Iced Tea and Salad Weather

I agree with Sarah, it is too hot to cook. When it gets hot I love to eat grilled veggies, fresh veggies, luscious salads and sushi, and drink lots of iced drinks. I like iced tea, iced coffee, fruited water, Mojitos For All (recipe another day) and any other icy invention I can come up with.

My specialty in summer is salad. I love to make them. I love to invent them, quirk up a recipe or concoct. I rarely make one the exact same way twice because I like to play around with the ingredients. And I LOVE to eat them!

One yummy hint is to use lettuce, one kind of cheese, one kind of nut and one kind of fruit with a vinaigrette or fruit vinaigrette dressing. This is always yummy and gets rave reviews. And you can add chicken to make it a meal (think Hawaiian and use pineapple, cashews, grated swiss and some grilled chicken).

I have several favorite salad recipes and I thought I'd share one with you since I have BB anyway. I think I might have a picture somewhere. If I find it I will post it. Let me know if you like it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Do you have any recipes that don't heat up the house?



Luscious Salad

Put about 1 cup - 1 and 1/2 cups of slivered almonds in frying pan to toast (I don't really measure). When they begin turning light brown, add about 1/4-1/2 cup sugar and stir until sugar starts to melt. Be careful, it can start to burn really quickly. Turn out onto tin foil or waxed paper to cool.

While almonds are cooling, mix up a batch of dressing by adding about 1 cup olive oil (if it is warm enough for coconut oil to be runny not solid, I sub a tablespoon or so for same amount of olive oil) 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar and 4 T sugar. This usually makes enough for a pretty big salad. My family is fairly large:)

Concoct:I play around with pure maple syrup or honey too and it adds a nice flavor and often is sweet enough that I don't need any sugar. If you have berries that are still good but not very firm, you can blend them with the dressing to add even more fruity taste throughout the entire salad. Also, if you use any canned fruit, substitute some of the juice for some of the sugar and vinegar.


Put desired amount of lettuce varieties in large bowl, in bite sized pieces.

Throw in some thinly sliced celery and about a cup of dried berries. I have used cranberries and blueberries, but any dried berry - or even raisins would work fine.

Stir in dressing, just enough to coat what's in your bowl.

You'll want as many types of fruit as you can get for the rest, preferably fresh and local when possible. I like to cut up some of it and mix it in (do those that are more difficult to keep pretty when you cut, like mango), then I layer the others so it looks pretty. I love fresh peaches with mango, blueberries and strawberries best. But I throw in tangerines, bananas, pears, canned mandarin oranges -- whatever I have around and looks good.

Pour more dressing over top.

Break apart cooled sugared almonds and sprinkle evenly over top.

Sprinkle with about 3-4 Tablespoons chives.

For a twist, add some feta, grated swiss or other cheese. Or add some chicken chunks or a grilled breast of chicken on top. Depending on which fruits you use, grilled fish could be great too.