Summer

Summer is in full swing and with the weather reaching higher temperatures, there's more reason than ever to cool down with a chilled beverage. For me summer is incomplete without enjoying a great cocktail at an outdoor party.

With the fourth of July just days away, what better way to celebrate than with a refreshing drink in hand? Grab one of these three and join the revelry.

I've updated my favorite drink, the gimlet, by making it with freshly squeezed lime juice and a touch of syrup for sweetness.

For a fizzy drink, I came up with the Ruby Sparkler, which combines, vodka, ruby red grapefruit juice, and grenadine for a bit of pomegranate sweetness and color.

And the Citrus Breeze is my combination of the most refreshing flavors, rum, mint, and a blend of three different freshly squeezed citrus fruits. There's a drink here for everyone to enjoy.

I enjoy making my own syrups. It's great to have a few different ones on hand. You never know when you might need to mix a drink for friends or family that stop by unannounced.

Picked up a pint or quart of cherry tomatoes at the greenmarket? Or harvested some from your garden? You could eat them as they are or make something special. What would you make with them?

The tomato plants in my garden have provided for many relatives, friends, and coworkers. With such a surplus we were giving them away as fast as they were growing. Cherry tomatoes, such little bursts of summer freshness, are great for a light salad, combining other vegetables and herbs from the garden like onion, cucumber, and parsley.

Great for accompanying grilled meats or roast chicken, this recipe for cherry tomato salad is sure to be a highlight of summer’s end. Make it any time of the year too, but it’s most refreshing when made with perfectly ripened tomatoes.

I can, can you? Sure you can! Canning is not hard to do at all, especially if you pick a really easy project like canning fruit. This year I received a box of luscious peaches from Washington state. They were perfectly ripe, but a bit crushed in spots due to poor handling in transit. Instead of canning slices or halves, I used the fruit—some perfect and some not so perfect—to make peach ketchup!

Peach ketchup is a lovely peachy color, but it tastes very much like tomato ketchup. Taste it before you can it, and adjust the spices and sugar to suit yourself. Use really great tasting fruit, it should not be brown or overripe, but if it is soft in spots, that's ok. Use the tangy sweet and sour ketchup just as you would regular tomato ketchup. It’s particularly great on potatoes.

Sweet Preservation ia a great go-to resource for canning and freezing stone fruits, offering how-to-tips, recipes, health information, customizable canning jar labels and more.

In case I’ve never shared this with you I am crazy about the zooooks. I grew up eating my mom’s wonderful sauté of yellow squash and zuccchini that was a regular staple in our house and I find myself picking up zucchini whenever I can. And lately I’ve made many a quick summer evening meals out of zucchini and summer squash alone. It’s simple, easy, flavorful and delicious.

This dish began as a side to accompany a grilled chicken but soon became a main dish for me. I think it began from a recipe I tried a while back and mutated into something so simple and easy.  It’s really more of a serving suggestion than recipe since the exact measurements don’t matter. And I say they do not matter because I haven’t bothered to measure. See how sneaky I am?

I’ve been known to add a few thick slices of smoky grilled purple onions to this and have it for dinner without anything else.  As long as cheese is involved (and a glass of wine) I really don’t need much else.