I am loving meals full of veggies in this brutal heat. Who feels like turning on the oven when it is 95 degrees in New York City? Especially when you don’t have air conditioning and your kitchen is like a sauna? This heat wave has got me craving watery vegetables and cold salads.

For dinner tonight we had a cold tomato cucumber salad and some sauteed kale and mushrooms, with a grilled veggie dog to amp up the summer vibes even more. It was an easy, 10-minutes start to finish dinner that doesn’t take many ingredients beyond your weekly trip to the farmers market. Mix and match these sides with your other favorite summer foods.

Ingredients
1 bunch kale
5 baby bella mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
olive oil, S&P, lemon juice
5-6 plum tomatoes
2 cucumbers
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar
veggie hot dogs and buns optional

Instructions
Chop the tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, and onion into bite sized pieces. Dice garlic cloves. Strip kale leaves from stems and roughly chop. Add tomatoes and cucumbers to a large bowl and sprinkle with sugar and vinegar. Mix together and let sit at room temperature until you are ready to eat. The longer it sits, the better it gets.
Meanwhile, saute the garlic, onion, and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat. Once soft and slightly browned, add the kale, 1/4 cup water, and squeeze of half a lemon. Then cover and reduce heat to low. Allow the kale to steam until it wilts down, mixing every so often to make sure the onion, garlic, and mushrooms don’t burn on the bottom of the pan. Once wilted to about 1/2 or 1/3 the size, remove from heat and keep covered for an additional 3-4 minutes.
At this time, grill up veggie dogs for a minute on each side or until browned. Serve with buns, condiments, and sides of tomato cucumber salad and sauteed kale.

Serves 2-3