When it comes to lobster rolls I take them classic New England style. I usually only eat one or two a year and prefer – no, demand – that they are of the highest quality. The good news is that demanding high quality does not mean undertaking complicated cooking techniques. It just means buying the freshest lobster possible, using delicious high quality butter (or mayonnaise if you are in camp mayo when it comes to lobster rolls), and a little celery for crunch and flavor.
Last week on Martha’s Vineyard my family and I took some time to enjoy the island between book events. We strolled the streets of Edgartown, took boat rides along the coast, and cooked lots of great food. Over the course of our vacation we enjoyed several delectable dinners that took very little effort. We focused on simply prepared super-fresh seafood, easy sides, and, of course, wine. Here are some of our favorite menus from vacation. I hope they each give you a little taste of a true New England summer.
When we got home from Martha’s Vineyard the first thing I bought at our local market was a bag of fresh peaches. I adore peach season and am so thrilled it is finally here. I can’t wait to preserve peaches in vanilla syrup, make roasted peach iced lemonade, and eat them sliced over granola for breakfast. This week I was also in the mood for a peach dessert so I decided to adapt the classic peach pie recipefrom my cookbook and make a peach galette.
Today I stopping in with a fun announcement! To celebrate all of the fresh summer fruits and vegetables of summer this Thursday, June 26th, OXO and I will be hosting a Twitter party at 4pm ET. Please stop by using the hashtag #OXOfresh and join the conversation with our awesome co-hosts Eclectic Recipes,Fifteen Spatulas and Cookin’ Canuck. During the hour we’ll be giving away some awesome OXO products and talking all things fresh and summery. Here is a sneak peak at what we’ll be giving away and your chance to win awesome OXO kitchen tools and a copy of my cookbook yourself!
There are lots of delicious vegetables abound in farmer’s markets all over the country right now. I am especially excited by what I am finding in the Northeast. Because we have such a relatively short growing season what is available right now is truly a fleeting pleasure. Here are some of the awesome locally grown vegetables I’ve been spying on Martha’s Vineyard this week and a few ideas for what to make with them. If you have resolved to have your children try some of these scrumptious vegetables with you this summer I suggest you pick up a copy of Crunch a Color. This award-winning eating game by Jennifer Lee ( I chatted with her yesterday) will get them happily munching away on healthy summer veggies in no time. Even better, enter to win one of five copies here today!
Today I am chatting with my friend Jennifer Lee, the inventor of the cool award-winning food game Crunch a Color. It is a game you can play with your kids to inspire them to eat healthy food. I’ve been playing it with my daughter and we are having a blast. Because of the game she made her first ever attempt at eating asparagus! She still isn’t sure about the vegetable but I am glad she gave it a try. I loved chatting with Jennifer about the inspiration behind the game and her next move. I also am so glad she enjoyed our Watermelon Lime Ice Pops! Stay tuned tomorrow when I give away five (yes, 5!) copies of the game to five lucky winners.
1) What was your initial inspiration for Crunch a Color?
Like many parents, I struggled to get my kids to eat healthy, balanced meals. I was consistently on the losing end of mealtime battles, plates regularly resembled a barren desert of whiteness, and I was just plain tired of fighting about it anymore. I wanted our family table to be a place where we could enjoy each other’s company and a healthy meal together. My kids love games, so I started there. I couldn’t keep the kale on the table when it was worth 15 points, and the allure of doubling their points for trying a new food turned my kids into new food explorers. By transforming mealtime into a Crunch a Color healthy eating game, it made it fun and rewarding for my kids to eat nutritious meals. The game had the added wonderful benefit of making the dinner table a place where my kids (and I) wanted to be. 2) When you play this game with your kids did they eventually come to enjoy vegetables or is it just a game every time?
My kids still love to play Crunch a Color and they have certainly nominated several new veggies to their favorites list as a result of the game, artichokes and okra among the stars of that list. What has changed is the size of the challenge. Instead of focusing on just one meal, or even one week’s worth of meals, we are working towards bigger healthy eating goals. This month our focus has been on dirtying up our diets. A recent article in The New York Times on how dirt (be it from your garden or the local farmers’ market) is good for your health sparked an interesting debate at our table and resulted in a family food challenge for the month. Each week, in addition to earning our points, we are featuring on the menu at least one dish sourced entirely from our garden. The reward: a garden cooking play date with friends. 3) What is your advice for Mom’s with picky eaters and/or non-vegetable eaters?
Make it fun and easy for your kids to make their own healthy choices and remember you cannot control what your child will choose to eat but you can control the what and how of meals at your table. You can make healthy food fun by cooking together, exploring farmers’ markets, serving locally grown veggies and fruits with every meal and engaging in fun family time at the table. It’s also important to remember to take the long view. Don’t stress over the nutritional merits of an individual meal. Instead, look at how healthy your child is eating over the course of a week. 4) What is coming up after Crunch a Color?
