Ice cream or cheese for dessert?
Here's one solution to the old dessert dilemna, sweet or savory. Ice cream and fruit. Cheese and fruit. If you have a cheese grater and an ice cream machine, you can have it all in one scoop of Parmigiano Gelato.
Chard again? Now what? Pickled Chard Stems
Swiss Chard. It's everywhere again. Might be in your CSA farm share, it's at the Farmers Markets. When I told you about my addictive (all leaves, no stems) flash-roasted Chard Chips, I promised a delectable use for the colorful, nutritious stems. Pickled Chard Stems!
Ripe Now: Plums. Pudding? Uh, no. Pizza!
Lots of plums this week. All sizes, shapes and colors. So I'm making a 4-Plum Pizza for brunch. If you have kids or a significant other with bad eating habits, pizza crust is a great platform for healthy ingredients. I mean, who doesn't want pizza?
Garden Watch #7: Tomato History from seeds to pizzas
It may be too hot for humans this summer, but it's been great for tomatoes. Today's Garden Watch starts and ends in the kitchen. The first day of Spring, March 20, I put some seeds in a little starter kit. Last night, I sliced some of the tomatoes they grew into and made a luscious basil pesto-tomato pizza.
Soda Pop: Surf’s Up Pineapple-Lime-Mint
Mix up these thoroughly healthy and flavorful ingredients; squirt in some of the bubbly water you just made. You get a better, cheaper soda - or wine - replacement. Today I'm mixing fresh pineapple, lime and mint to make a soda that's even more delicious than it is refreshing.
Pass the corn. Hold the butter.
Love fresh corn on the cob but don't want the butter or salt? Try one of these: Chili-Lime Corn Gloss or Mustard Lemon Dressing. Whisk up three ingredients in two minutes. Get a super flavorful sauce that brings out the sweetness of summer corn without overpowering it.
Ripe Now: Tomatoes. Bake a Cake.
Nothing much better than a great tomato. We're loving them daily, so sometimes you just have to do something to keep it interesting. Here's an easy, make-ahead recipe for a substantial and thoroughly delicious meal for less than five dollars: Tomato-Onion Polenta Layer Cake.
Garden Watch #6: Green Beans & Cukes
Here's a great salad that just happened one day. The garden made me do it. It was time to pick the first green beans. A bunch of cucumbers were ready, too. I brought a bunch into the kitchen and remembered we had some feta cheese in the fridge. And then I did this.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
This was all set to be a totally seasonal, local peach upside down cake until yesterday's virtual hike on the Nu'Alolo trail put me in a Hawaii state of mind. Here's an incredibly delicious dessert, brunch or breakfast that works just as well with the season's peaches, nectarines, plums and berries.
Farro and Purslane: Super Grain & Super Weed Meet In Salad
Super Grain meets Super Weed in a bowl. I made a salad with a nutritional profile that reads like a piece of salmon. It doesn't taste like one, but it's delicious and satisfying; really easy to make; and way cheaper than salmon.