There are some things that scream Summer, like dragging a cooler to the beach, lounging on a pool raft, eating watermelon on your back porch, buying roadside-stand tomatoes, and bellying up to an ice cream shop in your wet bathing suit. While I haven’t bellied up to an ice cream shop lately, I have fond memories of…
Panzanella with Peaches, Mint & Cucumber
Like many, I’ve been organizing drawers and closets lately – I guess it’s what we do when we have extra time on our hands, and are trying to regain some sense of control in our lives, in spite of uncontrollable circumstances. . . While sifting through photos, I came across these: I remember the day…
Too Many Kitchen Disasters. . .
Well, folks, this week’s post is really ‘no post.’ It seems that the kitchen gods were not shining brightly on me this week (maybe it’s Mercury in Retrograde?), too many things I have attempted have not ended well, and I have run out of minutes. . . The last time I wrote about my kitchen…
Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Summer offers so many delicious treats – grilled hot dogs (I like ‘em charred), piled-high burgers (with a tomato slab, of course), buttered corn, cold watermelon and, of course, stone fruits — I especially look forward to these (namely, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries) because they’re in peak season, bursting with flavor. I’m sure at…
Crispy, Quinoa-Coated Fish
If you haven’t gotten on the quinoa bandwagon yet, this might be a good time to give it a try. This ancient food, sometimes called “The Mother Grain,” is actually a seed packed with protein and fiber, making it a great substitute for meat. It’s also considered gluten-free, but can sometimes carry gluten properties if…
Almond-Cranberry Granola
Remember years ago when granola was the stuff eaten only by Birkenstock-wearing, long-haired, herbal tea-drinking folks, or those uber-healthy mountain climbers? They all seemed to really like the stuff that looked like bird food to the rest of us. But, in reality, those healthy specimens were onto something back then, and granola has now (rightly)…
Chopped Salad with Mango & Basil Dressing
It’s peak mango season in Florida, which means backyard trees are dripping with fruit, and grocery store bins are filled to the rims. There are more than 500 varieties of mangoes, but common supermarket varieties you’ll find include Tommy Adkins (large red, juicy), Keitt, and Honey. And if you’re really lucky (like if you’re in…
Stuffed Portobello with Tarragon Crumbs
Prior to the mid-1990s, the concept of Portobello mushrooms on our home dinner plates was pretty much nonexistent. We really only heard about these Italian-imported, fancy mushrooms from waiters describing the ingredients in our dishes at high-end restaurants, or we may have spotted them in natural food stores but had no idea what to do…
Field Trip Friday – Planet Claire Farmacy
(Field Trip Fridays capture interesting, fun, food-related and/or fishing adventures that I like to share with you!) Walking through a forest is magical, isn’t it? It’s teeming with life; the trees providing oxygen and shade, and ground cover housing thousands of creatures and habitats. But have you ever seen a ‘food forest’? It’s similar to a nature-made forest,…
Vintage Seafoam Salad
Summer is on its way and we’re feeling the heat here in Florida. To cool things down, I decided to make a dish that’s not only refreshing, but easy. It even jiggles. Yes, it’s a Jello-O® salad! Jell-O has its origins in gelatin (around since the 15th century), but I recently learned that the sweet, dessert…
Roasted Radishes with Butter & Chives
Buying veggies directly from a farm is just plain fun. Many farms even utilize a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in which you purchase a membership, and the farm, in turn, supplies you with a box of veggies each week (and sometimes it’s a surprise what’s in there). It’s a great partnership because you support…
Face Masks by Delicious Dry Goods!
You know that phrase “Necessity is the mother of invention“? It’s a concept that has resulted in some pretty amazing inventions, and it’s also a concept that sparked a new product offering in my business! As I sat with my artist hubby in our studio recently, discussing our small business challenges, we remembered a friend’s…