Caprese Salad and Seasonal Joys

It all started with successful tomato plants and has blossomed from there! Our delicious salad-size tomatoes (bigger than cherry tomatoes, smaller than sandwich size) are drawing in customers with their farm-fresh sweet flavor and gorgeous appearance... but it took a bit of good old-fashioned hard work to get them there, let me tell you!

Fresh tomatoes open a season of BLTs, caprese salads, sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper and we never, ever, ever forget green tomatoes for our friends who like to make Fried Green Tomatoes! That's a favorite side dish this time of year, and they are so simple, really. We use seasoned flour, flour seasoned with salt and large-grind black pepper. We slice the tomato, dip both sides in the flour, and fry in hot olive oil in one of my griddles or frying pans. A Southern treat that we like real well up here in the north!

But this week I made caprese salad. You see it EVERYWHERE and I had no idea what it was, because that's how I am. Simple. I just called it tomato-and-mozzarella. Silly me! Anyway, this simple side dish is sure to please a lot of your friends and family.

It's as simple as layering cheese... a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of basil.... tomatoes.... oil and basil.... repeat.

Chill and serve!

Here it is with Eggplant Parm that my buddy Lisa sent over to us on a night when there was no time to cook....

And we've updated our picking machines! Check these two beauties out!

Beth and Jon, the 2019 farm team with shirts full of squash.

Yep.

We're fancy, all right! :)

Pumpkins are ripening, we're hoping for a big kick-off weekend which means I'll be baking this afternoon and all day tomorrow... so for now, I'm wishing you the best that early September has to offer and may it include safety from the storm lashing our coast, an outpouring of help for the storm-ravaged Bahamas, and joy in the harvest around you.

USA Today bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves to write beautiful stories with unforgettable characters that make you smile... cry... and think a little. With over 50 published works so far, and more to come, she spends her summers juggling writing and farm work while winter brings the expected peace, quiet and weight gain of not having as much to do... :) Visit her website at ruthloganherne.com, follow her on Twitter (which is a very odd place, isn't it?) and friend her on facebook. She loves to get to know people although she tends to talk a lot.