I love the food of Summer!

Sure, I can get into a great warming pot roast with some rich mashed potatoes in the fall or winter -(or the Summer in SF ; ) but boy the summer weather food is sure full of goodness! And now that I live in Healdsburg I get an actual WARM summer! So I go to the farmer's market and come home with a carload of zucchini, berries, cherries, peaches, tomatoes, oh my! It just makes me so happy to have a refrigerator full of good fruits and veggies to choose from - but then the dreaded end of the week comes when I realize a few things are still sitting there waiting for me to do something with them! And I HATE to throw them out  - which has happened on occasion - I confess! But this last week I bought sugar snap peas and almost lost them to the compost bin - but fear not - a new salad was born! Adapted and inspired by one I saw in Food and Wine.

Snap Pea Radish Avocado Salad serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 bunch radishes cut into rounds
couple handfulls sugar snap peas sliced on the diagonal
1 avocado cut into cubes
salt and pepper

Mix together the 1st 4 ingredients to make a dressing. Toss the rest together and salt and pepper to taste.

Cherry Clafouti - I pitted my cherries, but ended up with a couple pits in there anyway - this picture was taken moments after it came out of the oven - within another min it had fallen - but was still tasty and delicious! Recipe from Rachel Khoo who has an adorable cookbook My Little Paris Kitchen.

Berries and flowers

My refreshing cocktail of the moment. Muddle in the bottom of a glass a few blackberries with some mint and a squeeze of lemon juice. Add a shot of vodka (or a great rum has been my new favorite) No need for sugar - as my berries are soooo sweet! Strain, add ice and a splash of club soda and a couple extra berries - how adorable with my dahlias.

This is like a cobbler and an old recipe from "Mother McClendon" who was the mother of one of my mother's best friends - Everette - of the amazing brisket. It too was written in my horrible handwriting on a little index card. Feel free to use other fruits. I made it last week with a bunch of peaches and a few more of those amazing blackberries scattered around. It's easy as pie ; )

Float Away Pie (as written) serves at least 8 

Melt a couple teaspoons of butter in a rectangular pyrex. Sweeten fruit a little (3/4 quart) and pour in the pan. Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder pinch of salt. Add 1 cup milk and mix well. Pour over the middle of the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. 

NOW -I peel my peaches and then sliced them (I don't like skin) and used 4 cups with a squirt of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Then I reduced the sugar in the batter to 2/3 cup. I ended up cooking it for about 45 min - but I have a convection oven - so watch yours. Served warm with a little vanilla ice cream. And can I say pretty pretty damn good for breakfast too. 

This cactus on our front porch bloomed yesterday - it's done gone today!

Enjoy everyday while it lasts!