I admit it, I’m a sucker for the sweet tastes of Summer! Peaches, strawberries, corn, peas, and my most favorite- refrigerator pickles and my Mom’s pesto!!
The farmers market is one of my most favorite places. It’s full of color and inspiration, and great eats!!
One of the great things I love to make in the warmer days are cool refrigerator dill pickles. I use small pickling cucumbers, as well as other crunchy veggies like green beans, cauliflower, baby carrots and even blanched beets! There are lots of recipes out there, but this summer I’ve used this one. It’s not too sweet and you can load on your own spices- I really like putting in lots of dill and garlic. If you like spicy, you can even add a hot pepper!
My mom’s pesto is a bit different than standard pesto, as it’s far less oily and it uses walnuts rather than pine nuts. I love the fresh burn of garlic and the bright flavors of the basil. I use it on everything from pasta to lasagne, chicken and fish! It’s even great on veggies!! I start making multiple batches of pesto early in the season, freezing half and eating half each time. By the end of the Summer, I have enough pesto in the freezer to last me until basil is fresh again. I like to freeze it into small portions- either using ice cube trays or small Tupperwar containers. Then I just pop the frozen cubes out into a big ziploc and I’m ready to freeze the next batch.
I’ve been traveling so much these past couple months, it’s so nice to be home and enjoy the simple things.. like a trip to the farmers market early Saturday morning, and being home to eat all the goodies! I’m heading to Palouse Fiber Festival, in Moscow ID, this weekend- there’s still time to sign up for classes!! Then it’s back home for a couple etsy updates, dyepots and maybe another trip to the farmers market.
What are your favorite summer eats and treats? Any recipes to share? I’m always excited to try new things!