Summer has finally arrived here in Amsterdam, and it's come with a BANG. We had the hottest 25th of June yesterday -- at least, since temperatures have first been recorded!

With warm temperatures like these, I'm craving salads and grilled veggies for dinner. Yesterday, I cooked some brown rice and once it was cooled down I mixed it with diced cucumber and tomatoes, toasted sunflower seeds and a selection of chopped herbs. I used coriander, parsley and mint -- including the herb stems! A good drizzle of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, some pepper and salt, and voila! These kind of salads are always a big hit in our house, and any leftovers are highly coveted for the lunch box the next day.

I also had some ripe peaches and avocados that really needed to be eaten. They had reached that 'now, or never!' point of delicious ripeness. So I made a salad of baby spinach, peaches and avocado over which I drizzled pumpkin seed oil and balsamic cream vinegar. We grilled some slices of haloumi cheese which complemented this salad beautifully! This, together with grilled courgette, aubergine and bell peppers, and a few small chipolata sausages from the BBQ... My favourite sort of summer meal.

Summer recipes

Here are some more great summer recipes I've share before. All of which are delicious and so, so easy. Because who feels like cooking when it's hot outside?

• Three seeds bulgur salad. Yum!

• Roasted sweet potatoes with yoghurt-ginger dressing (and a super easy watermelon salad!) Always a favourite!

• An easy and tasty potato salad

• Quiches!! Perfect summer food and great for picnics too :)

• Tarte à la tomate et à la moutarde so simple and so delicious!

• This tomato salsa is the very very best summer side dish!

• Red beet salad (so good and hey -- it's bright pink!)

• Green lentil salad Very very healthy and very very yummy!

• And for desert (or breakfast, or lunch): the best Dutch pancakes :)

What are your favourite summer recipes? I would love to hear about them. Please share your recipes below!

xxx Esther