Food

Have you ever had a raw baby bok choy salad? Until last week, I didn’t even know you could (or should) eat it raw.

I wanted to make a special treat for the kids in honor of the holiday weekend. Our good friends from Phoenix, Sean and Amy, were in Newport Beach for Memorial Day weekend. They have two kids, Patrick and Ellen, who are almost 3 and 5. I figured homemade bomb pops, made with fresh fruit, were a great way to kick off summer while also being patriotic — they’re kinda red, white and blue, if you squint a little.

I made these brown butter cherry bars recipe with fresh cherries a few years back for a dinner party. I liked them so much, I wanted to share them with you.

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so I got to thinking about my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookies. My favorite happens to be from La Grande Orange in Phoenix, Arizona. They make the tastiest, giant, chocolate chip cookies with sea salt. I emailed them to ask if they would share their recipe with me. They politely said no, stating it is a signature recipe that they will not publish. I get it, but I was a bit disappointed.

Juicy, red strawberries lined nearly every stand at the farmer’s market last Saturday. You know it’s strawberry season when you can get three crates for under $10—we paid a mere $6 for all these gorgeous gems. So what to do with our overabundance of strawberries? We decided on an elevated version of strawberry shortcake by making orange pound cake with strawberry coulis.

I wanted to share these wonderful Cinco De Mayo margarita recipes because, during my coming of age in Green Bay, this wonderful holiday passed us by, which is a darn shame.

If you look back at my recipes, you’d probably think I only eat baked-goods. Seriously. I have a problem. But seriously, I eat a lot of vegetables too. They just usually aren’t as interesting to blog about. I changed my mind when I made this shaved asparagus salad the other day.

“Fresh garlic? Are you sure those aren’t onions?” That’s what I asked the nice lady who stopped us at the farmer’s market to tell us how darling Rocco is. We exchanged some niceties and then she mentioned that we had to try this farmer’s fresh garlic. So we ventured over to the farmer’s stand and were allured by the sweet smell of the fresh garlic. We love trying new things, so we grabbed a few stalks, looking for ones with big bulbs.

Making traditional Italian food is one way I celebrate the holidays and my Italian heritage. I’ve made traditional Italian Christmas cookies before, now I wanted to try Italian Easter cookies.