Basil, yellow squash, and green beans mean it’s summertime in my kitchen.
- eggs
- peaches
- lettuce
- basil!
- Pac choi (interesting color!)
- tart cherries
- toastercakes
- green beans
- yellow (and one zephyr!) squash
- peach jam
(There were also three little bell peppers, but I found them another home.)
Basil and veggie plans
Fresh basil smell is something that’s been missing in my life for several months now. Tomorrow I’m going to make bruschetta with the rustic bread from Magnolia Bread Company, my very own goat cheese (made from Red Hott Tomatoes goats’ milk), garlic scapes, and what’s left of a monster tomato from a week ago. I’m thinking about squash tian, which uses basil, too.
If you have basil and you don’t have immediate use for it, please consider making pesto. It’s so sad when fresh basil gets icky, and it happens fast. Pesto will keep in the fridge for much longer, or you can even freeze it. (Some people have luck storing fresh basil wrapped in damp paper towels in a plastic bag in the fridge, but I can never get it to work for more than a day.)
The Pac choi is different from the all-green kind I’ve been seeing. I figure it’s always good to have darker green stuff, right? Fried rice and pad thai are the usual suspects for Pac choi. We’ll see what happens this week.
James is coming home this weekend, so I’ll save the toaster cakes till then. We’ll also have stir-fried squash and sautéed green beans. James and I like green beans sautéed with garlic and tossed with lemon zest. Chris likes the Southern kind. So today I prepped the green beans for both.
on the left: skinnier green beans for sauteeing; on the right: chunkier green beans for simmering
Cooking green beans Southern-style is so simple. You boil water with a little salt and olive oil, then add the beans, and then simmer for 30 minutes or so. If you (or someone you love) likes them this way, it’s really good news because they’re so easy and microwave so well. You can cook a whole mess of them at once and reheat as needed.
Now for the fruit…
The peaches I’ve already chopped for muffins.
We made some last week, and they’re terrific for breakfast.
If tart cherries = sour cherries, then here’s a bunch of delicious-sounding ideas from posters at Chowhound.com. So many to choose from! I think I’ll follow the advice of the first post and pit and freeze the cherries and decide what to do with them later.
Mellow Mushroom pre-gaming
Chris and I went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza and beer last night. So we ate our veggies first.
CSA lettuce and tomato, green beans, and stir-fried squash with onion, garlic scapes, and lovage.
Interestingly enough, eating a plate of vegetables has absolutely no effect on how much pizza one can consume a few hours later.
Anticipating the summer bounty
When I went looking for my trusty stir-fried squash recipe, I came across this photo of a CSA delivery last August and just had to share it.
Garlic, sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, basil, squash, watermelon, and eggplant - among other yummy things.
Can’t wait!
thoughtful consumption 
Must. Have. Basil.