What's Fresh

There is nothing better than serving dishes that are made with food right from your own garden or at least locally grown. While, from here on out, it will become harder to find fresh local fruits and vegetables there is still a short window to enjoy local products. At our houses we try to support local farmers as much as we can by purchasing directly from the farms, visiting our farmer's market, or shopping at retailers that sell locally produced items.

For this meal, we wanted to use as many items as we could from our garden or local farms. Pesto made with basil that you pick right out of the garden or tomatoes ripe off the vine… now nothing is better than that.  Most of the food and drinks were prepared using local ingredients or vegetables from the garden.  Eating local just tastes better.  There is no doubt about it. When preparing your next dish be creative and try to find your inner locavore!

Black Pepper-Basil Farmer's Cheese Bruschetta made with local cheese,  basil and cherry tomatoes straight from the garden. It is perfect for an appetizer.

After you try homemade pesto, nothing out of a jar will ever compare.

Idaho peaches are delicious plain, but they also make a fabulous cocktail. This was one part vodka, one part simple syrup (depending on how sweet your peaches are), and peaches. We just sliced the peaches and muddled them with the simple syrup. Next, add ice and frozen peach slice and don't forget Idaho vodka. You could even add a splash of sparkling water to give it a little fizz. Simple and refreshing.