Satisfy Your Heatwave Hunger in Style

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From sweet and spicy to smoky and cool, these dishes are made for sunshine and appetite. Whether you’re firing up the grill for BBQ Bourbon Burgers, digging into Stuffed Pepper Soup, or chilling out with Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies, there’s something here for every summer mood. Keep things fresh with Greek Tahini Chicken and Feta Orzo Bowls, or cool and creamy with Kalamata Yogurt Sauce served alongside your favorites!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Bowl filled with hearty stuffed pepper soup, displaying colorful peppers, meat, and rice, ready for consumption.
Photo credit: Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Think of Stuffed Pepper Soup as the easier, spoonable cousin of a classic dinner dish. It’s hearty, wholesome, and a sneaky way to eat more vegetables without trying.
Get the Recipe: Stuffed Pepper Soup

California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad

roasted sweet potato kale salad on a plate with avocado
Photo credit: Ambitious Kitchen

This California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad makes a vibrant, feel-good lunch or side dish, bursting with flavor from creamy avocado, dried cranberries, and a garlicky tahini dressing. Naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, it’s easy to customize to suit your tastes or dietary needs.
Get the Recipe: California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad

BBQ Bourbon Burger

close-up of juicy barbecue bourbon burger with tomato, lettuce, and onion on a bun
Photo credit: Salt and Lavender

If you like your burgers with a kick, the BBQ Bourbon Burger is here to show off. It’s smoky, saucy, a little sweet, and entirely too good to share.
Get the Recipe: BBQ Bourbon Burger

Greek Tahini Chicken and Feta Orzo Bowls

Greek Tahini Chicken and Feta Orzo Bowls | halfbakedharvest.com
Photo credit: Half Baked Harvest

Meal prep just got a Mediterranean glow-up with Greek Tahini Chicken and Feta Orzo Bowls. Whether you serve it warm, cold, or straight from the container at your desk, it’s a customizable bowl of fresh flavor and feta joy.
Get the Recipe: Greek Tahini Chicken and Feta Orzo Bowls

Copycat Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

overhead view of copycat raising canes chicken fingers and sauce.
Photo credit: The Cookie Rookie

Copycat Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers are the fried fantasy your drive-thru budget dreams about. Crispy, golden, and dunked in that dangerously addictive sauce, this recipe brings fast food energy home.
Get the Recipe: Copycat Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe with Marinated Feta

featured image 2 for Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe
Photo credit: Not Entirely Average

This Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe with Marinated Feta is everything a summer side should be—crisp, cool, and packed with Mediterranean flavor. With Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, briny olives, and creamy marinated feta, it’s finished with olive oil, oregano, and toasted pine nuts for the perfect refreshing bite.
Get the Recipe: Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe with Marinated Feta

Kalamata Yogurt Sauce Recipe

a salmon slider, with kalamata yogurt sauce
Photo credit: Not Entirely Average

The Kalamata Yogurt Sauce Recipe delivers big, briny flavor in just five minutes. With tangy Greek yogurt, finely chopped olives, and fresh herbs, this sauce is perfect as a dip for veggies, a topper for grilled seafood, or a spread for wraps and sandwiches.
Get the Recipe: Kalamata Yogurt Sauce Recipe

Peanut Butter Brownies

peanut butter brownies.
Photo credit: The Big Man’s World

Rich, fudgy, and ready in a flash, Peanut Butter Brownies are what happens when peanut butter and chocolate decide to show off. They’re gluten-free, decadent, and totally capable of disappearing in one sitting.
Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter Brownies

Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies

cranberry orange cookies with dried cranberries and orange icing drizzled on top arranged on cooling rack.
Photo credit: Sally’s Baking Recipes

Tart, sweet, and dressed in sugar like it’s a party, Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies are buttery little show-offs. Slice, bake, and boom—you’ve got cookies that taste like the holidays without the hassle.
Get the Recipe: Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies

Vegan Pasta Salad

A bowl of pasta salad containing cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, and fresh herbs, with two serving utensils.
Photo credit: Love and Lemons

Fresh, crunchy, and smugly dairy-free, Vegan Pasta Salad is the potluck hero you didn’t know you needed. Packed with veggies and tossed in creamy tahini dressing, it’s sunshine in a bowl with zero guilt.
Get the Recipe: Vegan Pasta Salad

Spicy Maple Dijon Grilled Brussels Sprouts

Spicy maple grilled brussels sprouts on skewers on top of parchment paper
Photo credit: Ambitious Kitchen

Spicy Maple Dijon Grilled Brussels Sprouts are the sassy little skewers you’ll actually want seconds of. A little sweet, a little heat, and a whole lot of charred deliciousness—this side dish steals the show.
Get the Recipe: Spicy Maple Dijon Grilled Brussels Sprouts

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About Jenny deRemer

I am a Charleston, South Carolina-based culinary novice, an ardent authority on all things travel, a designer by trade, and the creator of Not Entirely Average. I have a weakness for farmers' markets, delight in adventures way off the beaten path, enjoy documenting my many moods through photography, and have been known to conquer the occasional yard sale with gusto!

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