Summer Fruits and Vegetables

[cassiesmom]

Karen, I love cucumbers prepared that way in the summer. My dad sometimes puts tomatoes in the dressing too. I also like cucumbers with sour cream (although I mostly use fat-free yogurt instead) and just a little salt. I like cucumbers.

My sister puts just a thin coat of olive oil on strips of red or green bell peppers or zucchini before she places them on the grill. I have just the George Foreman grill so I don't oil them first. I really like grilled vegetables in the summer. One of my co-workers always grills way more vegetables than she knows she'll need for one meal. Then she makes a sandwich of the extras the next day with sourdough bread and a slice of mozzarella or provolone cheese. She zonks it in the microwave in our lunch room for a moment to melt the cheese and heat up the vegetables. It looks sooooo good!

[Pinot's Mom]

Fresh summer cantaloupe is very good, but all time number one summer enjoyment is.....

FRESH MARYLAND TOMATOES - with a touch of salt and Hellman's Mayonnaise! Yes, only Hellman's (or Best Foods if you're west of the Mississippi).

[RICHARD]

In El Lay you can find small carts all over the area that sell you a bag of cut up fruit - They put watermelon, cantalope, honeydew, pineapple, mango and what other fruits are in season at the time.

They also squeeze a lime into the bag and also put a seasoning named Tajin into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj%C3%ADn_(seasoning)

This stuff is AWESOME.

I had to cut back on my salt and use this more often than not. But, it's especially good on fruit.

[Karen]

I adore good "real" tomatoes with a little mayo and a drizzle of basil vinegar - take a few leaves of fresh basil, and put it in a little jar with some white vinegar - let sit a few weeks, and viola! The perfect addition to summer tomatoes!

[PJ's Mom]

I love making a salad with fresh spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, and basil with lemon juice as the dressing. It's so yummy!

[kittycats_delight]

speaking of summer fruits I spent the day yesterday making jam. We are in full blown fruit season here. Almost everything you can think of is in beginning season, mid season or end season so it is perfect. Made 3 batches of jam yesterday which were strawberry/kiwi (local strawberries are basically over for the year), apricot (just started coming out this past week for harvest), & mixed berries....these come down from the mountains and are just starting too. Need to do a few other types. Pear which is just starting, plum which are about mid season now, peach which are also mid season, and want to do a pineapple/orange one too. Pineapples are just becoming available so maybe in next week will have another jam making day.

[Karen]

Hope you're making enough to share! That's an abundance of fruits all at the same time!