Today we’re doing notes on calcium and dairy intake, but I snapped a few photos last night of the salad my husband and I have been devouring lately.

The whole premise is simplicity; preparing each veggie well and letting the flavors complement one another. It’s so healthy, as you’ll see, but flavorful in a powerfully addictive way.

Summer Salad with a Kick

5 tbsp. olive oil, divided

3 ears of corn, corn removed from cob

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. salt, divided

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3 jalapenos, partially seeded and diced

5 plum tomatoes, chopped

1/2 lb green beans, trimmed and chopped to 1 in. pieces

5 scallions (green onions), sliced

pinch sugar

(This makes it easy to get to the bottom of the cob with your knife and the kernels don’t fly away from you, they fall right in)

(The seeds contain the heat; leave a bunch in!)

1. Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil in large nonstick skillet.

2. When hot but not smoking, add corn, jalapeno, salt and pepper.

3. Meanwhile, bring about 6 c. water to boil. Salt water with 1 tbsp. salt. Add green beans.

4. Boil green beans for about 3 minutes, then drain.

5. Meanwhile, toss corn and peppers with wooden spoon. Corn will soften and then begin to brown lightly. The spoon should look like mine, here, as the sugars are released from that corn. (If you ate that black stuff off the spoon, like I do every time, you will see that it’s the sweetest most delicious thing you’ve ever had, seriously).

6. Put chopped tomatoes and scallions into large mixing bowl.

7. When corn is light brown and starting to make sticky trails on your pan, turn off the heat and pour into bowl with scallions and tomatoes.

8. Top with green beans (don’t rinse, by the way, as you’ll rinse off that salt) and mix.

9. Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil (or more or less depending on your tastes) and the pinch of sugar.

The heat from the corn and the green beans really helps the flavors to meld. I found that by salting the corn and beans I didn’t need to add salt later, but you might, so add it to taste.

We ate this warm, with our fish. You could make this ahead and store it in the fridge and it’d be just as good.

I’m slightly embarrassed to say this, but we ate the whole salad last night at dinner. That’s 3 ears of corn, 5 tomatoes, 3 peppers, 1/2 lb. beans and 5 green onions, gone in a blink. My husband summed it all up in saying “I feel like I will live a long time”.