Heavenly Homemakers

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Easy Side Dishes for Summer

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This Easy Side Dishes for Summer post can be your go-to for Simple Meal inspiration!

I’ve found that meals are easier to put together in the summertime. Why? Because there are so many great fresh side dish options available. Stores and farmer’s markets offer more fresh fruits and veggies compared to cold weather months, making it super easy to set out lots of tasty side dishes without much effort.

I love it when my summer meals look like this:

It truly is so simple to make an easy main dish like grilled chicken, then set out quick, fresh sides. Steamed garden veggies, salad, and/or watermelon – these are no brainers and so refreshing on a hot day!

 

The more colorful the better. Setting out options like this is great for picky eaters. Even if each kid only chooses to eat one or two of these, at least they are getting something nourishing that they like!

Here’s an example of a super simple meal I made recently: Grilled Brats with Grapes, Carrots, and Sliced Cucumbers on the side. So easy! And so family friendly!

Here’s another picture that shares a great example of a simple main dish with easy sides. This was taken on a day that some of our friends gathered after church and worked together to put this meal together. Pulled Pork was the main feature with salad, chips, carrots, oranges, pickles, rolls, and berries on the side.

Easy Side Dishes for SummerYum

In case you feel stumped after a long, hot day and want some easy ideas or reminders for great sides to set out on the counter with your grilled meat or other main dish, look at these lists for inspiration!

No-Work Side Dishes

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Grapes
  • Cherries
  • Chilled Canned Fruit in 100% Juice (Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Mandarin Oranges)
  • Pickles
  • Olives
  • Chips
  • Chips and Salsa
  • Chips and Guacamole
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Baby Carrots
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

Minimal-Work Side Dishes

Salads

Store-Bought Sides

Consider picking these up at the store to have on hand to serve alongside grilled meat or other main dishes you prepare.

  • Bagged Salad Kits (I like to keep these on hand for an easy side dish my kids can make to go with our meals!)
  • Potato Salad
  • Macaroni Salad
  • Bag of Rolls
  • Chips

What easy side dishes would you add to these lists?

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Real Food Smothered Pork Chops in the Crock Pot

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You must try this Real Food Smothered Pork Chops in the Crock Pot recipe!

Yum

This delicious idea came about thanks to a great pork chop deal I got at Aldi recently. We prefer beef or chicken, but when the pork chops are originally only $3.29/pound, then they are marked down half-price, making them just $1.65/pound?? YOU BUY THEM ALL. Lookie there, bottom right. Four big packs of pork chops, filled with 12-16 chops each, marked down to only $4.00 per package. Crazy amazing!

So there I was with four big packs of super cheap pork chops. What’s a girl to do?

First, this girl did an online search for how to make Smothered Pork Chops in the crock pot – because that seemed like the easiest way to cook the chops. But wheat did your girl find?

Lots of ways to make Smothered Pork Chops with lots of Cream-of-Something soup.

Oh man. I don’t like cream-of-something soups.

Nor do I have much extra time on my hands to create recipes any more. But marked down meat calls for fast action (either freeze it or cook it asap, please, because it’s marked down due to it’s sell-by date). So I got a bit creative and wow are we happy that I did. Get yourself some pork chops and make these delightful chops. Your whole family will thank you!

This recipe seems “involved” but I promise it’s easy. I also promise that it’s worth the “effort” it takes to make the delightful gravy you will pour over your chops in the crock pot. If my kids gobble these up and ask for more – I think it’s safe to say that this recipe is a winner!

Real Food Smothered Pork Chops in the Crock Pot

Real Food Smothered Pork Chops in the Crock Pot
 
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Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 6-8 thin cut pork chops
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1-2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder, fresh garlic, or however you garlic your food
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 3-4 Tablespoons flour
  • 3ish cups milk or half-and half
  • 8-ounces cream cheese
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet, lightly sear pork chops in olive oil, seasoning with onion powder, garlic, and salt.
  2. Do not cook thoroughly - only cook both sides of chops for a minute or two each.
  3. Place chops in a crock pot.
  4. Add butter to the seasoned oil in the skillet, stirring until melted.
  5. Add flour to make a paste, then add milk or half and half to make gravy.
  6. Stir constantly until thickened, adding more milk as needed.
  7. Add cream cheese and stir until melted.
  8. Pour gravy over the pork chops in the crock pot.
  9. Cook on low for 4 hours until pork chops are falling apart.

 

We found that these Smothered Pork Chops tasted amazing over Stick of Butter Rice.

Watch for those meat markdowns – it’s a huge money saver!

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Make-Ahead Slider Sandwiches

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Make-Ahead Slider Sandwiches are freezable!

