Meatless Monday: Garden Fresh

Summer has turned into a hiatus from recipe writing and for good reason. Everyone has been giving me grocery bags full of home grown, garden fresh vegetables all summer long. Just this afternoon I got a bag of squash, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and green beans. Home grown vegetables are so much more flavorful than what we typically find at the grocery store so rather than cooking I've been sprinkling home grown tomatoes and cucumbers with a little sea salt or eating green beans and new potatoes fresh from the pressure cooker.

Lima beans are a perfect example of the difference between home grown and store bought veggies. Garden-fresh limas taste rich and buttery - a bit like a buttered potato. Store bought lima beans taste...well...mealy and mushy by comparison. If you're new to vegetables. (Yes, some people grow up without eating vegetables) I highly recommend stopping by your nearest farmers market and trying veggies you may have previously overlooked.

The other reason I've taken a recipe writing hiatus? My dining room looks like this:

The Great Built-In Cabinet Project of 2013

Although garden fresh veggies are a much better excuse than a trashed dining room.