Summer is my favorite season as it is the furthest away from winter. Despite the days growing increasingly dark, 8pm on an evening in July yields a light reminiscent of the sweetest parts of my childhood. Sitting on the porch at dusk after a long day at the pool can only happen this time of year. As I watch my own kids making memories, laughing at “potty” words, ignorant of whats going on in the news and in politics, I allow myself to indulge in their world for a bit. While I certainly do not ignore the current plights and hardships of our world, I do find a certain reprieve in all the flowers blooming and the fruit trees bearing their gifts in these warm summer months.
When I am planning meals for Flower Clvb gatherings I pay attention to what fruits and vegetables I am craving to see if they match up to what is in season. Pico de gallo? yes, please! Anything with zest and spice. Rarely does a chicken pot pie or warm stew sound good in July. Whether or not you are vegan, the amount of hearty, nutrient dense plants available this time of year make meat obsolete. Save the steak and chicken for the winter or the family reunion barbecue. All the plants— both food and flowers—on the table make for a colourful coming together and I am so excited to share both the recipes for our bouquets as well as our meal.
A huge shout out to Stacey McDonald who took the pictures for our gathering!
Bouquet Overview: American Grown Blooms
Bronze fennel flower, eucalyptus, hollyhock, lily tiger babies, ptilotus, rudbeckia- triloba prairie glow, rudbeckia- chim chiminee gold, rudbeckia- sahara, sweet peas, , tweedia, Zinnia,
Sourced from: American Street Flower Farm (Jig- Bee and Laughing Lady), Lunaria Gardens
Feast Features:
Tomatoes, corn, lettuce, carrots, basil, avocado, peaches, blueberries, strawberries
Sourced from: Mariposa, a local West Philly food Co-op and Sprouts
The Flowers
When people think of summer’s focal flowers often we think of peonies (toward the beginning) and dahlias (blooming towards the end) but right in the middle of the season I love the variegated colors of rudbeckia and zinnias. As a focal flower, they can often bring out the tones and shades in the surrounding flowers. The round shapes of their flower heads bleed nicely into the unique sprawling petals of the lily. Together, they create a world of wonder in your hands.
Ingredients
3 stems of lily tiger babies
1 hollyhock stem
7 stems of zinnias (pink, salmon, fuchsia colors)
3 stems of Rudbeckia: (some buchets contained the chim chiminee gold variety, and others contained sahara)
3 stems of rudbeckia- triloba prairie glow(brown eyed Susan)
3 stems of ptilotus (native to Australia)
3 stems of tweedia
3 stems of Eucalyptus
3 stems of bronze fennel
1 sweet pea
Prep
Once you have gathered and sourced your flowers and placed them in a bucket, find a rubber band and set aside. Fill a jar with water to place your bouquet in after it is complete.
Since this recipe calls for lilies, I recommend wearing an apron so the pollen from the stamens does not stain your cloths.
Remove the stamen from the lilies by gently pulling the brown powdery ends in the middle of the lily and discarding or placing in a jar to make paint.
Begin processing your plants by stripping away the leaves while leaving some as you see fit.
Give your flowers another snip at the ends before placing them back in your bucket.
My Process… yours might be different and that is okay
Start with a lily stem, and your hollyhock and place them straight in your hand. Begin adding zinnias, rudbeckia and the lilies so that the stems form a spiral in your hands. You may do this my twisting your hand around after adding each stem at the same angle as you twist. I learned this technique from Amy Balsters of the Floral Coach. For more intensive instruction, I highly recommend attending Bouquet Bootcamp with Amy: The Floral Coach. She is both talented and an extremely communicative teacher.
After the zinnias and rudbeckia begin adding the ptilotus and the smaller headed flowers into the spiral
Finally add the greenery and the the fennel at the end. Let the sweet pea trail down as one of the finishing pieces.
Once your flowers are in the spiral, loosen your grip and adjust any flower heads where you see fit, leaving the stems in place in order to maintain the spiral.
Clip the ends at a 45 degree angle. Rubber band your bouquet and place it in some water.
*Note: I like placing the lilies all together to create a sort of “moment” for them on one side.
