Making the best of what we got!

These tomatoes are pretty much the prize from our garden. All of the other heirlooms blighted, beside for our sungold cherries. It's difficult to complain. Last year it was so dry that we never saw a tomato reach this size. Everything just sizzled up in the sun. This year, our produce was doing laps in their own swimming pool. Go figure.

We were lucky enough to have a friend share some of her tomatoes grown in her greenhouse. They were superb and so unbelievably sweet; I couldn't believe we were eating tomatoes. We ate them plain, with basil and mozzarella, and then we tried the Backseat Gourmet's recipe for panzanella. So quick and easy, and quite a hit with my family. This is Cheryl's picture of her recipe below. ( She's a much better food photographer than I am. Actually, she's also an amazing quilter, so go check that out too.)

It definitely feels like we're trying to hang on to the last vestiges of summer as we gobble down tomatoes and basil. Soon, I need to get busy making pesto. We freeze it in cubes and eat on it all winter, pretending we have summer in our mouths.