Happy Bites or, Food Flavored to Make You Feel Fabulous. Over and Over.

Above, 2 photos: Plummeting temps at night have us craving heartier fare at Cafe Drake HRV. Grab the link to our fave chimichurri recipe here and when blending, add 1/2 cup or so sunflower seeds for a thicker, rib-sticking texture. Nice, as you can see, spooned graciously over steamed, sliced beets.

A dinner making the most of roadside produce stands: sweet corn fried with butter and green chilies, pasta tossed with late season tomatoes and roasted zucchini and beets with chimichurri sauce.

Much of the same for a later lunch with the addition of toasted English muffins with a schmear of roasted eggplant puree and drops of our house hot sauce.

The zucchini plants at Cafe Drake HRV require daily trimming, and still, an occasional squash goes undetected beneath the jungle foliage. Wonder how big this one have grown? Zucchini this size are tougher and less flavorful, so we chopped into large pieces and slow-cooked with red lentils for an Indian dal side dish.

Thai basil the size of a mulberry bush means lots to use in a hurry; the herb can't survive more than a week longer of cold local nights.

An Asian-influenced pesto to the rescue: 4 cups of Thai basil processed with pine nuts, garlic, a touch of ginger, soy sauce and red chilies. Good with rice, noodles, eggs and sandwich spread.

Yellow rice, zucchini with tomatoes, kale, black beans and chimichurri.

Chimichurri with sunflower seeds is showing up everywhere.

As is Cafe Drake HRV's house hot sauce. Get the recipe here.

And everything gets thrown together a few days later for the laziest lunch of the year. Reuse. Reheat. Repeat. xo