Throwback: Cheap, Easy Summer Dinner

My 15-year-old son is on summer break from school and I feel like I’m always cooking! He’s 6’2 and a big guy — plus he’s pretty picky about his food. If he doesn’t see anything to eat that’s easy he won’t eat until he gets takeout or “something good". Yet another reason to add to the list of ways he is spoiled.

When I was a kid in growing up in Michigan, I remember “the summer of the drought" with fondness. It was hotter than ever and none had air conditioning in their car or house. Every day when my mom got home from work we would hop in the Renault, roll all of the windows down (by hand) and head ever to grandma’s condo. She had a community pool that was almost always empty. We would then, after cooling off, eat a light summer dinner by the pool under the umbrella.

With these memories lingering in my head, I re-created one of the cheap, easy summer dinners that I remember as a kid.

POOLSIDE TACO SALAD

• Bag of salad mix
• Taco flavored shredded cheese
• Tortilla chips (I used generic cool ranch flavored)
• Can of beans, heated and seasoned (I used pintos)
• French or Catalina salad dressing

Mix it, layer it, tweak the recipe, dip the chips in it. Anyway you eat it — it’s fun.

💚Roni