I just moved. I hate moving, but seem to do it regularly anyway. The house I’m in now is a little quirky– converted horse barn, according to one of my friends– and has a kitchen meant for someone tall. Seriously tall. I can’t reach most of the shelves, and will definitely be using my stool often.
Excluding the many pieces of peanut butter toast and scrambled eggs I’ve eaten throughout the moving process, this was the first proper meal I prepared in the kitchen. Lentil salad, with toast, and sugar snap peas. In the salad were lentils (surprise!), olive oil, white wine vinegar, minced green olives, garlic, grainy mustard made by this lovely blogger who shared, chives, black pepper, rosemary, carrots and celery. Lentil salad is one of those things where I will occasionally actually follow a recipe, but honestly, it’s a great way to clean out the vegetable drawer and prevent the celery from landing in the compost pile. Even better, it is both filling enough and light enough to eat on a hot summer day.
The herbs were scavenged from the garden (I say scavenged because they have been neglected for years… and I intend to wrangle them into some sort of order, probably just before I next move) and the plants I put in and promptly did not visit again six weeks ago are still (mostly) present although overtaken by weeds. The fruit situation, though, is delightful. Black raspberries, red raspberries, currants, apples, cherries… and blueberries! I digress… back to the featured meal:
Everyday Lentil Salad
Lentils, cooked with bay leaf and dried herbs, if desired (thyme and sage are a nice combination), and drained
Olive oil
Vinegar
Mustard
Garlic
Chopped crunchy vegetables: whatever floats your boat
Chopped tender veg: tomatoes, lettuce, cooked potatoes, etc
Herbs, minced
Salt & pepper
Strong featured flavor: olives, capers, marinated artichokes, green onions, pickled anything, lemon zest…
Cheese, if desired
Rough guide: make about 1/3 cup dressing for every 2 cups lentils. Toss the lentils in the dressing while they are still warm, if possible, and then mix all ingredients and serve warm or cool.
Sustainable Cooking for One 
looks like a perfect summer meal – moving or not. I had to laugh at your tall kitchen. When I put my cabinets in about 10 years ago, I thought it would be useful that they went all the way to the ceiling. Apparently I hadn’t realized that I’d stopped growing.