Barbeque season is here. We don’t have an outdoor space for grilling, so we find ourselves traveling to friends’ backyards or porches to cook outside during the summer. I’m always on the lookout for a good salad that will transport easily and taste delicious alongside some grilled meats. This salad does the trick and is nice to look at, too.

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Continuing the resolution theme, I bring you a delicious salad dressing. Bryan and I make a salad every night as part of our dinner. He is in charge of washing greens and I usually throw together a quick vinaigrette. It is one of the few kitchen constants at our place, and so of course we sometimes get bored and feel the need to mix it up. Mixing it up usually means a variation on the vinaigrette—wild, I know. I am happy to have found this wildly exciting garlic dressing in Andrew Carmellini’s Urban Italian. read more+++

A couple of years ago, Bryan and I went to Spain with his family. We stayed in Marbella, a town in Andalusia that provided us with a good location from which to explore southern Spain. I completely fell in love with the region, especially the food. I ate gazpacho at least once a day for the entire week we were there and I never had a bad bowl of the stuff. Even the cartons of gazpacho that were sold at grocery stores were oddly satisfying. I came home vowing to continue to eat the cold tomato soup as often as possible—but like most plans made during travel, this one was never realized. In fact, I have gone through two tomato seasons without a drop of gazpacho. Not this year.

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Bryan hates tomatoes, I love tomatoes. This recipe is for all of the tomato lovers in the world. It is simple. Go to your market (or backyard) and find a few perfectly ripe, juicy, tomatoes that are free of pesticides. Heirlooms would be great. Rinse them. Slice them. Drizzle some decadent creamy dressing on top and enjoy.

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Here in the Midwest we are hovering between seasons. Winter is over but spring produce is just starting to trickle into the markets. Consequently, I end up eating some strange things that don’t necessarily belong to any season. This salad is a good example. It was inspired by something I ate at Hot Chocolate a couple of months ago that stuck in my head.

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Right after graduating from undergrad, I was lucky enough to spend a month traveling around Europe. It was the first time I had been out of North America and it was a real adventure. In Florence we ate at a small family-run restaurant that we discovered by chance while wandering around one evening. I remember everything being lovely but I have never forgotten the onion soup I had that night. It was a puree of onion and at the time I thought it was the best thing I had ever eaten. That flavor has stayed with me all of these years and I have often lamented the fact that I didn’t record the name of that restaurant so I could go back.

I was excited to see this recipe for an onion soup in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit and hoped it would live up to my memory of that soup in Florence. read more+++

I’ve been overloaded with sweets this week. The kind of overload that normally occurs later in the year with the arrival of the holidays. All of the sugar has me wanting fresh greens whenever I can get them— I need to balance out this crazy diet of mine somehow. I was getting a little bored of my standard vinaigrette and thought I would start mixing it up a little with some variations on the classic.

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After my success with the quick refrigerator pickles, I was eager to pickle anything I could get my hands on. I pickled some red onions, which Bryan and I enjoy on everything from salads to quesadillas. Then, I came across this recipe of Molly Wizenberg’s for pickled peppers and immediately went to my farmers market to get some mini bell peppers. read more+++

I’ve been eating this salad a lot lately. Tomatoes are getting good and tasty and we need to savor them while they last. They are one of those fruits/vegetables that can really blow your mind. The difference between a good one and a bad one is night and day. I came across these good ones at Green City Market. Big, juicy heirlooms in an assortment of colors that make for an elegant arrangement on your plate. read more+++

I love pickles. All forms. All vegetables. Pickled onions, turnips, cucumbers, peppers. Bring. Them. On. Until last week the only thing I pickled on a regular basis was red onions, which I love on salads and on top of tacos and other Mexican dishes. (I love this recipe for quick pickled onions) Then I found this super fast and easy recipe for spicy dill pickles and am currently on my second jar of them in less than two weeks. They are perfect. read more+++