Recipes that don’t take long to make but get the crowd asking for seconds are my favorite. These easy and delicious recipes will get you and your family coming back for more. So, whether you never stepped foot in the kitchen, are still figuring out how to use a food processor or are a veteran home cook, you’ll love these summer friendly recipes.
Halloumi Salad
Eat your veggies they say, but sometimes that’s plain ole boring. So here is a fun salad that’ll make veggie-eating a breeze and something to look forward to! I’d go through an era of making the same salads every day, to the point where I got tired of it and didn’t want to touch another salad again. I realized that in order to make salads attractive, you want to add fun and exciting ingredients to spice it up. We’re not cows who can live off greens alone; we need some fun salad toppers to entice us to take another bite. So, this Shavuot I made a delicious and crisp halloumi salad and ever since then, salads have been on repeat.
So, if you’re looking for a fun, summer salad that is easy to make and will fill you up, try this halloumi salad with pan fried golden brown Halloumi resting on a bed of mixed greens and sliced veggies. The Halloumi is so easy to make and reveals a delicious cheesy center. It’s filling, high in protein and has a bunch of delicious flavors from the dressing, veggies and obviously the star of the dish: Halloumi.
Ingredients:
Fried Halloumi Bites:
- 1 package of Halloumi
- 3 tablespoons flour
- Cooking oil
Salad:
- Spring mix
- Choice of veggies
- Choice of dressing—I used a balsamic vinaigrette
Instructions:
- Cut the halloumi into bite-sized pieces.
- While the halloumi is still wet, dip it into the flour.
- Heat up a pan with oil on medium heat, and place the breaded halloumi cubes on the pan once the oil is heated.
- Let it cook for 3 minutes and then flip over until golden brown on both sides.
- Assemble your salad, starting off with the base of mixed greens.
- Top it with your favorite veggies like tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, avocado, cucumber, etc.
- Top it with the fried halloumi bites on top
- Drizzle your favorite dressing and enjoy!
Cheesy Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Potatoes are famous for their french fries, hash browns, potato chips … but we need to give them some more attention for their cheesy, gooey, stuffed baked potatoes. This is an example of a lunch that is so easy to make and bursting with flavor, literally. You also have full creativity to stuff the potato with any veggies or ingredients that you’ll like. Customize this recipe until your taste buds are content.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 medium sized potatoes
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- Seasonings of choice
- Cooking spray
Instructions:
- Wash, dry and spread the potatoes on a piece of parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray and bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes. Stick a fork in the center to make sure it’s soft enough and let the potatoes cool.
- Mix the shredded cheese, sour cream and seasonings together.
- Once the potatoes have cooled, cut a circle in the center and scrape out the potato to carve out the center.
- Mix that potato from the center with the cheesy mix.
- Stuff the carved-out potatoes with this cheesy mixture.
- Put more shredded cheese on top.
- Bake again at 375F for 10-15 minutes and enjoy!
Samoa Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ice cream is a food group for me at this point and these samoa treats do not disappoint. They’re two delicious, no-bake, ultra-soft samoa cookies smothered in chocolate and frozen to harden, enveloping a delicious scoop of ice cream. These samoa cookies are made with a date caramel mixed with toasted coconut and topped with a chocolate drizzle. If we’re spending summer eating ice cream, let’s do it right and take it up a notch with these ice cream sandwiches. These cookies are also great on their own, so if you’re not in the mood for an ice cream sandwich, you have my permission to make just the cookies.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup packed, pitted and soaked medjool dates (soak the dates in hot water for 15 minutes to soften)
- ¼ cup nut butter
- 1 cup toasted coconut flakes
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dash of salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions:
- In a food processor blend the dates, nut butter, vanilla and salt until it forms into a paste/batter texture.
- Then, add in the coconut flakes and food process, stopping every few seconds.
- To make the samoa cookies: Either form them on a piece of parchment paper and create a hole in them, or fill the samoa batter into a doughnut mold and freeze for 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Pop out of the mold/parchment paper and dip one side of the samoa into melted chocolate and place on a piece of parchment paper. Drizzle the top with chocolate.
- Let it freeze for another 20 minutes.
- You can stop here and enjoy the cookies by themselves, but if you want to take it up a notch, add a scoop of ice cream in between two samoa cookies and enjoy!
Tali Chobara is a recipe developer who loves creating recipes that take minimal effort yet taste delicious. She started her Instagram account @behindthesnack back in 2019 and has grown it to 63K-plus fans, who all share the same love of easy and delicious recipes.
