Serves 8; prep time – 15 minutes

Ingredients:
-1 small pkg. pea shoots, rinsed and dried
-1 small pkg. sunflower greens
-4 ears yellow corn, shucked
-1 basket cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved
-1/4 cup julienned fresh basil leaves
-2 tsp. dark balsamic vinegar
-2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. XV olive oil
-salt and pepper, to taste

Cut the corn kernels from the cob and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the pea shoots, sunflower greens, halved cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. Toss together. Slowly add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and continue tossing. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Serves 6; Recipe by Courtney McDonald

Ingredients:
-1 pint good-quality vanilla ice cream
-1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
-2 baskets raspberries, carefully rinsed and dried
-1/2 tsp. fresh lavender blossoms, finely minced
-2 Tbsp. Snow’s Citrus Court Mandarin Orange Ice Cream Topping (or more, to taste)
-1 crumbled oatmeal cookie as garnish (optional)

In a medium mixing bowl, toss the strawberries, raspberries and lavender. Drizzle the mandarin orange ice cream topping over and mix to coat well. Let sit at room temperature to marinate for 30 minutes.

Scoop ice cream into 6 small serving bowls. Spoon the fruit topping evenly over the ice cream, garnish with the crumbled cookie and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Serves 6 (dinner-sized portions); Recipe by Courtney McDonald

Ingredients:
-1 medium watermelon, rind removed (discard) and diced into 1 inch chunks
-4 large heirloom tomatoes, hulled and diced into 1 inch chunks
-3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed
-1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
-juice and zest of 2 limes
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or basil leaves
-salt, to taste
-chili powder, to taste
-1 cup cotija cheese, crumbled

In a large mixing bowl, combine the diced watermelon, tomato, corn kernels and sliced red onion. Add the lime juice, olive oil, and chopped cilantro, stir gently. Season to taste with the salt and chili powder. Transfer salad to a serving bowl and crumble the cotija cheese over the top. Serve immediately!

Cat­e­gory: Side Dish

Plac­er­Grown ingre­di­ents used: Meyer Lemons, Wine

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 pounds large fresh assorted mushrooms
• 1 Table­spoon olive oil
• 6 Table­spoons sweet butter
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 4 gar­lic cloves — very finely minced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 tea­spoon salt
• Freshly ground black pep­per — to taste
• 1/2 cups Madeira wine
• Juice of 1 lemon

Instruc­tions:
Heat oil in 12 inch skil­let over medium high heat until sim­mer­ing. Add mush­rooms and cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, until mush­rooms release liq­uid, about 5 min­utes. Increase heat to high and cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, until liq­uid had com­pletely evap­o­rated, about 8 min­utes longer. Add but­ter, reduce heat to medium, and con­tinue to cook, stir­ring once every minute, until mush­rooms are dark brown, about 8 min­utes longer. Add shal­lots, gar­lic and pars­ley and cook until soft­ened, about 3 min­utes. Add Madeira and cook until liq­uid has evap­o­rated, about 2 min­utes. Sea­son with salt and pep­per to taste, turn out into a heated veg­etable dish, and sprin­kle with fresh lemon juice, serve imme­di­ately with a crusty bread. Serves 8 to 10.

Serves 6 – recipe by Courtney McDonald

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 large yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
-2 medium butternut, kabocha or other hard squash, peeled