Hello my loves!

I hope you're enjoying a beautiful start to your week :). Today sees me full of love and reverence for all the incredible summer produce that's made its way into my hands of late - in fact, it's lit me right up to speak to you about where our food really comes from, how viewing the world through a lens of abundance can inject joy and wonder into your day, and how bringing gratitude into your kitchen can give a nice old side-slap to our modern-world hang ups. I've made a quick video (just on six minutes) where I'm speaking about allll this AND ABOUT FRIED CHICKEN, (seriously, I do talk extensively about fried chicken in this), and you can watch it here.

Over in the veggie garden it's an hugely abundant time of year - the fierce heat of midsummer is starting to ease back now, and long, mellow late-summer days are coaxing a gorgeous harvest from plants that sprouted in spring, hunkered down through midsummer, and are now fruiting like mad (hurrah!). It's the perfect time to grab a haul of delectable summer produce and fill your belly with some good old summer love. In season right now we have:

Cucumbers - taut, green and proud, cucumbers are amazing simply sliced and seasoned on toast, quick-pickled in a crunchy summer-veg salad, or pickled and preserved to enjoy all the year long.
Zucchinis - could they be the earth's most versatile vegetable? Steamed, roasted, pickled, stuffed, baked, fried or slowly simmered, these sweet summer babies have umpteen applications and they're amazing right now. Buy yo'self a ticket on the zucchini train and thank me at your leisure.
Eggplants - yes, yes yes, I LOVE eggplants sooooo much!! There's something about their magnificently shiny skin and oozy, unctuous innards that seduces me every time. Roast them whole, extract their gooey centre and stir it through a simple tomato, garlic and basil sauce for summer pasta heaven.
Basil - I don't think I've ever held a bouncing bunch of summer basil without also theatrically using it as a pom-pom. It's almost constantly in residence in a vase on my kitchen counter right now, where it awaits a delicious rebirth in the form of either pesto or tomato and basil sauce.
Tomatoes - I waxed lyrical about their deliciousness last week, so I will simply say: now is the time for tomatoes. Go forth and consume them (and make some passata too!).

Finally, if you haven't got around to trying the tomato, walnut and basil pesto recipe I recently shared, here's some encouragement for you :). One of my lovely Instagram followers had this to say:

"Yum! Made this last weekend, so good. My children had it stirred through pasta, it's their new favourite pasta sauce :)".

And so with that I shall leave you to your wonderful week, may it be full of nourishment, love and deliciousness. Until next time my darlings...

Love, Rachel xxx