Please don't make me eat more pie!

In a two-person household, making a pie is a dangerous invitation to overindulgence. It's perfectly excusable, of course, since you'd never want to waste any food and pies (or any dessert) just don't have a long shelf life (that's what I've been told). Consequently, a slice of pie has to be large enough so that the entire pie is consumed before it declines in quality. So we make do and eat mega-wedges of pie. It's a tough life, but we soldier on.

Here's a peek at the pie in question and how it all came together. And, no, I did not make the crust from scratch-it's too hot to use the oven.

No-Bake Strawberry Pie (recipe from WholeFoods.com)

Prepping the strawberries

2 lbs. of berries get divided--one half is sliced and

the other is turned into a jelly

The assembled pie (looks much nicer than the

photo in the Whole Foods recipe)

The mega-wedge of pie

Dinner on a Hot Summer Night

It's been a hot summer so far here in the Metro Boston area. So hot, in fact, that I think we had the hottest June on record. 'Nuff said. With the heat in full swing I'm making every effort to use the stove for only very short periods of time. What can I make given these restrictions? A quick and easy favorite that only requires bringing a small amount of water to a boil is instant couscous. Here I present my Summer Couscous, Bean and Vegetable Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette.

Combine 1 C cooked whole wheat couscous with an assortment of cubed summer vegetables, such as cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, etc. Include a generous amount of roughly chopped cilantro/parsley and some cooked beans (canned beans are so easy!) Dress with a lemony vinaigrette--mine has about 2-3 lemons worth of juice, enough extra-virgin olive oil to match, ground cumin, black pepper and salt. This salad is hearty enough to serve as a main course on its own, or combine it with a protein for a little more oomph. (On night two of the salad this week, I roasted a salmon fillet to accompany it--wild-caught and succulent!)

What are you making for dinner on these hot summer nights?