Thinking of dinner ideas? With autumn just around the corner, it’s time to take advantage of fresh and local late summer ingredients at their peak! Here are 10 must-eat foods that are ripe right now with 10 recipes to inspire your next grocery trip.

1. Berries



2. Plums



3. Peaches



4. Melons



5. Green Beans



6. Corn



7. Eggplant



8. Celery Root



9. Tomatoes



10. Zucchini

Need More Inspiration to Take Advantage of Fresh Ingredients?
The Splendid Table
Greg Atkinson’s Apple Pie
The Break Away Cook

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Oh, what to do with all that zucchini! It’s piled high in farmers markets, your neighbor’s trying to pawn some off on you, but you’ve got a glut in your own garden. You stuff them, bake them, grill them, add them to soups…the same old things you usually do with your over-abundance of this prolific grower.

Here’s a new twist – goat cheese stuffed grilled zucchini rolls, inspired by Ellie Krieger, healthy chef/dietitian on the Food Network. Goat cheese blended with fresh lemon juice and zest, wrapped with fresh basil leaves in a grilled zucchini bundle makes for the perfect appetizer or light meal.

Click below for the full recipe:

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The sun poked its orange face out for about 15 minutes the other day as if to remind us here in Seattle that it is, indeed, Spring. The pollinating trees, unfortunately, have already been doing a fine job of reminding many of us, as can be seen in our runny noses and red glazed-over eyes. But that brief little sunny moment (quickly followed by rain – ah, life in Seattle) inspired me to make a dish that brings color to a cloudy day.

Ratatouille.

Ratatouille is a French Provençal dish comprised mainly of tomatoes, but also includes eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, garlic, onions and herbs. It’s not a quick-fix meal, as it needs to stew for at least two hours, but it is well worth the wait.

This is a gorgeous veggie-packed dish that’s excellent as a main course or as a side, and gets even better the next day! We sliced the vegetables thinly on a mandoline, but you can rough chop them for a more rustic version. I prefer to use Japanese eggplant, in lieu of the larger variety, as I find it less acidic. I also find that caramelizing the onions adds a wonderfully sweet flavor to the dish.

See the recipe here:

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Our poor barbecues. During the warmer months they barely have a chance to cool down before we’re firing them up again. Then, before you know it the weather changes and the grill sits cold and lonely outside wondering where in our whirlwind romance was the love lost (I have a strange habit of giving inanimate objects feelings). Many of us don’t think to barbecue in Winter – because, really, who likes to freeze their butt off while flipping steaks in the snow? – but grilling vegetables is quick, easy and requires only a couple of fast trips outside to check on their progress. And it’s so worth having beautifully colorful and delicious grilled veggies in February!

We sliced up a few zucchini lengthwise and quartered, top to bottom, some sweet onions. We tossed the onions with a bit of olive oil and placed them in a grilling basket. Then, we brushed both sides of the zucchini with olive oil and placed them in a row on the grill. Beside them we laid a few red and yellow peppers, closed the lid and let the trio do their thing.

After a few minutes we tossed the onions in their basket, flipped the zukes, and rotated the peppers. Once the zucchini and onions were nicely grilled we removed those and cranked up the flame to further roast the peppers. You want them black. Once sufficiently black remove the peppers from the grill and place in a paper bag. This cools them and allows the sugars to further caramelize. The skin will then slide off nicely. Quarter the peppers and place all your lovely vegetables on a platter.

Drizzle with a bit of reduced Balsamic vinegar and you have summer sooner than you thought!

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Cooking in a slow cooker (or crockpot, as we used to say in the “old days”) is not only easy and convenient, but it’s wonderfully spectacular to come home with your dinner cooked and ready to eat. And no one got your kitchen all messy. I like to “forget” that it was I who placed all the ingredients in the pot that morning. Instead, I imagine that I have deep pockets and can afford to throw money at a personal chef who prepares healthy, organic meals for us when we’re tired.

Reality check.

Personal chef-prepared or not, your family will enjoy this hearty and delicious, yet light, vegetable chili. I’d call it Vegetarian Chili but we also did a batch with lean ground turkey, which made a tasty version as well. Add fresh chopped parsley or basil on top for a burst of freshness.

Click here for the recipe:

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