This has been such a sweet (well, savory, actually) discovery. Sliders are easy to make anyway, but to make them ahead and freeze them to bake and serve conveniently as needed? So great!

The most basic SlidersYum

I realize that there are super cool recipes out there for fancy sliders with really awesome ingredients that make people pass out in delight.

My sliders? Bread. Meat. Cheese.

That’s it. I’m feeding the masses every day (9-15 of us daily) and the multitudes on Sundays (25-45 for Sunday Lunches). My daily people are pretty picky, so simple ingredients are best. And when feeding lots of people on Sundays, I try to stay pretty basic when putting together food. Then people an embellish as they wish.

Speaking of embellishments

While I make my sliders with just meat and cheese, it’s very fun to set out all kinds of add-in or dip choices. Or favorites are:

  • Pepperoncini
  • Dill pickle slices
  • Honey Mustard
  • Ranch
  • Chipotle sauce

But with our without these add-ons, I can’t tell you how many compliments I get on my sliders. It’s literally just a bun with warm lunch meat and melted cheese. And they are a hit every time. One recent Sunday Lunch, there were 25 people gathered at our house and we ate our way through 72 meat and cheese sliders.

Which leads me to the “make-ahead” part of my post.

For that particular Sunday Lunch, I took just a few minutes the Wednesday before to make six 12-packs of sliders. When making them assembly-line style, and when filling them with simple meats and cheeses, it’s super easy and fast to make a lot at once.

Then I wrapped and froze them to thaw Saturday and bake on Sunday. What’s extra great is that I wrapped them in foil to freeze them, and baked them directly on the oven rack in their foil. There’s nothing easier.

Then the cheese melts and the meat heats and the buns toast – these are delicious.

Make-Ahead Slider Sandwiches

Step One: Slice a package of rolls open and place the bottom half onto a large sheet of foil.

Any rolls will work for these. Hawaiian rolls tend to be a favorite – but they can also be more expensive. I use whatever rolls I have. (We have the lovely perk of frequently bringing home free rolls from the Food Distribution site where some of the kids and I volunteer each week. I’m not picky, nor can I be because I’m not in charge of what gets donated to the site. So from this, I’ve learned that any and all rolls can be turned into Sliders.)

Step Two: Top the bottom half of the rolls with lunch meat, 2-3 slices deep. Our favorite is ham, with turkey coming in as a close second.

Step Three: Add sliced cheese. It’s fun to create a variety of Slider options, but our favorites are Colby jack and pepper jack cheese.

Step Four: Put the tops of the rolls in place, then wrap up the Slider Pack.

See how easy it is to do this “assembly-line” style?

Step Five: To freeze, put the prepared packs into gallon-sized freezer bags and label.

What if?

What if you took this simple idea and prepped several bags of these sliders for the freezer? Then, they will be available for a quick meal as needed. Just thaw, put into a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted, cut into 12 squares, and serve.

I’ve served these sliders with canned Tomato Soup, plus homemade Chili, and Taco Soup. They’d also be great as a “main dish” with a side of fruit and a veggie tray. So easy. So good. So fun.

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How to Make Eggs in a Nest

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You probably already know this little trick. But if not, here’s how to make eggs in a nest!

I go in phases of making these, mostly because I forget about them. So I figured I would post about this idea here as a reminder to all of us that this is a great and easy breakfast, lunch, snack, or supper!

Eggs in a Nest are fun because you can use a cute cookie cutter to remove the center of the bread. I’m told by experts (my children) that a cute center makes these taste even better. And here I thought it was the melted, browned butter that took them up a notch.

How to Make Eggs in a NestYum

This isn’t as much of a recipe as a little tutorial on “how I make this food.” Ingredients needed?

  • Bread
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Sea Salt

Step One: Cut out the center of a slice of bread with a small cookie cutter.

Step Two: Melt butter in a skillet or on a griddle. Put prepared bread onto the melted butter.

Step Three: Crack an egg into each hole.

Step Four: Sprinkle salt over each egg. Poke the yolk if you don’t like your eggs runny.

Step Five: Allow the eggs to cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip the bread/egg to cook the second side to finish cooking.

And that’s it! One of my tiny, very picky girls likes these so much she will eat three of them for breakfast!

Some of my other tiny picky children skip the Eggs in a Nest and go right for the center pieces. After I cook the above mentioned breakfast, I use the inside cut outs to make buttered toast on my griddle. These get gobbled up so fast that I’ve learned to cut an entire loaf of bread into small shapes and toast them on the griddle for our kids to enjoy.

Do you make Eggs in a Nest? Do you call them something different?

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Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars

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You’re going to want to make these Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars right away!

