This recipe is by Zac Benedict for the California Avocado Commission.

This recipe (below) uses 12-ounce mason jars, a main-dish size salad for each person. You can also use 16.5-ounce mason jars. The handled jars can be used for food or drinks.

If you don’t want to buy mason jars, check to see what you already have; for example, glass dessert bowls or jumbo wine goblets. Use smaller jars for a side salad. Zac suggests collecting large baby food jars, and for the larger mason jars use chopsticks, which easily reach the bottom of the jar.

The idea is to eat the layered salad from the jar, although Zac advises that you can also set out serving bowls for people who want to toss their salads.

In addition to Recipe #1, a second recipe for Seven Layer Salad is below
 
 
COLORED PRODUCE: FRUIT & VEGETABLE OPTIONS

Select vegetables in a variety of colors. For example, if you like scallions but have too much green, substitute red onion. If you’re using red tomatoes, use orange and yellow bell peppers instead of red ones.

 
You can also add diced meats and cheeses, cooked grains, beans and legumes; plus condiments such as olives and sliced pickles.
 
 
RECIPE #1: YOUR OWN LAYERED SALAD

Ingredients

Choose whatever ingredients you want, from the list above or from browsing the market. Select your dressing. Then, prepare!

The recipe for the Dijon citrus vinaigrette follows.

Preparation

1. LAY out the rinsed, dried, and cut produce ingredients.

2. PLACE the heaviest ingredients on the bottom of the jar (or bowl), and the most crushable items at the top.

Try to be as even as possible: The layers don’t have to be perfect but they look very nice when the ingredients are in neat rows.

[2] Vegetables in the colors of the rainbow brighten your salad (photo © Good Eggs).

Prepare the ingredients; then, it’s easy to layer (photo © California Avocado Commission).

3. CHOOSE your dressing; keep it separate until you’re ready to eat. Then, poured over the salad ingredients, seal the jar and gently invert the jar a few times to disperse the dressing.

Another option is to place the dressing at the bottom of the jar before layering the salad ingredients. Topping it with heavy ingredients like cucumbers and bell peppers will provide a bit of a barrier between the dressing and the salad.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
 
RECIPE #3: DIJON CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the ingredients in a small jar with a lid; shake until well-blended.

This recipe uses a fresh citrus Dijon dressing, which is poured over the salad ingredients before serving. Then, seal with the lid and then gently invert the jar a few times to disperse the dressing.

2. POUR dressing over each of the layered salads. Seal with jar lid and serve.
 
 
Find more delicious recipes at CaliforniaAvocado.com.
 
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*You can make the dressing sweeter or more tart to your liking depending on which citrus juice you use.

Thanks to a Turkish family whose children moved to a simit-less New York City, simits are now baked in the area, served at the company’s Simit + Smith cafés and sold at specialty food stores (a partial list: Agata & Valentina, Amish Market, Blue Olive Market, Food Cellar, Francela, Garden of Eden, Parrot Coffee and Zeytuna).

We’d like to offer our perspective of simits versus bagels.

Wanting to make their product stand out, the Simit + Smith folks don’t want to compare simits with that ensconced American standard, the bagel. They suggested that we call it “artisan bread,” a generic term that applies to any bread that’s handmade.

But we don’t agree. What’s the best way to convince people to try something new? Compare it to something everyone already knows and loves.

So take it from THE NIBBLE: If you like sesame bagels, you’ll like simits—maybe a lot more.

SIMITS & BAGELS: THE DIFFERENCES

A simit (on top) with its cousin, a sesame bagel. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

MORE ON THE MENU

In its home countries, simits are always coated with flavorful, healthful healthy sesame seeds. To meet American’s tastes, Simit + Smith also offers multigrain and whole wheat simits (you won’t find them in Turkey).

If you’d like a simit sandwich, there are traditional Mediterranean fillings such as black olive paste and kasseri cheese, and American-style fillings as chicken, Nutella and banana (wonderful!), roast beef and our favorite, smoked salmon and cream cheese.

There are toasted Simit chips with a variety of Mediterrean dips and spreads. We’ve been enjoying simit in some form or other for breakfast, lunch and snacks.

