My dear friend is hosting a pool party this afternoon. She wanted to bring everyone together before our kids start heading off to college in the next few weeks. Some of us have known each other since our kids were in kindergarten. It’s so hard to believe that they will be starting college in the next month or so. I have such vivid and fond memories of them in kindergarten, first grade, second grade and so on that it seems they were just there yesterday. Those 12 years flew by … faster than any of us would have wished for.

I told Marie I would bring brownies to her party and that I would make a salad. I decided to make a salad that would taste like the flavors of summer and use what I would find at a farm stand at this time of year. I really enjoy peaches in the summer so that is what I started with.

I started with a spring mix as my base and added to it two 16-ounce containers of strawberries that I cut up and 4 peaches that I cut into wedges and then in half (16 pieces per peach). I then did a rough chop of a cup of pecans. Once I cut up the pecans, I sprinkled an 1/8 teaspoon of chili powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil over the nuts and mixed it all together. I also added half a red onion that I thinly sliced. I grilled three ears of corn, cut it off the cob and added that to my salad as well. I then topped my salad with a 16-ounce container of petite mozzarella balls. I sprinkled kosher salt and pepper over my salad and will serve it with a poppy seed dressing that I bought at the market.

This salad would also be wonderful as a main dish with grilled chicken added.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spring mix

• 2 16-ounce containers strawberries

• 4 peaches

• 3 ears of corn

• 1/2 red onion, sliced

• 16 ounce container petite mozzarella balls

• 1 cup pecans

• 1/8 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil

• pinch of kosher salt

• pinch of pepper

Directions

1. Put spring mix into large bowl.
2. Clean and cut strawberries and peaches.
3. Boil corn for 3-5 minutes and then grill on an indoor grill pan for 5-7 minutes.
4. Chop pecans and add chili powder and basil. Mix together.
5. Assemble salad with fruit and corn. Top with cheese and pecans.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris