The Season's Bounty

I'm assuming that anyone who reads my blog knows me well enough to know about my love of cooking and food. I mean, I am passionate about food. It is my creative outlet, it is how I serve my family, friends and my church, it's how I entertain, I often find myself thinking about new recipes or how I can use something fabulous that I found at the grocery store, and I really love to eat my (and anyone else's) creations. This might all explain why I still haven't taken off that baby weight...but that's another story.

You might ask yourself (or me), why don't you cook for a living? I've tried that. I owned a catering business for a while and I've cheffed for one of my friends. While I enjoy cheffing for pay, I've found that I find more joy in cooking when I'm serving my family, friends or church rather than getting paid for it. (Stacey--if you read this, I still really, really like working for you, so please don't take me off your email list).

All that to say, I have been in foodie heaven lately. Have you checked out the produce section at your local grocery store recently? Seriously, I'm like a kid in a candy store, and I can't stop myself from buying fresh fruits and vegetables. I've been buying so much that I'm having to give it away, make smoothies, feed it to my family at every single meal, or, shamefully, I've even had to throw some fruit away that I've let go bad. I know, that's horrible.

This love of all food is a lifelong romance for me. I will say, though, that when I was growing up there were a couple of things I absolutely could not eat: beef liver and tomatoes. I still don't eat beef liver, but tomatoes...

Tomatoes....

Now that's a different story. Particularly this year, I have ventured into the many varieties that are available at the grocery store. Recently, I bought yellow cherry tomatoes, cherubs (grape tomatoes), and I finally purchased a couple of heirloom tomatoes. Top that off with my friend Kristin's tomato garden. She bequeathed us with several large garden fresh tomatoes and a bag full of cherry tomatoes that you can pop in your mouth and eat like a grape. So...what have we eaten this week?

Monday we had baked potatoes with caprese salad (the heirlooms combined with Kristin's large tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil picked from the plant on our front porch). Who knew vegetarian could be so good?

Wednesday we had whole wheat spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce. I used every single little tomato in my house, fresh basil, store bought pesto, white wine, LOTS of garlic, lemon, salt & pepper...oh, and can you see the Parmesan?. I served it with a salmon fillet, but the kids and I didn't eat the salmon...this was good enough for us.

I dare you to try to eat better (or cheaper) out at a restaurant.