Many sweet years ago, you may recall that I created this Raspberry Oat Bars recipe. That recipe was a staple at our house when our big boys were little boys and then teenage boys. Any time I baked them, I switched out the raspberry jam with apricot jam or whatever jam we had in the house at the time, and we had a delightful time eating these bars as we all learned to love coffee.

Yes. These bars with coffee? The best.

Now here we are with those boys all grown up being adulty, and we’ve got a second set of kids who pretend to like coffee (what??! when have they had it?) and don’t like seeds in their jam. Raspberry Oat Bars are a no-go for them at this point. But no worries. I figured out a way to expand our Breakfast Food List that Doesn’t Make People Scream and Throw Food on the Floor.

Maybe.

Someone is still likely to throw these on the floor. But not because of raspberry seeds.

Anyway. Nutella. Spread a jar of nutella in the middle of these bars and the entire pan will be eaten very quickly. I still like these with coffee. Our little kids highly recommend them with milk.

Nutella Oat Breakfast BarsYum

Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars
 
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Serves: 24 bars
Ingredients
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups melted butter (4 sticks)
  • 12-ounce container of Nutella
Instructions
  1. Mix together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Stir in melted butter until the mixture resembles crumbs.
  3. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  4. Spread nutella over the top.
  5. Sprinkle remaining oat mixture on top of the nutella layer, pressing down lightly to cover.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

First layer down…

Nutella over the top.

Second oat layer sprinkled on…

Baked to perfection.

Tip 1: The Aldi Nutella knock-off is perfect in this recipe.

Tip 2: Use more or less Nutella as desired.

Tip 3: We already talked about the milk and the coffee. Grab a cup.

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Easy Cheeseburger Casserole

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I’ve shared a version of this Easy Cheeseburger Casserole here. But this is an even easier variety I’ve started to make, and I encourage you to give this a try!

This casserole is as easy as browning meat, then stirring in the other ingredients. Make it the night before, then bake it at dinnertime when you need it.

Two of my boys helped me make this recently, and took such pride in everyone loving their creation!

A little tip: Instead of topping my casseroles with cheese, I have learned to stir the shredded cheese right into the casserole with all the other ingredients. This makes the entire casserole cheesy, plus it prevents the cheese from sticking to the foil.

Easy Cheeseburger CasseroleYum

Easy Cheeseburger Casserole
 
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Serves: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 6 cups frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes
  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 2 Tablespoons mustard
  • 2 cups French fried onions
  • 2 cups shredded cheese (I use Colby jack)
  • Sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Brown hamburger meat until no longer pink.
  2. Stir cooked meat and remaining ingredients together in a large casserole dish.
  3. Cover dish with foil.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour.

Another tip: I like to set out some Bacon Bits for people to stir in if they want to. Then it becomes Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole – even better!!

Tip number three: Aldi carries a variety of Organic French Fried Onions that are inexpensive and super tasty!

Do I double this recipe and make a giant sized Cheeseburger Casserole for our family? Of course I do. The leftovers (if there are any) are great!

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Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

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Here’s how to put together Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos!

I used to make Breakfast Burritos like this – with Homemade Tortillas and Homemade Turkey Sausage. Wow. I was ambitious and I was able to use my time differently then.

Now, with a houseful of kids with special needs, food prep looks a lot different. Here’s the fastest way I’ve found to put together a large amount of Breakfast Burritos, and I highly recommend doing this! These go together fast, can be frozen if needed, and reheat easily in an air fryer or oven.

Here’s how I put together Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos
 
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Serves: 12-24 burritos
Ingredients
  • 1-pound ground sausage
  • 12-18 eggs
  • 2 cups shredded cheese
  • Sea salt and/or to taste
  • 24 small tortillas or 12 large
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet, brown sausage until no longer pink.
  2. Crack eggs directly into the skillet with cooked meat.
  3. Season as desired.
  4. Scramble eggs with the meat until fully cooked.
  5. Stir in shredded cheese until melted.
  6. Spoon mixture into tortillas and roll into burritos.
  7. Eat right away or refrigerate/freeze in freezer bags to warm up another time.

 

Breakfast Burrito Variations Yum

  • I make our Breakfast Burritos as simple as can be with eggs, sausage, and cheese. This is because we have a wide variety of specific food preferences at our house. Having just basic ingredients in our burritos allows each person to eat it as-is, add in extras, or dip their burrito in salsa or another dip if they want.
  • Any meat will work in these burritos. Sub sausage for bacon or ham for a great variation.
  • Use your favorite shredded cheese in these. Our favorite is Colby Jack – but cheddar, pepper jack, or even mozzarella would be good.
  • Use any size tortilla! I use small tortillas because we have small kids. The adults in our home easily eat three or four of these. Use larger tortillas for bigger appetites.
  • Some great add-ins for these burritos would be: tomatoes, onions, peppers, avocado, black beans, or salsa.

