Sun-Ripened Summer

Alabama blogger Kate Wood specializes in sweets, but she makes an exception for this gorgeous galette studded with summer’s brightest stars.

- MANDY NAGLICH

Kate Wood’s Instagram feed may look perfectly curated, but this blogger and mom isn’t afraid to share what’s really going on behind the filter. “Whenever you invite kids into the kitchen, it’s going to be a mess,” she says. “But it is so worth it.”

Kate lives in Alabama with her husband and their three children under 7 in a house brimming with energy, especially around dinnertime. “Dinner is a circus; it’s loud and chaotic, but sometimes it’s easy!” she says.

To make feeding a family of five easier on herself, Kate occasionally makes dinner look a little like a picnic. Everyone sits together on a big blanket spread out on the porch or on the living room floor. “My two oldest get so excited about it,” Kate says.

Tacos are the top request in the Wood household, but Kate’s stunning summer tomato galette pops up at the picnics, too. “I have three little people and a picky-eater husband who aren’t interested in just eating a whole fresh tomato,” she says.

This galette is the perfect disguise for fresh from-the-garden summer vegetables because “it’s almost like a pizza!”—especially when sprinkled with a handful of salty feta cheese.

Kate specializes in sweets and desserts on her blog Wood & Spoon (on Instagram, as @katie_clova, she has more than 135,000 followers). But summer in the South calls for a savory exception to her typical cookies, cakes and frozen delicacies. This recipe allows the family to enjoy vegetables from her garden. Tomatoes and peppers grow abundantly in the warmer months, as do a few big eggplants.