The summer is hectic with play dates, summer camps and swim lessons, so it’s important to be prepared when it comes to feeding your children lunch.  Eating out can become a financial drain on the family and it also prevents your kids from new and different food experiences that the summer allows them to have. 

Chicken Skewers

 Summer is the perfect time to introduce new foods to your children.  It’s easier for you to find something new they like when you’re with them and can offer lots of options throughout the day, rather than risk sending them to school with a new food they’re unsure about.  At school, there’s usually a light snack and lunch and without something you know they’ll eat, a bad lunch could leave them hungry, tired and disinterested in learning. 

This summer keep your kids on a meal and snack regimen to ensure they’re getting the most out of every day.  Meals should consist of a protein, starch, fruit and vegetable and a snack should consist of a protein and a grain.  Treats are something completely different.  Those are the wonderful decadent sweets of summer that we all remember as being one of the best parts.  Kids need treats and need to feel like kids, but in moderation. Don’t let the treat be the meal.

This summer, take charge of your family and plan to try new things.  Now is a great time to jump in and get a head start to the coming school year. 

A few great recipes to get your summer started.  Serve any of these main course meals with vegetable platters, vegetable sticks, stuffed vegetables, vegetable chips and different varieties and combinations of fruits.

10 Great Recipes:

Fish Tacos 

            Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             2 pieces of tilapia or mahi mahi
•             1 lime
•             1-tablespoon Adobo Mexican seasonings
•             4 corn tortillas
•             1 cup shredded cabbage
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             1 avocado
•             Salt and pepper

            Directions:

•             Rinse the fish with cold water. 
•             Pat dry.
•             Sprinkle your chosen fish with the adobo seasonings and lightly coat fish with olive oil, while rubbing seasoning into the fish.
•             Season fish with salt and pepper.
•             Grill or broil for 10-15 minutes.  Rotate once or twice.
•             Place pieces of the fish into to warm tortillas and add shredded cabbage and sliced avocado, and let the kids squeeze on the lime.

Mini Chicken bar-be-que Pizza

          Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             2 whole grain English muffins
•             ¼ barbq sauce
•             Left over chicken (shredded)
•             1/2-cup mozzarella cheese
•             ½ cup Mexican cheese mix

            Directions:

1.             Separate the English muffins and layer them with barbq sauce, cheese and chicken. 
2.             Bake in a 350-degree oven for eight to ten minutes.

Beef and Chicken Skewers

             Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             1 chicken breast
•             6-8 skewers
•             2 tablespoons taco seasoning
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             ½ cup light sour cream
•             1/8-cup mild salsa

            Directions:

1.             Soak the skewers in water for ½ an hour (to help prevent them from burning)
2.             Slice the chicken or beef into long thin strips.
3.             Coat them with olive oil and taco seasonings.
4.             Skewer the meat onto the sticks.
5.             Grill for 10 minutes (five minutes per side)
6.             Set aside.
7.             In a mixing bowl combine light sour cream and mild salsa to create a delicious dipping sauce.
8.             Serve.

Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps

            Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             1-pound Ground chicken
•             ½ yellow onion finely diced
•             1 lemon juiced
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             Salt and pepper
•             4 romaine lettuce leaves
•             1 tomato diced

            Directions:

1.             Heat a sauté pan to medium high heat.
2.             Add olive oil and sauté the onions until they’re golden brown.
3.             Next, add the chicken and continue to cook until it’s white.
4.             Squeeze lemon and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
5.             Clean romaine lettuce leaves and cut about two inches up from the bottom off. That way it will roll easier.
6.             Place the chicken crosswise on the leaf and roll tightly. 
7.             Use toothpicks to hold them together.
8.             Serve.

Quesadillas with turkey, Swiss cheese, tomato and a light pesto

            Serves 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•            Sliced turkey or grilled chicken (leftover chicken will work, if it has undesirable seasonings on the outside, rinse them off)
•             2 flour tortillas
•             4 slices of Swiss cheese
•             4 pieces of turkey
•             1 tomato sliced
•             2 tablespoons pesto sauce

            Directions:

1.             In a non-stick sauté pan, heat all four tortillas until they are just beginning to brown.
2.             Remove and on two tortillas add Swiss, turkey or chicken, tomato, Swiss cheese, pesto and then the other tortillas. 
3. Place both tortillas back on the non-stick sauté pan at medium low heat and cook on both sides until the cheese has melted.

