Tips for lighter fare on July 4—or any other time.

Independence Day is filled with fun, fireworks and food. Lots of food. While we’re big fans of cookout favorites like burgers and baked beans, we like lighter fare, too. Here are a few ways to make healthier summer drinks, salads and main dishes at your next cookout.

Light, refreshing drinks

While water is always a healthy choice, it doesn’t provide the flavor hit most of us like. For hydration and a delicious taste, try these alternatives:

• Sparkling water with your favorite fruit juice
• Put cubed watermelon and a peeled cucumber in the blender and puree; then finish it off with lime juice and mint leaves
• Mocktails such as a Cranberry-Basil Spritzer are refreshing for adults and kids. Get this recipe plus 39 more from Woman’s Day

Take salads to extraordinary

It’s easy to get into a rut when making salads, but it’s also easy to transform them into something extraordinary. To inspire you, here are five fabulous recipes from Food Network:

• Grilled Potato Salad with Bacon-Scallion Vinaigrette
• Orzo Salad with Shrimp and Feta
• Grilled Romaine Salad with Blue Cheese
• Crunchy Avocado Salad
• Grilled Corn Salad with Lime, Red Chili and Cotija

To make recipes with mayonnaise even lighter, substitute the full-fat mayo with light mayo or light sour cream, advises the Cleveland Clinic.

Rethink the main dish

Steaks, burgers, BBQ chicken and hot dogs are mainstays for most cookouts. However, you can do your body a favor by reducing red meat and sugar, which is often found in BBQ sauce. When you want to try something lighter, swap out traditional grilled foods for one of these tasty options:

• Fresh fish – grill then whole, as filets, or skewer them on a kebob
• Make veggies the star. For inspiration, check out these 20 great grilled vegetable recipes from Food & Wine
• Amp up the flavor with BBQ sauce alternatives like hoisin sauce, chili-garlic sauce or chimichurri

Enjoy your cookouts!

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