Low-Lift Summer Meals

Summer officially begins on June 21st. When I thought about farmers markets before I ever frequented them, and long before I vended at them, I always envisioned stalls teeming with everything that screams summer all at once, at every single farmers market anywhere in the country on the very first day.

Lol

Tomatoes, strawberries, corn- the pinnacles of summer produce.

That is definitely not the case and certainly not here. We do a slow roll into various produce throughout the season as nature intended.

Market season here typically starts the second or third week in May and this year City Park Farmers Market (the market I used to vend Butter Moon Bake Co at) started the first weekend in May which is just really (too) early.

Small farmers here in CO, especially like my friend Jade (incredible human) who is farmer/owner of a low till + Asian focused vegetable farm called Minoru Farm, has a lot of greens, some herbs, and generally what you would expect to find at a market around here at that time. What larger productions (farms) can pull off with enough equipment and infrastructure re: access and money and large greenhouses that can turn out more (consistently) warm weather crops like tomatoes, long before you would consider it to be tomato-season around here. Realistically, our tomato season is mid-July and well into September. I finally deconstructed my garden the last week in October and my plants were still producing if that provides any context.

So, all of this said, I built a menu promising the things I originally did when I started this in April with Low Lift Spring Meal Plans and they were-

Lower-impact on brains and body and money. Less fussy, more straight forward, multi-purpose meals/ingredients to piggyback off one another, and seasonal while being realistic. Most farmers markets around here allow you to use SNAP/EBT which is helpful and also I shop at the regular ol’ grocery store most of the time and I’m absolutely buying tomatoes year round.

We do what we can.

I also cannot produce menus that are not authentic to me which just means I don’t compute trying to make things or cook things that I am not quite literally cooking alongside you. My neurodivergent brain, while it has its fussy tangents, really benefits from a lower-lift vibe most average days.

With that-

Low-lift means different things to different people. Yes, there’s a recipe for a homemade crust for the galette but I encourage you to use store bought if that feels better and more accessible. Take what sounds and feels good and leave the rest.

This was an absolute labor of love and I am really excited to share with y’all and hear what you make with it. I tried a different format this round and kept all the recipes separate instead of one, extra long list. I hope this feels more accessible and if you hate it I hope you’ll let me know that, too. Each recipe has modification suggestions whether it’s for dietary mods, using fresh vs frozen, a kitchen hack, or suggesting additional ideas/meals to your roster. I’m always searching for more ways to be more accessible so if something immediately stands out I hope you’ll let me know.

Think of this recipe for Jammy Tomatoes as your starting point and move on to either Jammy Tomato Orzo or White Beans with Jammy Tomatoes. Make Fake Focaccia in under an hour start-to-finish and serve it alongside the beans like I do. If you need a break from tomatoes for a day or two make this Piri Piri Chicken and then use some of the leftovers you have to make a breakfast hash the next day or even later in the week. Round it all out with this Roasted Strawberry Galette which is impressive enough to win over the critics and easy enough so that you’re not sweating in the kitchen for. ev. er.

Biggest love,

AR

PS I’ll report back with my thoughts and feelings about Italy soon.

xx