When mike’s LITE hard lemonade reached out to me about creating healthier takes on summer fare, I was more than up for the challenge! I decided to revamp two appetizers, one entrée and one dessert and did my best to make dishes made with wholesome, healthy ingredients that we can all feel good about eating!
And stay tuned at the bottom of this post (it’s a LONG one!) for an awesome giveaway!
Appetizers
For the appetizers, I created two different creamy dips that utilize Greek yogurt as the main ingredient: An almond butter and honey fruit dip and a savory veggie dip!
Both dips come together in a flash and can be made with ingredients you likely already have on hand. No fuss!
First up is the almond butter and honey fruit dip!
I served this dip with crunchy apples and sweet strawberries.
It was a hit!
Cinnamon Almond Fruit Dip
Ingredients
- 2 cups fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup all-natural almond butter
- 2 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds (+ more for garnish, if desired)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until completely combined
- Top with additional sliced almonds, if desired, and serve with fresh fruit
The veggie dip is super simple to make and only requires one mixing bowl, so dishes are minimal!
A quick note about this veggie dip: It’s also delicious as a sandwich spread! I love it on top of a whole wheat roll with avocado and turkey.
Savory Veggie Dip
Ingredients
- 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chopped scallions
- 1/4 teaspoon dried chives
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until completely combined
- Serve with fresh vegetables and enjoy
Entreé
When I set out to create a healthy entrée, I wanted to make a delicious burger. I decided to use lean ground turkey as a base and knew I needed to add a lot of spice and flavor to the turkey to kick it up a notch. The end result was a tasty southwest burger that Ryan and I thought was fantastic!
I made these burgers for the first time over Mother’s Day weekend and again during a casual cook out at our house in Ocala. They were a hit on both occasions!
A little sliced avocado on top of the burgers make them even better!
Southwest Turkey Burgers
Makes 4 burgers
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
- 3/4 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
- 3 tablespoons salsa
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 avocado, sliced
Directions
- Combine all ingredients except for the sliced avocado
- Using your hands, squish everything together and mold into four patties
- Coat a sauté pan with olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat
- Place the burgers in the pan and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side
- Top burgers with sliced avocado and desired toppings and enjoy
During our Sunday afternoon barbeque with friends, we all ate our burgers with the mike’s LITE hard black cherry lemonade. This flavor was new to me and I was excited to try it since I’ve enjoyed the original mike’s hard lemonade for years. (I’ve been using it to make an awesome sangria since college!)
After one sip of the mike’s LITE hard black cherry lemonade, I absolutely loved it! It’s sweet, refreshing and reminds me of the perfect poolside beverage.
It’s light and crisp and sweetened with a bit of honey which is right up my alley.
And here’s the quick and easy sangria recipe I’ve been making with mike’s hard lemonade for years, though I made it with mike’s LITE hard lemonade this time to stay with the “lightened up” theme of today’s post!
It’s incredibly easy to throw together in a flash and is a refreshing summertime sangria!
Lemonade Sangria
Ingredients
- 1 bottle white wine (Riesling or Moscato work well)
- 3 11.2-ounce bottles mikes LITE hard lemonade
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 1 lime, sliced
- 1 pint fresh raspberries
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and refrigerate for approximately two hours.
- Pour into glasses, garnish with a lemon slice if desired and enjoy!
Note: You may also add lemon-lime soda or lemonade to taste for additional sweetness and lemon flavor.
Dessert
Dessert! My favorite course!
When I think of summertime desserts, ice cream immediately pops into my mind. I could easily eat a bowl of ice cream after every meal and never get sick of it, so that was the dessert I decided to tackle to try to make a little healthier. By using my favorite banana “soft serve” as a base, I added cacao powder and almond butter to the cold and creamy banana to make a dessert that only tasted indulgent!
Ryan and I both gobbled this up in no time at all and it definitely satisfied our sweet tooth in a healthier way!
Chocolate Almond Banana Soft Serve
Ingredients
- 5 frozen bananas, sliced (the riper the better!)
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 3 tablespoons cacao powder
- 3 tablespoons almond butter
Directions
- Place bananas and almond milk in a large food processor and blend until creamy, approximately 5 minutes
- Add cacao powder and almond butter and blend until combined
- Top with desired toppings and enjoy immediately
And now you’re hopefully all feeling a little hungry and ready to get cookin’ in the kitchen, so let’s move right along to the giveaway portion of this blog post!
Three PBF readers will win a $100 gift card to use at the grocery store to pick up the ingredients you will need to make your own lightened up version of your favorite summertime recipes.
Awesome, right!?
To enter this giveaway, simply comment on this post by answering one (or both!) of the following questions:
- What is your favorite dish to enjoy at a summer cookout?
- What healthy dish do you like to bring to a summertime barbeque?
I will randomly select a winner on Monday!
Good luck!!!
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I always make a summer salad with spinach, berries, grilled chicken and avocado! It’s the perfect balance of lean protein, fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats!
To eat: my great aunt Karen’s peanut cake! Once a year indulgence!
Healthy: pure, simple watermelon
I bring fruit, or a vegan recipe that has been on my mind that I want to try out. Either way, I end up convincing people that healthier really does taste better!
My favorite dessert to bring to BBQ’s is a “strawberry shortcake”: angel food cake, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream. It’s so light and delicious!
I always take a salad to cookouts!
Favorite dish is fruit salad!
Those turkey burgers sound delicious! Great recipes for summertime.
Watermelon! Or I’ve it’s an actual dish that takes ingredients and stuff, I love a classic burger on the grill.