My daughter loves earning bonus points for starting a conversation at the dinner table. Her creative questions have ranged from, “If you could design your dream tree house, what features would it have?” to “How many five syllable words can you think of?” and they always spark a fun discussion at the dinner table. I’ve pulled together the best of her dinner conversation starters for my next game: Crunch a Color Conversation Starters, available now! 5) What are your eating goals for you and your family?
My goal is to make cooking and healthy eating fun for my family and others. With busy schedules, taking time out to cook and enjoy healthy meals together can be tough, but we try to keep at least one weeknight dedicated to “New Food Night.” As a family, we come together to set the menu, cook the meal, and enjoy eating it together. We always include at least one new food that we haven’t tried. It’s a wonderful family tradition. More importantly, it doesn’t need to be complicated to count. Even the simple pleasures of making and enjoying a summer popsicle can be tremendously fun, which we learned while making your sweet watermelon lime ice pops. 6) Okay, please tell us, are there ever nights when you let things slide and you just wing it with dinner?
That happens more often than you’d think! It’s been several times this week that I’ve opened the fridge at the witching hour and pondered, “What can I make in under 15 minutes that’s healthy and my kids will eat?” Here’s how I deal. First, I try to use dishes like building blocks. We made nut free basil pesto for dinner on Monday, and I’ve managed to rework it into several dishes this week. It just saves time. Second, my go-to recipes are simple and flexible. I learned how to make Italian chicken that can easily be changed up with just a few different spices to create a zesty Mexican dish or a soulful Indian chicken curry. My recipe rule is it has to be easy enough for my 5 year old to make and something that the whole family will enjoy. That simple formula keeps me focused on recipes that are tasty and easy to make. 7) Is there any vegetable or color your struggle with? I’ll admit, I struggle with beets. I keep trying them but can’t come around!
Beets are my nemesis. I still won’t sit near them at mealtime and I think I’ve tried them at least 10 times. Maybe I need to prepare them another way? Bonus points for the person who can crack the code on that recipe for me! (Editor’s Note: Triple bonus points for who can crack the code for me too!)
Last weekend we decided to have a breakfast party. Since my daughter and I will be on the Vineyard for book events this week we wanted to have one last nice breakfast together before not seeing Dad for a whole seven days. Morning entertaining, even for just your family, can be kind of tricky. How early do you get up to cook (especially if you value sleeping in like me)? How fancy do you get? My answer was not to get up too early or get too fancy, instead focusing on a fresh, fun breakfast of lemon cream cheese pancakes with blueberry maple syrup.
While we were in Cooperstown for the Fourth my daughter attended her first ever ice cream social. It is held every year at the Presbyterian Church and features a feast of grilled hot dogs, strawberry shortcake, and an ice cream sundae bar that stretches for miles. It just about blew her kiddie mind. She had a tough time choosing her ice cream but she landed on strawberry shortcake with a side of butter pecan ice cream. Random, for sure, but she loved every last morsel.
This summer we haven’t been doing as much entertaining as we usually do. With the baby in tow and a new house to plan for (we move in September!) we are up to our ears in to-do lists. However, the few times we’ve managed to have a casual get together I’ve whipped up this super simple bruschetta. They only actual cooking part is toasting the bread. The rest is just a matter of layering on some delicious spreads to bring it all together.
Every year or so I do a huge ice cream celebration. In fact, way back in 2009, the first summer of this blog, I did a new ice cream recipe every week all summer!! This year I’m back with a fun new ice cream week and a round-up of my favorite ice cream gear. All week I’ll be focusing on ice cream and including a few new recipes everyone will love. To kick things off, here are my favorite tools for making luscious, silky ice cream at home. I swear, it is so easy and soooo naptime-friendly!
When the heatwaves hit the first I thing I do is turn off my stove and oven. I want pretty much nothing to do with heated cooking – give me something cold, please!
I’ve been working on this fun project with Philadelphia Cooking Creme all spring and summer and have really been getting in to using it. So far I’ve made a lot of hot recipes like enchiladas, hot salads, and creamy pastas. This week I took a new route and made a cold meal with it, this Luscious Grape Salad.
As you can see here, it is the perfect accompaniment to a cold summer sandwich or a with a light grilled chicken breast. It would event be terrific to take to a beach picnic or on a boat ride. The interesting thing about the salad is that it is light and summery without being too sweet. The grapes and brown sugar add a subtle sweetness, while the crunchy almonds and tangy cream give it the perfect savory flavor.
When you are trying to come up with new ideas for a great potluck salad or something for your family look no further than this awesome fruity salad. Your family will adore thank you!
10 ounces Philadelphia Original Cooking Crème
¼ cup packed brown sugar
4 cups each of seedless green and red grapes, halved
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
1. Mix the cooking crème and the sugar in a large bowl, stir in the ingredients and enjoy!
Disclaimer: This is part of a compensated review program with Philadelphia Cooking Creme but the opinions expressed are entirely my own.
