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Summer Cooking: Easy Summer Recipes

By , About.com Guide

Eating locally means eating seasonally. These seasonal summer recipes will get you started using all the great products you find at farmers markets, farm stands, and co-ops. (Or, if you're industrious and lucky, in your garden!) More than just ways to use the summer produce you find, these recipes are designed to be cooked in summer: they only use other fruits and vegetables (besides the main ingredient) that are available in summer and they take hot summer weather and the need cool down into account too. And don't forget the summertime urge to grill!
  1. The Best of Summer
  2. What's In Season In Summer?
  3. Summer Fruits
  4. Summer Vegetables & Herbs
  5. Summer Drinks
  6. Summer Salads
  1. Summer Soups
  2. Summer Grilling
  3. Summer Desserts
  4. Preserving Summer
  5. More Seasonal Cooking

The Best of Summer

Summer is fresh and ripe and easy. Cooking and effort should be minimal, with maximum flavor. These recipes make that happen.

What's In Season In Summer?

First things first, to cook locally means to cook seasonally. And to cook seasonally you need to know what's in season.

Summer Fruits

Juicy peaches, tangy cherries, and seedy brambleberries are some of the joys of summer seasonal eating. You'll never find them as fresh, as flavorful as they are when bought in season and at their best.

Summer Vegetables & Herbs

Summer's bounty doesn't stop at the fruit tree or berry vine. Summer vegetables and herbs--like crunchy sweet corn, bursting-ripe tomatoes, and fragrant basil--making eating seasonally and locally easy and delicious.

Summer Drinks

Whether you're looking for a cocktail or just a tasty way to stay hydrated (and use some of that lovely ripe summer fruit), these drinks scream "summer"!

Summer Salads

What better way to enjoy your haul from your garden or the farmers market than a fresh, delicious summer salad? Try one of these simple, satisfying summer salads.

Summer Soups

Whether warm or chilled, these soups are made with ultra-fresh summer produce for great flavor.

Summer Grilling

Grilling is one of the great pleasures of summer eating. Besides the been-there, done-that steaks and sausages, fruits and vegetables make great grilled dishes too.

Summer Desserts

Summer desserts are fruit-forward and fruit-backward. Of course the best summer dessert is a plain, perfectly ripe piece of fruit (my favorite is a bowl of just-picked blackberries or blueberries--don't make me chose!) but these easy fruit-laden desserts are a great way to enjoy summer's bounty.

Preserving Summer

Eating locally is eating seasonally, and a key to eating seasonally is preserving: freezing, canning, and drying foods from one season in order to enjoy them during another. Try these easy recipes for holding some of summer's bounty for later in the year.

More Seasonal Cooking

Stumble here but it's not quite summer where you are? Or is summer over? Are you Down Under and it's the middle of winter? See the guides below for more seasonal cooking.

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