My wonderful husband had a birthday (he’s very good at getting older;) and his favorite cake is carrot cake. I started looking for a killer carrot cake recipe only to find that just reading the ingredients made my stomach hurt. I don’t really bake and I always find it alarming just how obnoxiously bad for…
Shrimp and Corn Salad with Bacon and Avocado
I’m heading full throttle into summer this year. I’ve got my nails painted neon strutting through the farmers’ market to snag me some sweet, sweet corn. Life is gooooood. Today we’re putting that fresh corn to good use in a simple, crisp shrimp salad. It’s practically a one pot dish, can’t beat that! The bright,…
Watermelon, Lime and Coconut Cream Sorbet *BONUS* Watermelon Colada recipe
It’s that time of year again when the air here is bone dry and the sun’s rays seem too strong to be real. It’s amazing how much stronger the sun feels here in SoCal compared to my east coast roots. Suffice it to say I’ve gotten much more diligent with my sunscreen regimen! As we…
Cold Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Spiced Nuoc Cham
I’ve been obsessed with these kinds of salads for many years, but it was just one of those things I left to the Vietnamese pros and never tried to make myself. Any recipe I’d see for one of these salads seemed to have way too many ingredients that I simply don’t keep in stock. I’m…
Healthy Summer Squash and Shiitake Mushroom Quesadillas
Sometimes I look in the fridge and realize that I am straight up vegetable crazy! I go to make dinner and I’m met with a fridge stocked to the gills with veggies and cheese, but not much else. Time to get creative! I had some beautiful little patty pans (the UFO looking baby squash) and…
Roasted Apricot and Peach Sorbet with jasmine syrup
After the seasonal parade of citrus at the farmers’ market comes that fateful day when my bleary Sunday morning eyes snap open wide at the site of lovely stone fruits on the tables. Hooray!!! Summa summa summa tiiiiiime! I went a little bonkers in my excitement and bought way more peaches and apricots than we…
Pan-Seared Trout with Sun-dried Tomatoes
We all know we should be eating more fish in our everyday diets, but for some reason I don’t seem to incorporate that much into my diet. I’m not sure why this is given how quick and easy it is to make a weeknight fish dinner. I enjoy the flavor of fish so I’m a…
ROASTED BABY TURNIPS with mustard vinaigrette
I was at the farmers’ market this weekend when a woman said “Oh my gosh I just love these!” out of the blue. I looked at her because I was the only person in earshot of her exclamation and saw her holding up some cute little root veggies with tops that resembled mustard greens. “What…
SPRING PEA SOUP with creme fraiche
Spring is here at long last, and with it has brought the beloved spring pea back to my table. I LOVE fresh spring peas as you may remember in last year’s tortellini with spring peas recipe. This time around I had some leftover spiral ham from our Eastover celebration. Eastover is where all the best…
MEYER LEMON CHICKEN PICCATA
Today I have a deliciously light take on a fairly heavy dish. I’ve never been a huge fan of chicken piccata because I’ve always felt it was too rich with all that butter and the thick sauce. With summer around the corner I’m looking to find lighter alternatives to denser, not-so-healthy chicken dishes. Chicken is…