Summer Kitchen Must Haves!

With it being summer, I notice I cook quite a bit with tomatoes and chili peppers of different assortments so here are my kitchen must haves this summer...

Jalapeno peppers... I enjoy them so much I went and bought an almost totally mature patio plant so I don't have to buy them.

Tomatoes... same thing, bought a patio assortment of them

Limes... I love to use them in soups and salsas for a very clean taste but also in drinks like cranberry ginger ale cocktails, fresh lemon-lime aid etc.

Lemons- I often just use the lemons for the zest but again, we all love lemonade in the house, I like to make lemon drink with soda water, lemons and honey

tortilla shells- for wraps and semi home made chips

Parsley... I LOVE this herb so much that I also am growing it, I garnish with it, cook with it, add it to raw dishes etc. It adds a great color and taste to almost all dishes. I have even been known to add it to home made mac and cheese

Low fat cream cheese... you would be amazed at what you can use this with and it gives your non diet side a creamy solution with a low fat appeal. Once in a while I just want something extra and I garnish a lot of soups and salsas with it.

Celery- I can't stand to eat celery as is, just like tomatoes but I do love to cook with it, especially in soups. Throughout my blogging here you will probably find a ton of soup recipes by winter because I could literally live on it! I use celery always in my soups. so it is more of a annual must have.

Apples... Apples are great for the kids to snack on and to make last minute meals that aren't fattening but sure do taste it. My kids love it when I bake apple slices and though I use butter, I only use a little bit and we don't have to feel guilty.

Other than that, I just wing it for the most part. Go with what you feel, what do you find yourself buying a lot in the summer? Hopefully you will start to be buying a lot more fresh produce and annoying the poor cashiers with all your buys :)