Poolside: Swimming Pool Cuisine

A man and woman next to a grill cooking food

It’s time for the fourth installment in our series on how to best enjoy your swimming pool, from reading choices to lights and speakers, to furniture and gadgets.

Everyone loves to eat and swimming and basking in the sun can bring on an appetite. Here are several dishes that make perfect poolside snacks and/or meals.

Fruit Salsa with Baked Cinnamon Chips
A healthy snack to munch all day long is salsa with your favorite chips. Fruit Salsa with Baked Cinnamon Chips is a refreshing twist on the traditional salsa recipe. Perfect for backyard barbecues and swimming parties, this will only take about 15 minutes to make but you’ll enjoy it all afternoon.

Frozen Fruity Yogurt Bites
This item is extremely popular with the kids. Make a batch the night before and freeze ‘em for the little swimmers who’ll be at your swimming pool party. These will be gobbled up quickly in between their cannonballs and water fights.

Nutella Fudgesicles
Just read that title again slowly. N U T E L L A   F U D G E S I C L E S … those two words together are enough to make you salivate. Are you kidding me? Chocolate and hazelnut fused and frozen together so you can carry it around in your hand on a stick? Where do I sign up?

Pickle Roll-Ups
Salty and sweet is a pleasant combo with these easy-to-make snacks. Lay four stacks of two corned beef slices on a cutting board, slather cream cheese on them, and top it off with a medium-sized dill pickle. Now wrap it up and slice into four equal pieces. The cream cheese serves as the mortar in these pickle-brick snacks. Once you put these on the plate they will disappear quickly. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Who doesn’t love to dip cookies into a glass of milk after a day of splashing in the pool? As a bonus, bake the cookies with the kids the night before for another family activity. Expert tip: for extra gooey goodness, use large chocolate chips.

Pizzadillas
Whip these up quickly in the kitchen and serve a platter to your hungry swimming guests. Feel free to mix it up a little by using your favorite pizza ingredients, say substitute mozzarella with feta or mushrooms instead of green peppers, etc. Expert tip: include a side dish of tomato sauce for dipping.

Frozen Fruit
Directions:

  1. Buy or pick grapes
  2. Put the grapes in your freezer
  3. Serve the grapes
  4. Feel refreshed

Cranberry Almond Berry Bites
You want something silly-easy to make? Here you go. What’s great about these types of snacks is that you can make them, freeze them and enjoy them at a later date.

Chicken Bombs
Grilled chicken filled with cheese, bacon, and jalapenos. These take a little more preparation and time, so plan accordingly, but ultimately you’ll have a tasty meal.

Grilled Turkey Burger
You didn’t think we’d forget to include a burger, did you?

The great thing about a turkey burger is how lean and juicy it is. That’s the start, but the fact is that turkey burgers aren’t as naturally flavorful as beef. However, when you add generous amounts of herbs and spices the flavor jumps off the patty like a 12-year old off the diving board. (But without splashing all over you.)

This burger recipe is easy to prepare and heart-healthy too. Pair it with some vegetables and an ice tea and you’ll be fully fortified for your day at the swimming pool.