Recipes: Easy Summer Favorites

This warm weather is divine!!! It's grilling season and all things vegetable and delicious are popping up everywhere!! So, I figured I would post some of my favorite summer recipes!! These are all easy and light, perfect for the summertime.

Yes, yes, of course some of them are my own shameless plugs, but it's because they are delicious and easy and I love them. Thanks!!

Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos

4-Ingredient Crockpot Pulled Pork

Cheesy Broccoli Bacon Quiche

Kickin' Grilled Shrimp

Open-faced Veggie Enchilada Quesadillas

(I throw these on the grill rather than in the oven.)

Grilled White Pizza with Bacon and Basil

Grilled Marinated Steak Kabobs

The Best Turkey Burger Recipe

Also linking up for: Little Friday || Treat Yo' Self Thursday || Thoughts for Thursday  || Create It Thursday || Artsy Fartsy Link Party || Creative Ways Link Party || Lovely Little Link Party || Full Plate Thursday || Thursday Favorite Things || Friday's Unfolded || Tuesday's Recipe Swap || Delicious Dish Tuesday || Tuesday's Table || Turn it up Tuesday || Tutorial Tuesday || Let's Be Friends Blog Hop || Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday || Handmade Tuesday's || Two Cup Tuesday || Tasty Tuesday's

Fresh Homemade Salsa

This is the first time I have actually remembered in advance to do Taste of Tuesday!!! Yay for me!!

Today I'm bringing you one of my favorite things to have on hand. You can use this as a regular salsa with chips or use it to put in pretty much any dish. I've put in on my cheeseburgers, in my chicken wraps, even in chicken salad. It's sooooo gooooooddd!!

Fresh Homemade Salsa

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 small red onion, diced

1/2 small white or yellow onion, diced

1garlic clove, chopped

1 lime, zest and juice

1 tsp olive oil (optional)

1/4 red pepper, diced

1/4 green pepper, diced

1/4 orange pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

4 roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 cup frozen corn

1 can black beans, drained

DIRECTIONS:

Dice the onion and garlic. Put it in a bowl with the juice and zest of the lime. Let site while you chop the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Serve immediately or refrigerate overnight.

YUM!!!

P.S. Go enter Lauren's giveaway!!


Linking up with Ashley and Jessica!!

Summer Kielbasa Mix

It's been a while since I've done a recipe. When The Goob and I thought this up tonight I figured it would be something good to put on here.

We had originally planned on making Jambalaya, but I wanted something to get me more in the summer mood. Unfortunately, Mike had already been to the store and we really didn't have much of anything in the house.

I checked out the stash when I got home and figured we could make do even without the corn and peppers that I would normally put in this. We did have corn on the cob, however, so we just ate that on the side.

Summer Kielbasa Mix

INGREDIENTS:

     1 package kielbasa of your coice, thick sliced

     4 red skin potatoes, cubed

     1/2 red onion, sliced

     1/4 zucchini, sliced or cubed

2 tbs (approximately) olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

     

DIRECTIONS:

     1. Turn your grill on high.

     2. Put everything together in a foil pouch. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

     3. Cook 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

     4. Eat!!

That's it!! So easy!! And it's sooo good.

Mason Jar Tiki Torch

I have been wanting to post this for a while but haven't for some reason. This was one of the easiest things I have ever done. It actually came about because a friend was coming over and I really wanted a porch night. The mosquitos were awful and I was going to try to set up the tiki torches outside of the porch screen but chickened out because I didn't want the screen to catch fire. I figured if I put them far enough away that it wouldn't it would be too far to keep the mosquitos away anyway so...

I just happen to be cleaning the porch of all the left over wedding stuff and came across some purple mason jars. I really wanted to do something with them so I put a few on the table. Just so happens that next to the mason jar sat the tiki torch insert. Hmmmm....so...I put one of the inserts into the mason jar and it fit perfectly!! Wonderful!!

A little suggestion....make sure you keep the wicks trimmed VERY low!! Otherwise you will get little black ashes all over everything including you!! 

Oh! And the mason jars I used were the bigger ones, just in case you're wondering why your tiki insert doesn't fit.

Summer Macaroni Salad

If there was one thing that I would find a hard time living without during the summertime, or anytime for that matter, it would be macaroni salad. I am in LOVE with it. I came across this recipe the other day from the Favorite Family Recipes blog. It's called Mom's Macaroni Salad and it is DELICIOUS!

Picture Source: favfamilyrecipes.com

I made a HUGE bowl of this last Monday and by Friday it was gone. Every time Mike walked into the kitchen he took the bowl out and scooped himself a bowl. I did make a few changes, as usual, so I'll mention them in the recipe, but I have full confidence that the recipe is amazing all on it's own.

Summer Macaroni Salad

INGREDIENTS:
     1 pkg. (1lb) macaroni (or shells)
     1 1/2 cup mayo
     2 tbsp. mustard (I used 1 tbsp. yellow mustard and 1 tbsp. horseradish mustard)
     1/4 cup sour cream (use greek yogurt to make it healthier!!)
     2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
     2 tbsp. sugar
     1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or to taste)
     ground black pepper (to taste)
     1 cup ham steak, cut into small cubes (I used a honey ham steak and grilled it just a little before cutting)
     1 cup cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes (I used shredded)
     2/3 cup frozen peas, thawed (I'm not a huge pea fan so I left these out)
     2-3 carrots, shredded (Mike gets bad indigestion from raw carrots so I saved myself and left these out, too)

Other optional add-ins:
     cucumber, peeled and diced
     dill pickles, chopped
     tomato, diced
     red bell pepper, diced (I actually did green bell peppers)
     celery, chopped
     *corn, canned or frozen and thawed (I added some frozen and thawed corn to mine, it added a great little crunch)
     *onion, diced (I love onion...so I couldn't leave it out)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Prepare macaroni to al dente according to package directions. After macaroni is cooked, drain and rinse in cold water. Once macaroni has cooled down, drain well.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine mayo, mustard, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss macaroni with ham, cheese, and whatever add-ins you choose.

Fold in Mayo mixture until pasta is well coated.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight.

If the salad seems a little dry after setting up overnight, add some milk a little bit at a time until salad becomes nice and creamy again.

Recipe Source: favfamilyrecipes.com