Since the growing season is underway, i thought I'd dedicate a post to food and drink.

First, I want to strongly recommend that you make visiting a local farmers' market or farm stand part of your weekly routine.  You can find one near you with the zip code search at www.localharvest.org.  At a farmer's market, you are likely to get very fresh, locally sourced products, often with a minimum of pesticides, antibiotics, etc.  In my experience, the farmer will give you lots of good cooking and serving tips as well. 

Once you've bought your produce, make sure you eat it.  Try keeping a bowl of fruit on the counter so it's easy and at hand.  A salad spinner full of greens in the fridge makes a healthy side dish fast and easy.  (If you are grilling, toss on an extra chicken breast or two.  Chopped and on top of greens and you have a wonderful one bowl meal.) 

Other things to keep on hand, shredded cheese, tortillas, chopped veggies, and canned beans.  These things add up to fast and easy salads, wraps, stir fries, and quesadillas.  (If you use canned beans, make sure you rinse them well to get as much salt as possible off.) A great thing about these entrees is that they don't take much cooking time when you don't want to heat up the house and you want to get back outside.

For beverages, you can't beat water.  But, if water is boring, try adding a fresh fruit syrup or a juice to seltzer water.  I also like to keep a pitcher of herbal iced tea in the fridge.  I just heat a kettle of water and toss in a few bags of my favorite herbal tea and let it steep.  (I usually find that 3 tea bags makes a good half gallon.)  I sweeten it a bit by adding no sugar added apple juice.  It's tasty, not to sweet, and relatively healthy. I'd rather save the calories for ice cream!

What are your go to meals in the spring and summer?