I was recently gifted a beautiful edible planter basket full of herbs and lettuces. Since the mint is going crazy, I made some mint pesto and mixed it with cooked quinoa. Topped with pepitas and parmesan, it’s good hot or cold!
Click one of these links for 2 of my Mint Pesto recipes: I have previously made it with pepitas for crostini and with walnuts for potato salad …yum!
By Erin Gleeson for The Forest Feast
I had so much fun illustrating this map of farmers markets in Silicon Valley for the current issue of Edible Silicon Valley Magazine. My local market is the Mountain Goat/4 corners (see it?). There is also an article about Maggie, the woman who spearheaded that market, and I photographed her along with one of the farmers, Guillermo (whose flowers I am obsessed with and buy every week!). I took this photo of them on the opening day of the market, so you can see it was still a little chilly. Now it’s bustling and warm and there’s live music, every Wednesday evening. So fun!
Please note this map is an illustration so it is not geographically exact or to scale, and we were unfortunately not able to fit all the markets in the area, but we chose some favorites, including some of the smaller markets that are mentioned elsewhere in the magazine.
Yam & Feta stuffed squash blossoms! Just bake a yam/sweet potato, scoop out the inside and mash it up with some feta, garlic powder, salt and pepper (add a bit of olive oil, if you like). Spoon that mixture into squash blossoms, ideally ones that are still attached to little zucchinis, like these ones I got at the farmers market last week. Then fry them up in a little olive oil. I cover the pan so the zucchinis cook faster- should only take a couple minutes on each side to get those blossoms crispy golden and the squash fork-tender.
If you can’t find squash blossoms, you could just serve the mashed feta yams alongside grilled zucchini!
By Erin Gleeson for The Forest Feast
Watermelon Margaritas are super fun and colorful for summer entertaining! And I love how this recipe uses frozen watermelon chunks instead of ice cubes. You can find the recipe on my post today for Better Homes & Gardens.
What’s your favorite summer drink?
Cheers!
By Erin Gleeson | The Forest Feast
They had the most beautiful purple green beans at my little mountain farmers market this week. Purple on the outside, green on the inside- gorgeous! When you cook them, they turn green, so I just sautee´ them very quickly to retain some of the purple. I tossed them with a handful of chopped fresh basil, feta and pepitas (pumpkin seeds, but you could use any nuts).
Happy summer weekend!
By Erin Gleeson for The Forest Feast
