Loving Light Summer Meals

image via

I am really enjoying light summer meals this year. It seems meals have gotten especially delicious and simple these past few weeks. We eaten lots of fresh berries, corn on the cob, green beans, plums and large bags of red and green grapes too. There is something really delicious about ice cold grapes in summer. It seems most meals consist of a simple main dish and then bowls of fruit or big salads on the table.

Some of my favorite lunches lately have been cheese, crackers and fruit. Always so delicious. For dinners I've made a few simple dishes like macaroni and cheese, burgers or grilled turkey sandwiches with lots of cool, refreshing fruit or spinach salads with fruit. I have found that using the crock pot doesn't heat up the kitchen like turning the stove on does. I'm hoping to use it a lot more this summer for main dishes because our oven really overheats our small kitchen quickly.

Good summer eating reminds me so much of my childhood. Almost every night of the summer we would eat fresh vegetables brought straight in from the garden for dinner. Eating grocery store produce has never quite lived up to what we grew at home. Even now our home grown tomatoes are so deep red and meaty. I've never seen such gorgeous tomatoes as the ones we grow here on our balcony. I just revamped our balcony garden last week with another green pepper plant & a new bush tomato plant. They stay short and produce heavily so I'm looking forward to trying this very container-friendly variety of tomatoes. Hoping for a good harvest of herbs, peppers and tomatoes this year. I'm experimenting putting Epsom Salt around my plants. Here's the link to that info and a little more here. If your interested in small space gardening I have a great gardening board on Pinterest called Farmgirl Gardens.

The summer harvesting months go by quickly so I'm hoping to stay on this good track of delicious meals fresh from the vine. It's July soon, time for watermelon. However, I have no confidence in my watermelon buying skills, if you have any tips, please leave a note in the comments. Also share your ideas about great summer meals. I love more fun ideas. Happy eating!