Beet and goat cheese salad with peppery cider vinaigrette, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

I cannot believe it is salad season already. But it is so, so hot here right now I don't think I ever want to turn the oven on. I'll miss you, pizza.

Fortunately I have beets in the backyard and they are phenomenal. Of course I had to turn the oven on to roast them but it was worth it. I've been pulling up other beet recipes and found both Deborah Madison and Lee Bailey recommend chopped beets with a red onion pickle so I am definitely all over that next. Even though I could eat them with goat cheese and cider vinaigrette day in day out.

I just read the Omnivore's Dilemma and feel that Michael Pollan really didn't stress enough the best part of growing your own food- it tastes amazing. A month ago I made my standby spinach lasagne with spinach from the garden- the recipe calls for mature spinach which is hard to find anywhere, so I had always used baby spinach. I let my spinach grow and then used that and was shocked at the difference- the mature spinach DID hold its spinach-y flavor throughout the cooking process. (Why I thought Cook's Illustrated was lying about that, I do not know.)