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Everyone is off and running today. Except for me. Things are pretty mellow here. Not many emails or leads on freelance work–the kind of day where you hear the mailman drive up and head out immediately to see if there’s anything of serious import (there wasn’t). Linnea’s at work, Zoe and A.J. went to the Academy of Sciences; I have some work to catch up on but instead, decided to make a nice lunch and sit outside reading Molly Wizenberg’s stunningly beautiful food memoir, A Homemade Life. We have a bunch of tomatoes out in the garden just starting to ripen: Brandywines, Romas, little cherry tomatoes…many of them aren’t quite ready, but every now and then, there are a few stray rogues. I’ve been thinking about my favorite tomato recipes to contribute to food52’s site (they’re featuring tomato recipe’s this week), but decided to keep it simple today with a toasted avocado, sharp cheddar, tomato, and grainy mustard open-face sandwich along with a simple, summer beet salad (I had a few roasted beets leftover from the other night). Now after a little coffee, I’m ready to jump back in –quietly– and make something happen this afternoon. Hope you are, too.

[/donotprint]Megan’s Summer Beet Salad
It’s almost silly to write a recipe for this salad as it’s so easy and seems pretty intuitive. But not everyone knows how to roast beets (I just learned)…add any components that remind you of summer. I chose tomatoes and cucumbers only because I had them readily available. Make in individual ramekins for a pretty, lunch side dish.

Ingredients:
4-5 beets, preferably organic.
1 English cucumber, sliced in circular coins.
5 cherry tomatoes, cut in half (or a small tomato, cut in wedges).
A few sprigs of parsley
Really good olive oil (don’t bother with cheap store-bought oil for this)

Directions:
1. To roast the beets: slice off the stems, wash them carefully, and wrap them in an aluminum foil pouch with a drizzle of olive oil and a little table salt (essentially set them on a piece of aluminum foil, and fold over the edges to make a tight little envelope). Beets will take about an hour to roast at 350 degrees. Cool before handling. Then, peel away the skins with the help of a paper towel, back of a knife, and/or a little cool water.
2. Leave beets out to cool (this is a cold salad). Once cool, quarter.
3. Assemble ingredients; drizzle olive oil over the top of the salad and sprinkle a touch of table salt.

3 small servings.