The 2019 Healthyish farmers' market challenge

I like to read the Healthyish portion of the Bon Appetit website (in addition to the majority of the site at large) because I never know what I'll find.  One day it's an article on edible face masks, the next I'm getting ideas of how to add vegetables to my breakfast.  But an article posted earlier this month got the wheels turning.  Termed "The 2019 Healthyish Farmers' Market Challenge", the article encourages people to try 10 in-season fruits and vegetables, and provides recipes to give people ideas of what to do with this produce.

The fruits and vegetables in the challenge are:

1. Summer squash
2. Peaches
3. Corn
4. Mint
5. Peppers
6. Eggplant
7. Cucumbers
8. Tomatoes
9. Swiss chard
10. Berries

I thought this was a really cool idea.  While several of the recipes look delicious, I decided to accept the challenge, but use the produce in whatever applications I wanted, and not to restrict myself to the 10 recipes provided.  

So, what have I made so far, and what's coming up?

• Summer squash
•  I made these zucchini fries, which even my zucchini-averse family gobbled up.
• Peaches (and berries)
• I love a juicy just-ripe peach just as much as the next gal.  The perfume-like peach juice running down my chin is the quintessential summer experience, up there with running through the sprinklers and drinking a Slurpee.  Throw a chopped up peach (even if it's past its prime) in a blender with some berries, Greek yogurt and some ice cubes, and you've got yourself a great smoothie.  Use some vanilla ice cream and a little milk instead of the yogurt and ice cubes and dessert is served.
• I also made a peach barbecue sauce when I bought more peaches than I needed one week.  This recipe is very similar to the one I made, but even easier; this sauce uses a slow cooker to make the sauce, while the one I made uses the oven (at a low temperature) to cook the sauce.
• Corn
• I've already written about my love affair with farm-fresh corn in a previous post.  I did, however, make this corn quiche for dinner one night, stashing another in the freezer for the dead of winter when I'm dreaming of summertime corn.
• Mint
• I'm generally not a huge fan of mint, but I'll be trying the minty limeade in the Healthyish challenge, using mint I'll get from the farmers market this Friday.
• Peppers
• Last week I got some bell peppers and cubanelle peppers at a farm stand.  I sliced the peppers and sautéed them with sliced onions and some Wandering Que sausages, and served them stuffed them in pretzel buns spread with a nice grainy mustard.
• Eggplant
• I really love eggplant, as do my husband and son, so we eat is very often.  This week, the very first eggplant in my garden was ready to be picked.  It was small, as I have baby eggplant growing, but it made about 1/4 cup of babaganouj.  It was delicious on some freshly baked sourdough bread.  Check out the photos below, from bud to fully grown, picked eggplant.

• Cucumbers
• As you can see in the picture above, we have cucumbers growing in the garden as well.  I've made garlic dill pickles with them a couple times, chopped salad with tomatoes, and even blended them with cut watermelon, strained, and mixed with seltzer making quite the refreshing beverage.
• This weekend, I put some quickly pickled cucumber slices on these fish sandwiches, which were delicious.  
• Tomatoes
• Quite possibly the most versatile of the summer produce, I have a special place in my heart for tomatoes.  While I'm waiting for the tomatoes in my garden to ripen to really go wild with them, I am planning to pick a few while still green and try the traditional southern fried green tomato.  Stay tuned.

• Swiss chard
• I have a confession: I've never tried Swiss chard.  But seeing it in the markets, I'm intrigued to try it.  With all the colorful varieties of chard, it's a leafy green with much visual interest, even more so than my usual go-to greens (kale, spinach, and arugula).  I've seen several recipes for sautéed chard with bacon, and I have a package of beef bacon in the fridge, just waiting to be taken to the next level.  Or perhaps I'll try a Swiss chard and mushroom galette.  I plan to cook it Friday, so I have a few days to decide.
• Berries
• Just last night, I baked a double batch of these blueberry muffins, recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.  With each one gently wrapped and stored in the freezer, my son will enjoy these in his school lunch over the upcoming months.  Of course, I'll be sure to snag a few for myself and my husband as well!

So here is my challenge to you:  try a new fruit, vegetable, or herb during what is left of this summer.  A great place to find produce you've never tried is your local farmers' market, and the quality of that produce is likely to be better than you would find in a conventional grocery store.  If you see something interesting but you need/want ideas of how to use it, ask the staff from the farm or even other shoppers how they like to prepare that item.  In general, try preparations that don't mask the flavor of the item, but rather enhance it--simpler is usually better.  But with so much of our summer bounty, eating it fresh and unadulterated is the best way to go.