We’ve been all about salads this week —  the only way we can deal with dinner once the temperature starts to climb! Happily, tomatoes, corn, green beans, and all sorts of other vegetables are at their peak right now so a good dinner salad is only minutes away. We have salad rolls with shrimp and creamy avocado, a cool soba noodle salad, a summery succotash that will make your mouth water, and many more salad-tastic ideas. Plus, see how to pack a perfect salad in a jar for easy lunches and how to make the world’s best croutons. Pour yourself a negroni and peruse your dinner options right here.

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Q: A few years ago I fell in love with a grain salad from my local Whole Foods. It had wheat berries (I think?), feta, kalamata olives, and tomatoes. I have recently moved cities and my Whole Foods does not make the salad. Does anyone have a copycat recipe for this salad?

Sent by Melissa

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Like this Small Cool Kitchens 2013 contest entry? Favorite it below!

Name:

Arpita

Location:

Brooklyn, NY

Square Feet:

67

Division:

Own

What makes your small kitchen so cool:

I grew up in Los Angeles and live in Brooklyn now. My kitchen has gorgeous Spanish Colonial tiles that remind me of California, but it also works with the space limitations of a NY apartment, incorporating floor to ceiling cabinets and compact appliances. The result is a mix of East Coast and West Coast, and I love it!

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One of my lunchtime favorites is the wrap: it a great way to mix up your salad routine and it makes a delicious and portable lunch!

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We’ve been eating mature shungiku, or chrysanthemum leaves, for years but just recently we tried the tender young microgreens and they’re delightful! Have you had these? 

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Like this Small Cool Kitchens 2013 contest entry? Favorite it below!

Name:

Christopher

Location:

Manhattan, KS

Square Feet:

110

Division:

Own

What makes your small kitchen so cool:

To us, our kitchen is great because we’ve gotten to experiment and build it ourselves since we bought this house, our first, on Halloween. We’ve done everything since the ‘before’ image from scratch, just the two of us. We feel like that makes it about as personal as it can be.

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4.93 / 5 Stars | 9 Reviews

by SHORECOOK

“This summertime treat, made with vanilla cream soda, is a yummy way to cool you down.”

View Complete Recipe Details and Reviews

Are you part of a CSA this season? I’m four weeks into mine, and I’ve been sharing what I got every week and how I plan to cook/eat my way through it. This week I received my first couple summer tomatoes — all bright, red, and juicy!

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Item: Mastrad Bread Warmer
Price: $39.99
Overall Impression: Versatile for outdoor meals in the summer and holiday meals in the fall and winter. Worth picking up if you like your rolls warm and do a lot of entertaining.

Warm bread that’s fresh from the oven is pretty much the best thing ever, no matter the occasion, no matter the time of year. Wrapping warm rolls in a clean dishtowel helps hold in the warmth for a little while — this bread warmer from Mastrad takes things one step further. With its heatable ceramic liner, this basket will keep our rolls toasty from the start of dinner all the way through to second and third helpings.

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Like this Small Cool Kitchens 2013 contest entry? Favorite it below!

Name:

Debra

Location:

South Burlington, VT

Square Feet:

90

Division:

Own

What makes your small kitchen so cool:

The coolest thing about our kitchen is functionality. Our renovation improved function and safety without changing the footprint or emptying our savings. Now our kitchen makes friends easily and works well with others!

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