Other products include beverages (the tea and coffee are delish), oatmeal, yogurt and fresh fruit, soups, salads, paninis, scones and excellent baked goods sourced from top local bakeries.

The company has also makes pogaca (poh-AH-cha), a savory pastry filled with feta and parsley or kasseri cheese and olives. Here’s the whole menu.

For more information on Simit + Smith,including a list of specialty food stores that carry simits, head to SimitAndSmith.com.

In the U.S. Blackberries typically peak in June in the South, and in July in the North. Crops are ready at various times of the month depending on which part of the state you are located. In order to produce good local Blackberries, producers depend on ideal spring and early summer weather conditions.

In this recipe from Driscoll’s, a deep purple blackberry purée spiked with blackberry liqueur dresses up a creamy cheesecake with a chocolate wafer cookie crust.

Today’s the perfect day to bake it: July 30th is National Cheesecake Day (see all the food holidays).

Prep time is 20 minutes plus cooling, and cook time is 50 minutes plus cooling.

Don’t like blackberries? Can’t find any? Use another berry.

> National Cheesecake Day is July 30th.

> The history of cheesecake.
 
 
RECIPE: SWIRLED BLACKBERRY CHEESECAKE

Ingredients For 16 Servings
 
For The Crust

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Combine chocolate wafer crumbs and melted butter in a medium bowl. Press into and up sides of a 9-inch non-stick springform pan (if the pan is not nonstick, brush first with melted butter). Bake for about 14 minutes or until firm. Let cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

2. MAKE the filling. Purée 1 cup of blackberries in a blender or food processor and strain. Discard seeds. You should have about 1/3 cup purée. Stir in blackberry liqueur and 2 teaspoons sugar. Set aside until ready to use.

3. MIX cream cheese and remaining 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed until blended. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, on low speed. Add sour cream and mix until blended. Spoon half batter into the cooled crust.

4. DROP half of the blackberry purée mixture into the batter, one teaspoon at a time. Swirl into filling using a toothpick or wooden skewer. Repeat with the remaining batter and blackberry purée mixture.

6. SERVE: Make a pile of the remaining blackberries on top of cheesecake and garnish with mint leaves.
 
 
BLACKBERRY TIPS

Many people spread jam on their toast. But in the summer season, why not use fresh berries instead?

Pair those berries with your favorite dairy spread: cottage cheese, cream cheese, crème fraîche, fromage blanc, fromage frais/quark, goat cheese, mascarpone, sour cream, yogurt.

In France, these would be called tartines: open-face sandwiches.

You don’t have to toast the bread. Toast adds crunch and texture, but if fresh-baked bread is calling to you, enjoy it straight from the loaf.

You can also enjoy these tartines as a snack. They’re just right for a mid-afternoon tea break.

RECIPE: FRUIT TOAST / BREAKFAST TARTINES

Ingredients

Who needs jam when you have fresh fruit? Photo courtesy Vermont Creamery.

1. Choose some delicious bread: date nut bread, Irish soda bread, multigrain, peasant bread, pumpernickel, raisin bread, rye, sourdough, spelt, whole grain or other bread with great flavor and texture.

You can also use crispbread, like Wasa. Mild breads like challah, English muffins and white bread are best left to another occasion. See the different types of bread.

2. Pick your dairy product: cottage cheese, cream cheese, crème fraîche, goat cheese, Greek yogurt, mascarpone, sour cream, quark or other spreadable dairy.

3. Pick your fruit: berries, dates, figs, mandarin or orange segments, mango and sliced stone fruits (apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums) are our favorites.

4. Toast the bread (or not); spread with the dairy, top with the fresh fruit and enjoy. If you need more sweetness, drizzle with honey or cinnamon sugar.

VARIATIONS

 
*Yes, tomatoes are a fruit, but they are eaten a vegetable. Here’s why the tomato is fruit, not veggie.
  

We found this “sundae” on the Smucker’s Facebook page.

Maybe you want a more formal dessert to bring to the table. Or maybe you just want to have fun. Either way:

1. CUT the ice cream sandwich at angles and place in a fancy dish.

2. GARNISH with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, berries, sprinkles, candies (M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, chocolate chunks), whatever.

3. ENJOY the experience.

Want to create an ice cream “mixed grill?” Add a scoop to the center of the “sundae.”