Admittedly, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But only a bit. We all know we’re supposed to eat more fruits and vegetables, right? Well, high summer (as in, right now) is the best time to fill up on the bounty of the produce department (or–you know me–the farmer’s market). Added bonus: if you buy directly from the farmer, the food is not only fresher, but often a bit less expensive, as well. It’s a great excuse to experiment with a type of eggplant you’ve never tried before, or maybe buy some blueberries in bulk and freeze them to have on hand in February.
I’m by no means a nutritionist, but I read a lot about eating healthy, and the general advice seems to be to eat the most colorful foods you can find. All of these fit that bill nicely.
1)–Red bell peppers. Roast a few and rub off the peels, and use them in sandwiches. Or just eat them raw–you won’t believe how sweet they are.
2)–Blueberries. I’m not going to carry on about how they’re the superfood of the decade. I just think they’re delicious. I eat them by the handful, and can’t get enough. They also freeze beautifully.
3)–Cantaloupe. A really ripe, farm-fresh cantaloupe is a revelation. That hard, flavorless stuff you buy chunked up in the grocery store is a travesty. Find a farmer who grows several varieties of melons, and ask him for one that will knock your socks off. Stand over the kitchen sink while you eat it, and be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand for wiping the juice off your chin.
4)–Tomatoes. Buy red and yellow grape tomatoes (vine-ripened only, please!), mix them up in a bowl, and eat them like candy.
5)–Chiles. Whether you love spicy food or not, there’s a chile for you. Some of the larger, milder chiles will give a dish a mild, grassy undertone, while some of the smaller, vibrantly-colored ones will add enough heat to put hair on your chest. Experiment–find out what you like.
6)–Fresh shelled beans. I know these aren’t available everywhere, but if you can get your hands on some, you should try them. They’re things like lima beans and black-eyed peas, but they’re picked and eaten fresh, not dried, and they’re not quite like anything else. At my market today, I saw Dixie Lee, Crowder, 6-weeks, Pink-Eye-Purple-Hull, and butterbeans. Try them all.
7)–Eggplant. Again, if you go to a good farmer’s market, you should be able to find eggplant varieties that you didn’t even know existed. They range from tiny, round green stripey ones, to long, thin, neon purple ones, to plump, creamy ivory-colored ones, to the fat, glossy purple-black ones I grew up with. You can grill them, roast them, stew them, bread them, mash them–pretty much any method of cooking you can think of will suit some variety of eggplant. And if you can’t figure out how to use them, you can always pile them in a bowl for a beautiful still-life.