I don't cook in the summer.....

We live in a 100 year old house which means no A/C. It's fortunate though that we live in the mountains. It cools off enough at night here that we can open every window possible at night to make the house as cold as possible so that hopefully the next day it's not too hot by the end of the day. And it works. For the most part. The most important thing to remember is to avoid anything that produces heat. I rarely blow dry my hair in the summer and we NEVER turn on the oven. Even the stove top produces quite a bit of heat, but I'd hate for us to starve. So in the summer I am sort of on cooking vacation. We eat easy things that don't require the oven and try to avoid the stove top too (this means lots of bbq's).

I wanted to post a recipe today but since I haven't been cooking much I wasn't sure what to post. Then I remembered this amazing summer salad. I don't even like spinach that much but I still love this salad. It's perfect for summer.

Strawberry & Spinach Salad w/ Honey Lemon Dressing

5 oz bag spinach

1 lb strawberries

1/4 C. Sugar

slivered almonds

1/4 + 1/8 C. Sugar

1/4 C. Lemon Juice

1/4 C. Honey

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. mustard

1/2 tsp. finely shredded onion

Slice strawberries and mix with 1/4 C. Sugar. Toss with Spinach and add 1-2 handfuls of almonds.

For Dressing: Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.

The strawberries give the salad a little bit of a glaze and make it unnecessary to have dressing, but the dressing is delicious and I recommend trying it. It's so sweet you won't even know you are eating a spinach salad.

Enjoy summer. It's almost gone!