Our Summer Veggie Garden

 One of the things I love about summer is the easy quick recipes you can make. They make anything you cook seem more delicious.

With the produce from my garden I often make fresh salsa to spice up whatever we are having for dinner. It takes 5 minutes to make and adds a lot of fresh taste to any meal and it smells yummy too.

                                                               Fresh Out the Garden Salsa

2 to 3 ripe tomatoes

1/2 onion finely chopped

1/2 Serrano or jalapeno pepper very finely chopped (less if you don't like spicy)

large handful of cilantro finely chopped ( I love cilantro)

squeeze of fresh lime

salt to taste

We got our veggies in the garden late this year, so their a little slow coming, however better late than never, right?
I try to always have onions growing. I love to plant white onions. They are easy to grow and always come out mild and slightly sweet. Good for everything. Love to cook with them, but also perfect to chop up raw.
I know everyone doesn't have a garden, but I encourage you to grow something, if you can. I always feel a sense of peace when I tend to the veggies and picking and eating them is pretty darn good too. Pots can work well for certain things. Tomatoes, cilantro, peppers, can all grow in pots. I've never tried it but I don't see why you couldn't grow onions. Let me know if you try and it works.
If you don't have a chance to grow your own, the farmers markets are great. There isn't anything quite like a fresh picked tomato or piece of fruit.
I'll be sharing recipes that I use when the produce is ready, so stay tuned.

We love to plant tomatoes and onions. We have one raise bed full of tomatoes ( 4 different kinds) and another raised bed for our onions. Our tomatoes are just staring now, but these onions are ready to pick.

When you want to pick an onion, it's best to pull it and leave it for a day or two, before using. Yo can leave it sitting on top of the dirt to dry.

Our first little tomatoes of the season

I love to have cilantro growing all year if possible, but especially in the summer when we have plenty of tomatoes.

The first tiny pepper.

I planted these onions about a month ago. By the time I've used all the onions that are big now, these should be just about right for picking. I never want to do without fresh grown onions

I know the veggies don't look quite as pretty when your not using chemicals and pesticides on them. However they taste so good and your saving your poor body and the environment from all those nasty chemicals. By the way, do you know what Monsanto and a couple of the other big corporate agro/chemical companies are up to. If not, check out a few of my previous posts or go to Democracy Now, a great group trying to keep the all too powerful companies like Monsanto from getting their way. They don't care about our bodies or the environment, only their own profits.
Shame on them!