Summertime Side Dishes and Sips

*I was gifted La Croix sparkling water in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions in this post are 100% my own (and my little guy’s).

Summertime is synonymous with cold salads and refreshing drinks.  A few weekends ago we had some friends over to relax by the pool.  We love to entertain so once the date for the event is on our calendar, we get to work on planning the menu!

SUMMERTIME APPETIZER IDEAS

Food is my husband’s area of expertise. We made two types of salsas, a watermelon salsa (recipe in a future post) and a corn salsa – recipe below!

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 ears of corn
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper, for taste
• 1 Poblano chili pepper
• 1 medium orange pepper
• 1 medium yellow pepper
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

Shuck the ears of corn, wash, dry and place onto tin foil sheet.

Sprinkle corn with salt, pepper and olive oil.  Wrap the corn in the tin foil and grill over medium to high heat for 15 minutes, turning frequently.

At the same time, douse the yellow, orange and Poblano peppers with salt and pepper and add to the grill (you don’t need to wrap these peppers in tin foil).

Remove the vegetables from the grill and let cool.  Unwrap the corn.  Put peppers in a bowl, covered in saran wrap and let cool.  This will allow the skins to be a lot easier to remove.  I’d wait about 10 minutes for everything to cool.

Remove the skins from the peppers and dice all into a quarter inch pieces.  Remove the kernels from corn cobs.

I love using the tool in the pic – I stand the corn cob in a small bowl and literally just shave the kernels off.

Put diced peppers, corn kernels and diced onion into a bowl and add cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, lime juice and olive oil.  Stir to combine all ingredients.

ON TO THE REFRESHMENTS!

We invited a few families so we needed to make sure we had something for everyone in the beverage department as well.  I love to infuse water with different fruit – it adds a nice flare and I think it helps people to drink more.  Hydration is key – especially in the hot summer!

One of our favorite fruit infused waters is with watermelon and basil.  We purchased this container at Bed Bath and Beyond – it comes in so handy.

Another option that went over very well was our outdoor mini fridge filled with La Croix drinks.

I love the new flavors – especially the kiwi sandia and mure pepino.  Apparently my son does too.

Normally I would be a little hesitant to let him drink more than water, milk, and OJ but when I read that there is no sugar and no caffeine in La Croix, I gladly told him to choose his favorite flavor .

La Croix is now his new “soda” and I couldn’t be happier.  His favorite flavor is the mure pepino, which is blackberry and cucumber.

OK now it’s your turn…what do you like to serve when you have friends over for a summer get together?