So, you find yourself with the world’s largest zucchini growing in your backyard and you’ve already made as much bread as you’re going to bake.  What’s next?  Why not share the wealth?  The produce pictured here grew in Carly’s garden and since she’ll be on vacation next week, she brought it to work in hopes it would make its way into someone else’s salad.  And it will.  Why not schedule a ‘garden exchange’ day where you work or in your neighborhood to distribute all the goods your garden is overflowing with right now?  This is a goin’ green concept that goes way back to Grandma’s generation.  Pick a date, harvest the goods and set a place to do the swap.  Your local food pantry may also be able to accept your garden donations.  Contact them or Feeding America West Michigan to get your excess greens to those in need.  Remember, someone’s abundance of cucumbers could be another’s winter pickles.

It may not be on the Storm Team 8 radar, but there are Blizzard predictions for this Thursday, otherwise known as Miracle Treat Day.  It’s the day Dairy Queens across the country help raise money for children’s hospitals by donating part of the proceeds from each Blizzard they sell.  August 13 is Blizzard Day at all participating Dairy Queen’s in West Michigan.  Dollars donated here will go to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, West Michigan’s only Children’s Miracle Network hospital.  Funds raised help ensure that no child is ever turned away from care.  Since Miracle Treat Days started in 1984, Dairy Queen has helped raise $77 million.  That’s a whole lot of ice cream!  Beat the heat, help kids and enjoy an August Blizzard.  Can you think of a better excuse?

This is it, the month of corn in Michigan.  If you are making the rounds of farmer’s markets, you are becoming familiar with this sight, piles of hand-picked corn on the cob.  The variety pictured here is cleverly named “Peaches and Cream” for its yellow and cream-colored kernels and sweet and savory flavor.  This pile was grown at Ter Avest Farms in Hudsonville, one of many local farms with goods for sale at the Fulton Street Farmers Market.  According to the Department of Agriculture, Michigan has about 10 million acres of farmland with more than 90% of it owned by families or individuals.  Ter Avest growers expect corn to be abundant in August, along with beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and a variety of greens.  This weekend, look for eggplant to join that list.  On the way out are those juicy cherries and blueberries.  Get ‘em while they last!  Here’s a corn quickie from Martha Stewart for your grill: 

• 4 ears shucked corn
• 1/2 lime
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

Directions 

1.  Grill corn over high heat, turning until lightly blackened in places and kernels are just tender when pressed, about 12 minutes.

2.  Cut each ear into 4 pieces.  Transfer to a sturdy, medium-size paper bag and squeeze lime over corn.  Sprinkle with chili powder and coasrse salt.  Close bag and shake to coat.  Serve immediately from the bag or in a bowl.

Sweet, tart, red, orange, purple….one of Michigan’s tastiest crops is ready for eating.  Did you know that up to 75% of the tart cherries grown in the United States come from Michigan?  That makes Michigan the nation’s number one cherry producing state according to Michigan’s Department of Agriculture  The ones pictured above are from my weekend trip north.  We picked up these beauties up at a Kalkaska road side market, a shopping experience we’re spoiled with across the state for several more weeks.  Take advantage of the seasonal, nutritious offerings of nature and share your farm fresh favorite recipes.  Here’s one I’m going to try with some of those cherries:

FRESH CHERRY PARFAIT SALAD  

2 c. fresh sweet cherries
3/4 c. water
1 (3 oz.) pkg. lemon flavored gelatin
1 pt. pineapple sherbet
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
Whole cherries for garnish
Mint sprig for garnish

Pit and slice cherries. Bring water to boil. Stir in gelatin to dissolve. Add sherbet by spoonfuls, stirring until well blended and partially set. Fold cherries into gelatin along with walnuts. Pour into 1 quart mold; chill until firm. Unmold and garnish with whole cherries and mint sprigs. Makes 5-6 servings.  Well drained, canned sweet cherries may be used when fresh cherries are not available. May be prepared early in the morning or a day ahead of time.

<–Live radar of W. Michigan.  Showers moving in from Lake Michigan are fizzling.  They had 3/4-mile visibility in heavy rain at Waukegan IL, but as expected, the storms weakened over the lake.  They’ll be gone by daybreak more than likely.    Late this afternoon a tornado was reported in Capron, IL – near the Boone-McHenry Co. line.  Spotters reported gusts to 82 mph, nickel-sized hail and tree debris in the air!    More on the Illinois tornado from WREX here.   There’s a lot of concerts tonight (Beatles revival at the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival), so come back here to check the radar.  The showers tonight will be mostly light and scattered.  Here’s Chicago radar.     Here’s GRR NWS radar, Great Lakes radar, SPC Meso-Discussions, Current Tornado & Severe T-Storm Watches, Storm Total Rainfall, latest surface observations, lightning data, GRR NWS discussion, Visible Satellite loop (daytime), Infrared Satellite Loop (night), Here’s Milwaukee NWS radar.

