Enjoying Summer’s Bounty!Lazy cook, healthy food

This week’s blog celebrates the abundance of delicious fruits and vegetables available to us in the Summer, and how many easy ways there are to use them.

One of the great things about vegetables is that most of them are excellent to eat raw, lightly steamed, grilled or roasted – cooked any way you can think of! They are very safe and healthy to experiment with, so feel free to play!

For breakfast, if you usually use some jam on toast or yoghourt, switch to sliced fresh fruit instead.

Boiling eggs for breakfast? Leave one or two in the pan longer and cook them to hard boiled to use with the salad suggestions below. Leave them in their shells in the fridge until you want to use them.

Cooking bacon? Cook and extra slice or two to have real bacon pieces on a salad tomorrow, not those ultra-processed “bacon bits”. Cooked bacon travels well to take with you for a lunch.

Make batches of:

• Coleslaw – it is prettier if you use some red and some green cabbage, and some grated carrot

• Potato salad

• Potato and corn salad

- The above can be made with a vinaigrette or mayo-based dressing

• Broccoli salad

• Raw, baked or lightly steamed broccoli or cauliflower

• 3 bean salad - see below

These last a few days in the fridge, providing a variety of different cold dishes to combine at any meal or snack time.

Keep on hand for a snack, with or without a dressing as a dip:

Carrots - if they lose crispness, soak them in water overnight

Snap or snow peas

Cherry tomatoes

To slice just before eating:

Sweet peppers, Cucumbers, Zucchini

Fennel bulb

Apples and pears

Kohlrabi - lasts longer in the fridge, and only takes a minute or two to peel

If you have friends over, whip up some quick guacamole (recipe below) or put some dressing in a little bowl, and voila, crudites and dip!

Three Bean Salad

• Chopped and cooked yellow and /or green fresh beans

• Chick peas

• Kidney beans

Use approximately equal amounts of all three. You can use two different kinds of any cooked beans you have left over, or canned beans as a fall-back option.

This salad has the advantage of including significant amounts of protein and carbohydrates. It needs a dressing with a fairly strong flavour and tang to balance the blander quality of the beans.

Cucumber salad

If making a salad with thinly sliced cucumbers, add some thinly sliced onion, shallot or chives, and a handful of chopped dill or parsley.

The dressing needs to have a tang. For ¼-1/2 cup of white or apple cider vinegar, add a dash of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Keeps well, though less crisp the following day.

Mixed salads: Let go of any idea that a mixed salad has to contain lettuce and tomatoes. Lightly steam extra veggies at dinner, to use in a mixed veg salad next day, simply by adding a dressing. Adding a chopped hard-boiled egg, tofu, cheese or cold fish or meat makes a meal.

Platter salad: This may require a plate bigger than a regular dinner plate, especially if you want to have some corn or a piece of fish or meat alongside a big varied salad. Use any raw or steamed veggies, any nuts or seeds, any fruits, fresh or dried, and pickles of your choice.

Add any dressing, and any protein of your choice, or that you have left over from last night. Some smoked salmon makes the salad a real treat!

If you want some carbs with it, add some potato salad, corn on the cob, a small mound of rice or quinoa with a little dressing over, or a slice of good bread.

Putting it out on a platter is prettier and makes it look like something special, not just a graze-from-the-fridge meal! If you have guests, let them pick the bits they like and avoid those they don’t.

A sandwich, pita or wrap filled with loads of salad veggies, is a refreshing lunch. We’ve enjoyed sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, wedges of bell pepper, and grated carrot. Use avocado or mayo to stick the veggies together, made even better by mixing a dollop of pesto into the mayo first. Such sandwiches may have to be eaten inelegantly, with two hands, if you fill them with as much salad as we like!

Cook extra potatoes to use the next day. A cold potato salad with a vinaigrette or mayo-based dressing is quick to make. You can include cooked corn for a crunch, and chopped hard-boiled eggs or left-over meat or tofu to add protein. For dinner,mash the potatoes to use in fish cakes, or slice them and fry them in olive or avocado oil.

Adding eggs? Those hard-boiled eggs can be used to add to a potato or green salad next day, or in salad niçoise.

Mixed with mayo, salt, pepper and your choice of other condiments you have a quick egg salad sandwich. If it’s an open sandwich you can use the texture to stick other tasty treats on top such as smoked salmon, sliced tomato or cucumber, or a leaf or two of basil.

For quick and easy “un-devilled eggs”: cut the hard-boiled eggs in half, put a dollop of mayo over each half and sprinkle with paprika and a little salt and pepper. This saves time mixing the yolk with the condiments and replacing the mix in the whites: the flavours will mix in your mouth as you eat them!

Cold soups – great for lunches or starters on hot days

• Cucumber and avocado, blended. A delightful balance of refreshing and creamy smooth!

Blend equal amounts of avocado and cucumber (skinned if the skin is thick).You can add lemon or lime juice, a splash of hot sauce, yoghourt or buttermilk, or sprinkle the top with roasted seeds or nuts, to jazz it up.

• Throw last night’s extra steamed veggies or cooked corn into your blender for a cold veg soup. They can be blended with raw peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and/or avocados. The mix can be used as a substitute for your usual smoothie, or as quick healthy snack to bring up your blood sugar when you get home tired and hungry after a long day. Consider it a starter for dinner, knowing you are getting a cup or two of veggies under your belt before you even start your main course.

Quick guacamole: mash ripe avocado, add crushed garlic (1 or 2 cloves per avocado), and the juice of 1/2 lemon or a lime per avocado. Season with salt and pepper. Add pinch of paprika or cayenne, or a dash of hot sauce, if you like things spicy. You can add chopped tomatoes if you wish, but that takes longer, or “cheat” by stirring in some salsa.

Fresh herbs last longer if you keep them in a glass of water, preferably in the fridge best with a plastic bag over them, held in place with a plastic band - unless you have them in your garden or patio pots that is!

Throw handfuls of fresh herbs in your veggie omelet, or add some to your salads. Chives go especially well in potato salads, and basil with tomato salads.

A lot of people find they look for a snack after dinner, often eating things that aren’t very good for them. Of course you are better not snacking in the evening at all, but if you are someone who tends to surf the kitchen after dinner, at least go for healthier snacks such as crudites! And extra fibre is always a good thing!

Fruits are another option, especially delicious in season:

• Fresh fruit in yoghourt - best unsweetened.

• Berries, fresh or gently warmed, maybe with a splash of maple syrup

• Nuts with fresh fruits - e.g. cashews and blueberries, almonds and cherries. These also make a good snack: better than a power-bar when fresh fruit is available!