Summer dinners are often made up of pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream. All these foods are high in calories and unhealthy fats. Therefore, adding healthy foods into summertime dinners can help increase the nutritional benefits and keep weight gain at bay. Healthy summer foods will provide rich amounts of fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Vegetable Kebobs
Grilling is a common form of cooking during the summer months, but many of the commonly cooked meats are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. Therefore, try grilling vegetable kebobs for a healthier alternative. Pick some of your favorite vegetables to place on the kebob, some possible vegetables to include tomatoes, squash, mushrooms and sweet potatoes. Place these vegetables onto the skewers and rub them with olive oil. Add a seasoning to the vegetables if it is desired such as barbeque sauce, grill rub or teriyaki sauce. Rotate the vegetables on the grill and grill them until they reach the desired tenderness. The vegetables will provide a fiber rich food for a summer dinner. High fiber foods help promote weight loss, proper digestion and can help reduce cholesterol levels.
Grilled Asparagus
Grilling asparagus is a simple way to add a tasty and healthy food to a meal. "The World's Healthiest Foods" website reports that asparagus provides high amounts of folate, vitamin B, potassium and fiber. Cover asparagus with olive oil and then flavor it with salt and pepper to taste. Place the asparagus directly on the grill and allow it to grill for about ten minutes. Rotate the asparagus throughout the grilling. Remove the asparagus from the grill and serve it will a favorite main dish or place it over some whole grain angel hair pasta.
Watermelon
Watermelon is a common healthy food used during the summer time. Add grilled watermelon to a meal or serve a watermelon salad. Place slices of watermelon on the grill for a couple of minutes and grilled watermelon will be ready to eat with any summer meal. Slice watermelon into bite size pieces and mix it into a salad made of spinach leaves. Add vinaigrette to add additional flavor to the salad. To add proteins to the salad mix in sliced almonds or walnuts. "Vegetarian Times" reports that watermelons contain a high amount of lycopene and lycopene helps reduce the risk of developing some forms of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Fake Meats
Using fake meats on the grill can provide a healthy alternative to commonly grilled summer meats. Meats such as beef hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwursts contain high amounts of unhealthy saturated fats, high calorie counts and high levels of cholesterol. Making the switch to soy meat products and bean burgers can increase the health benefits of a summer meal by significantly reducing the saturated fat, calories and cholesterol. Fake meat alternatives are available in the form of veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs and veggie bratwursts. Not all meat substitute creations can be cooked this way. Be sure to read the product label to determine if each brand of fake meat can be grilled.
Summer Spinach Salad
Make an easy summer spinach salad with baby spinach leaves and sliced almonds. Top off the salad with a tablespoon or two of bacon bits. Use a large or small bag of baby spinach leaves depending on how many people are going to eat the salad. Toss the baby spinach in a bowl with a cup of sliced almonds. Drizzle the salad with a small amount of a low calorie vinaigrette dressing and serve. The spinach based salad will provide high amounts of fiber and an assortment of vitamins and minerals. Also, the almond slices will add protein and healthy unsaturated fat.
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