Summer

I don't remember the first time I ate a summer cantaloupe boat, but I do know the attraction was immediate. That's surprising since it was a product of one of my mom's 1980's diets. She never did the grapefruit diet (too sour) or the cabbage soup diet (too bloating), but she did do the low-fat diet, which included rice cakes (a euphemism for styrofoam) and lots of low-cal cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe has always been a good friend of those watching their weight because it's a high water-content food. That means it helps fill you up quickly without added calories and helps you minimize bloat naturally. With high levels of vitamin C, potassium, and fiber, it's also a powerhouse of nutrition. And let's not forget that a perfectly ripe chilled cantaloupe is irresistible -- delicate, juicy, and sweet.

I don't diet. But I do love cantaloupe boats because they're healthy and refreshing on a hot summer day. And who wouldn't love that?

We celebrate summer with grilled meats and boiled corn, the golden ears arriving at the table, resting in silky pools of melted butter, ready for a dusting of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper.

Many people hunger so much for corn they eat it every chance they can to such an extent that, sooner or later, familiarity breeds disinterest and even a little disdain.  Where it seemed so celebratory at the beginning of summer, by August they turn away when a platter of corn is placed on the table. 

That's pretty much the way it's been for me.

On my last trip to our local farmers market, I hadn't planned on buying corn until I noticed that very few farmers were selling corn and those that were had very little to sell. Arriving late, the corn was almost sold out. Talking with a farmer, I learned that local corn will disappear from the market in a couple of weeks. After that, no more corn until the spring.

What do potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, and bean salad all have in common? They're requisite summer cookout foods.

When I was a kid growing up in Rhode Island, it was usually Italian-style pickled bean salad made with green and yellow wax beans and dark red kidney bean. I always ate so much that I inevitably ended up with pickled gray vinegar lips.

Then sometime in the '90's my mom replaced the Italian bean salad with a rich, sweet baked bean dish made with crispy bacon. It was so sugary good, that one year I ate nearly half of it while I was making it for the cookout. Not a good idea.

When we lived in North Carolina, it was either a mushy green bean salad with diced ham (yech) or a crisp black-eyed pea salad similar to succotash (yum).

The best thing about this time of year is the abundance of fresh ingredients available at the Farmer's Markets and roadside farm stands.  Freshly harvested arugula is widely available right now, which makes me almost giddy, I love it's peppery flavor.

This dinner or lunch comes together in minutes which works perfectly for my schedule at the moment.  It's a very summery dish with little to no effort going into making it.  Not to mention it's very light on the calories.

Enjoy it with a refreshing glass of white wine while sitting on the patio enjoying family and friends.