By Sarah

There is nothing better than walking outside when it's time to cook and picking a variety of ingredients you will be needing for your meal. I am lucky to live in an apartment complex run by an on-site manager who loves gardening and who has started a communal garden for all the residents. When I came back to Berkeley after a summer of traveling, I was excited to be able to pick kale, swiss chard, zucchini, a type of Italian squash, blackberries, and pounds upon pounds of tomatoes (first cherry tomatoes, now large Early Girl and Brandywine varieties).

Dad and I came up with this while he was visiting this weekend. It is delicious! We decided on the title because the veggies in it are all in season right now. In fact, the zucchini, tomatoes, and thyme are all from the shared garden in my apartment complex and we picked them right before cooking this.

This is my favorite salsa and a must whenever I make Mexican food or want to snack on tortilla chips.

Perfect for any Mexican meal! Use this as a filling for burritos and tacos or as a topping for nachos.

The blackberry bushes growing along the fence of my apartment complex are overflowing with ripe berries, so I froze half of the ones I picked, intending to keep them for use in smoothies and/or berry pies/crumbles in the fall. But when craving a cold dessert on a hot evening, I decided to try making a sorbet out of them. It was absolutely delicious!

Don't get stuck on salads with just lettuce. When making salads, let your imagination go wild. Use whatever ingredients you have and which strike your fancy! The more colorful, the better!

Upon returning to Berkeley after spending 3 months away, I was unable to buy everything I needed to fully restock my apartment, so what was originally intended to be Szechuan Green Beans turned into this. I was quite pleased with the outcome.