summersaladsIf you’re anything like me, you’re the kind of person who hates to turn on the stove in the summer. I’m not even talking oven. I’m talking stove. Burners. Flames. Heat of any kind.

To me, the best part about summer is the ability to eat fresh, clean, unadulterated foods. Salads that take minimal prep. Baguettes that can ripped open and served with a big hunk of cheese and some sliced meats from the deli.

Nice meats of course. Not that packaged stuff in the refrigerator case. But the kind where you have an actual conversation with the meat-slicing guy, specifying thickness and weight and watching him shave off mounds of prosciutto, mortadella and speck just to your liking.

Don’t get me wrong, I do turn on the oven or stove at times. It’s a necessary evil in the summers when you’ve got cranky kids at home who are asking for pasta. Or you want to grill or boil that bright yellow corn you just picked up at the farmers’ market. Make bacon-studded caramel popcorn. Bake a vat of nachos. The essentials.

But I’m not an air conditioner type of girl, I’d rather throw open the windows and let in the breeze. Well, nudge the windows open to the full width allowed by our child protection guards (that would be three inches). And with New York temps often above 100 degrees with the humidity, I try to minimize the use of our range as much as possible. For obvious reasons, I’d like to avoid creating Indian sweat lodge conditions inside our living room.

So in light of our range-free zone, I wanted to share a few salads with you that have been making their way through the rotation. No-cook meals that take minutes to prepare and take advantage of the super fresh and ripe produce available at this time of year.

These salads are perfect for a quick lunch. If they do end up on the dinner table, they’re probably best as sides.  On the occasion that I’ve served just salad, Rodney has claimed that I’ve put him on the starvation diet. At which point I tell him to go out and buy himself a burrito. Or make his own damn dinner. In the nicest way possible, of course. I know that he’s teasing. But seriously, I doubt anyone would starve after having been served a half block of Feta over a mountain of tomatoes. I don’t know about you, but I can stuff myself on a big salad any day. 

And by the way, in light of these summer salad quick fixes, I’ve started a new page on my blog called “Instagrammies” (Instagram + Recipes). I was taking pics of quick-fix lunches and dinners and uploading to Instagram, but felt like it would be useful information to share. All of these meals were pulled together after a scrounge of the fridge, nothing was pre-planned or pre-prepared. And they’re not full recipes, just the title and you can figure out the rest.  If you have any questions about the meals I post in that space, feel free to reach out.

 So enjoy the last few weeks of summer heat-free cooking. It’ll be over before you know it.

Salads:

1: Greens, cucumbers, radishes, heirloom tomatoes, basil and edible flowers, olive oil & vinegar, s&p, and burrata cheese

2: White beans, radishes, cucumbers, olive oil, big squeeze of lemon, and flaky sea salt

3: Baby heirloom tomatoes, French feta, sherry vinegar, olive oil, a heavy spray of Maldon salt & freshly-ground black pepper

4: Greens, vinaigrette, rotisserie chicken (dark meat please!), smoked ricotta salata and nectarines, s&p

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red_lentilsYellow lentils were a non-event this week as the kids felt that they tasted exactly like the brown lentils from their lentil soup. Snooze.

To make it a little more interesting for the readers at home though, here are some little-known factoids: Lentils (as Lauren pointed out) are actually seeds that grow in pods, usually two seeds per pod, and they were one of the first crops ever domesticated, between 9,500 to 13,000 years ago.

Maybe one day the kids will get as excited about lentils as I do. I just love them for their earthy taste and ability to take a starring role in just about any kind of cuisine. Hopefully next week’s challenge will be a little more talk-worthy, like the mangosteen, cuke-asaurus, and ugli fruit.

ME: These are yellow lentils. Cool, right? What do they look like?

LAUREN: They look like seeds.

ME: Sam?

SAM: Seeds.

LAUREN: They look kind of like flat chickpeas.

SAM: Mine is a circle.

LAUREN: All of them are.

SAM: A circled head.

LAUREN: A little circled head.

ME: What do they smell like?

LAUREN: Kind of nothing.

ME: What does it feel like in your hand?

SAM: This is my hand.

LAUREN: Kind of thickish.

ME: Oh it does.

LAUREN: What if we shake it?

LAUREN: Nothing.

ME: What does it taste like?

SAM: Can I have a spoon?

LAUREN: They taste like regular lentils. Like the lentils in lentil soup.

LAUREN: It tastes like real lentils.

ME: So did you guys like the lentils?

SAM & LAUREN: Yes.

