Easy recipes you can make with in-season herbs and produce

One reason we love downtown Evansville in the summertime is the Market on Main, Evansville’s annual farmer’s marketing featuring food, music, and more than two dozen vendors who grow or produce their goods within a 100-mile radius of Vanderburgh County. The market is open Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 1st through September 14th, and it’s less than half a mile from Post House Apartments in Evansville.

You’ll find a wide variety of fresh local produce and herbs in southern Indiana, and you can check the Indiana harvest calendar to coordinate your meal plans, or even grow your own herbs in a window or balcony of your apartment. Here are some of the fruits and vegetables in season this summer.

Produce in season right now

• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Lima beans, snap beans
• Peppers
• Potatoes
• Peaches
• Raspberries
• Herbs

August

• Pears
• Squash
• Sweet corn
• Tomatoes

September

• Grapes
• Pumpkins
• Cauliflower

Here are a few recipes you can use to take advantage of the summer harvest. For all of that delicious summer basil, cilantro, mint, rosemary, and tarragon, Taste of Home has 70 recipes you can make with fresh herbs.

Cucumber Salad

This recipe makes an easy weeknight salad with fresh cucumber and balsamic dressing, and you can add radish or tomatoes if you want a little more color.

Colorful corn salsa

This one will let you use your fresh Indiana sweet corn, tomatoes, and peppers, and it looks pretty, too! Salsa recipes are very flexible and versatile, so you can feel good about using whatever variety of tomatoes and peppers you happen to have in your kitchen. Lunchbox peppers are sweet and flavorful, jalapenos have more of an earthy, smoky flavor and a bit of a kick, and habaneros have a flowery aroma, a hint of citrus, and a lot of kick.

Stir-fried quinoa with eggplant and cabbage

This recipe offers an alternative to stir-fried rice and saves time by allowing you to roast your cabbage and eggplant in the oven while preparing the quinoa on your stovetop.

Lima beans, 13 ways

If you’re not sure what in the world to do with lima beans (also known as butter beans), this one is for you! From Greek-style baked lima beans to a simple but flavorful lima bean pesto hummus, these recipes might actually have you seeking them out at the next farmer's market.

Raspberry Peach Sherbet

Is there anything better in the summertime than a fruity sherbet? This one requires just five ingredients, and you don’t need a fancy ice cream machine to make it. Just throw your frozen peaches in the blender with sweetened milk, orange juice, and lemon juice and blend until it’s very smooth and creamy, and do the same thing separately with your frozen raspberries. Then swirl them together in a loaf pan and freeze! The bright colors of the finished sherbet make it even more fun to eat.

Pear salad with gorgonzola and candied walnuts

This recipe makes a great late summer or autumn salad, and the simple dijon vinaigrette dressing needs just olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. You can buy candied walnuts at the store, or make them yourself at home in less than an hour using sugar, fine sea salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.

Pumpkin soup

This is a classic and easy pumpkin soup recipe that you can take advantage of as early as September but will taste even better when there’s a bit of a chill in the air. It also works well with butternut squash!

If you’re a foodie, or just love a spacious luxury kitchen, check out Post House– downtown Evansville apartments with thoughtful amenities including quartz countertops, designer tile backsplashes, stainless steel appliances, modern fixtures, and an island or peninsula with space for barstool seating. Call (812) 518-8936 for a tour today.