Bleu Summer Tomato Salad

i have been MIA this past week while E and i spent some time with family, friends, and each other celebrating, relaxing, recharging and doing a whole lot of driving.

the best thing about traveling for me is it truly is a vacation. not only am i not working, but i get a total break from cooking. i don't have to cook for clients and i don't even have to cook for us. the other good thing is when i get back, i'm ready to get back in the kitchen and cook/bake.

the evidence of that may have been the 4 different batches of cookies i baked on saturday. before you pick up the phone and send help my way, don't worry, i didn't eat them all myself - i took them to an assisted living home, our church, and a birthday party. i actually only managed to eat 4, so i was pretty proud of myself:) of course the oreo cream chip cookies were a big hit as always - true decadence!

after baking all those cookies, i needed an quick and easy dish to throw together full of vegetables. this bleu summer tomato salad was the perfect remedy to my cookie overload.

the tang from the bleu cheese really pairs well with ripe summer tomatoes and cool cucumbers. i used crumbled buttermilk bleu because it's my favorite but feta tastes great too it you have a bleu cheese aversion. after i made the salad i thought freshly cut corn on the cob would have been the perfect addition to this salad. but it's great as is too!

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Bleu Summer Tomato Salad
makes 4-6 sides

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium hot house cucumber (i like these because they are seedless, but any kind will work)
1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese or feta
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

in a large bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. chop cucumber into bite-sized pieces. toss cucumber, halved tomatoes, and crumbled bleu cheese into bowl with dressing. stir well with a spatula and enjoy!

Strawberry Brushetta

it's dang near the end of strawberry season. i think this calls for a moment of silence . . .

it's going to be a long 10 months till they are back but at least i feel like i got a lot out of the strawberries this year. here's a look back at some of the recipes this year:

strawberry quinoa yogurt parfaits
strawberry margaritas
strawberry-rhubarb martini
strawberry-rhubarb coffee cake
strawberry icebox cake

my final recipe is perfect for those just-going-out-of-season berries. it also happens to be perfect for breakfast - strawberry brushetta. the best part is that i have two different versions. i made them with a nice brioche as the base, but you could easily do these on slices of pound cake and serve them as dessert.

the first has a slathering of mascarpone cheese and a balsamic macerated berry. a chiffonade of basil topped this version of the brushetta and gave it a wonderful freshness. the berry concoction is just a tbs of balsamic vinegar and a 1/2 tsp of agave nectar. stir it together with the strawberries and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

the second version may be a stretch passed off as breakfast but i couldn't resist pairing two of my favorites together - strawberries and nutella. it's quite simple yet oh so good, just nutella and sliced strawberries but this is the one i went back to for seconds.

Avocado Egg Salad

it seems i tend to eat more "salads" in the summer. you know the kind, chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad - the pseudo salads. i have always wondered why these are called salads. is something loaded with mayo a salad?

i think i may have landed on something here. what better way to make egg salad squarely in the salad category than wrapping it with lettuce and filling it with avocado and tomatoes.

this summer salad is light, refreshing, and full of protein thanks to the eggs. the avocado may make the salad an interesting green color, but it's loaded with good fats and gives the creaminess you usually get from mayo.

the next time you hard boil eggs, give this recipe a try!

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Avocado Egg Salad
serves 2

4 hard boiled eggs
1 avocado
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper
10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
4 romaine lettuce leaves

chop hard boiled eggs. in a medium bowl, mash avocado with lime juice salt and pepper to taste (this will form a guacamole-type mixture). stir in chopped eggs, tomatoes, and celery. spoon into romaine leaves and enjoy.