My favorite dish to bring is homemade coleslaw with a vinegar dressing instead of the classic cream-based one. I like the tart-sweet vinegar dressing so much better, and you don’t have to worry (too much) about food-borne illness like you do the cream-based one when it’s been sitting out on a hot day!
I always bring my famous summer time kale salad to parties!
I love to bring quinoa salads to cook outs. So easy to make and tastes delicious!
Fruit kabobs are a summertime classic and anything on the grill…especially pineapple!
I usually bring some version of a salad to cookouts! I also love grilled fruit.. mangos, pineapple, banana. These recipes look great!
I make a yummy salad of corn, black beans, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese. Refreshing and delicious side!!!
I LOVE to eat corn on the cob in the summer (especially when it’s grilled) !!! Living in PA, there is no shortage of it from local farm stands 🙂 When going to a cook-out, I recently found a recipe for a roasted veggie pasta salad with basil pesto that I could eat every day…
I love to bring a fruit platter with a dip very similar to yours!
S’mores are my favorite summertime treat:)
I love spinach dip made with greek yogurt for any gathering. In fact, I will be making it for father’s day. Yum yum. I can’t wait to try that black cherry lemonade by Mike’s!
my favorite summer cookout food is chicken kabobs! 🙂 thanks for the giveaway!!
We alway have lots of watermelon and strawberries at a bbq, they’re my favourite and someone usually brings a trifle, super popular at a british bbq 🙂 All those recipes look delicious and I love having banana as “ice-cream”!
Girlled vegggies kabobs and grilled fruit kabobs!
Love to enjoy a bratwurst with some grainy spicy mustard!
And I especially love to bring an always-hit healthy tex-mex risotto — Spanish rice with some black beans, salsa, corn, and avocado rolled in.
Does cold watermelon count as a dish? It’s my favorite seasonal fruit in the summer time. Or I love snacking on a corn/black bean salsa instead of the traditional tomato salsa. I’m a huge finger food eater, so anything that I can snack on is amazing!
A good burger is definitely my favorite meal at a cookout! I have recently started eating turkey burgers and they are my new favorite! I would love to make the almond butter and greek yogurt dip at the next cook out I go to!
I love grilled veggies. Also enjoy making better for you desserts and the crowd loving them!
My favorite dish at a summer barbeque is this corn, avocado and tomato salad I make…delish!
Grilled zucchini and squash fresh from the garden is my easy go to summer meal! Just a little olive oil and lemon pepper to season…easy and so good!
I think my favorite summer cookout food might have to be bratwurst dogs. Yummy!
pizza on the grill!
I love a good cheeseburger. I usually bring some sort of simple cowboy salsa. Four ingredients, it’s so easy but tastes like you spent a good hour on it. Corn, black beans, green onion, and a fresh garden salsa.
I am SO impressed with all of these recipes!! 🙂 I love how easy and simple they are, and the fact that I have pretty much ALL these ingredients on hand in my fridge right now!
I’m a sucker for chips and dip like you! My favorite thing to bring to a cookout is usually a simple guacamole, can’t be beat!
I love a good fruit salad with mint!
I love making a broccoli salad! It is something I know I can have a larger serving of and feel satisfied because it has broccoli, raisins and greek yogurt (with other ingredients of course 😉 )
I love making homemade humus and serving it with fresh vegetables! Such a great summer appetizer!
I am all about the sides, especially lightened up potato salad!
I love a good hamburger on the grill. I usually bring a cool corn salad to lighten things up a bit!
Oh that fruit dip looks good! I always look forward to the dessert…obviously 🙂
My favorite thing to enjoy? A nice, crisp, summer salad. Especially if it’s my Mother’s famous strawberry salad, I could never get enough.
Healthy? Grilled pineapple, it’s simple and so delicious. I love hearing how much people love it when they try it for the first time.
at summer cookouts, i can never get enough fruit salad! i like to bring grain salads with lots of veggies included…or a health(ier) dessert.
All these recipes look fantastic! I love my mom’s potato salad…and I usually like to bring fresh fruit and a salad so I have at least a couple guilt-free options!
We are from the south so deviled eggs are always on the menu! 🙂
I usually make a greek pasta salad for our summer gatherings! It’s delicious and easy to make!
Definitely going to try those recipes, they sounds great!!
Love summer BBQs! My absolute favorite thing to eat at them would be the grilled veggies. Somehow nothing seems to ever beat them for me!
I always love trying a new salsa recipe to bring. Full of beans and avocado. Served with veggies or chips.
My signature dish i
Does guacamole count as a dish? 😉
I have a love affair with pasta salads!
I love any type of cold pasta salad (usually unhealthy)! However my favorite thing to bring are fruit kabobs. I saw the idea on pintrest using berries and strawberries for a 4th of July treat and they were a big hit!
My signature dish is so easy but always a hit. Caprese salad with sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and drizzled with balsamic vinegrette.
I love making fruit kabobs and dipping them in Greek yogurt.
I like to bring cucumber sandwiches. Mix together light cream cheese and dry Italian dressing packet and let that sit over night to mix. Then spread the cream cheese on those little square rye breads and top each with a slice of cucumber. Delicious!
I love to bring a Greek Unsalad.
I will be trying out both the burgers and the Sangria this weekend!
Summer isn’t summer at my house without pasta salad. The salad is super easy. I mix tri-colored pasta, italian dressing, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots together and then chill for a couple of hours. Right before serving, I add a little more italian dressing and grilled chicken.