I am trying so hard not to post the most boring repetitive content but my brain has so little reserves…coming up with creative and different meals is not happening nearly as much as it used to. Or maybe that’s just the reality of parenting kids who are growing up and need more of your time and attention. Without nap times or early bed times, my ability to regroup and collect myself and my thoughts is minimal…[let’s not even mention how stretched I will be come the start of school].
Also, I am still barely going to the grocery store and relying on our CSAs for 90% of our food. Which is also fairly limiting.
So, on that note…may I present….basil and zucchini. The two summer staples!
How many times have we had pesto pasta with leftover chicken? Once a week for sure.
Sometimes we have tomatoes too. The other bumper crop that you can’t seem to escape when living in Davis. If you don’t have friends shoving their garden excess at you, then do you even live in an ag town???
I went back to my beloved grain bowls here.
The base was farro, but you could use whatever you have on hand (barley, quinoa, rice, millet, etc.).
The other components of the bowl included veggies (zucchini and tomatoes) sautéed in olive oil and sea salt, greens tossed in a basic lemon vinaigrette, pesto, and cheese.
I used shredded parmesan for Kyle, but the kids and I got pecorino romano.
This version of pesto had basil, spinach, pistachios, cashews, and olive oil. I made it more liquid than I usually do so that it would be more like a dressing.
Are you sick of summer produce yet? I don’t think I am quite yet, but I might be nearing that point.
We finally finished off our nectarines and now our neighborhood peach tree is ripe, yielding literally hundreds of peaches. Even with the whole block helping ourselves, there are still way too many! The four of us have personally eaten 30+ at least! And I have another 25 on the kitchen counter right now. Definitely a good problem, but it makes it hard to cook different things when you have that kind of bounty at your fingertips.
You must think I have a crazy awesome neighborhood with all the figs and peaches (and apricots and lemons and persimmons and pomegranates…) coming at me so let me just set the record straight. Yes. Yes I do. But also, this is pretty much how most of Davis is. We are in the heart of the best part of CA for growing basically everything. And ever since covid, everyone has their own garden, so all the communal places that typically get ravaged by hippie foragers like me, are less sought out. The blackberry bushes along the greenbelt are still covered with fruit, when normally the berries are plucked the second they are ripe.
Man oh man, I can’t wait to plant our garden when our yard is ready…
