Sometimes I wonder when I’m gonna get my actual act together and cook dinner on a weeknight like a real live adult. I start off the week with the best of intentions. There’s always meat in the freezer that could be thawed. There’s typically no shortage of vegetables in the crisper due to my weekly market run. I don’t have single girl syndrome to fall back on, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend of many years wouldn’t complain if my cooking-for-two was together enough to extend past Saturday and Sunday nights.

But then I get home at 7pm and I’m all like, “yea this single fried egg with hot sauce is a perfectly acceptable meal.” This brings me to the savory greek yogurt salad that has become a staple in my weeknight meal rotation. I’m not going to pretend that other grownups would consider this a full fledged main entree, but for me on a Tuesday night, it does the trick.

It’s tangy and savory and has protein, there’s salty feta and an herby cucumber tomato salad and lately I’ve taken to adding lots of toasty sesame seeds and for the tiniest sweet touch, some golden raisins. I feel like it’s a lot more well rounded than my standard egg for dinner. I will admit it’s a very summery salad --- cool, crisp and full of summer fare. I’ve had this salad in my back pocket for awhile now, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for all the tomatoes to disappear all at once! But since the market had no shortage this past weekend, I have no problem telling to you make this immediately, before it’s too late!

Savory Greek Yogurt Salad

Ingredients:

½ cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup chopped cucumber

1 teaspoon dill, finely minced

1 teaspoon parsley, finely minced

1 teaspoon mint, finely minced

1 teaspoon shallot, finely minced

juice of ½ lemon

tablespoon or so of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

scant ¼ cup crumbled feta

1 cup greek yogurt

Optional, not pictured:

sprinkling of sesame seeds (or sunflower or pepitas...or all)

golden raisins

Directions:

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, shallot, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Put yogurt into serving bowl, spoon salad over top, dress with a touch more olive oil and fresh ground pepper, feta, and any other optional toppings if desired.

Serves 1

I want to love pie. I really, truly, desperately do want to love pie.

I appreciate pie. I appreciate pie in the sense that I know how much blood, sweat, and tears usually go into making pie. That, and they are just so pretty. I love the aesthetics of pie. The crinkled edges, the handiwork of the lattice, the snappy looking sugary top. Give me a piece of pie and I will fawn over it like it just won the county prize at the fair.

Expect me to eat that prize winning slice and I will proceed to scoop out and only eat what’s inside the pie. So what I really love is the fruit. That warm, syrupy, drippy fruit.

So when faced with a quart or two of perfectly perfect bright red sour cherries and not even one inkling need to make pie, what’s a girl to do? Of course I only bought the cherries because what kind of seasonal blogger would I be if I didn’t. I had a stare down with my quart of cherries and eventually they convinced me to just throw them into a saucepan with some sugar and almond extract, because when in doubt, make compote.

Consequently I ended up with a bunch of warm, syrupy, drippy fruit which is exactly what I like. Those saucy cherries then talked me into swirling them into a couple things, including these yogurt popsicles, but none of them pie.

Sour Cherry Almond Yogurt Popsicles

Ingredients:

Cherry compote:

1 quart sour cherries (approximately 2 pounds), pitted

⅓ cup raw sugar or other sweetener

juice of half a lemon

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon tapioca starch (or cornstarch)

Yogurt Base:

1 cup plain greek yogurt

½ cup whole milk

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon almond extract

Almond crust (optional):

½ cup roughly chopped sliced lightly toasted almonds

Directions:

In a 2-quart saucepan over medium to low heat, bring cherries, raw sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer. Cook for about 25 minutes until cherries have broken down and released their juices. When they’ve reached the correct consistency, stir in the almond extract. Lastly scoop about a ¼ cup of juice from pot into a small dish. Whisk the starch into this juice and once combined quickly add back to the cherry pot. Stir well to incorporate. Once the juice has thickened into a syrup, remove from heat and let cool.

Once cooled, blitz briefly in a food processor or blender until mostly but not fully pureed. A few chunks of cherry are welcomed.

While the compote is cooling, get the yogurt base ready. In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, milk, honey and almond extract until smooth. Keep chilled until compote is cooled.

To assemble pops: pour about an inch of yogurt base into each of six pop molds. Next layer in one heaping tablespoon of cherry compote into each. Finish each with another layer of yogurt base, leaving about ¼ inch at the top of each mold to accommodate for expansion. Next take a popsicle stick and artfully drag the cherry compote through the yogurt mix of each popsicle mold. You should be able to create some pretty swirl action for each pop.

Get your popsicle mold ready for the freezer by placing on covers, adding popsicle sticks, etc.

Freeze for 4 to 5 hours or until fully frozen. Run under warm water to loosen.

If desired, let the pops begin to melt just slightly, and then roll in chopped almond slices to coat. Enjoy right away or return to freezer to be enjoyed at a later time.

Note: You will have compote leftover. I promise that having left over cherry compote is not a problem. I’ve been swirling it into plain yogurt for a sweet snack. Swiped on some toast, waffles, or pancakes would be great. I have no doubt that spooning it over vanilla ice cream would be divine. This cake would welcome the addition.