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Sea bean And Fried Tomato Salad
In my local farmer’s market this weekend I tried something delicious that I had never had before. They are called sea beans. Beautiful little plants that look like immature succulents but taste a bit like salty beans. I hope that sounds appetizing because truthfully they are great. They are not overly salty but they do grow next to the ocean. I’ve read they also grow near other water sources (For more information, here is some more handy dandy info. http://grist.org/living/sea-beans-are-delicious-here-are-7-ways-to-eat-them/but climate affects them You will absolutely love this unique salad. It happened to be one I threw together with the unique ingredients I found. Its so much fun when you…
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Fried Green Tomatoes
I was meandering through a Farmers Market last weekend and I was seriously on the hunt for something different. Something I’ve not had in awhile or something truly new to me. I came across a few things but honestly one that caught my eye was just simply a basket of under ripe green tomatoes. In the south eastern part of the United States, fried green tomatoes are a very popular food. Now I don’t have a deep fryer at my boyfriends house which is where I was going to be cooking, but I thought I would really like to try a tomato like this. I am a fan of any…
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Chocolate Banana Walnut Cupcakes
How is your summer going? If you’re like me, its been full of lots of outdoor time, really lovely sunsets and lots of delicious summer treats. Last weekend my boyfriend and I visited the beach. I just love this time of year. This photo was from last weekend on the Washington coast. Whenever we are celebrating summer like this, I craved a special treat to share on the beach. As I often do when I create food, I first scour my pantry for the ingredients I already have. Bingo! Walnuts left from my walnut dip last month, bananas to be used up and cocoa powder. Yes! These babies were born.…
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Fruit Pizza
I really enjoy sharing my ideas and skills in cooking with others and that is one of the reasons I started this food blog. To me, cooking makes sense but to the people who can be intimidated, or those that are just brain blocked on what to make or create next, this post is for you. Hello to all the parents reading this post this week. I heard a news story last week that American Parents spend on average $500 on their kids over the summer to fill their time with activities and toys to keep their children busy. If you have that extra money, that’s so great and I’m…
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Herbed Watermelon Lemonade
This drink was created after I once made a watermelon vinaigrette. I liked the ingredients so much that I made a few adjustments and now I have both the vinaigrette and the lemonade. In this drink, with the natural water in the fruit, ice and with the lemon juice, I didn’t feel like I needed to add any water. I do sometimes however, add a little bit of white wine and it really tastes great. Sparkling wine would be great too. As the news reports keep telling me, its very hot outside around the country right now. Seattle could get into the 80’s this weekend which is pretty normal for…
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Chef Julie’s Cherry BBQ Sauce
There are so many options for you at the store for BBQ sauce. In the summer months when we are outside grilling more, I personally LOVE BBQ sauce. So many of our favorite brands though include sweeteners that are not awesome like high fructose corn syrup. One way I like to get around that is just to cut down on the refined sugar by using natural alternatives like cherries or you could go with peaches too if you’d like. I do think that many people in the U.S., myself included, prefer a semi-sweet BBQ sauce. You can easily make BBQ sauce at home with ingredients you might have on hand…
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Mustard Pork Chops
Father’s Day is coming up and I would definitely recommend this delicious meal. If you have the opportunity to grill these chops, I would go for it. I found two fresh pork chops for around $2.50. I served them with some cabbage salad and made a delicious dinner for two for about $4 a piece. Talk about a bargain. If you’re going to grill them, Start by seasoning with a little kosher salt and a pinch of garlic powder. I don’t like to use too much pepper in this recipe. I have tried a light dusting of cayenne or even paprika tastes pretty awesome. I added a few teaspoons of…
