It was a lovely weekend for a barbecue and a lovely weekend for local food over at our house, where our farm share fortuitously provided us with all the produce required to make Pesto Potato Salad with Green Beans for the celebration of my father’s birthday.

A very, very colorful version of pesto potato salad thanks to these insanely bright purple potatoes:

Have you ever seen such a bright potato? It’s practically flamboyant, both inside and out.

What are you putting in the soil over there, Farmer Marcy? Whew.

I mean after all, once I saw how much basil was in our future, how could I not make pesto? Is there anything else to do with this much fragrant, fresh basil? I thought not.

Because of family allergies, I couldn’t build the pesto on pine nuts. However, the Internet suggested I try toasted sunflower seeds instead and at least in this case, the Internet proved wise. The sunflower seed pesto turned out to be as bright and perky as any traditional pesto, and I now have several servings of the sauce frozen for future quick meals.

So other than olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, every single ingredient in this birthday salad was fresh from our farm. After two years of CSAing, I think I’m finally getting the hang of making good use of all my produce.

How’s that for a colorful present? Well, I also brought some homemade ice cream and gifts from local businesses like Colorado Coffee Merchants and Savory Spices, too. See, when I shower you in high-quality, delicious food, that’s how you know I really love you.

Happy birthday again, Pops! Hope you had as good of time as we did.