First We Eat

Hasty

Parsnips and red bell peppers, roasted in olive oil, and S&P. Tossed with chives and store-bought sweet chili sauce. 

A terrible picture, but an idea worth sharing anyway. 

Marmalade

Homemade Meyer lemon and lavender marmalade with mascarpone cheese on fresh baked bread. 

I can feel a very marmalade-y summer coming on. 

Chive Blossom Vinegar

Chives are blooming where I am. The blossoms are so pretty, but until now, I thought they were fairly useless. Inspired by this idea from Food in Jars, I’m making chive blossom vinegar.  

I’ll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks.

Cantaloupe Soupe

My youngest is a big fan of salt on cantaloupe, so I knew this would be a hit as soon as I saw it in the cookbook. The original calls for honeydew, but any summer melon will work. In a blender: 1/2 cantaloupe, 1 large cucumber, a handful of mint, 3T olive oil, and S&P. Thin with a little cold water if desired. Serve cold immediately. 

Serve as a side dish instead of just another salad.

Turtle Muffins

Banana mini muffins dyed green and given to a 5th grade teacher, along with a report on the green sea turtle. 

A+

Brown Rice Salad with Beans and Lavender

Brown basmati, cannelini beans, cucumbers, celery, radishes, lavender leaves, and thyme in a white wine vinaigrette.

Very virtuous. 

Mother’s Day Limoncello

I spent part of my Mother’s Day peeling a few dozen lemons with my shirtless husband in gorgeous weather on the back porch, while listening to the kids play and practice music.

Blissful. 

Peanut Butter Smoothie

“Invented” from the refrigerator this morning: 2-3T natural peanut butter; 1 frozen banana; 3 large strawberries; 3/4c coconut milk; 1/4t vanilla. 

I was genuinely sad when it was gone. 

Salade Groveoise

Romaine, canned Alaskan salmon, roasted yukon gold potatoes, boiled eggs, blanched carrots, grape tomatoes, bacon, radishes, sugar snap peas. All in a lemony vinaigrette.

If Nice can have a salad named after it, so can my town.  

Roasted Artichokes 

I love artichokes, but I’ve only ever steamed them. What a mistake! These are trimmed and quartered, with the fuzzy choke cut out. Then coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted at 350 until a knife could pierce the base easily. For a dipping sauce, I combined roasted poblano pepper (you could sub jarred roasted chiles), plain yogurt, lime juice, and S&P. 

I’ve thought about them every day since.

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

These are the newest staple in our house. We make at least one batch a week. Even though I’m not eating a strict gluten-free diet, I know these will stick around. Buckwheat, yogurt, nut flour, bananas, chocolate. So yummy. So good for you. Adapted from La Tartine Gourmande. (Expect to see a lot of that in the near future. I’ve been cooking up a storm from this incredible book. If you’re interested in exploring vegetables, French food or gluten-free diet, I highly recommend it.) 

Worth eating even if you don’t eat gluten free.

Thai Beet and Lentil Soup

I’m working my way through a new favorite cookbook (La Tartine Gourmande by Beatrice Peltre). It’s a good example of how I use cookbooks. I can’t leave the recipes alone. I’m constantly subbing ingredients based on what I have. For example, this soup called for carrots. I was out, but I had golden beets. It calls for red lentils. I had yellow. It called for a fresh tomato. I skipped that altogether! All of those things—combined with coconut milk, pink peppercorns, thai red chile paste, lime and cilantro—made one helluva soup. 

I’m sure the original is great, too. 

Photo credit to my oldest. Nice work, gurl!

Chicken Salad

Leftover roasted chicken, red bell peppers, plain whole milk yogurt, a smidgen of peach jam, dijon mustard, chives, s&p.

A reminder of how elegant a chicken salad can be.