Keeping in line with the recipe post that Courtney shared with us yesterday about her Freekeh, I (Kristen) have been hoarding my fresh vegetable recipes to share with you all!

Some days things get crazy around here and finding time to cook can be hard but it is always worth it!

Yes that is peanut butter and jelly massaged into Tanner’s face like a facial mask! Clearly he is enjoying it.

One of my go to side dishes/ quick snacks is sliced tomatoes. It all started when I made this awesome old bay chicken salad and I needed a side dish – instead of the usual chips I grabbed a beautiful tomato and sliced it up. I love tomatoes but also like to “dress them up” if you will. On this occasion I topped them with balsamic and olive oil. Simple and delish!

I also stumbled across a grilled peach with balsamic glaze salad recipe. I had no idea how the “balsamic glaze” would turn out but it has turned into my current obsession. I think I have made the glaze daily since this salad! While I cannot seem to find the recipe for the salad I have found a link on how to make the glaze–your welcome!

This glaze has pretty much changed my cooking. Every meal I make now I want to somehow incorporate it! From that salad pictured above I made the one pictured below-  bacon, corn and tomato salad topped with you guessed it- balsamic glaze!

On another occasion I combined my love for peaches, tomatoes and the glaze and made a stacked appitizer on a sliced wheat baguette! YUM!

My last tomato creation to share with you is my homemade bruschetta! I used a basic recipe that came out of the cook book- “First State Plates: Iconic Delaware Restaurants and Recipes“. This particular recipe came from Grotto’s. If you’ve ever been to the beach you know what Grottos is! Famous for their “Swirl Pizza” – anyway the brushetta turned out great and I will definitely  plan to make this for a future get-together!

Moving over to the sweet, fruity side of things! With my one last heaping of blueberries I made an over the top blueberry crumble coffee cake.

I was sad when the cake was all gone because it was probably my favorite blueberry recipe I used all summer! You can find it here: Blueberry Muffin Cake

We have also been getting lots of cute personal size watermelons. Lately they have been so sweet and tastes like candy! Even R was a fan!

We have also gotten something called a sprite melon. It is light in color and sweeter than a cantaloupe. It has a unique taste but it is good- plus it’s cute.

My latest baked creation is this deliscous treat- Nana’s Apple Cake (Tastefully Simple Mix). All you do is add a chopped Apple, 2 eggs, mix it up and bake it!

Shewww looks like I need to be more regular with sharing all my CSA treats! We only have a few more weeks of getting our local CSA box- I really wish it didn’t have to end! There is nothing quite like fresh, local produce!

What have you been cooking? How do you use tomatoes when you have a lot of them?