Summer Salads to beat the Sweltering Heat!

My my my, I feel like it's been ages since I had the luxury of sitting down with my laptop and posting anything! Looking back on my last post (June 6), I realize it has been ages! At first life was just busy, looking for a new place to live, work, family coming back, then it became signing a lease, packing boxes, end of quarter madness at work, moving all my stuff into my new place, unpacking all my boxes....the pace of my life sped up to warp and is just starting to slow.

Anyway, despite the lack of posting, cooking has definitely been taking place, I'm in a new place AND (drumroll please) we're inching ever closer to the college football kickoff...September 5 rapidly on it's way! Yup I'm pretty excited right now, despite the 100+ degree weather we've had here in the Austin area for more than 31 days since May. How ridiculous is that?!? Anyway, to beat the heat I am posting a duo of salads, neither is really connected to one another by ingredients, I'm posting both more because I'm excited about them both and I haven't posted in over a month (yea I'm feeling a bit guilty).

The first is straight out of Cooking Light, it appeared in the June 2009 issue:

Strawberry-Basil Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups torn romaine lettuce
2 cups sliced strawberries (1 pound)
1/2 cup vertically sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
1/4 cup torn fresh basil

Preparation

1. Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add romaine lettuce, sliced strawberries, sliced onion, and torn basil; toss gently to coat. Serve salad immediately.

Super easy and super delicious, it is quite tasty served alone or pairs well with grilled steak.


While I adore the Strawberry salad, for me it needs something to accompany it, chicken, steak, whatever you think sounds good, but the next one, well let's just say it started out as a way to use left over King Crab Legs and ended up being on my list of favorite salads!

Avocado, Corn and Crab Salad

Yield

2 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one medium-large lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Tajin Calsico Seasoning (con limon)
2 cups baby spring mix greens
2 large legs cooked and chilled King Crab
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 medium avocado, cubed
1/8 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 cup sweet corn (freshly cut off the cob is best)

Preparation

1. Combine olive oil, salt, pepper and lime juice. Set aside to dress salad with.
2. Lay salad greens on plate. Layer onion, avocado, tomatoes, corn and finally crab over greens.
3. Sprinkle with Tajin seasoning and pour dressing over the top, serve chilled.


There is nothing that screams summer to me more than fresh sweet corn, lime, crab and avocado...not sure why but it evokes sub-tropical images, maybe an umbrella and some sand. If only I had a little umbrella to drop into my glass (I'm sure there's one in a box somewhere around here). Now, if I can only find the few missing boxes I know are somewhere between here and my parents house....anyway, I promise no more lengthy absences on my part, I'm back for good :)