Three summer savory recipes, a few good books, and everything else on my mind this week.
It’s Friday, friends, and it has been another busy week. We went from celebrating America’s 250th birthday to a week with the grandkids, another birthday, another reason to be completely happy and exhausted at the same time.
It is hot. Did you know that? I feel like I should mention it, in case you hadn’t noticed from the seventeen times I’ve already said so this summer. We have had weeks of high nineties and humidity that makes the air look like it’s sweating. The thunderstorms that were promised, every single one of them, have gone right over us. We had a sprinkle. Ten drops, if I’m being generous. Ten drops and then nothing. The sidewalk is so hot it would burn your feet if you were brave enough to be outside long enough to find out, which I am not.
Patches and I have officially suspended afternoon sniffer walks until further notice. She seems fine with this. I have been enjoying my early morning walks instead.
The grandkids, however, are not interested in the heat as a reason to slow down, which means we are in full summer fun mode. Busy, burnt, windblown and covered in sand.
I am leaning into summer. Barely. But leaning.
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Friday Food
This week’s recipes are all about summer, the kind that ask nothing more of you than good produce and a little patience. No heavy lifting. No turning on the oven for an hour while it’s ninety degrees outside. (Well. One of them does require an oven. It is worth it. I promise.)
A tomato galette from How Sweet Eats. Jessica’s tomato galette has a flaky, buttery parmesan herb crust filled with a cheesy layer, then topped with sliced ripe tomatoes and baked until golden. She finishes the whole thing with fresh basil, and the result is exactly what a summer night calls for. This is the recipe I am making the moment my garden tomatoes are actually worth eating.
A pesto pizza from Love and Lemons. Jeanine’s pesto pizza starts with roasted cherry tomatoes, slow-baked at low heat until they shrivel at the edges and develop an intense, concentrated flavor. Then spread over a crust with homemade basil pesto and fresh mozzarella. She recommends roasting the tomatoes a day or two ahead. I love pizza and could eat it every day. You?
A grilled chicken salad from Smitten Kitchen. Deb’s summer dinner salad recipe features chili-rubbed grilled chicken, charred corn, and fresh avocado, all pulled together by what she calls the most habit-forming cilantro-lime dressing she has ever made. This is the kind of salad that makes you feel like you actually did something, even though the whole thing comes together quickly.
Something Sweet
This Blueberry Lemon Lavender bread is moist, flavorful and delicious! Topped with a lemon glaze this easy bread recipe is a classic combination of summer flavors. Serve it for breakfast, snack, or dessert!
Read, Watch, Listen
How to Tell the Difference Between Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke
‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures
Should You Leave Your Outdoor Lights On All Night? Here’s What Experts Say
How To Fix The Mistake Most People Make When Storing Strawberries
Lake Mead Is One of America’s Deadliest National Park Sites. Its Dive Team Just Quietly Disappeared.
The 10-Minute Garden Task You Shouldn’t Skip Before a Heat Wave
On the Nightstand
I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney. Obituary writer Bud Stanley isn’t really living his best life. He’s fallen into a funk after a divorce — she left him for another man who was, in fairness, far more interesting. He’s not doing his job well, he’s given up on dating, and he’s about to be fired for accidentally publishing his own obituary one mildly drunken night. (Though technically, the company can’t legally fire a dead person.) So while he awaits his fate at work, he does the only logical thing: he starts attending the wakes and funerals of total strangers to learn how to live again. I am deeply charmed by this premise.
The Star Society by Gabriella Saab. Inspired by the spirit of Audrey Hepburn, this novel follows two sisters who reunite after World War II, each carrying secrets the other doesn’t know. Ada has reinvented herself as Hollywood’s newest rising star, leaving behind her life in the Dutch resistance and her imprisonment by the Gestapo. Ingrid, who Ada believed dead, has become a private investigator in Washington and is now sent to root out Communist influences in Hollywood. Her target happens to be her own sister. As the Red Scare tightens around them both, they discover that Ada’s search for the Gestapo agent who terrorized their hometown and Ingrid’s Communist witch hunt may be more connected than either of them realizes. History, sisters, secrets, and the post-war world colliding — I was sold at Audrey Hepburn.
The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken. An award-winning short story collection from one of the finest writers working today. The stories here are about the bonds of family, tested, transformed, fractured, and somehow still holding. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a game-show villainess spends New Year’s Eve with her deadbeat half-brother. Two fathers take their son to a Texas water park and each quietly face something they’ve been avoiding.
What I’m Wearing
Green! Lots of green. Green is one of my favorite colors and this season there seems to be a lot to choose from. This week I paired a classic green shirt dress with a simple tote, and a sprite of perfume that has a hint of tomato leaves. Then I added an unexpected pop of pink! A preppy color combination that feels like summer to me.
Outfit Details
There is something about summer that asks us to slow the kitchen down a little, to let the tomatoes do the work, to not fuss too much with what is already available. I hope something in today’s favorites gives you an excuse to cook or make something good this weekend. I will see you tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings.Â
What’s on your table this July? Are you a seasonal produce cook, or do you find yourself reaching for the same reliable recipes no matter what’s in season?
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