Summer Garden Vegetables & Basil Pesto Salad

Summer Garden Vegetables & Pesto Salad

I am extremely  happy to announce that our snow is almost all gone now and it was a beautiful, sunny 65 degrees today - my very favorite air temperature - and there was a slight breeze. It was perfect!

I thought I'd share this recipe with you, which is similar to one I found in an Atkins cookbook that I bought at the local thrift store.

Here's my version - served in the vintage, green Depression glass salad bowl from my mother-in-law. It makes almost anything look prettier.

Warning: Plan to make this salad shortly before you sit down to eat. I put the leftovers in the refrigerator, and the next day, although it had that same great taste, it had become kinda soggy - nothing you'd want to serve anyone else.

The star of the show:  A huge, perfect Beefsteak tomato which our dentist gave me - when I was there for a cleaning - after I reluctantly agreed to have new x-rays taken. I like to think it was a reward - kinda like when a kid gets a sticker - but actually I think he was giving them to all clients who had appointments May 1. Whatever the reason, I was thrilled. This tomato was hydroponically grown not far from where we live. I am going to stop in and see the grower's hydroponic operation one of these days. Anyway, the guy has a ton of huge tomatoes (3.5-4 inches diam.) that are ripe now.  Isn't it gorgeous!

And yes, I did eat a slice before it was put into the salad. Fresh-from-the-garden tomato in the winter! (If you don't believe it was winter, read Saturday's post.)

Summer Garden Vegetables & Pesto Salad, Recipe:

1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks

1 large ripe tomato, cut into chunks

3 small English cucumbers, cut into chunks

12-15 Kalamata olives, sliced

1/4 c. basil pesto (I used the pesto I'd made and put in the freezer last fall from the abundance of basil that came from our garden. So it's not another woolly mammoth story, you'll be happy to know. )

Handful of walnuts 

Mix the vegetables. Gently fold in the pesto, being careful to avoid breaking up the vegetables. Sprinkle the walnuts on top. If the stem end of the tomato is pretty, set that on top too. :-)

Hydroponic Beefsteak Tomato
Handpicked from the garden, more or less

  
I served the salad alongside the main dish, which was simply thin slices of chicken breast sauteed in olive oil and butter - then removed from the skillet - and a whole onion, sliced, sauteed in olive oil. Stir chicken slices back into the skillet with the onion.

It made a really tasty (and pretty) dinner!  

Loved that tomato! So what does your dentist give YOU when you go in for a cleaning???  :-)

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Grilled Cheese with Basil Pesto & Sliced Tomatoes

Grilled Cheese with Basil Pesto and Tomato

 As I've mentioned before, I've been on a basil pesto kick this summer, due mostly to the fact that I have about 12 square feet of basil in my garden. The other day I was looking for something to eat for lunch. Lunchtime is always a problem for me, because I don't want a big meal, but it has to be more than a snack and has to include enough protein to keep me going til dinnertime.

I went for the Udi's whole grain gluten-free bread (which, by the way, had huge holes in the slices so I only got to use a few of them for sandwiches and the rest will go for gluten-free bread crumbs for stuffing a turkey or for meatloaf - so it wasn't a total loss).

On one slice of bread I arranged enough pepper jack cheese to cover every square inch of bread. We always have pepper jack on hand, for it's one of our favorites. On the other slice I spread the fresh basil pesto liberally (quite uncharacteristically, I might add). On top of that I arranged fresh, warm-from-the-garden tomato slices.

I then melted a little olive oil and a little butter in the skillet, turned it down to low, set the sandwich in the skillet, and covered it with a lid.

A few minutes later I flipped the sandwich over and covered it with the lid again.

Two more minutes maybe...enough so that the bread was golden (okay, a little too golden maybe, but I had to check my e-mail) and the cheese was partially melted.

This was UNbelievably delicious!! (so much so that I made another one today!)

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