Summer and the oven don’t really go together.  Even if you have air conditioning, turning on your oven heats things up and makes everyone uncomfortable.  And really, do you crave a hot meal in the summer?  Sure, things right off the grill are tasty but when it gets hot all I want are nice cooling meals. 

And an entire watermelon. Always watermelon.

I came up with this quick dinner idea when I was out of taco shells and it was blazing hot outside.  There was no way I was turning on the oven, but I needed something for dinner.  So I steamed some fish on the stove with a little Italian seasoning, added some raw bell pepper slices, and layered them into romaine lettuce “tacos”.  I topped it all off with some salsa of course.

The best thing about this is that you can use whatever you want to fill your lettuce tacos.  Egg salad, lentil taco mix, shredded pork, ground turkey or beef, really anything that you would put in a taco you can put in this lettuce taco boat.  It adds a nice cool crunch to your meal, gets in extra vegetables, and best of all no oven.

So if you’re struggling with the heat and trying to come up with quick oven-free meals, give this one a try!

Lettuce Taco Boats

• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 1 bell pepper (or celery or carrots or any other crunchy vegetable), sliced
• meat or filling of choice, I used halibut (ground turkey, beef, shredded pork, hard-boiled eggs, cooked quinoa, brown rice, or lentils could all be options.)
• seasoning of choice, I used 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning but you could do chili powder, chop seasoning, steak seasoning, curry powder, garam masala, za’atar, whatever you want.
• salt and pepper
• optional toppings: salsa, guacamole, avocado cream, sour cream, hummus, BBQ sauce, shredded cheese, squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

1. If you’re using fish, fit a medium saucepan with a strainer and add about a cup of water to the pot.  Cover and turn on high.  Season both sides of the fish with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and then place in the strainer and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes.
2. When the fish is done, take it out of the strainer and shred it with two forks into bite-size chunks.
3. Cut the bottom off the head of romaine lettuce and separate the leaves.  Rinse and pat dry with a paper towel and then load it up with filling, vegetables, and toppings of your choice!