Simple Tastes of Summer

I have been obsessed lately with tasting summer. I know it's a combination of having more time on my hands, summer fruit in season and so good this year, and a change in my thinking about fresh food.

The picture above was taken when I stood over the sink with a pint of strawberries. Just bought the day before, they had to be eaten that day or they would face the horrible fate of being moldy and thrown out. One by one, they became part of my production line: through the water, and into my mouth, with the stems going into the disposal. I thought it was a most efficient system, since I didn't dirty any dishes, and finished the entire pint in one sitting (or standing, ahem). I like to think that my body was very antioxidized that day. Yay me.

I think my daily reading of Soule Mama and Gluten-Free Girl's blogs has really started to change my thinking about fresh food. I have not gotten to the point where I will only be eating foods that are in season (I can't bear the winter in itself, let alone with only root vegetables to eat). But I have definitely gotten to the point where I am more cognizant about what I am preparing and what I am using in my preparation.

Stein and I have never been packaged-food people, and rarely eat things out of boxes. But lately I have been making more of an effort to be creative about what I'm making by planning out 2-3 days of dinners and seeing what goes well together. Like the beer-can chicken on Sunday night, and then the chicken salad on Monday. I know it doesn't sound hard, but it's a big step for us. We are guilty of buying a spice for one dish and never using the spice if we don't make the dish again. It has now become a goal of mine not to throw anything in our refrigerator out.

And yes, it has a lot to do with having more time on my hands. More time to think, more time to plan, more time to enjoy. Just like the other day when I made this smoothie with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries: