Today, we’re talking about Karma. It’s a little word with great significance. A five letter word without any complication – no double consonants, no silent H – and seems totally harmless. It’s a five letter word that, if you’re not careful, can really come back to kick you in the behind.

It’s been a long August. I’m not sure what my karmic wrongdoing was to garner such bad luck but the past few weeks have not exactly been filled with sunshine and puppies (well, except for Angie’s puppy).

I say this not to complain, but to give you a little bit of background on my past 31 days:

• My cell phone and laptop were simultaneously destroyed in Spilled Glass Of Water 2009 (I sure hope the folks at Apple aren’t reading this after I told the poor tech guy “GEE I HAVE NO IDEA WHY MY COMPUTER WAS WET.”)
• My iPod broke down and though it has since started working again, I had a long week of workouts narrated by the hum of the treadmill conveyor belt. Brutal.
• My oven burned out (yes, apparently that is possible) on August 1. Repairman finally fixed the oven on August 28.
• Promptly burned my arm on a hot oven rack on August 29.

I could go on but those are the highlights of August and I don’t want to bore you with details anymore than I want to relive any of the above. (OMG ESPECIALLY THE VISITS TO THE APPLE STORE).

Now, they say every cloud has a silver lining and I suppose the silver lining to my month of August was that I made a lot of new salads.

I also at a lot more ice cream but that’s a story for another time, another day.

One of the salads that I had the opportunity to try while the oven was on the fritz was one that I’ve been wanting to make since the beginning of this year. (Ed note: I refuse to attribute a silver lining to the laptop disaster. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone).

There’s no better a time than a lazy, summer afternoon to throw together a salad hearty enough to stand in as dinner, but light enough, flavored with herbs, olive oil and vinegar, to serve alongside steak, chicken or fish for a bigger meal.

Three Tomato Panzanella

Ingredients:

12 ounces day-old crusty Italian bread, cut into cubes (about 6 cups)
2 medium tomatoes, trimmed and each cut into wedges
2 yellow heirloom tomatoes, trimmed and each cut into wedges
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup capers, drained
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Directions:

Combine bread, tomatoes and capers in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together red wine vinegar, basil, salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Slowly drizzle in olive oil to combine. Toss dressing with bread and tomatoes and let sit at room temperature, covered for at least an hour before serving. Serves 6 as an entree, 8-10 as a side dish or appetizer salad.

Tagged as: bread salad, heirloom tomatoes, panzanella, tomato panzanella