One of the grand things about summer is grazing on the fresh fruits and veggies that pop up in our gardens, farmers markets, and local groceries. Tomatoes, squash, beans, berries – they’re all at their peak in flavor, and that means you don’t have to do too much to them to make them scrum-diddly-uptious!

Last week I showed you a slightly more involved way to enjoy your summer squash. This week I’ll show you all the other super-simple antipasto I made to fill up my antipasti platter. Caprese, melon e prosciutto, and roasted shishito peppers made it to my platter this time, and their preparation couldn’t be simpler. (more…)

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Appetizers, Gluten free, In the Garden, Italian, Quick and Easy by Courtney

Fried squash is one of those dishes that takes me back to my childhood. I can remember both my mom and great grandmother making fried squash, carefully flipping over each circular slice in the pan, getting an even golden brown on each piece. Back then, it was the only way I would eat squash — probably because it was the only way I had known squash! Fast forward a few years, and we’ve simplified the recipe a bit so you don’t have to tend it so closely. (more…)

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Appetizers, Dairy free, Gluten free, In the Garden, Quick and Easy, Side Dish, Southern, Vegan, Vegetarian by Courtney

After many battles with my tomato plants, over the past weekend I finally yielded enough tomatoes to make something beyond an individual caprese salad. I decided to flip through one of my favorite cookbooks, the Food of Italy, to find inspiration on how to handle the 3 pounds of roma tomatoes I had on hand.

While many of the tomatoes will be destined for pizza sauce, I decided to take 20 of them and make oven-dried tomatoes, which was really easy. (more…)

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Appetizers, Dairy free, Gluten free, In the Garden, Italian, Vegan, Vegetarian by Courtney

Today I’m continuing the harvest theme, showcasing more of my hard work from Labor Day weekend (I’m sure there’s a joke to be inserted there). This time it’s what I did with the bulk of the green beans I had picked.

The funny thing about green beans is, I don’t particularly care for them. I buy most of my vegetables as seedlings from Cole Canyon Farm at the Campbell Farmer’s Market (and really, I should buy all of my vegetables from them – they do really well). The guy that runs the booth is really nice, and he tossed in a free green bean plant. I decided to take it since my husband likes green beans. When we got home, I wasn’t quite sure where I would plant the beans, and they sat in their plastic box for about a month, getting occasional water and almost dying before I finally decided to plant them in a narrow strip of dirt along the patio.

So, I don’t care for green beans, I almost killed them before they prospered, and the other amusing thing about this story is I don’t care for pickles much, either. Over time, I’ve found that I like pickled peppers, Indian mango pickle, and giardiniera, but that’s about it. So what do I do with my green beans? I pickle them, of course! (more…)

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Appetizers, Dairy free, Gluten free, In the Garden, Prep for Later Use, Vegetarian by Courtney