Baby Pies and Cannellini Crostini

Summer school is starting soon, so we're trying to get in as much picnicking and adventuring as possible. Today I packed up the cooler with mini blackberry and peach pies, and a cannellini bean salad with crostini...but after our adventures, we ended up eating it all on the couch at home. Here they are before the mini-lattice tops:

And after...

Zips prefers the blackberry. After all, her proper name, Zarzamora, means blackberry. Can you believe we forgot to snap a photo after they were baked?? It's definitely TOO LATE NOW!

The cannellini bean salad is an approximation of a vegetarian dish served at Edo's Squid in Richmond, VA. I've never been to it, but my partner had a job interview in Richmond. Eating at Edo's and indulging in the ginger sesame dipping sauce for vegetable tempura at TJ's (which I've never visited, but of course will have to figure out the recipe for) were the highlights of her trip. In any case, I've got a pantry stocked with cannellini's and some panko crumbs for the future.

Cannellini Salad:

2 cans of cannellini beans (I use Bush's)
1/4 c. red onion THINLY sliced
1/4c. parsley (flat or curly.. I prefer flat) chopped
2 roma tomatoes chopped
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 Tb. lemon juice (or more to taste)
3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil (ditto)
salt and black pepper
The longer it sits, the better it gets...

Zips' big sister Mini checks out the crostini.