Take a great recipe to the next level! Plant a pot full of the ingredients and add the ingredient list, handwritten on the pot. A fabulous teacher present, too!

Summer is the best time to be outside! We love getting to know local plants and flowers and planting our family garden is a highlight of the summer's start. Frequent visits to the nursery for vegetable and herb plants are just a part of our summer ritual. The kids love to touch and to smell each plant, and I love that they are more interested in the meals and dishes we create with the plants that they have grown (bonus!)!

As a fun extension of our usual veggie patch, we decided to make a special garden for one of their new favorite foods - salsa! Tacos, burritos, and guacamole have been added to our menu planning, and the kids expressed interest in making our own version.

Add your favorite recipe with a paint marker and plant a garden just for this dish! Makes a wonderful hostess gift or teacher present.

With so many great salsa recipes out there, you likely already have your own blend, but if not, try this one from Lulu the Baker or Cooking Classy's restaurant style. We know that not every ingredient is readily available locally so we put together what we could find.

The supplies are simple on this one: one large terra cot pot, outdoor paint (one that seals the pot for you), a white paint marker, and your plants. Perhaps your garden will be an Italian selection for pesto or a French selection of tarragon. Pick your recipe and then select your plants, keeping in mind that some might need to be transferred as they grow larger.

In our salsa pot, we have roma tomatoes, two cilantro plants, and a few yellow onions. It smells so delish! And it's already brought so much happiness before we even get to the final product. Seeing my children enjoying the gifts of nature is a fabulous part of our 18 Summers Challenge. And M loved making one as a year-end present for her teacher, too!

Give a mini garden of all the best ingredients for a wonderful salsa and write the recipe right on the pot! Great teacher gift!!

What would you plant?

xoxo, MJ

P.S. Are you joining in the projects we're creating for this summer together? Up tomorrow, a fun game called Rock the Clock. Get those stones ready.

P.P.S. If you want a sneak peek into all that's ahead, including supply lists, subscribe to the Pars Caeli newsletter by adding your email below.

Happy Tuesday, friends! I missed you all. Did you have a restful holiday weekend?

We had a fabulous three days of no alarm clocks, sprinklers and s'mores, vegetable garden planting, and good old-fashioned hanging-out-with-friends time. It was just what we all needed.

And now, to get back in to the last round of activities before the school year ends.

I had a little extra time in the kitchen this weekend, and I wanted to share with you some yumminess we put together for a sweet little BBQ/water play date with friends. I was able to shop my own herb garden to make this salsamole (it's got too many tomatoes for a traditional guacamole and too many avacados for a traditional salsa so I've named it salsamole). It's super fresh and pairs nicely with a lime salted tortilla chip.

I became acutely aware of how much I am not a food blogger as I was making this and trying to shoot attractive photos. So I'll offer the throw away line that this tastes so much better than it looks (although it looked better than it photographed, too). And I'll tell you that food photographers are geniuses.

I got this lovely recipe from a friend and adapted a few things here and there to make it just to my liking! So, here you goes...You'll need:

7 medium tomatoes (romas are awesome here, but if you can't get them, or only have big or small tomatoes, think the equivalent of seven medium tomatoes. I am a no stress ingredient kind of chef so make some good guesses, it'll still taste great.) Cut these guys up to about a 1/4 inch.

3 large ripe (Haas) avacados, diced about the same size as the tomatoes

1 1/2 c of thawed frozen corn kernels

1 T of corn oil

3 T of chopped green onions (we took our scissors out to the garden!)

1/4 c fresh cilantro (again, hooray for a short trip to the herb store for us)

1 t pickled jalapeno

1 t minced garlic

1 1/2 t salt

3 T lime juice

1/2 t cumin

1 t apple cider vinegar

 

(this photo is taken from inside the bowl. Be the ingredient.)

Preheat your oven to 450. Put the corn on a baking sheet and toss it with the oil. Roast, tossing once, for 7-8 minutes until golden good. Let corn cool.

Fold tomatoes, avacados, cilantro, green onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Stir in the vinegar, lime juice, vinegar, salt, cumin. Add in the cooled corn.

Cover and refrigerate. Can be made up to 24 hours ahead. Pair with a great chip and eat quickly...your family will try to gobble it up before you can get your helping. Oh wait, maybe that's just in my home. :) Happy eating.

And if tomatoes and all those vegetable aren't your thing. Well then here's to many happy s'mores.

It's beginning to look a lot like summer around here. And I love it!

Hoping you found a little bit of Heaven peeking out from around the corner this weekend...and that you keep it with you as we head back into the usual.

XOXO,
MJ