Feast your eyes

It's summer. This means 2 things: I have more time to cook and I have access to ingredients that I can't get any other time of year. Oh, sure, you can get strawberries or cucumbers all year, but they don't taste, look or smell the same because they weren't picked today 20 miles from my house; they were picked 3 weeks ago in Chile, or worse, grown hydroponically. After last summer, I even converted Andy. We no longer eat baby carrots (try a taste test with the garden ones, and you'll never eat a wet baby carrot again) or tomatoes out of season. Since we can't grow oranges in Minnesota (or even peaches, which makes me pretty sad) I still haven't convinced Andy that there really is a season for oranges and this season isn't it. We're far from going organic free-range vegan, any other such silly food snobbery, I mean "life choice", we just want to eat things that taste good. And baby carrots, seriously, do not taste good.
So here's my favorite things I've picked up at the farmer's market this month:

• ground lamb from a local rancher, which I made into spiced lamb meatballs. If you aren't a lamb person, try this with ground turkey or pork:

• Heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil, which I made into a Shrimp Panzanella (general recipe). If you haven't tried Panzanella, it's fresh, bursting tomatoes, cubes of day-old bread, and basil with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add grilled or sauteed shrimp, and this one's a real winner:



• Sugar snap peas and new potatoes (so fresh the skins were peeling off), both of which I steamed, then tossed with red onions, some dijon vinaigrette, and I folded in a can of tuna and topped with a few Kalamata olives for a quick Salad Nicoise (let's pretend that's French for cool, refreshing and delicious.):



• Fresh berries, especially strawberries and raspberries. I muddled (smashed) some raspberries with a huge bunch of mint from my garden and one sliced lime. Then I added 2 oz. light rum and filled the tall glass with ice. I topped it off with club soda to make the prettiest, most refreshing Mojito I've ever tasted. If you are looking to go non-alcoholic, replace the rum with 2 oz. of a lemon lime soda, and be sure to call it a Faux-jito.That's my latest, greatest adventures in everyday food. As I'm putting this together, it seems appropriate to thank my Mom for the lovely dishes that make my food look even prettier, and our friend Anna for the oh-s0-cool Mojito glasses.

Until next time, ever yours,

Kelli