[Week 7] Salads on Vacation Part II + Essential Condiments to Pack for the Road

Farm Share Friends: Greetings from Lake George ☀️

Cooking in rental kitchens is never easy, and over the years, I’ve learned that keeping things simple is the name of the game: chop up vegetables, set out some hummus, buy the salsa, don’t stress about it.

I’m at Lake George with my husband’s family for the week and just like last year, every night for dinner, we’re enjoying some sort of massive chopped salad.

To refresh, here’s the formula: chop up any vegetables and fruit you have on hand — bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, snow peas, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, avocados, etc. — then dress with a 1:1 mix of olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Season with flaky sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Add cheese if you wish.

Pictured above is the simplest version of this sort of salad: halved cherry tomatoes + mozzarella with an additional splash of an aged, syrupy balsamic vinegar. Had the local Tops had basil, I would have added it. It took no time to throw together and comfortably fed the 13 of us last night aside our burger-and-hot dog dinner.

This is the 7th year we’ve come to this spot on Lake George, and every year I add and remove items from our master packing list, but the essentials stay the same: Diamond Crystal kosher salt and Maldon sea salt…

… as well as a selection of oils and vinegars: I love having both white balsamic vinegar and an aged, syrupy balsamic on hand. And I love having an excellent olive oil (for dipping) on hand as well as a really good one for everything else.

This year, I packed a few more condiments: cholula (for morning eggs), sriracha mayo (for leftover grilled chicken… so good), Mama Lil’s pickled peppers (a recent discovery which I now buy by the case).

Friends, what seasonings and condiments do you pack for the road? Do you have any favorite easy, go-to meals for a crowd? Please share!

Week 7 Vegetables

This week I will not be partaking in farm share cooking, and I am devasted to hear I’ll be missing the first new potatoes of the season — they’re so tasty!

If I were home, I would shoot to use the lettuce first. Everything else will keep fine in the fridge or on the countertop for one week.

• head lettuce → Salads

• bell peppers →