicken Salad with French fried onions, ranch dressing, and barbecue sauce — for a nice southwestern flair. Keep scrolling for a Caprese Salad with Grilled Flank steak, which is not just easy to make, it tastes great, too.

Another great grilled steak salad recipe – this one from Delish –also uses a balsamic vinegar dressing and blends sweet sections of peaches with savory skirt steak, grilled however you like it. Sliced over peppery arugula, adding crumbled blue or feta cheese gives it a little extra punch of yum, making it a recipe to repeat.

We’ll let the Pioneer Woman tell us what to make for dessert, because she does it so well. From Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce and her version of Strawberry Shortcake, to Bananas Foster and Blackberry Cheesecake Squares, these dessert ideas will quickly soothe an aching sweet tooth.

So Many Options, At Southshore!

Summer is our favorite time of year and summers at Southshore offer a bevy of events and activities around the neighborhood, at nearby at Southlands (did you know concerts are back?!) and at the lake. Floor plans and designs at the master-planned community are on display in the models from Taylor Morrison, Richmond American Homes and Toll Brothers (and coming soon – Century Communities!). Enjoy Life at the Lake in a new home priced between the $400s and the $700s.