We’ve had a crazy busy summer at Casa Stewart. After a month long trip through Europe, a 30th birthday, week long Disneyland extravaganza, book launch, we are more than ready to sit back and enjoy the lingering days of summer. Unfortunately, there’s not much time and still many things to do. J starts preschool next week. (!?!?!?!?) My little baby is not so little anymore. We’re trying to cram sunny memories in these last precious days: swimming in the lake and the wading pool, sandcastles at the beach, hikes with daddy, popcicles, fresh corn, and lots of yummy ripe fruit. I love the food of summer. The berries, the melons, the tomatoes. Fall will come with its crisp apples and winter squash, but for now I’m eating as much sweet summer tastes as I can.

Today I made Caprese salad with cherry tomatoes from New Roots Organics, basil picked from the garden, and fresh mozzarella. This is a dish that is only good in summer. The tomatoes are everything, and these tomatoes were stellar.

We signed up for New Roots Organics again. It’s like a CSA basket, but they source organic produce from a much wider venue. We had to stop it in the spring because I couldn’t eat that many veggies myself–toddlers don’t particularly like veggies, and Ryan was traveling a LOT. I hated all the produce that was going to waste, and watching J by myself didn’t give me a lot of cooking time to have people over for dinner. Ryan has a new job where he will hopefully be traveling less, so we’re giving it another go. This has been our first week: potato/kale/spring onion stir fry and caprese salad. We still have an eggplant, broccoli, and some lettuce to use up before our next bin on Wednesday.

I need a recipe for one eggplant for people who don’t like eggplant. Any ideas?