I’ll admit, I first learned of hasselback potatoes from a Pinterest picture. While I rarely let Pinterest dictate my menu, I do like turning to it for ideas from time to time. I am accustomed to grilling vegetables but I have never grilled a potato whole and was so intrigued by the idea. Frankly, it never occurred to me to try it even though I am always popping potatoes into the oven to accompany meatloaf in the winter. The cool thing about this recipe is that not only it is a snap, but it a really stunner presentation-wise. It always draws a little extra attention because it is just so fun to look at.
This is a super simple recipe that we enjoyed on Martha’s Vineyard over vacation. I love it because it reminded me of my favorite Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad recipe. It has the same components of the sweet fruits (peach and tomato), warm herbs, and tangy cheese. The burrata is a new one to me as a salad cheese. I usually lean toward goat, feta, or blue, but the silky burrata worked beautifully. The milky mozzarella oozed into the crevices of the chopped tomatoes and enveloped the peaches. There was just a little bit of it in each bite and the trifecta of flavors was summer perfection.
In case you’ve been missing all my announcements, or if you are new the site, I just thought I’d mention one last time that you can catch me on The TODAY Show on NBC this morning, July 30th, around 9:45am. Yay! I am so excited for my first (and hopefully not last) segment cooking on TODAY. In this case I’ll be no-cooking since the whole segment is on no-cook meal ideas for summer.
In the mean time, here are a few more notes on me and my site so we can get better acquainted:
{one} I send out an awesome, and brief, weekly newsletter and you can sign up for it immediately to the right. I never sell addresses so I promise you won’t get spam. Enjoy!
{tw0} I am a recent convert to Instagram and you can follow me here.
{five} You can find lots of my work on Babble, Momtastic, and Lifetime Moms. I write for all of these outlets every month and love reaching all of you through them!
{seven} Last spring I started working with Arla Dofino Cheese as their national spokesperson. I love their naturally delicious cheeses and you can read more about my work with them here.
{eight} If you want to work with me or read more about me check out the menu bar on the upper right!
I hope to keep seeing you around these parts. Don’t hesitate to contact me with questions!
During the summer I’m all about making the most of my edible gardens. My herbs have been thriving ever since they were moved from the sunny raised bed to the shadier porch. Now my daughter and I are collecting bunches of fragrant greenery to use in my cooking. Over the weekend I was inspired by my gorgeous lemon verbena plant. Every year I am tempted to plant it in the garden but have been advised against it since I’ve been told it will take over everything. Instead I just buy a new plant each year and keep it in a pot until the first frost hits. I make sure to use every single leaf in everything from tea to ice cream to baked goods. This shortbread was new to us this year and we loved it.
I know summer is in full swing when the farmer’s market starts to fill up with good local corn. I snagged my first bag the other day and nearly skipped home. There is nothing better then fresh sweet corn! I can’t wait to get my hands on more when we get to Cooperstown at the end of the week. A lot of the time I simply grill or boil corn and eat it with butter and salt. But this time I decided to kick off the season with a salad full of fresh tomatoes, a little onion, basil, and corn that had been roasted to concentrate its flavor even further.
We had so much fun on Martha’s Vineyard last week. The island was just as wonderful as it always is. Traveling with two kids is always a bit of a circus, especially since our little guy caught a bad cold, but it was so nice to get away. Here are some instagram shots if you’d like to see:
Earlier this summer I shared some interesting information about naturally made versus processed cheese. The short story is that we all want to be eating and serving naturally delicious cheeses like Arla Dofino. They are the easy healthy choice for our families. To give you more information Arla Dofino cheeses check out this awesome infographic above. It features their five main varieties of cheeses and ways you and healthily incorporate them into your everyday diet. Which one is your favorite?
Graphic courtesy of Arla Dofino, used with permission
(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Arla Dofino. The opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make The Naptime Chef possible.)