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Date night beers

Date night beers! Those happen pretty frequently actually. The novelty of this situation is me wearing lipstick…trying out something new. You think Rodney would be into it, with his tomato fetish and whatnot. His compliment that night: “It looks like you’re for hire.” I know he was joking, but man, we all know every joke has a seed of truth. Personally, I think that I look like an undercover agent working the beat in East LA, bringing an informant in for questioning. 

This week’s Wordless Wednesday post is about things that don’t usually happen.  Puppet shows, mud pits, lunch at the Google cafeteria (!!), dog trickery. If I could have more weeks like this one, I’d be a very happy person.

I promise you that our dog isn't about to poop on the floor

Other things that don’t usually happen…well, typically my dog doesn’t like to squat and do a #2 indoors. After yelling and screaming at him to stop, he admitted that he wasn’t ACTUALLY going to do it – he was just yanking my chain. I don’t know why he’d pull a stunt like that. My theory is that he wasn’t getting enough attention, so he pulled the old fake poop trick on us. He definitely got Emma’s attention – that’s her in a blaze of blonde hair running over to smack some sense into him. So responsible and she’s not even 2.

Looks creepy, but it's cool. A friend doing some market research on his new toy business.

Other things that don’t happen often: our kids getting a one-on-one puppet show from a stranger in the park. OK, now that I’ve freaked you out, don’t worry. He’s a friend of mine, it’s all good. NYC parks aren’t being stalked by a man in black carrying finger puppets. You can all go out and play again.

Clearly I'm not working for the right employer- fried quail #google #cafeteria #nyc

Here’s something that I’d like to do more often, if you know what I mean (hint, hint, stranger in the previous photograph). An invite to the Google cafeteria where all of the food is FREE and made by real chefs. Like this fried quail. Why have I not been working at Google all my life?

Lauren caught two butterflies stuck together. Give them some privacy girl.

Up at the lake there were some rare activities as well. Lauren caught two butterflies “stuck together” (aka doing the reverse cowgirl). Maybe the birds and the bees will be the right way to frame that conversation down the road after all.

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blue_cheese 003

This is a story about birth. And food.

This is not a story about eating your placenta.  If you’re disappointed that I’m not going to discuss that in detail, I urge you to hop on over to this link. And by the way, does that make Kim Kardashian a cannibal? I love Hollywood trends. They make me feel so grounded.

I’ve never been good at giving birth.  Pregnancy, no problem, but birth, not my forte. After 3 pregnancies and 3 healthy kids, I’ve thrown in the towel because I don’t think I could take another delivery.

Lauren was my first, her due date in early December. But the date soon passed, then a full week, then two. Finally, a few days before Christmas, my water broke in the most dramatic fashion.  Think Niagara Falls but with slightly more water. 24 hours later, Lauren was delivered by C-section as I lay in bed, feverish, developing a case of pneumonia that would keep me in the hospital for 8 days.  But we made the best of it. Rodney and my family hauled the whole Christmas setup into my hospital room – the lights, the gifts, the “Baby’s first Christmas” PJs, the holiday tunes. There was barbeque delivery and champagne in plastic glasses. Although not our finest Christmas, it was easily the most memorable.

Sam’s birth 22 months later was a little easier.  A scheduled C-section, seamless, quick, except for the mounting anxiety that I’d be able to feel the surgery taking place.

“Do you feel this?” the doctor asked, poking around with a pointy instrument.

“Yes.”

(Ten minutes went by as they continued to prep me)

“Do you feel this now?”

“Yes.”

“OK, we’re going to give you a little more medicine.”

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rambutan 002

Similar to a lychee nut, a rambutan is a pod-shaped fruit that opens to translucent or whitish flesh.  The main difference between a rambutan and a lychee is the fruit’s exterior, which is covered in wiry little bristles.  Apparently the name rambutan is derived from the Malay word rambut, which means hairs. To me, it looks a little like Animal from Sesame Street, but without the face. Which, according to Sam, was scary. 

ME: This is called a rambutan. What does it feel like?

LAUREN: It feels wiry. Kind of prickly.

ME: Let’s shake it, does it make a sound?

LAUREN: Well, yeah, it feels a little like balls shaking around in it.

ME: I wonder if it’s going to be hard to cut.

ME: What’s it going to look like on the inside?

LAUREN: A seed! Orange! No, maybe peach!

ME: It looks like a…..lychee!

SAM: It looks like an egg.

ME: Smells a bit like a lychee.

SAM: It smells like a seed.

ME: We’re going to cut it open a little bit.

LAUREN: I think it’s still going to be white.

LAUREN: It’s not my flavor.

SAM: It’s not my flavor.

ME: Sam, you haven’t tried it yet.

SAM: Yeeeaugh.

ME: Again, Sam, you haven’t tried it yet.

SAM: I’m scared of the spikes.

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