Salads of Summer

When we think about dinner in this heat, sometimes it’s difficult to think beyond cutting up cold vegetables and tossing them in a bowl. Creations of mine have  definitely stretched the definition of salad (does a bowl of carrot sticks count?), but allow me to euphemize, if only just for today. The main course salad, in all of its cold and easy glory, exists for summer months like these, the ones that function mainly to dehydrate you and hike up your electricity bill. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

If your mid-July salad creations have become a predictable rotation of the same old vegetables, cubed, here is something new for you to try. With crab, potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs for sustenance and watercress for lightness, it’s all tied together with a lemon dressing that, in addition to being delicious, also makes the whole ensemble that much healthier. Dinner’s taken care of, for tonight at least -- and again when you inevitably make this a second time.

Make This Tonight: Crab Salad with Lemon Dressing from Whole Foods Market Cooking