Easy Menu Ideas for a Healthy Summer Cookout
Are you worried about your health goals going right out the window with all the fun summer festivities? It’s easy to get off track, but no worries! Keep reading to see how to put together a SUPER-easy menu for a nutritious and healthy summer BBQ! SO simple to put together – and SO delicious!
This post was originally sponsored by JENNIE-O® but has since been revised.
The Challenge of Healthy Eating
When you’re trying to be healthy, do you ever have thoughts like this?
Oh, it’s Christmas, I’ll just have a few cookies.
It’s a wedding – I can’t say no to wedding cake.
Let me just finish this last cupcake. Tomorrow is the first of the month – I’ll start being healthy then.
Oh, it’s just me?
Staying on Track with Healthy Eating in the Summertime
I have the same train of thought when summer BBQs happen, too. We’re outdoors. We’re all chill. It’s like a party – it’s OK to splurge a little.
Trust me, I am not opposed to an appropriate, well-timed splurge, but I know from experience that too many ‘special occasion splurges’ equal an unfortunate string of unhealthy eating and derailed health goals.
No one wants to sacrifice good food when we’re enjoying ourselves with our family and friends – and honestly, you really don’t have to. There’s a way to put together a healthy summer BBQ that is delicious and nutritious at the same time.
Perfect Recipe for a Healthy and Nutritious Summer Cookout
We’ve already done it a few times this season, and there are a ton of great options for putting together an easy and healthy summer BBQ menu – one that kids and adults alike will love. We’re all about simple in our house because the easier things are, the more likely we are to do it. If it’s too complicated, it just doesn’t happen. So, I’m up for any and all hacks that make things easy.
So here’s how we pull off a simple, nutritious, healthy summer BBQ:
Appetizers:
Cut Veggies and Dip: They are so light that even if you’re mindlessly snacking while you’re chatting, you’re really doing no harm.
Organic Tortilla Chips with Salsa and Guacamole: This is our go-to just for about every BBQ!
Veggie Straws or Veggie Chips: A great salty alternative to more fattening potato chips.
Trail Mix: No need to be fancy – we just mix up cashews and raisins, and my 3-year-old twin boys love it.
Main Dishes:
You definitely could grill steak or chicken as a nutritious option. But to be honest, I sometimes stay away from that because it requires cooking to perfection with little forgiveness; And someone has to be pretty vigilant at the grill for that to come out just right. We’re aiming for simple.
Turkey burgers and turkey dogs are a great alternative to more fattening beef burgers and hot dogs – perfect if you’re carb conscious and looking for something nutritious.
If you’re hesitant to give up your beef products, you need not be! They are so good! I mean, delicious-good. I honestly do not miss beef at all.
JENNIE-O® has won me over big time and there are many others that are just as good. Even my little guy, who is 3 years old, loved the turkey dogs.
Side Dishes
Grilled Corn on the Cob: A little olive oil, salt, wrapped in foil and your good to go!
Cut Veggies on the Grill: Our favorites are marinated onions, zucchini, and peppers, but whatever your choice, you can’t go wrong. Skewers are another way to do it as well.
Cowboy Caviar – This is one of our favorites! You can use this as a side or with the tortilla chips also. It’s made with black beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, red onions, cilantro, with a lime vinegarette – and it’s SO good! You can get the cowboy caviar recipe here!
Green Salad: A salad is so refreshing on a hot summer day. Any variety will do. You can even throw the Cowboy Caviar on the greens, and you’re all set. For lots of delicious salad options, take a look at 35 (yes, 35) salads here!
Anything you served as an appetizer can be eaten as a side as well!
Dessert
OK, for desserts, let’s have a little healthy fun. Here’s a post I did because I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my sweets for summer – it’s 30 Easy and HEALTHY Summer Desserts (yes, I said healthy.). They are amazing! This is where I’d start first. Below, you’ll find some other easy and healthy ideas – kid-friendly, too!
Fruit Salad: All kinds of berries and melons, plus some pineapple – this is a super sweet and healthy treat. We love to make it look like a rainbow!
Fruit Skewers: Blueberries, strawberries, and bananas are an especially fun choice around the 4th of July, but all fruit tastes better on a skewer!
Homemade ice pops: We just blend any choice of fruit (we like the fruit cups in natural juices) with canned coconut milk. My boys ask for them all the time! (Usually 2 fruit cups with 1/4-1/3 cup of coconut milk will make 4 small icepop – see picture below for size reference!).
Watermelon Slices
Watermelon Slushies: Just puree watermelon and freeze it! Kids love these!
Frozen Graham Cracker Treats – OK, this technically isn’t a ‘healthy’ option, but these sandwich treats are typically fewer calories than most ice cream treats, and since it’s already portioned, you really aren’t doing much harm if you have one sweet treat at the end (just one, though!). You can find the recipe here for frozen graham cracker treats – use whatever color sprinkles you like!
Healthy & Nutritious in the Summer, All the Way
I’m determined that my goals to stay healthy and eat nutritious food won’t be chucked out the window this summer. There are a million excuses I could give at every event or BBQ, but it’s just so much easier to prepare a nutritious menu from the start. This menu is simple, the kids will love it, and you’ll be guilt-free at the end of your cookout. A win for everyone. It’s so easy to plan a healthy summer BBQ.
You don’t have to fall off the wagon this summer. I’ll be cheering you on!
Thoughts? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below!
