Celebrate Summer Sides!

June 19, 2024

Let’s be real…the sides are the superstars of summer meals. All those fresh veggies and fruits call to me.

When I was 8, my family moved to a modest “farmette”. Both my parents had grown up in the city, so this property provided a bonanza of land, which my mother promptly made use of by planting a huge vegetable garden. When I say huge, i mean larger than a tennis court! She was giddy with excitement to have that much space to plant everything she had ever dreamed of. We not only had a tremendous variety of fruits and vegetables, we had a lot of them! Many nights we just had a huge plate of four or five varieties of veggies for dinner!

Better yet, when my parents hosted their famous summer parties, Mom really showed off all the produce of summer. While we kids played touch football, or ran relay races, the grownups were laying out the spread. The table would be groaning with platters of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers… lightly steamed green beans…roasted red, yellow and striped beets, bowls of cherry tomatoes, corn salad with crisp peppers, potato salad made with fresh dill, fruit salad and so much more. After dinner we would inevitably have a seed spitting contest with the juiciest watermelons. I was never sure who won! I feel truly fortunate for these great memories and it’s so interesting that many of them are wrapped with the bounty of summer produce.

My mom made it look simple to eat well. As a child, I didn’t realize how lucky we were to eat these tasty foods that fueled our bodies. We all worked hard in her garden and it was a good lesson for us to learn that it takes work to grow your own veggies and fruits, but if you have the opportunity, the rewards are scrumptious. One raspberry for me…one for the bucket…we popped sweet little peas straight from the pod into our mouths and chewed on tender carrots that we rinsed off with the hose.

Now that I’m a parent myself, I try to fill up my family and friends with the freshest produce both from my (much smaller) garden, and what I find elsewhere. Like my mom did, we load up our plates with the freshest produce available. It gives me great pleasure to bring a platter of red and yellow sliced tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and torn basil leaves to a party. One would think I had created a masterpiece. In truth, that platter of tomatoes or other dishes, such as a pasta salad with loads of chopped fresh veggies and herbs, are masterpieces! We should all marvel at the beauty and the taste of simple but fabulous summer sides.

Tips for Summer Produce:

Fortunately, summer vegetables and fruits are easy to come by and easy to love.

• Garden Fresh: The fresher the produce the more enhanced the flavor. The very best will be just-picked from the garden. Pick beans, peas and even carrots on the small side for the sweetest and most tender. Plant lettuces, spinach and kale every two to three weeks for consistent harvesting. At the very least, you will have salad makings all summer long. Remember to enter  what you have available in your garden in your DinnerTime Pantry Manager, so when you plan your meals, your produce will be advantaged but not added to the DinnerTime Grocery List.
• Farm Stand: I like to support our area farmers. Over the years, we’ve traded recipes and tips. These folks will pick out your juiciest melons and tell you when they will be at peak sweetness, advise you on how to cook with garlic scapes or the best way to store your newly purchased cherries. (They don’t last long enough in our house to worry if they will keep!)  As you purchase items, check them off your Grocery List. Sometimes I come home with a veggie or fruit I didn’t have on my Grocery List. Not a problem! I just look in my Recipe Box for recipes I want to try and add to my Meal Plan.
• Grocery Store: Fortunately, grocery stores actively are sourcing produce locally as much as possible. The most important thing is to buy in-season for the best of the best. Be picky and be rewarded with tender and fresh options.

Be Choosy: Look, feel, smell. If something doesn’t look right, feel firm or smells off, then move on to another option. Look for bright colors and firm texture. Even peaches should be firm but tender to the touch, not mushy. Items such as green beans should not be limp, and eggplant should be firm with smooth skin. If you need to choose something that wasn’t on your Grocery List, no worries, you can change your Meal Plan on your phone right in the store and make sure you have all the ingredients for your recipe.

Clean Your Produce: We are organic growers so I don’t have a problem with my children eating right out of the garden. However, not everyone is, so if you don’t know how your produce was grown, err on the side of caution and clean everything. I even rinse off melons before I cut them to ensure no contaminants are taken from my knife to the meat of the melon. Check out this resource for best produce cleaning practices.

Be Adventurous: Now is the time to try a new-to-you vegetable or fruit. My mom liked to pickle beets but I didn’t love them. Sorry Mom! It took me years to try beets again. Now I love them. I think partly because my taste buds developed, plus I found I like them boiled or roasted instead of pickled. I grow several varieties of colorful beets and they look so pretty on a platter. We recently tried watermelon cooked on the grill and it was a hit! We also tried Cheesy Grilled Corn which we all liked, but i’ll probably stick with my personal favorite of 3-minutes-in-boiling-water corn on the cob. The kids are having fun suggesting different veggies and fruits cooked on the grill, which warms my heart.

Super Summer Sides Recipes!

 Search for more delightful recipes in your DinnerTime Recipe Box.

Use the filter function (found on right of your DinnerTime Recipe Box search) to find desserts, main dish, side dishes etc.