Highlights: Summer Salads

There are a lot of foods that characterize summer in my mind: ice cream, sangria, peaches, tomatoes.  And salad.  Since joining the CSA a few years ago, we’ve stuck pretty closely to only eating food that’s in season, which means we only have lettuce in the summer.  This works fine for me, I’ll be sick of green salads by the time September rolls around and it makes salad officially a food of summer.

Obviously, summer salads aren’t just limited to greens.  My Reader has been inundated with recipes for all sorts of summery, picnic-ready salad ideas.  Enjoy!

In yet another great Food Science post, Julie explores the best way to store lettuce.  I’ve had tons of success with produce storage bags for all my vegetables, but if she has great other suggestions.

One of the best things about salads is that you can combine several of your favorite ingredients together.  This Peach and Arugula Salad may be a perfect example of that.  I am so looking forward to local peach season.

The NY Times has this recipe for Golden Beet and Beet-Greens Salad with Yogurt, Mint and Dill, which sounds pretty awesome and a great way to utilize the whole beets we get from the farm.

Salads shouldn’t be too healthy—sometimes I like to load mine up with cheese and dressing and whatever else I can find.  I’d really like to try making this Not-Too-Virtuous Salad with Caramelized Apple Vinaigrette featuring bacon and an awesome sounding dressing. (via Serious Eats)

Stir-fry is one of my go-to meals, but in the summer it just doesn’t seem like the best use of fresh produce.  Thai Zucchini Impasta Salad, seen on Peas and Thank You, looks like a good way to get Asian flavors without cooking on the stove.

There’s been a lot of caprese salads happening in my apartment lately, but this Heirloom Caprese Salad with Burrata looks amazing.  I’ve never had burrata, but that may need to change…

Salads are meant to be simple, in my opinion.  This Quinoa Salad with Baby Spinach, Feta and Scallions seems especially easy to put together, perfect for a “too hot to cook” evening (which seems to be every evening lately)

I love potatoes.  We finally have some in our pantry after a few months without and I am so excited to use them.  I usually make a potato salad with a vinaigrette dressing instead of a mayonnaise based one, but the Green Garlic and Mint Potato Salad on Herbivoracious sounds like a fun alternative.

The Pioneer Woman shared her Creamy Lemon Basil Potato Salad , which reminds me that basil should also be added to the list of summer foods. Basil is the only plant I got around to planting this year and I’m pretty okay with that.  Ree also used the leftover dressing to make a Lemon Basil Chicken Salad.

Also in the chicken salad category, BBQ Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing, from Closet Cooking.

If you’d rather beans than chicken, I think Evan’s Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Bean Salad is probably well worth a try.  I mean, it has caramelized onions, how could it be bad?

NPR has a nice collection of 3 different fruit salads that go beyond the usual.

Despite the fact that this collection of 15 Ways to Eat a Cold Salad for Supper from The Kitchen includes the phrase “mid-point of summer”, which depresses me, there are some pretty good looking salad ideas.  Tortellini and Spring Vegetable Salad and Kohlrabi Slaw especially caught my eye.