Pssst… you know what the secret is to making the best blackberry muffins?
Muffins that are rich, tender, and loaded with blackberries?
No, it’s not the butter (though butter makes everything better IMHO).
If your guess is it has something to do with the type of berries, you’re close. Wild blackberries do make the best pies, muffins, and cakes. But you can only get those a couple months of the year.
Whenever we go back to my husband’s hometown for any of the summer holidays – Flag Day, July 4th, or Labor Day – there is always a little taco cart sitting at the park with the rest of the food trucks. This one cart always a line stretching out in front and around the corner with people waiting to get their mitts on classic street tacos, burritos, and grilled Mexican street corn (elotes) slathered in sauce.
There is absolutely no way to eat this messy corn on the cob delicately, but usually you’re not alone since half of the other people gathering for the event are equally covered in it as well. Small town events, and their street cart food, mean that summer is really here!
There aren’t enough dishes in anyone’s repertoire to use up all the zucchini from the garden and at farm stands this time of year. Add this hearty frittata to your list.
With its bright green flecks of grated zucchini, this dish can go from brunch table to picnic table to dinner table with ease.
Have you seen those bags of sweet mini peppers showing up in the markets recently? They’ve become my new favorite snack. I down them raw like popcorn. Crunchy vegetable popcorn, with stems for handles.
When the grill is out I just toss the peppers with olive oil and plop them on the grill. Sprinkle with salt and you have the easiest pepper side ever for grilled meat.
The other day I had some leftover smoked mozzarella from a recipe and decided to stuff my favorite little peppers with it.
As if these little peppers couldn’t get better. Wow!
Unlike other lemon cookies, which have just the barest hint of lemon flavor, these cookies pack quite a lemony punch, but without tasting too sour or too artificial. The secret is to use three different types of lemon flavoring in the dough: lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract.
Most lemon cookies also tend to be crispy and crumbly. I have anything against those cookies, but I want a cookie that I can really sink my teeth into. These soft and chewy lemon cookies are certainly that.
Want iced coffee that stays strong to the very last sip? Then say hello to coffee ice cubes.
I am the tortoise, not the hare, when it comes to coffee. I sip slowly, but I always finish my cup – even when that means grimacing on the last diluted, watery dregs at the bottom of my iced coffee.
No more! Now that coffee ice cubes are in permanent residence in my freezer, my days of sad iced coffee are over.
Continue reading "Make Better Iced Coffee with Coffee Ice Cubes" »
Barbecue sauce is contentious in a way that few condiments are. Local pride is on the line. Sauce-wise, I’m mostly stateless and am just as happy with North Carolina-style vinegar sauce as I am with a Kansas City sauce made with tomatoes and molasses.
But when it comes to grilled chicken, nothing feels as perfect as the tang of a mustard-based South Carolina-style barbecue sauce.
Continue reading "Grilled Chicken with South Carolina-Style BBQ Sauce" »
When the hot weather hits, nothing is more cooling than a cucumber salad!
I especially love the thin-skinned varieties of cucumbers—Persian, Armenian, English.
Their peels are thin and delicate, not bitter like regular cucumbers, so they don’t require peeling. They’re also not usually as seedy as their thick-skinned cousins.
One of the best ways to prepare salmon is to poach it, in just a little liquid. We often use this “shallow poaching” method with a little white wine and herbs.
You can also make a simple sauce and poach the salmon in it, which is what we are doing here with these fillets, cooking them in a sauce of onions, tomatoes, white wine, and capers. Preparing salmon this way perfect for a quick and and easy midweek meal, and elegant enough for company.
If you crave a good iced coffee in the summer, but loathe the way so many end up tasting watery or overly bitter, then there’s only one solution: cold brew coffee. This method guarantees a smooth and icy cup, every time.
These grilled Korean beef skewers are a little sweet, a little spicy from the gochujang (which is a Korean chili paste), and full of umami. The best part is that you can have them on the table in about a half hour.
I’ll never forget the first time I ate Korean food. We were visiting my mom’s friend in Los Angeles and she took us out for Korean barbecue. My first taste of kimchi, banchan, and bulgogi and I was hooked.
Eggs for supper are not only quick and easy to make, they are somehow reassuring that all is right with the world. Add pasta and you have a supreme comfort meal.
Oh, and then there is the bacon. If you’re part of the ‘everything goes better with bacon’ club, you won’t be able to resist this dish.
Continue reading "Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Bacon, and Eggs" »
Have zucchini? If you haven’t tried spiralizing zucchini yet, you’re missing out!
Seriously. Zucchini “noodles” are great. They trick your mind into thinking you’re eating carb-heavy pasta, when in fact, you are eating healthy, vitamin rich zucchini.
You know that spinach flavored pasta? This is like zucchini flavored pasta, that’s actually just zucchini. Gluten-free, low-carb, super healthy zucchini.
There’s something about the noodle shape that makes it way more fun to eat than just chopped up squash.
The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is an obvious winner for anyone who has ever tasted a peanut butter cup, and buckeyes are no exception.
Named for their resemblance to the nut of the buckeye tree, these chocolate-dipped peanut butter treats are easy to make at home with every little work.
Please welcome my friend Lisa Lin from Healthy Nibbles and Bits as she shares a favorite lettuce wrap recipe! ~Elise
Summertime is all about light, fresh meals, and these teriyaki chicken lettuce wraps fit the bill exactly.
The chicken filling is flavored with a homemade teriyaki sauce. You could substitute your favorite store-bought teriyaki sauce in this recipe, but making your own is easy. I also find store-bought sauce to be too sweet for my taste, so I like that I can control the amount of sugar that goes into this sauce.
These bars go by a few different names, like 7-Layer Bars or Hello Dollies, but I’ve always known them as Magic Bars.
They are a pure Midwestern treat for me, often brought to potlucks to round out a shared meal. All the names for the same dessert might seem confusing, but luckily, there’s nothing confusing about making them.