  An area of scattered showers and t-storms continues  from the southern suburbs of Chicago to near South Bend to Coldwater.  With the front hardly moving, cells are going to “train” along that area (along US 12) and a few locally heavy rainfall totals are likely.  Radar estimates 2″ just south of Berrien Co. in Indiana.  We had a gust to 48 mph in Ann Arbor and a tree was down in Goshen, IN.  If you’re north a line from Benton Harbor to Lansing…nothing is going to happen.  South of that line there will be some scattered showers/t-showers tonight.   Most of our area could use some  rain.    We missed the severe weather again Monday evening.  A wind gust of 54 mph (wake low?) occurred at Waukegan, north of Chicago shortly before midnight our time.   A  tormado  hit Mt. Sterling, Wisconsin (picture included at the link!).  They had 7 counties under tornado warnings around 7:30 PM Monday evening.  There were more than a dozen reports of hail/wind damage with these storms (measured gust to 73 mph at Viola, WI).   Here’s GRR NWS radar, Great Lakes radar, SPC Meso-Discussions, Current Tornado & Severe T-Storm Watches,  Storm Total Rainfall,  latest surface observations, lightning data,  GRR NWS discussion, Visible Satellite loop (daytime), Infrared Satellite Loop (night),    Here’s Milwaukee NWS radar.  Official rainfall for July:  0.07″ Battle Creek Airport, 0.28″ Kalamazoo Airport, 0.86 Muskegon Airport.   The GRR airport has had 2.35″.

A good book and a light lunch on a downtown Grand Rapids sidewalk.  Summer just doesn’t get much better than this.  The novel is my SSW bookclub’s August choice, The Night Villa by Carol Goodman.  Lunch is a soup and salad combo from the cafe at Schuler’s Books and Music with entrances on Monroe Center and Fountain.  They have a full menu, homemade soups, decandent deserts and even soft-serve ice cream.  The day I was there the Expresso Twist Waffle Cone was on special.  The novel is set on the beautiful Greek Isle of Capri where the author shares her character’s love of Caprese salad, a warm weather favorite the world over.  Simply toss or layer fresh mozerella, plum, cherry or your home-grown tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, torn, with extra virin olive oil and salt and pepper if you like.  Add fresh greesn or seared seasoned steak, salmon, chicken or shrimp for a protein twist.  Let’s hear your favorite book inspired dining ideas!

If we get to 83 today at the G.R. Airport – this will be the warmest day of July.  It’s been a month (June 27) since we had a day when the high temperature was warmer than the average high temperature for the month.  This month we have had 3,000 record low temperatures and record low maximum temperatures in the U.S., including an all-time record low for Montgomery, Alabama.  While much of the country has been cooler than average this month – Texas has been cooking.  San Antonio has been up to 100 degrees 31 times this summer…they only made 100 five times last summer.

The waterspouts on Lake Michigan last Sunday bring to mind a famous waterspout that occurred in Hawaii in January 1971.  The overall storm system unleashed four tornadoes, including a large waterspout on Kona Bay (on the leeward side of the Big Island) that became a strong tornado when it hit land.  Normally tranquil Kona bay was transformed into a war zone. The storm unleashed a waterspout towering 800 feet high. It tore across the bay with winds of more than 100 miles an hour. It made landfall becoming a full-fledged tornado.  The strength of the winds tossed debris hundreds of feet in to the air. The twister easily tore down the six-story steel structure of the Hukilau hotel. Amazingly, only one woman was hurt. When the storm was finished, it left behind millions of dollars in damages.

The storm unleased a total of four tornados that day.  One tornado hit Whitmore Village just after midnight, residents awoke to find 21 homes damaged or destroyed.The strong winds moved one home eight feet off it’s foundation.  The storm then took aim at Maui. It dumped torrential rain causing flash flooding. Several cars in Kihei didn’t stand a chance. The force of the flooding washed out a parking lot pushing the cars into a ten foot pit. (pictures from KHNL)

So the weather is a little less than July-like, even for Michigan.  Why not plan a culinary adventure to warm you inside and out?  An amazing meal will do more than curb your hunger for unique cuisine.  Your ticket the the “Eat Local, Think Global”  five-course dinner on July 25th will beneift the activities of Fair Food Matters, a non-profit organization that supports local food in southwest Michigan.  Future Chefs, like the one pictured here, will help provide fresh ingredients from the Growing Matters Garden to create incredible appetizers, entrees and desserts.  If the garden grows on schedule, some of the evening’s fare will include Tutu’s Spicy Peanut Dip, an African-style black-eyed pea and Michigan-crafted peanut butter dip created for Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he visited Kalamazoo last summer;  True Blue Soup, a rendition of the traditional Scandinavian recipe with fresh Michigan blueberries, local red wine, and local yogurt laced with green cardamom; Mujudarra, a combination of the rare spice saffron with a buttery wild rice, long grain and legumes blended from Michigan farms; and Walnut Baklava with Michigan Fruit soaked in a Michigan honey and sugar syrup infused with lavender.  The event starts at 7 p.m. at the historic Kalamazoo House Bed and Breakfast on West South Street.  Make your reservations by July 20 and enjoy the harvest!