How are we at Kosher.com keeping our families and ourselves happy and occupied during long hot summer days? We asked the Kosher.com staff what they’re planning to do with food this summer beyond the usual weeknight dinners.

We heard back from them with tons of fun ideas. Hope we can inspire you to try something new!

Rorie Weisberg (Living Full ’n Free):

Smoothie pops. Simply make any smoothie recipe you like. Freeze them in popsicle molds or simple homemade version with plastic cups and wooden popsicle sticks. A perfect refreshing and healthy snack for hot summer afternoons.

Esty Wolbe (Easy Does It):

We are making frozen banana bites from my quarantine video.

Spaghetti hot dogs are a great dinner my kids love to assemble. Just poke spaghetti through hot dog pieces and boil for 10 minutes. 

I’ve also been dotting applesauce onto parchment paper and then freezing. Then I cut the paper into strips and they eat the frozen dots off the paper. It’s like healthy button candy. I use the flavored applesauce, strawberry or raspberry. 

Naomi Nachman (Sunny Side Up):

BBQ

pizza

making ices

making ice cream

hiring Naomi Nachman to do a family Chopped competition

making fruit kebabs

making sangria

cupcake baking

Chanie Nayman (Kosherdotcom Editor-in-Chief):

Eating freeze pops. And every so often my eight-year-old daughter makes a ‘day camp’ for my kids and a neighbor or two, and on the agenda is always fruit loop necklaces. They are now officially bought for that purpose. 

Leah Gottheim (Kosherdotcom VP):

I’m cooking my way through my physical, printed cookbook stack. Does that sound disloyal for someone at Kosher.com? But I love print cookbooks too. I’m trying out a few of my favorite good looking recipes from some of my previously-neglected cookbooks. From Irish Cooking to Cheesecake Love to Vegetarian Slow Cooker Meals, I’ve amassed an eclectic collection over the years. So far my favorite recipes I’ve made have been from Millennial Kosher and Perfect Flavors! I’m cooking some great Kosher.com recipes too, of course!

Nicole Oved (Kosherdotcom Temporary Marketing Assistant)

The summer I’m having a blast trying new recipes – especially unique ones from the site and my new cookbooks which I’ve been having fun with! It’s always fun to try new things and even when they don’t work out, just trying it out and seeing what we do and don’t like is a blast. Most recently I tried to bake General Tzo’s chicken – while it wasn’t a success (mainly because no grocery stores had hoisin sauce), it was a super cool test run! I’ve also made the Mediterranean loaded fries, chicken with broccoli, meat sauce ragu, and even the super popular chicken katsu to name a few – all were super delicious and loved by all! 

Elisheva Trebitsch (Kosherdotcom Temporary Editorial Assistant)

On rainy days, my family makes a simple sugar cookie recipe and then we get all different types of toppings and decorate them, and then we have a contest whose is the most creative, etc., and then we eat them for dessert that night! 

Naomi B. (Recipe Data Assistant):

My kids are adults already so I don’t deal with that stuff anymore, but for the record, I used to make them tuna salad faces: tuna salad with mayo and veggies of their choice on top in the form of a face with or without “hair.”

Renee Schwartz (Kosherdotcom Recipe Editor):

We will use food to review the alef beis this summer. Cut out alef shapes from watermelon using cookie cutters, ice cream for gimmel, sugar cookie lollipops for lamed…