August is usually the preverbal farewell to summer (and summer break!), which can turn this ‘after the 4th of July’ month dry. However, there’s nothing to prevent you from spicing this month up by squeezing fresh produce for all its worth before fall hits!

You can whip up a summer picnic! Healthy and delish, these two recipes will hopefully inspire you to savor the last memoirs of summer and head outdoors, armed with a picnic that offers a classic and waistline-savvy bit of summer in every bite! Here, we’ll focus on fresh ingredients, and although canned, jarred, or processed products will do in a pinch, the taste of fresh foods is extra-special.

“Not-So-Chicken” Ranch Salad Shish Kebobs
Whipping up a classic chicken ranch salad with crisp veggies and tender, crunchy breaded chicken (all smothered in a creamy ranch!) with low-calories can be a challenge. But with a homemade low-fat ranch dressing (no preservatives, artificial additives or mayo) and vegetarian chicken nuggets, this summer special at a low-calorie cost can be yours! Stick it all on a skewer and keep the ranch separate for ultra-portability to the backyard picnic!

Directions
1. Whisk all dressing ingredients in small bowl until smooth, and refrigerate, covered, for at least 24 hours.

2. Prepare Boca Chik’n Nuggets as directed on bag. Let them cool while you assemble the rest of the salad.

3. Chop lettuce into large 1 ½ inch chunks. Peel the carrot, (leave the skin on the cucumber, since it contains most of the cucumber’s vitamins and will look better on the skewer; just be sure to wash it well!), and chop the carrot and cucumber into ½ slices.

4. Layer the ingredients by poking them onto a skewer in this order: lettuce chunk, cooled Chik’n nugget, carrot, cucumber, and lettuce chunk, again (repeat this layering until the entire skewer is used up).

5. Pour the refrigerated ranch into a zip-top bag and keep cool with the salad kebobs, until ready to use. Then, simply snip the tip of the bag off and squirt ranch over the shish kebob.

Lemon Ice
This Lemon Ice is what I like to consider the official grown-up version of the classical summer popsicle, or a virtually non-fat version of ice cream! Best of all, it only requires four simple ingredients, it’s loaded with fresh vitamin C, and you get a yummy frozen treat without churning or special machines!
Directions
1. After you’ve grated the lemon peel, roll each lemon on the counter firmly under your palms. Cut them in half and squeeze the juice, over a strainer, into a measuring cup until the lemon juice hits the ¾ of a cup mark.

2. Stir all ingredients together in medium saucepan and bring to a boil for about five minutes.

3. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.

4. Pour into a glass or other heat-safe container and freeze overnight.

5. Scrape with a large spoon into shaved lemon ice and serve immediately.

Tips, Tricks, and Extras
• For the Salad Shish Kebobs: Yes, 24 hours is a whopping amount of wait-time for your homemade ranch to chill in the fridge, but the flavor improvement will be well worth it! Also, try not to make the kebobs too far in advance. Why? Because  everything will get mushy. Feel free to add low-fat cheese chunks to the skewers for some extra calci-yum power!

• For the Lemon Ices: Yes, you can use commercial, pure lemon juice (unsweetened) instead of fresh lemon juice, but the final product will be a little less tasty. Don’t worry about defrosting the ice until it’s easy to shave. Because of the sugar, it’s pretty easy to scrape away at straight from the freezer. Also, this lemon ice will get more crystallized over time, so try to eat it all up within the first week that you make it.

Brittany Perry enjoys eating every last bit of homemade lemon ices and cooking in the Sunshine State with her family, no matter season it is!