A Perfect Summer Salad
Plus, adjusting to summer chaos and a slow cooker cookbook for summer
For some families, this was finally the last week of school. If this is you, welcome to the wonderful, frazzled, glorious, torturous season of summer!
I’ve been writing this newsletter in bits and pieces for the past two days, whenever I can steal a few minutes of time. I know I’m not alone when I say that summer now gives me a little bit of pandemic PTSD, when we were all trying to work and survive with the kids at home 24/7.
Yesterday, a friend and I were trying to set up several playdates for our kids. She was relaying their complicated summer schedule of two working parents alternating between working from home and the office so that one of them was always around to keep an eye on the kids.
“You can drop O off here,” she texted, “but our house is a bit of a hot mess so please don’t judge us - why is summer so hard?”
I think we should all agree this summer that there will be no judgment. All of us, and our houses, will be a hot mess at some point during summer break. In some ways, that’s what’s so great about summer. The kids (and the house) can get a little bit dirtier, routines can get shaken up, standards can get lax and the definition of dinner can be expanded to include things like watermelon and hot dogs or a bowl of cereal.
The dinner hour is also more flexible; some nights we eat at 5pm and some nights at 8pm. For this reason, I’m serving more dinners that can be made ahead of time and eaten cold.
Greek salad is a perfect example. I made this salad in the morning and then pulled it out for dinner at 7pm.
I could eat Greek salad all summer! It’s simple enough to make without a recipe and the flavors are bold and refreshing. Cold, crunchy cucumbers and bell pepper are tossed with juicy tomatoes, briny olives, sharp red onion and creamy feta. Add lots of fresh parsley, maybe a few sprigs of mint, a generous squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of olive oil and salt + pepper.
When we had Greek salad for dinner, I also served hummus and pita bread, which helped fill the kids up. If you need a heartier dinner, you can add grilled chicken or grilled salmon. Greek salad keeps well overnight, so I recommend making a big salad that you can eat again for lunch the next day.
Dinner Last Week
I’m always curious about what other families are eating. Aren’t you? Here’s what my crew ate last week.
Monday: Baked cod with mushrooms and breadcrumbs. I keep trying and mostly failing to find recipes that will make white fish, like cod and tilapia, appealing to my family. On this night, I baked cod fillets with sauteed mushrooms and shallot, topped with breadcrumbs and lots of butter. It got a lukewarm reception at dinner. Luckily I liked it, because it was my lunch for the next two days.
Tuesday: It was my birthday! We ordered in Cuban food and had strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Wednesday: Leftover Cuban take-out, which meant more delicious slow cooked pork, black beans and rice, plantains and sweet potatoes.
Thursday: Tofu, rice, steamed broccoli, seaweed snacks for the kids
Friday: Grilled salmon and broccoli (again)
Cookbooks
Slow cookers are often thought of as winter appliances that can slow cook soup, stew and hearty meat dishes. But! I think Crock Pots are even better during the summer when you don’t want to turn on your stove and your summer schedule demands easy dinners.
My favorite place to use a Crock Pot is at my family’s lake cabin during the summer. I can get dinner started in the morning, then spend all day swimming, hiking and relaxing. When we’re all starving at the end of the day, dinner is ready and waiting.
Nikki Sizemore’s Fresh Flavors from the Slow Cooker has recipes for appealing family meals with actual flavor. If you find slow cooker recipes to often be bland and mushy, give this cookbook a try. I bet you’ll find at least a few recipes to put in your summer meal rotation.
That’s it for this week! My 8 year old is watching You Tube craft videos while I wrap this newsletter up, so I must be going. I hope everyone is having a good start to summer. Even with its challenges, it’s a pretty great season.
xo
Jenny