My eating patterns have changed over the past six months. It began with the shelter-in-place pandemic, during which I looked at my freezers and pantry.

But once the summer harvest became available, I began allowing my meals to be vegetable- and fruit-centric. I often had a late breakfast, with eggs in the mix along with lots and lots of greens, sweet corn, tomatoes (of course) and sweet peppers. I would skip lunch, but around three or four in the afternoon, my thoughts went to dinner. If I had something thawed, perhaps a pork or lamb chop, a steak, a burger, I would add a carb (or two or three) and more vegetables. Sometimes my dinner was at 5, because I was pretty darned hungry. I am usually in bed by 9:30 and read until 11 or later. By that time I am hungry again, but not enough get out of bed and forage downstairs in the kitchen.

We all know not to grocery shop hungry, but it was never a problem for me to read my food magazines at night in bed. But, again, my eating patterns have changed, A couple of nights ago I read my new Fine Cooking magazine, one of my favorites. By the time I was done reading that, and turning to a new novel my friend, Mary van Dorster, gave me, I realized I’d dog-eared 17 pages of recipes, not including the entire articles on making ice cream that do not require an ice cream maker.

Which one would I give you first? Obviously, it should be something that I had not made once this summer and for which I had all the ingredients. No, I didn’t go to the kitchen at 11 p.m., but I made it the next day for dinner.

Tuna Panzanella

From Fine Cooking, August/September 2020

½ cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Kosher or sea salt

2 pounds mixed tomatoes, cut into ½-inch wedges, or cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained

4 ½-inch thick slices rustic sourdough or country bread, toasted or grilled and cooled

1 large clove garlic, cut in half lengthwise, peeled

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 English or 2 to 3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

1¼ cups loosely packed basil, large leaves torn

2 7- to 8-ounce jars or cans good-quality tuna in olive oil, drained, oil reserved

In a small bowl, toss together onions, vinegar and ¼ teaspoon salt. In a large bowl, toss together tomatoes, capers and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Meanwhile, rub the toast slices on both sides with cut sides of garlic. Tear toast into small pieces. Discard the garlic.

Stir oil into bowl with the tomatoes mixture. Add cucumbers, toast pieces and onions mixture, including all liquids. Toss well to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Season the salad to taste with salt and pepper. (The salad can be made up to 20 minutes ahead of this step. Keep covered at room temperature.)

Toss the basil and tuna into the salad, drizzled with a little of the reserve tuna oil (if desired) and sprinkle with more pepper.

On the Side

As I drive around our beautiful shoreline, I think about what is inland rather than the seashore. Apples will be everywhere, along with cider and cider donuts. I opened the latest issue of Yankee magazine and saw that Amy Traverso, Yankee's senior food editor, has written a new edition of "The Apple Lover's Cookbook," replete with more sweet and savory recipes, more festival venues and new kinds of apples. In Yankee, there are recipes for cardamom-apple soufflé pancakes, apple-cranberry slab pie with cranberry drizzle, apple-plum cobbler and sausage, apple and squash sheet-pan supper with fragrant herb oil.

I may not get the new one, published early this month, but my daughter's birthday is in late September and she deserves this cookbook. So do you.

"The Apple Lover's Cookbook" by Amy TraversoW.W. Norton and CompanyPublished Sept. 1, 2020

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.