Summertime bounty

When Joel and I got married, I was determined to plant some fruit bearing plants and vines. I grew up in the woods with not much opportunity to foster my love of growing things. The first three things I picked were blueberry bushes, a fig tree, and blackberry vines. Notice that there are no pictures of those blueberry bushes or that fig tree. They are still there; they just never did much. The blackberries, however, exceeded our expectations this year! What a blessing! This is just a sample of what we picked-we have bags and bags in the freezer, and they are so delicious in my green drinks.



The grape vines that Joel's dad planted around the time we got married also produced abundantly this year as well. We have GALLONS of them in the fridge to make jelly with this winter when it is too cold to be outside.



These beautiful purple sweet potatoes were grown by my mother-in-law's cousin in Stokes County. You can now buy them at Whole Foods in Cary. (And probably at their other locations, I just haven't been to those lately.) I roasted them... and it was kinda like eating green ketchup. Strange, but cool.





I got these beauties at the farmers' (or is it farmer's?) market. (It is more than one farmer, after all.) The peppers were a steal at 99 cents a piece. I wanted to try quinoa for the first time so I made up a pilaf recipe in my head. It was good.





The final product:



And here is the recipe for Summer Quinoa Pilaf:
3 bell peppers-i used red, purple, and yellow, chopped
1 med. zucchini chopped
1 onion chopped
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
Cook the quinoa in the chicken broth (cook just like rice)...
Meanwhile, saute chopped veggies in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook them to desired tenderness. When both are finished cooking, combine and stir well.

I love good food.