Monday Bites ~ Dinner Salads

Oh my…..

the heat has arrived…

or more accurately the humidity. We sadly moped towards all the open windows and shut them one by one and turned on the AC beast. With the exception of 2 days we made it until May 1st without turning the AC on…. and we've got it set at 78 during the day and 76 at night. So it still feels like summer inside. It's funny living somewhere that you shut the windows and eventually south facing blinds for several summer months out of the year. Something I am not quite sure I will ever adjust to. The first day of the sticky heat left none of us wanting a warm supper…. so I rummaged around in the fridge and came up with this. 

Dinner Salad. I know it isn't original, nor is it really a recipe, but it was wonderful!

I try to cook a batch of beans on a weekly basis and then store them in the fridge. This is such a cheap and healthy protein option. I highly suggest doing this for easy meals. We make tostadas, burritos, bean dip and throw them in salads. Some of us even toss them with a little vinaigrette and eat them by the bowl full.

For a dinner salad I think protein in the form of hard boiled eggs or beans is important. Home grown sprouts, cheese, olives, summer squash, something orange & red. Make it colorful! Add some fresh herbs and anything else you have in your garden. Let the kids chop up the veggies. I toss my lettuce & herb greens with a wee little bit dressing, caesar is our favorite, which weighs the salad down… which gets more greens onto the plates! (shhhhh) We also put all the different "toppings" in bowls so the kids can make their own salad creations. Serve it with a loaf of fresh whole grain bread and softened butter and you have a wonderful easy summer time meal. 

Enjoy 🙂