Easy Salads for a Hot Day

Salads are one of my favorite summer meals – not only does it not require any cooking, but the combination crispy fresh veggies and acidic dressing is refreshing on a hot day. San Francisco’s weather is suited for soups and stews year-round, but this current heat wave with no air conditioning has triggered an immediate change in our eating habits. Minimal stove and no oven use is allowed for the time being. This has pushed us to focus on our salad making skills.

So what exactly makes a good salad? I like salads that blend different ingredients – fresh, savory, acidic, and sweet in a harmonious way. Our salads usually consist of a lettuce base, salad dressing, and some extras. I think it’s nicer to add at least a few extras, but with too many, some just blend into the background or clash. In order to prevent that, we usually pick a meat, a cheese, and a couple more fruits or vegetables. And it wouldn’t be complete without dressing; we usually just mix together some oil, vinegar, salt and spices.

Another positive about salads is that there are so many combinations that you can easily make something different every time. I like to add whatever we have lying around the house – vinegar or spices (for dressing), leftover meat, roasted veggies, or fruit to add uniqueness. What are your fun or favorite salad ingredients?

In the current level of heat, we hit a new level of laziness of not even wanting to eat a meal – instead, we made some salad bites! For each lettuce leaf, we threw a proportional piece of each of the salad ingredients in, that we could just pick up with our hands and eat in one or two easy bites. A fun way to eat a salad.

Most importantly, our salads and salad bites have helped to keep us healthy during a time when we do not want to cook anything. They add color and texture to our meals. And they are refreshing and tasty.