Summer on a Dish

I had a real hankering today. And when I get that thought in my head, it won’t go away until I’ve conquered it. Enter: the fruit salad to end all fruit salads. I don’t know how I’ve made it to the last day of July w/out having a fruit salad this summer. Probably b/c fruit is so freaking expensive and cutting it up takes the better part of your Saturday; welp, now I know why.

My grocery cart looked like the stockroom for the produce department. And my bill; well let’s just say I’m glad it’s Wednesday and I can rationalize eating out the rest of the week since it’s practically the weekend. Oh wait, that doesn’t help my bank account either? I never was good w/ the mathematics. 

I pinned this quinoa avocado salad like a year ago (back when I first joined Pinterest; I know, I’m a real pioneer) and it seemed perfect for a day like today; hot and humid and the last thing you want is the oven on, or spending lots of prep time in the kitchen. So naturally I picked sweet potato fries as a side, to turn that oven on full blast, and fruit salad as the other side, to spend hours and hours prepping fruit in my kitchen. 

Let’s just say it was worth it. I’ve made these sweet potato fries before and I’ll definitely be making them again. They’re sweet and salty w/ just the right crunch. The quinoa salad was a bit too much like guac for my taste. I skipped on the lime juice, but I still felt like I should have been scooping it up w/ a tortilla chip. I need to learn how to make quinoa right, seeing as it is the foundation for this dish and probably shouldn’t be as clumpy as my avocado chunks. If you know the secret for fluffy quinoa, please share. Rice too; that shit always sticks to the bottom of my pan like white on, well, you know.