This post contains affiliate links.

The sweltering summer heat brings about many things. We might find can find ourselves looking for comfort in a visit to a local watering hole, sopping up the sunshine as we road trip down a highway or swinging by a park to soak in the last few hours with our families. It's these moments that create the memories that make the juice worth the squeeze.

And then our stomachs rumble, and we realize we didn't plan dinner.

Here is the good news. It is a perfect time of year for something subtle, spicy, hearty, refreshing and bursting with the summer sun. Found at most supermarkets or farmer's markets, it can be big and fleshy or tiny and sweet. It has an identity crisis and often called a vegetable. No matter what, we can make it into a perfect portable dinner and keep pumping love right into our summer.

Every year, about this time, I pull from my kitchen shelf "French Women Don't Get Fat. The secret of Eating For Pleasure" {affiliate link} by Mireille Guiliano. Yes, the title isn't a favorite but the recipes inside are simple and delicious. A variation on one darling recipe made with a perfectly ripe seasonal tomato is below. When the warm days say goodbye, this recipe will make you miss summer. Let's take tonight and create an outdoor picnic that will fill our bellies and help us continue to soak in the delightfully long summer days.

Picnic Worthy Tomato Salad With Goat Cheese

4 large heirloom tomatoes
Jacobsen Sea Salt to taste {affiliate link}
6 oz fresh sheep's feta or goat cheese
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon yellow or Dijon or yellow mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 loaf crusty bread

Step 1: Slice the tomatoes to be about 1/2 inch thick. Place in a portable container with a seal- tight lid and sprinkle with salt and goat cheese. Close lid and set aside.

Step 2: Place shallots, mustard, vinegar, and olive oil in a small leak-proof container. Close the lid and shake until combined. Place the tomato, dressing, and bread in a cooler or picnic basket with some ice packs if eating later. Bring everything needed for a picnic. Once ready to eat, pour the dressing on top of tomatoes, serve a few slices to each tomato with dressing, rip off a hunk of bread and dig into the fruit that makes summertime amazing.