Pittsburgh Salads and Chilled Tomato Soup

My husband was yearning to put something on the grill, so we started up the steak marinade and put a big sirloin steak on the grill.  So big that we had leftovers, which always trips my switch to make Pittsburgh salads.

According to my sister-in-law who comes from a small town near Pittsburgh, if you put fries on something, that makes it "Pittsburgh."  My version of this salad is based on one I ate at a restaurant.  On top of a green salad, I put slices of steak, roasted potatoes, tomatoes, and blue cheese dressing.  It's divine. 

And a note on the blue cheese dressing: I just mash up really good blue cheese with a bit of yogurt or kefir until it's a nice pourable texture.  Simple.

But I wasn't in the mood to buy out-of-season tomatoes for the salad, so I decided to make tomato soup and serve it chilled for the hot day.  It was excellent.  

In fact, one of my friends made me an Indian soup that has induced labor 2 out of 3 times (didn't work for me!), and one day I just pulled it out of the fridge and ate it cold.  It was also excellent.  

Now I have a new idea for summer:  serve any old pureed soup well-chilled, a fabulous savory smoothie eaten with a spoon.