Today’s Grilled Corn Salad with Basil Vinaigrette is my idea of an easy summer meal. Summers are perfect for low fuss meals and not spending a lot of time in the kitchen.
Our older kids are back to school and it’s making me reminisce about all the fun we had over the summer. One of our favorite parts of summer is always vacationing with other family and friends. And “vacation” certainly takes on a new meaning when you have 3 young kids, but when we get together with other families that mesh well with ours it seems to go well and we get a heavy dose of family fun along with a hint of what vacation was like without 3 kids. I think this is because some of the more difficult parts of parenting are easier because a) the kids are often pretty good at entertaining each other AND b) when you are with another set of parents that appreciate and identify with the day-to-day struggle of parenting, meal prep, etc., then it just becomes a little easier.
Plus, you can discuss a workable plan with the other family and both work together as a team while socializing. Staying all together under one roof (rental or someone’s home) is nice because kid bedtime doesn’t mean crazy hotel bedtime hour. You just sort of go with the flow and embrace the fun. And it’s always nice to compare notes with other families, seeing what they struggle with and excel at and what you can empathize about and learn from each other. We definitely came up with some ideas for our family to try out, hopefully the other families did as well.
One such vacation this summer we paired with another family and combined we had kids ages 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Wow! Grownups were outnumbered, but it worked out well and fun was had by all, especially at meal time. Some nights we would all eat together, some nights kids ate while grownups snacked and then had a meal after kids were in bed, and another night we hired a babysitter so we could have grownup date night!
One of the nights we were together we bought some of the first ears of corn of the season. I normally boil it, but the other couple mentioned just throwing it on the grill. Way easier. No hot steamy kitchen and waiting forever for the giant pot to boil. Plus, I really liked the taste. We’ve done it several times since then and really like it. Some nights we have several ears leftover and just end up cutting the corn off the cobb and either re-heating it for the kids or throwing it on a salad. It goes really well with tomato and basil vinaigrette. I really like this article from Serious Eats on several methods of grilling corn, I think I agree that grilling the naked ear tastes better because of the charring.
The kids are back in school and summer is winding down now, but we are still taking advantage of the last ears of local corn and the end of tomato season in our garden. We still might grill corn a few more times and take advantage of our thyme garlic butter or we may try one of these awesome recipes for the grilled corn or leftovers before it’s gone:
- Mexican Street Corn
- Mexican Corn on the Cobb
- Skinny Mexican Grilled Corn
- Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad
- Chipotle Lime Grilled Corn
- Grilled Corn Guacamole
Or we might even try it in some recipes that don’t specifically called for grilled corn like this Easy Corn Soup.
Now onto our super simple grilled corn salad recipe:
Ingredients
- Lettuce , 1 large head
- 8-12 cherry tomatoes
- 1 ear of grilled corn , sliced off the cobb
Basil Vinaigrette Dressing
- 1/2 c . olive oil
- 1/3 c . balsamic vinegar
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 c . basil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Place all basil vinaigrette ingredients in blender and blend on low briefly. Scrape down sides and blend until mixed.
- Wash lettuce and tomatoes
- Slice the corn off the cobb
- Plate and dress to your liking.
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