The Feast
During a recent trip to the beach, sweet friends had us over to their home in Atlantic City. They not only offered rooms for both my husband and I to stay as well as our children, but they also provided the most delicious food for us. Often my dinners at home consist of some sort of green salad or veggie, a complex carb and a carnivorous protein. However during dinner, we ate a small salad pared with a vegan avocado pasta that left everyone at the table feeling perfectly satiated. When contemplating what to make for our summer gathering, I could not get this pasta dish out of my mind. I decided to give it a try.
Below I have included recipes for this pasta, as well as the other delicious food items we shared.
Stacey McDonald Photography
Pico De Gallo W/ Siete chips
Ingredients
2 Large organic tomatoes
1 white onion diced
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon
a few dashes of cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1 small handful of cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
Peel tomatoes, slice and remove what seeds you can then dice tomatoes and place in bowl
Add onion, garlic, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper to the chopped tomatoes then mix together.
Add and mix the cilantro
Summer Salad
Ingredients
5 oz Organic lettuce (whatever variety is in season) or Arugula
1/2 c diced tomatoes
shavings of 1 carrot
1/4 c of chopped pecans
corn of one stalk
Instructions
Mix above ingredients together
parse out into separate bowls for each guest.
Either place the dressing (recipe to follow) on the side or on the salad itself
Garlic Dressing
Ingredients
2 Garlic cloves
1/2 cup of olive oil
2- 3 table spoons of your choice of vinegar
salt to taste
Instructions
Remove the skins from the garlic and the very ends, then with a mortar and pestle, smash the garlic into juicy bits
Scrape the garlic from the mortar and pestle into a jar, then add olive oil, and vinegar
Add a generous portion of salt
Stir the mixture really well with a fork then pour over everything from salad to potatoes to chicken!
*Store in fridge for up to 7 days
Mint Fruit Salad Palette Cleanser
Ingredients
2 Peaches
1/2 cup of organic blueberries
a few sprigs of chopped mint
Instructions
Chop mint and peaches, mix together with blueberries
Place in fridge until ready to be served
serve in a small bowl as a palette cleanser
Avocado Pasta (adapted from Oh She Glows recipe and my friends from the beach!)
(serves 7)
Ingredients
2 garlic cloves
1/2 c of basil
2 Avocados
optional: 1/2 seedless jalapeño (I did not add to the pasta at our gathering but I think it would add a delicious color and zing)
Juice from 1 lemon
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of coconut cream
Red pepper flakes
9.5 oz of bowtie pasta
Instructions
In a food processor add garlic, basil and jalapeño (if using)
Add in the avocado, olive oil, coconut cream, salt, lemon, water and coconut cream.
Pulse together until well mixed.
Bring 12 ox of water to a boil
Once boiling place pasta in water for no more than 10-12 minutes.
Drain pasta
Place pasta back into sauce man.
Pour avocado sauce over pasta until it is well coated.
Serve in individual bowls and add red pepper flakes
Strawberry Shortbread Cake
(serves 7)
Ingredients
12 gluten free short bread cookies. The recipe I used can be found HERE. (Minimalist Baker)
1 9 oz tub of So Delicious coco whip
16 oz container of strawberries (preferably organic)
Instructions
Make the shortbread cookies and let them cool in fridge. I made them the night before and left them in the fridge overnight.
Place coco whip in the fridge the night before to defrost
Wash and de-stem strawberries then slice them into little hearts
In a souffle dish, place three cookies at the base of the dish. Break another cookie and fill in the holes.
Layer with strawberry hearts
Spread coconut whip cream over the strawberries
Add another layer of cookie, repeating the initial layer. Repeat the strawberry and cream layer
Place a few cookies in a food processor and let crumble until fine and grainiy
Once you have added the final layer of whip cream, add the crumbly cookies to the top so it is completely covered.
Place in fridge for 4+ hours before serving.
One thing I am learning is that part of sharing food with guests is creating inviting plates. During Friday’s gathering I had left the pasta in the pot for my guests to dig out themselves. As they were serving themselves, I had a meal table epiphany. At times, it is okay for guests to load up their own plates but when among strangers, or rather I should say— new friends— having plates already prepared with the beauty of the meal precisely placed removes any slight anxiety that one might feel for deciphering how much food to distribute to oneself. Whoever attends the fall gathering will have the food pre-plated. I do hope you will join us.
