Summer Eating Made Simple

Memorial Day signals the start of summer in most households.  This brings to mind picnics and cookouts and local fresh fruits and vegetables.  This year, consumers have purchased more than 10 times the usual amount of seeds to plant.   This means LOTS more home grown vegetables!  Fresh spinach, lettuce, beets, and green beans—oh my.  Are you growing your own this year?  Are you frequenting more local farmers markets?  Maybe purchasing more fresh produce from the grocery store?  No matter where you are getting your produce, it is very simple to add more to your daily diet.  We all know produce is healthy for us.  What we have forgotten is that it tastes good.  That’s right!  Fruits and vegetables taste good.  We have ruined the joy in eating by only focusing on the health benefits of fruits and vegetables.  The sweet taste of watermelon on a hot summer day, or the taste of an ear of corn at a picnic.  Healthy—yes; yummy—extremely!

With this in mind, I challenge you to increase the amount of fresh produce you eat this summer.  Eating it at its peak of ripeness will offer the best flavor and highest nutritional values.  Shake things up a little; add spinach to your salad or sandwich.  Place grated zucchini or squash in casseroles, or make patties out of them.  Roll fresh tomatoes and bacon in a whole wheat tortilla and add spinach to it—what a great change on a BLT!  Use your imagination.  The sky is the limit.  Grilling vegetables gives them a great flavor and keeps the heat out of your kitchen.

This year, we are growing lots of fresh veggies and herbs. We have already had a few meals of fresh spinach.  The packet of spinach seeds we purchased cost $1.  We have had $5 worth of spinach already—and the garden isn’t done producing it yet.  What a savings to our grocery bill!  The lettuce is almost ready and the beets are doing great.  The green beans, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes are in their infancy stage, and the monster pumpkins haven’t been eaten by the woodchuck (yet!).  In total, we spent around $15 for plants and seeds.  This is the price of a fast food meal for two.  I consider this a bargain—considering I am already planning on a juicy tomato around the Fourth of July!  Watch for the next installment of summer eating—Making Wise choices on Vacation.  Have a great Memorial Day!  Let me know if this is your first summer growing produce, I’d love to hear from you!