Summer Salad -- The Table We Keep Setting

June 2029. The garden is in and the farmers market is full and the summer is here and Clara Grace is two months old and I am at Ethan and Mia's house three times a week not because they need me but because I want to be there and they let me. I bring food every time. Always food. The soup, the bread, the things that travel. Mia is going back to Table for limited evenings soon — they've arranged coverage at the restaurant — and she asked me this week if I'd be available to be with Clara on some of those evenings. I said yes without checking anything. There was nothing to check.

Noah graduates high school on June 8th. The ceremony in an actual gymnasium with caps and gowns and the hundred people watching and everything Ethan's senior year was denied. I sat in the bleachers with Gary and Ethan and Mia (with Clara in a carrier on Mia's chest) and Mason and Olivia who flew in specifically and watched my youngest child walk across a stage and receive a diploma from the principal and look up at us in the bleachers with the particular expression of someone who knows they're being watched by everyone who loves them and is okay with that, maybe even glad.

He waved. Specifically at me. I waved back. Eighteen years of this child in my kitchen, in my car, at my table, reading at my counter while I cooked. Eighteen years. He waved and I waved back and the thing that started in a hospital room in 2011 arrived at a gymnasium in 2029 and it was enough. It was everything.

After Noah’s graduation I wanted to bring something to Ethan and Mia’s that felt like the season — bright and unhurried and full of good things, the way that whole week felt once the gymnasium emptied out and we were just family again. A summer salad is what I reach for when the moment is too full for something heavy, when the garden is producing and the farmers market bags are still on the counter and you want the food to say abundance without any fuss. This is the one I made. It traveled well, Clara slept through the whole visit, and we ate it at the kitchen table with the back door open.

Summer Salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 cups mixed greens (arugula, spinach, or romaine)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup cucumber, sliced into half-moons
• 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (cut from about 1 ear)
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds or pepitas
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, and Dijon mustard until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Prep the vegetables. Halve the cherry tomatoes, slice the cucumber, and cut the corn from the cob if using fresh. Thinly slice the red onion.
3. Assemble the salad. Spread the mixed greens in a large serving bowl. Arrange the cherry tomatoes, cucumber, corn, blueberries, and red onion over the top.
4. Add toppings. Scatter the crumbled feta and toasted seeds evenly over the salad.
5. Dress and serve. Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving and toss gently to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 210mg