There are days when you eat a feast for dinner and days when you just want to have a light supper like soup and bread or salad. I think that there is a lot of truth in the adage “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. Most nutritionists and diet planners agree that we should eat a heavy breakfast, light lunch and lighter dinner for a healthy life-style. As much as I believe in this, I do not follow this everyday - we all have our temptations and shortcomings :)

Today was different and I wanted to have a light supper. I had a juicy cranshaw melon, strawberries and mixed salad greens sitting in my refrigerator. I think I had already mentioned I go to the farmer’s market every week. One of the advantages of living in California (and SF bay area in particular) is the year round farmer’s market. It is refreshing to go to the market every Sunday, look at the fresh produce, talk to the farmers, try some new fruits / vegetables in the bargain. Last week, I saw a new melon stall, where they had an assortment of melons. Cranshaw melons caught my fancy, I have not seen this before and wanted to try it immediately. Loved the sample and came home with one - the look on my husband’s face when I came home with it was priceless :) Fortunately for him, I was going to share the melon with my neighbors, don’t think the two of us would have been able to finish the melon on our own. The taste is very close to Kirni Pazham or Musk Melon, and immediately reminded me of Madras. We used to cut this into Wedges, sprinkle sugar on them, shove it in the freezer, forget about it for a day or two. It is simply divine on a hot summer afternoon.


Coming back to the dish at hand, this is very easy to whip up - with most of the ingredients coming from your pantry/refrigerator. In a salad bowl, add some greens, a few strawberries (quartered), melons cut into 1″ cubes, a handful of boiled peanuts & black-eyed peas. For the dressing, I made a modified lemon vinaigrette - mix a teaspoon of lemon juice, add a little lemon zest, 2 tsp of balsmaic vinegar, 2-3 tbsps of olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour this over the salad and toss it to evenly coat the dressing. The whole process should not take more than 10 minutes. Invest another 10 mins for some tasty bruschetta. You need your carbs too :) Our dinner tonight and my humble entry to the Summer Express Cooking event. Better late than never!

If you don’t have boiled peanuts, don’t fret - take a handful of peanuts, add some water and toss it in the microwave for about 4 minutes. You can add any kind of melons that you have in hand, honeydews or cantaloupes work just as well - I kind of like the way the colors of strawberry and cantaloupe or cranshaw melons marry against a green backdrop :), you can also add oranges or tangerines too. Add shredded cabbage or carrot, if you have it handy. You can just about add anything :-P well, you get the picture, just get creative with it. If the colors are pleasing and mix well, chances are it will taste good :)