 

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Easy Chocolate Protein Mousse

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Wait until you try this Easy Chocolate Protein Mousse!

All it takes to make this Easy Chocolate Protein Mousse is four ingredients and a blender. Plus maybe five minutes of your time.

I decided that this is a perfect breakfast for our family, and none of my kids are arguing about it. When the ingredients consist of cottage cheese, honey, cocoa, and vanilla – why wouldn’t we declare it to be a great breakfast?!

Easy Chocolate Protein MousseYum

Chocolate Protein Mousse
 
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Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 3 cups 4% milk fat cottage cheese
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Serve!

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Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

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Need a great breakfast recipe that doesn’t call for eggs?! Introducing: Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies. Yep, I give all the credit to Angela.

Yum

Way back in October, you might remember that I shared that a long time reader, Angela, was visiting her sister nearby so she came by and spent the morning with our family. It was wonderful to meet her, get to know about her family, and to be prayed over by her.

Well, the day she came, she handed us a fun bag of goodies and one of the gifts included her Homemade Breakfast Cookies. I ate one then and there, and loved it. She was kind enough to later send me the recipe, and guess what happened next!?!?

I tucked it away and forgot about it.

Boo. I blame the holidays and freezing temps.

Anyway, this week, Angela emailed to highlight the fact that this recipe doesn’t include eggs. What with eggs costing $500/dozen (I slightly but barely exaggerate) – I perked right up! Ah yes, let’s dig that recipe out!

I had all the ingredients on hand. So right then and there, I thawed some bananas and made a double batch of these cookies. Then I poured a cup of coffee and ate two of them during Auggie’s nap. And then I sat down to write this so that you, too, can enjoy these amazing cookies.

Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies include wonderful, wholesome ingredients all while tasting so, so, so delicious. And the fact that the recipe doesn’t call for eggs is a huge perk as we might all be trying to ration our eggs right now (or if you regularly bake for anyone with an egg allergy).

Angela’s Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

Angela's Egg-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
 
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Serves: 18-20
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup (or honey)
  • ¾ cup peanut or almond butter
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2½ cups whole rolled oats
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix together bananas, oil, syrup, and nut butter.
  2. Add in salt, cinnamon, and oats and stir well.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop dough onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
  5. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned on the edges.
  6. Remove from oven and flatten each cookie slightly with a spatula.

What a great recipe to add to our collection of breakfast options!

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Easiest Chili Recipe

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Looking for the Easiest Chili Recipe? This has to be it.

I’ve shared other chili recipes with you through the years…

But after 30 years of marriage, feeding kids, feeding company, and making chili hundreds of times, I realized recently that I now have a favorite go-to chili recipe and it has yet to be shared here. Let’s solve that now!

Why is this my favorite chili recipe?

  1. Because there’s hamburger meat in it. This girl does like her beef.
  2. Because it comes together very quickly and with almost no effort.
  3. Because we can make it ahead of time and rewarm it when we want to serve it.
  4. Because it’s a perfect recipe to dump into a crock pot and have ready at dinner time.
  5. Because it freezes well. Might as well make a bunch and freeze some for another meal another time.

By the way. Have I talked about how much I love Rotel?

Probably not. But shucks if cans of Rotel haven’t become a buy-by-the-case-at-Costco-or-Sam’s ingredient that I must have in my pantry at all times.

There’s something about the flavor combination that makes food taste better. Like Rotel in this Spicy Ham and Potato Soup? I COULD EAT IT EVERY DAY.

And Rotel in this Easiest Chili Recipe? Yes, two cans please.

Look how easy it is to make this Chili:

  1. Brown hamburger meat.
  2. Stir in canned tomatoes and beans.
  3. Add spices.
  4. Simmer, slow cook, fast cook, freeze it, do whatever you need.

And after all that, serve it with Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, and Fritos. See? The Easiest Chili Recipe.

Easiest Chili RecipeYum

Easiest Chili Recipe
 
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Serves: 10-12 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground hamburger meat
  • 3 15-ounce cans beans (any combo you like and have on hand: pinto, red, kidney)
  • 3 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
  • 2 cans Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 Tablespoons chili powder (more if you like it spicier)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Brown hamburger meat and drain excess grease if needed.
  2. Add all other ingredients with the cooked meat into a pot or crock pot and heat until bubbly (Crock pot: low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours)

 

Want to make this chili stretch into several meals? Serve it with Baked Potatoes or Hot Dogs for Chili Cheese Dogs.

You are going to love how easy this is to make!

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