Hawaiian skewers with pork tenderloin, pineapple, green pepper

            Serves 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

             Ingredients:

•             1 Pork tenderloin
•             1 Cup pineapple cubed
•             1 green pepper cut into 1 inch squares
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             Salt and pepper

            Directions:           

1.             Wash and dry the pork tenderloin. 
2.             Remove all external fat.
3.             Cut the pork tenderloin into ½ inch pieces.
4.             Soak the skewers for 30 minutes before cooking with them.
5.             In front and behind the pork should be a piece of pineapple so when it cooks the pork has a nice sweet tropical flavor.
6.             Brush on the olive oil to prevent the skewers from sticking to the grill.
7.             Add salt and a little pepper and grill for 15 to 20 minutes on a medium high heat. 
8.             Serve.

Black bean and tofu tacos

             Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             1 can black beans
•             2 garlic cloves, minced
•             ½ tablespoon cilantro, minced
•             1-cup firm tofu (drained)
•             1 cup shredded lettuce
•             2 limes juiced
•             4 flour tortillas
•             ¼ cup Mexican shredded cheese
•             1 tomato diced 

            Directions:

1.             Salt and pepper the tofu and in a large sauté pan heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and sear the tofu on all sides.
2.             Next, add the garlic and black beans (drained and rinsed) and cook on a medium low heat.
3.             Add limejuice and cilantro.
4.             Cook for 10-15 minutes, and when the beans start becoming mushy remove from the heat and set aside.
5.             In the warm flour tortilla, stuff with black beans and tofu, lettuce, cheese and tomato.

Sausage, mozzarella and tomato sauce stuffed hoagies

            Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             2 Turkey sausages
•             1-cup tomato sauce
•             ½ cup mozzarella
•             1 small hoagie
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             Salt and pepper

            Directions: 

1.             Rinse and dry the sausages.
2.             Remove the meat from the casing into a sauté pan with olive oil on medium high heat for three to four minutes.            
3.             Salt and pepper the meat and cook for five to six minutes.
4.             Add the tomato sauce and continue to cook for two to three more minutes.
5.             Start at one side and, with using your fingers, remove the interior part of the bread, trying to leave the entire thing intact.
6.             Once the interior part of the bread has been removed, place the cheese to one side and then add the tomato sauce and sausage mixture to the other side.
7.             Serve.

Pulled pork on a whole wheat bun

            Serves: 2-4    Time:  3 hours minutes

            Ingredients:

•             1 5 lb Pork Butt
•             1 ½ cup water
•             2 tbsp Mary’s Spice
•             1-cup good barbq sauce
•             1 onion cut in half
•             2 tablespoons olive oil
•             2 Whole-wheat buns

            *Mary’s Spice-

•             1 tbsp garlic powder
•             ½ tsp paprika
•             ½ tsp chili powder
•             ¼ tsp cinnamon
•             ½ tbsp salt
•             ½ tbsp pepper

            Directions:           

1.  Rub the pork butt with Mary’s spices and a touch of olive oil.  
2.  Add a little olive oil to make it stick. 
3.  In a sauté pan on a medium high heat sear the pork butt on all sides.  
4. Then take it off and put it into a dish that is deeper than the pork butt is tall (a good roasting pan).  Add the barbq sauce and water to the roasting pan.  
5. Cover and roast at 325 degrees for 2 ½ to 3 hours.  The pork should be fork tender and extremely easy to shred.

Chicken Salad in a pita pocket with cucumbers

             Serves: 2-4    Time: 15-20 minutes

            Ingredients:

•             1-½ cups leftover chicken
•             ¼ cup mayonnaise (best foods)
•             2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
•             2 celery stalks diced
•             1-tablespoon raisins
•             2 tablespoons diced green apple
•             1 garlic clove minced
•             1 cucumber
•             2 pitas halved
•             Salt and pepper

            Directions:

1.             In a large mixing bowl, incorporate the chicken, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, apples, raisins, celery and garlic.
2.             Season with salt and pepper.
3.             Peel the cucumber and slice into thin circles. 
4.             Place inside the pita bread and stuff the pita with the chicken salad.

Happy Cooking!

Chef Mary

For more great cooking tips, recipes and stories from Chef Mary, visit her blog. To learn more about Chef Mary, check out her Hail Mary's Inc. Web site. E-mail questions for Ask Chef Mary Fridays to mary@hailmarysinc.com or click the Ask Chef Mary link above. 

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The information provided is general information about healthy eating. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice or treatment that may have been prescribed by your physician or other health care provider. Always consult a physician before starting any new diet or regimen. 

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