Thankful For The Bounty

So we are coming to the end of a season and the beginning of another. I have to say fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I am so grateful to be living in New England when the air turns cool and the leaves show their beautiful colors.
But I am also grateful for all the wonderful nourishment the warmer months provide us with. I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It has really made me think about where my food comes from. The book is about a family that took a year of their life and only ate food that came from their own neighborhood. Now I know this is not a new concept but it is certainly one that we as a nation have gotten away from. I think people are slowly becoming more aware of this concept again, or at least I am.
Eating foods only in season at their peak flavor is certainly not a concept I grew up with. I never even thought about how there could be Strawberries in the grocery stores in February.
But now that I am becoming more aware of our food and where it comes from I am very thankful for the local farmers markets that provide us with such a beautiful bounty.
The thing that I look forward to the most is the big, ripe juicy tomatoes. Last night for dinner we had a wonderful no cook tomato sauce.

You take about four good size tomatoes ( you can also use cherry tomatoes) and dice them into medium size pieces. Add about three cloves of minced garlic and a hand full of fresh basil, slivered. Pour over a good amount of olive oil (this helps coat the pasta) and salt and pepper to taste. You let this sit in a bowl on your counter for a good part of the day. Then when you are ready to eat you cook up a pound of pasta and combine the tomato mixture with the hot pasta. The flavors have all melded and the hot pasta combines with the olive oil and it is delicious! I also sometimes add fresh mozzarella or chunks of brie cheese in at the end, it kind of takes it to that next level of goodness! And there you have a wonderful end of summer meal from beautiful local produce!