Eat What You Grow: Summer Recipes from the Houston Garden
Simple, fresh meals inspired by what’s ripe in your backyard
Summer gardening in Houston means long, hot days — and bountiful harvests. Whether you’re picking tomatoes off the vine, clipping basil, or finally getting your first flush of peppers, this is the time to put your garden to work in the kitchen.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite summer recipes built around what’s thriving in our zone this time of year:
🍅 Juicy tomatoes
🫑 Peppers of all kinds
🌿 Fresh herbs
🍆 Eggplant
🧄 Garlic and onions
🥒 Cucumbers
🌽 (Maybe) sweet corn!
These recipes are garden-to-table friendly — no complicated prep, no long oven bakes — just fresh, bright flavors that cool you down and celebrate what you’ve grown.
🍅 Recipe #1: Garden Tomato Bruschetta
This one’s practically a ritual in our kitchen. All you need is good tomatoes, a little garlic, and something crunchy to spoon it onto.
Ingredients:
2–3 ripe garden tomatoes, chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
Toasted french bread slices or sourdough
Directions:
Combine tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, balsamic, and salt in a bowl.
Let sit for 10 minutes so the flavors blend.
Spoon onto toasted bread slices just before serving.
Optional: top with a little crumbled goat cheese or shaved parmesan.
🧑🌾 Pro Tip: If your tomatoes are a bit watery, scoop out the seeds first to concentrate the flavor.
🌿 What’s Coming in This Series:
Basil Pesto — Storable, shareable topping for everything from pasta to eggs.
Homemade Garden Pizza — Featuring fresh herbs, tomatoes, and blistered shishito peppers
Quick Pickled Cucumbers — For that one plant that won’t stop producing
Eggplant Flatbread or Baba Ganoush — Because we all underestimate eggplant until it takes over
Crispy Shishito Peppers — 3-ingredient snack you’ll make on repeat
Summer Herb Chimichurri — To drizzle on everything, from grilled veggies to eggs