i love summer vegetables

so, you may remember that i posted about vegetables last winter and how i have so much trouble remembering to eat my veggies…. well, the return of summer reminds me (once again) that i’m just prejudiced against winter vegetables. summer vegetables, i loooooove. yesterday, i made myself a sandwich for lunch. my usual simple summertime sandwich needed some more oomph (since i’d already eaten it twice this week), so i put together a combo of avocado, thinly sliced cucumber, gouda, and tomato. delicious! and a great combination of textures as well as flavors–creamy, soft, crunchy, cool, slippery…. if i make it again, i think i’ll sprinkle just a little salt and maybe some pepper on it and then it will be perfect. i also had a great dinner of a chickpea salad with tomatoes, feta and peas (still in their pod, bought at the farmer’s market) with a little lemon juice and olive oil–and a little bit of shredded chicken. i got the idea for the recipe from everyday food magazine, but i added a few of my own touches just by checking the fridge to see what was on hand. mmmm…. it would also have been good with tuna. maybe i’ll try that next time. the day before that, i made another great recipe from the magazine–a shredded chicken salad with red peppers and a peanut sauce. i just love summer food.

one of the things i like is how there are new vegetables in season every few weeks–so there’s lots of variety and a sense of urgency–you’d better eat this now because this is the last week we’ll have them at the farmer’s market! after this, any [strawberries, peas, zucchini, watermelon] you buy will be from some other part of the country and will not taste nearly as good because it’s had to travel so far. plus, you’ll feel guilty about the wear-and-tear on the environment from not eating local food–so eat up! enjoy! this is the best [canteloupe, cucumber, cherries] you’ll have all year long! what better excuse to take the time to enjoy fresh food?