thank goodness for farmers markets

On Saturday mornings it's off to the farmers market we go! Some days  it's a big group my mom and sisters and I and on others, like today it was just me and baby button. Off we stroll in the morning sunshine to see what we can see and find what we can find. Today was a beautiful bunch of peonies and a lovely big head of lettuce. This time of year it is mostly plants for sale with just the beginnings of what the summers bounty of fruit and veg will be. Lovely heads of fresh lettuce, ruby red rhubarb and other early summer delights.

I love coming here. I have my favourite vendors, a lovely older Italian man, who spent much of last summer giving me extra cherries " for the baby" and sells his tomato plants in Tim Horton coffee cups. I lovely lady who sells the most amazing raisin bread . As well as the dog bakery lady, so the many dogs that come can get a treat too.

Farmers markets have a lovely community feel in an unforced sort of way. Just people together enjoying the sunshine, a chat and the lovely fresh food. It's nice to have not just a face but a person to go with your food, I have noticed lately that supermarkets like to put pictures of farmers on the packaging but this is just not the same in my book. I want our little boy to grow up and know in the summer months the person that grows his food.

And I just can't resist peonies to brighten the house!!!

tomatoes gone wild

"Only two things that money can't buy, That's true love and homegrown tomatoes"- Guy Clark



And I couldn't agree more! I love my tomato patch, it's wild and unruly,home to bugs and weeds as well as the tomato plants. I always seem to plant them to close together, that little 2" plant quickly grows to 3ft tall! They are to me the essences of summer. I love the smell of all the plants together, brings me right back to my childhood, popping warm tomatoes into my mouth as I wondered in the garden. I love growing tomatoes because the are so easy to grow here. Put them in the ground at the end of may, water, lots of sunshine, the odd conversation with your plants and Voila! A fabulous reward of summer filled with tomatoes! I like growing all the really weird kinds that you can't get the supermarket. Here's a little tour around my patch of what I've grown this year.

Yellow pear tomatoes, the size of a cherry, great for snacks and good in salads. Sweet taste, low acid.

Lemon boy tomatoes, the size of a large plum. Great in almost anything salsas, tomato sandwiches, tomato sauce, salads... I made yellow ketchup with these last year and it turned out great.

Roma tomatoes, the size of plum. I use these mostly in tomato sauce, I use them fresh in sauce now and in a few weeks when the glut of tomatoes arrive, I make a canned tomato sauce for the winter months.

Fresh picked tomatoes ready to be made into a salad. Pineapple tomatoes, this is an heirloom tomato and my first year growing it and haven't tried it yet. It's almost ripe, so will report back on it soon. It's the size of an apple.

A patio tomato, always good for early tomatoes and easy to grow in a pot.

The patio tomato full view. I also grew a ton of cherry tomatoes, sweet 100's but forgot to take a picture of them. They are a sweet small tomato great for eating as snacks, in salads and salsas.

Simple tomato salad with basil, olive oil and salt and pepper. The perfect companion to any summer dinner.

everything but the kitchen sink summer pasta

This pasta I cook often in the summer, basically bung in loads of fresh veggies in a frying pan cook till almost cooked, I like them to have a bit of crunch and retain that fresh taste. Add fresh herbs, good olive oil, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper. Mix together with pasta and serve! For this one I used carrots, zucchini, yellow beans, cherry tomatoes, 1 large tomato (with the seeds taken out, a bit of pain but worth doing as you don't end up with soggy pasta), basil and thyme. A hint about thyme, the flowers are great to use in pasta and salads! Just don't cook them, add them at the end of a pasta dish or use in salad dressing or just sprinkle on top. If you have a little Parmesan kicking around that is great in this too. And for pudding...

Fresh blueberry pie! Very easy to make. Blind bake a pie shell and cool, make a glaze( I used a shop bought one) stir fresh blueberries into the glaze and turn out into the pie shell. Chill in the fridge for an hour. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! I love this the next morning for a sneaky breakfast with a big cup of tea.