I cling to the fantasy of eating a salad made entirely from my garden. Alas, we don’t have the room to grow all we would need, so our meals are about compromise. Tonight’s dinner was a blend of both worlds: supermarket greens and a delicious avocado, along with fresh tomatoes from our garden. I sliced our first heirloom grown from seed, and tossed in a handful of Sun Gold organic cherry tomatoes grown from a nursery starter.
Garden Salad
Two of the peppers are turning yellow, so they’ll make it to the table by the end of the week. Our basil continues unabated, a garden staple all summer long.
Basil, Roma, Sun Gold and Heirloom Tomatoes
The days are shortening with our hemisphere’s Autumnal Equinox just 10 days away. Suddenly summer is over.
Living in our moderate climate, warm days will continue into November. The garden tells a different story, however, as plants perform the grand finale, before packing it in for the season. It’s been a great run.
Golden Pepper
Gardening Nirvana 
Looks super healthy and colourful. It helps when your food looks good I always think it tastes better. You know, I never buy avocado. I like guacamole, but never start from scratch. Maybe I’ll put that on the list 😀 My favourite Peppers are the red. But they’re always so pricey at the market. You’re are looking perfect.
I always think it’d be nice to live where it’s summer year round. But I’d actually like it to be September year round. It’s finally cooling off at night and days are sunny but not scorching. Now around 18-21 C. Still get showers but it’s not going to be green for long.
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I agree: pretty food does taste better.
Are you a fan of guacamole? Consuela’s in Santana Row comes to your table and makes it fresh. I could eat chips, salsa and guac and just call it a day. Chevy’s has great chips and salsa too. Mmmmm…oh yeah…back to the salad.
I’ve wondered why the colored peppers are so pricey…almost twice the cost. Maybe they’re not grown in abundance the way the green bell peppers are grown. I’m glad you are having a nice September. It’s cooling down here as well, at least at night.
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Here’s a silly question, do red peppers turn green after a bit? Or are there actually 3 different colours. Dah?
I buy a package called Stop Light Peppers. You get one of each yellow, red, green. I love them all 😀
Yes to Santana Row, chips, salsa and guac…..on that list 😀
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I’ve heard them referred to as Stop Light Peppers and thought that was so clever.
And there are NO silly questions, my dear. Further, I never knew this: they are all from the same plant. When I harvested mine green it was bitter. I far preferred the flavor once the orange color set in. This article says they all come from the same plant: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodtip&dbid=68
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Well I’ll be. I had it totally backwards…they all start green huh. That’s so neat isn’t it. It looks like the Red ones are the way to go as far as vitamin goodness. Naturally they are the pricey ones. I bought a generous bag of baby orange ones not to long ago. They were pretty yummy and not expensive for some reason. I would imagine a number of fruits and vegetables are a lot less expensive there since they often say, “grown in California” at the market. I wish we could buy more local all year round but nothing growing much of the year in these parts. Thanks for the link, I can’t wait to tell Deb L tomorrow when I’m making our veggy pizza at lunch. Then we’re going to go to the antique mall. Wish you were coming……10 days though!!!! Holy, I can’t believe it. ❤
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We are really spoiled living in California. We produce lots of great produce here, and live close to Mexico where they also produce great produce. This valley was originally a farming community, pre-tech industry.
Have fun with Deb, pizza gals. What fun!
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We were at the Antique Mall for I think 2.5 hours. We sat down and had coffee there and downloaded Ellens new APP. It’s a type of charade. A little addictive really, we really had fun with it. We’ll have to play. Deb was much better. Then we drove thru rush hour (urrggg), so she stayed for a snack too. I’m pooped, but in the best way. Hope your day was AWESOME!
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Oh that does sound like fun!
You two had a great day (sans traffic of course). Sounds like great fun.
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Yum! That salad looks fresh and fabulous! I wish my basil would grow “unabated” – it’s more like “bashful.” I think I have much better luck with it indoors than I do outside.
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That’s interesting. Ours is grown in a fairly sheltered area, so perhaps that helps. I haven’t grown it indoors for a few years, but that is a nice option for the colder months. Best of luck with ‘bashful.’
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That looks luscious! I’m going to bed before I make a salad for myself. Mmmmmm.
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Did you dram of tomatoes?
😉
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I’m envious of those who can eat raw tomatoes . I still do on occasion, but it really is a bad idea to someone like me who is prone to canker sores!
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Your salad looks wonderful!
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Thank you, Sharon. It was delicious.
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Your basil looks sooooo much better than mine!! (I’m addicted to Basil).
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Isn’t it the best? We’ve had good luck with basil for the past two years. I could smell it all day long. As we say in the gardening world, better luck next season, LB.
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Funnily enough, I have been having the same thoughts as you re salads and autumn! My lettuce have been bolting, so need to be eaten pretty soon, and even though my tomatoes are ripening but slowly, we had some nonetheless 🙂
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That is funny. How nice that you have lettuce, too.
We like making Caprese salad, so the tomatoes and basil together are great. Next year I’m going to start the tomaotes a bit earlier and the basil a bit later to see if I can time the ripening better.
Enjoy the last of your lettuce.
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Good luck!
This year was my first year of successfully growing lettuce and I found it was all ready at the same time, so I think just planting a small amount at a time is the key!
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Good idea. I get enthusiastic and plant all at once. Planting every two weeks for that kind of crop makes better sense. At least with tomatoes, you can use surplus in soups and sauces but, lettuce needs to be eaten now.
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Yes, I’ve had some lettuce in the fridge since yesterday and it’s already not the same. That said, you could make lettuce soup and freeze it.
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I’ve never heard of lettuce soup! That’s something new.
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I ate some at a friend’s and it was delicious. Didn’t taste at all like lettuce, actually.
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I’m intrigued. I’ll have to look that one up.
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Not sure how you would make it – eg how long you would simmer till the leaves mush up or whether the soup is put through a food processor. Good luck!
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