Simple Summer Salads!

My menu is a bit sketchy this week. We're still trying to sell our house and we've had a lot of people coming to see the house around dinner time. Today we had to be out of the house at lunch time and dinner time! I'm running low on energy to cook a big meal and still keep my kitchen spotless for a house showing. So, we will probably eat out a lot this week or have simple things like quesadillas.

Instead of pretending like I'm going to follow a menu this week, I just want to share two salads I made and LOVED this weekend. I hope you enjoy them too. Both recipes are from this cookbook I found at my inlaw's house. I made 5 recipes from the book and we had ZERO leftovers...which was actually disappointing!

Here's the salads!

5 Minute Greek Salad

(this is a photo from the photo in the book because I ate the whole salad before I took a photo!)

Sweet Jicama Salad

This is also a photo of the photo from the cookbook. This was SO YUMMY served with tacos!

What is your favorite summer salad?? I would love to try it when I finally sell my house and can use my kitchen again! I would love to create a post with everyone's recipes next week. Please email it to me: nicolebuhlerRD@gmail.com

What to eat in the heat!

Our glorious extended spring is OVER and the heat of summer has arrived. Never ending ninety degree days are in our foreseeable future. Using the oven is a big no-no at my house during the summer. Our AC doesn't work well and the house is always uncomfortably warm; using the oven would exacerbate that.

Since oven-baked anything is a bad idea, and even the thought of boiling water makes me sweat, I plan to serve up simple no-cook wraps and summer salads. Not only are they healthy, but also inexpensive, delicious and filling on hot summer days. Here's my no cook healthy menu for the week:

Monday: leftover barbacoa meat from sunday dinner + tropical cabbage salad

Tuesday: hummus, tzatziki, tabbouleh on naan bread + mango smoothie

Wednesday: tuna or chicken salad wraps (tuna mixed with mayo, whole wheat tortilla, lettuce, bell pepper strips) + watermelon

Thursday: going on a long trip - leftover wrap sandwiches

Friday: rice and bean salad + watermelon

Saturday: cafe rio salad (canned black beans on quesadillas with salad greens, store bought cilantro lime dressing and pico de gallo)

The Weekly Spread: Attempting to love my insta-pot

I'm not a fan of kitchen gadgets. I have a small kitchen and I like to keep things simple. I was gifted an insta-pot a few years ago, but mostly just use it to make beans. As I am packing and moving, I rediscovered my insta-pot and decided to give it another chance. If it's taking up space on a shelf, I better figure out how to use it!

Here's my insta-pot menu:

Monday: insta-pot pepperocini beef sandwiches (put steak in the instpot with pepperocinis and cook 70 minutes then put it on top of rolls for sandwiches) + cabbage/ramen salad + watermelon

Tuesday: Ground beef tacos + whole wheat tortillas + rice/bean salad + watermelon

Wednesday: Instapot cabbage soup + store bought rolls + grapes

image from feasting at home

Thursday: instapot chicken + tortillas + mango spinach smoothies

image from spendwithpennies.com

Friday: Food truck meal at Utah Art's Festival (there are activities for kids and it's free for kids to enter, we rarely eat out, as you see on this blog, but when we do I try to make it a cultural experience!)

Saturday: leftovers or tortillas w/cheese and beans