LOOKING FORWARD: SUMMERTIME FEASTING

There have been some really great posts on Design*Sponge lately (one of my absolute FAVORITE blogs). This past week, Ashley English did another one of her Small Measures With Ashley features on Design*Sponge. I always love her beautiful and simple ideas. This week she had a lovely post about making herb-infused vodkas. I'm not too big on spirits, but I always love finding new ways for using fresh herbs from the garden! Plus, I absolutely LOVE the way the herbs look floating in the bottles with the hand-written tags... what a lovely idea!

 

Design*Sponge

They would make such perfect gifts! Plus she added some flavor pairings form The Flavor Bible. My favorites?

Lavender paired with peaches, lemon peel or fresh berries

Mint with cardamom seeds and peaches

Rosemary with orange slices, apricots, or plums...

YUM!

I just can't wait to start getting fresh produce from the garden and from the Farm Share we signed up for this Summer! Ashley's post really got me excited about all of the amazing and innovative ways we can use the abundance of plants that the Summer harvest will bring. This is our first time trying a farm share but I just couldn't resist the idea of picking up a fresh bundle of produce weekly. We signed up for the regular vegetable share but will also be getting a fruit share as well! I'm looking forward to sharing all of the lovely fruits and veggies we get, along with some great recipes and ideas for using them. I'll start posting those in June or July so stay tuned!

Here are a few other simple culinary wonders that I just can't wait to make:

Pumpernickel Bread (My favorite bread in the world! So excited to try this recipe form Smitten Kitchen)
Tomato Jam (One of my family's favorite summertime recipes... perfect for using up the hundreds of tomatoes from the garden! I can't wait to try it with Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog Chevre... an aged goat cheese with edible vegetable ash.... it's one of my favorite cheeses in the whole world.)
Homemade Butter (Another great post by Ashley on Design*Sponge. She also has another lovely post that I am going to have to try for making beautiful and delicious sounding compound butters. Check that out here.)
Sun Tea (Yet again a post by Ashley... I might be obsessed with her ideas, I'm not sure. For more tea wonder and plenty of gorgeous recipes take a peek at the aptly named Teaspoons & Petals. That's right, its a tea blog!)
Vin d'Orange (I found this recipe in the New York Times' D.I.Y. Cooking Handbook. I want to make pretty much everything from this article, but especially the Fresh Cheese, Horseradish Beer Mustard, Crème Fraîche, and Maple Vinegar... I'm definitely going to be a busy bee in the kitchen this summer!)
Cardamom Scented Oatmeal Pancakes (another New York Times find. I can't wait to serve these up for an al fresco weekend brunch with some honey and butter and plenty of fresh squeezed ginger-grapefruit juice!)

I also am so excited to get a copy of Heidi Swanson's new book Super Natural Everyday. It's been everywhere lately. Design*Sponge and bunch of other blogs have all had recent features (and giveaways that I wish I had won!) on this gorgeous book. I can't wait to get a copy of my own and revel in all of the delicious recipes and beautiful photos. Heidi also has a blog, 101 Cookbooks, full of amazing and inspiring recipes and ideas.

Well it looks like I have my summer set out for me, cooking-wise anyway. Feel free to share some of your own favorite fresh and simple recipes, I'd love to hear about them. And don't forget to stay tuned this summer for pictures and original recipes and ideas from my own cooking adventures.