Garden Fresh

I love everything about summer vegetables. The colors, the freshness, the flavor straight from the garden or even the farmers market… nothing in a can or frozen bag can ever compare. A ripe tomato still warm from the sunshine, crisp zucchini ready for the skillet, bright yellow squash piled high in a basket — it all feels like summer is feeding both the body and the soul. My grandfather was a farmer and I grew up eating fresh veggies....sometimes right there in the field.  Nothing like taking your own salt shaker to the field with you....pulling a fresh ripe tomato and eating it right where you stand.

I truly believe our bodies know the difference when we eat fresh foods. Summer vegetables are full of goodness, vitamins, and natural energy that make us feel alive from the inside out. Tomatoes bursting with flavor, cucumbers with that cool crisp bite, okra fresh from the garden, green beans snapping in half, peppers in every beautiful color imaginable… I think it's nature’s way of reminding us to slow down and nourish our bodies.

Fresh vegetables just taste happier. A garden tomato sliced thick with a little salt and pepper can outshine the fanciest meal.  I'm not a huge meat eater, so diving into a dish of fresh sliced tomatoes for me,  is like a meat lover diving into a big Texas grilled sirloin.  You want a great smell in your kitchen?  Slice up some zucchini and squash and sauté them together with onions and your kitchen will smell like pure comfort. 

I have so many summer memories of not only the tomato fields and the watermelon patches that my Papa farmed, but of the Pea fields and those long Pea sacks.  And how about the many hours spent setting on the porch shelling peas....this had a way of connecting generations.....Lots of talking and a lot of sore fingers.

The older I get, the more I appreciate simple foods that come straight from the earth. No complicated ingredients. No fancy trends. Just fresh goodness that reminds us how beautiful healthy living can be.

Those were some good ol' days for sure...

Shug.....🍅