My First Post!

Hi! I'm Katie. Welcome to The Summertree Café! I started this blog to document my culinary explorations. I'm not exactly a vegetarian - I really would like go vegan, but I live with my meat-eating parents and my gluten- and dairy-sensitive sister, so it's not exactly convenient for me to alienate all animal-derived food products from my diet. My family has been health-conscious for a long time, and I love eating and cooking healthily myself. I enjoy trying new things and experimenting with alternative ingredients.

Though my plate today does not feature an original recipe, I will post some of my own recipes as soon as I make it to the grocery store. This cracked-wheat quickbread is from Low-Fat Living. My mom made it frequently years ago, when I was little and living in South Carolina. It's good with butter, honey, jelly or anything else you can think of. The texture is great, and it makes a fantastic snack or breakfast.

Now I know that you've seen more sumptous, attractive berries than those on my plate, but they'll suffice to satisfy my berry craving until the raspberry plants in the backyard bear their summer fruits and the Farmer's Market has their locally-grown berries out for sale. The grocery store berries taste good, but they still leave me dreaming of organic berries picked by hand, grown and eaten in the warmth of the sun. Our sweet fruits are not ephemeral; the crop last year provided us with plenty of red berries to savor and enjoy. I'll track the bushes's progress here. I can't wait!