Summer Time Favorites!

I love summer's fresh garden veggies and sweet, locally grown fruits. Each summer I grow my own tomatoes, peppers and herbs, and I can't wait for the first green tomatoes to show up on the vines. I admit I sometimes have a hard time allowing them to ripen to red, as fried green tomatoes are a favorite of mine. But I've also been known to pick a red tomato and eat it before I can get it back to the house. I love them!

We also look forward to seeing the Dennison's Farm strawberry cart every summer and can't wait for that first taste of those sweet berries! If you've never had a Dennison's strawberry, you've missed out on strawberry perfection! I'm trying my hand for the first time at strawberry jam. We have so many and love the taste so much that I'm anxious to preserve it so that we can have it all year long.

And the summer squash...oh my. What a treat! And fresh lettuce and green onions? I have two words for you...Wilted Salad. It's to die for! Couple it with hot, just-from-the-oven cornbread made from my grandmother's recipe, and it's heavenly.

I even bought some raw peanuts the other day so that I can boil a batch. This is something DearHusband just doesn't understand. But I wonder how someone can live in the south all his life and not appreciate boiled peanuts!?! Of course, he also doesn't like Wilted Salad...what a sacrilege! There's still hope for him, though...he WILL eat the green tomatoes and fried okra with me. Yum.

Yes, I do understand that most of what I've listed is not exactly in the "good-for-you" category when dunked in hot oil and fried. We don't do that EVERY DAY....but maybe two or three times per summer, and believe me....we treat those times like special HOLIDAYS!! ;-)

Summer in the South is delicious...whether fresh or fried!

Photography Credits:

Tomatoes -biscuitpower.com

Strawberries - jandic.com

Squash - hilgersmarket.com