According to the calendar it's too early but a look at the Daily Thread and I know a lot of us are thinking about cool and easy summer dinners. What's on your menu?

I'm looking for new bean salads, of course Last night we tried Pinto Bean Salsa Salad because I have lots of pinto beans and need recipes for them. I served it on a bed of chopped salad with some sauteed asparagus on the side and it was a perfect warm weather dinner. The recipe includes corn but you can leave that out or substitute another ingredient, small white beans or some chopped veggies?, for it.

Next up I'm trying this lentil salad from Kalyn.

Those sound delicious!

One of my favorite meals since before I even started South Beach is Ina Garten's Guacamole Salad. SO delicious, filling, and extras save really well in the fridge (minus the avocado of course.)

Had the most delicious simple meal last night, I am craving again today:

WW English Muffin half, with ricotta mixed with parmesan and fresh thyme,
2 poached eggs

Side baby greens salad with kalamata olives, cottage cheese, tomatoes, and pine nuts with balsamic/OOil dressing

Cooks up in minutes! Also thought some lemon zest on the ricotta might add something

Yay, bean salads!!

Today I'm having Kalyn's White Bean Salad with Tuna & Parsley, made with fresh parsley from the garden and water-packed tuna, not oil-packed. I have made versions of this salad for years, with and without tuna.

So good and so ridiculously easy.

This Bulgur and Chickpea Salad with Mint and Parsley looks pretty good too - but based on other recipes, I would add chopped tomatoes or red pepper. And maybe skip the cinnamon? I know it's healthy, but to me sounds weird here. But maybe I should try it first...

It's a cooler day here so I'm making baked chickpea burgers, some asparagus and a big salad with the CSA baby lettuce and mesclun mix.

Cyndi - Chickpea burgers sound interesting... is there a recipe somewhere on the forums for them??

We ended up with the Mock Tuna Salad (silly name, it tastes nothing like tuna salad but is really yummy all on its own) over huge mixed salads.

This is a good garbanzo burger recipe.

Pinto bean burgers and a huge amount of grilled asparagus

yum those burgers sound awesome...need to add those to the rotation!

Tonight I'm squeezing dinner between a vet visit and a walk so it's a quickie. We're having veggie scramble - basically spinach and peppers scrambled with eggs and served with salsa and beans. There's usually more veggie than egg

I am absolutely lovin' my supper....fajita salad!! This one has romaine, fresh tomatoes, sauteed onion and colored pepper, salsa, and a bit o' guac and sour cream. Delish! (oh, and taco seasoned chicken breast)

One of my summer favorites is cracked wheat (bulgar) salad. Easy to do:

Put some cracked wheat in a bowl and barely cover it with boiling water and cover it. Just leave it out on the counter till it has absorbed all the water. If any water is left, squeeze it out real good in a tea towel. If you just barely cover it, you shouldn't have to squeeze. I usually leave it out an hour or two.

Then load it up with goodies..tomatoes, cucumber, olives, feta (I like the tomato basil feta for this), black beans, finely chopped red onion, chopped up fresh spinach or whatever else you want to add like raw squash etc. I make a balsamic vinegarette out of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, creole seasoning, and herbs out of the garden (tarragon, parsley, basil). You can also add "meaty" stuff like chicken or my favorite, grilled shrimp. Even better the next day. I really load it up so that the bulk of the salad is veggies.

Tonight we had veggie burgers with all the trimmin's and a dollop of hummus. It may be a night for a small serving of FF NSA Ice cream! Yay for Friday!

That sounds LOVELY and refreshing. Can't wait to try it!!!

3 bean salad: green beans, dark kidney beans, and chickpeas marinated in the fridge for at least a day in olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and other seasonings ( a homemade italian dressing, basically). Yum-o!