Here in the South it's shrimp season pretty much all year long.  I'm ashamed to admit, though, that despite my years growing up here, shrimp and I never really had a chance to get  acquainted.

That is, until I met a certain Southern gentleman and he and I decided to get married and settle down.

I remember one summer visit with our families when the aforementioned Southern gentleman and I were just engaged.

How does one have a garden without tomatoes?  Tomatoes are a staple in every garden's summer bounty, right?

Well, not ours.

I may be queen in my kitchen, but the garden is one area that is outside my domain.  It's not that I have a "black thumb."  Or that I don't enjoy gardening. It's just that my husband has taken complete ownership of it.  The garden is his realm.  And it happens to be one of his favorite hobbies.

'Tis the summer season for grilled, juicy burgers and dinner out on the back porch.

Well, unfortunately, we don't have a back porch.  Or a decent grill.  So when it came time to make burgers this week, I pulled out my trusty old cast iron grill pan, set it on my stovetop to heat up, and proceeded to set the kitchen table.

That magnificent grill and picture-perfect patio would have to wait yet another year.

Stuffed shells have got to be one of my all-time favorite meals.  In fact, when I need to feed a crowd on occasion, this is my go-to signature dish.  In my opinion, it's some of the best Italian comfort food, so easy to make, and a perfect setting for the healthy addition of good ol' holy basil.

Recently I stumbled across a recipe for grain-free stuffed "shells."  No pasta.  Really?  I was skeptical.  My mouth fell open, though, when I saw the picture showcasing delicate scoops of the traditional cheese mixture decorating the surface of a delicious meat sauce.  I knew I just had to give it a shot.

Currently there are two plants in my garden doing me proud: zucchini and basil. The beans are coming on well and I have a myriad of little green tomatoes that promise sweet reward... but surely not for another couple of weeks.

That's not the case with the zucchini and the basil. Both are producing like crazy and when my CSA basket arrived last week with four more zucchinis inside I had an epiphany that soon we would be inundated by a small zucchini army if we weren't careful.

If you've been following our 42-day diet and fitness challenge, then you may remember that we've been limiting our sugar intake to just one healthy dessert option each week.  Key word here is healthy.  No refined flour.  No processed sweetener.  Just real food ingredients.

Take homemade ice cream, for example, made of real cream like the kind you scoop right off the top of raw milk, free-range eggs on pasture, and raw, unfiltered honey. That's what I call simple, nourishing ingredients.

It's been fun to play around with June's herb of the month, basil. Though we recommend the use of Holy basil for it's excellent adaptogenic benefits, it's more common cousins offer multiple health-boosting properties as well.

The basil family has been known to lower cholesterol and boost the immune system. Most interestingly, basil has antibacterial properties, which when consumed makes it a great protector against food-borne illnesses. Last but not least, it's just plain yummy.

The month of June has finally arrived and with it my desire to pluck the first mouth-watering red tomato from my garden. For some parts of the US I'm sure that dream has become a reality. But sadly here in the Midwest I still have several loooong weeks to wait.

One thing that is ready for picking in my garden is basil. Of the many varieties available, I chose to plant a common variety, Italian Basil. It's a wonderful and hardy herb to grow, offers some medicinal benefits and does wonders at keeping the pests away from my still-seedling tomato plants. But it can't hold a candle to the amazing benefits (both medicinal and culinary) of it's cousin, Holy Basil. This herb is amazing... which might just be why it's our Herb of the Month for June!