Aubergine

10 links on Tuesday: Things to do with strawberries

Image from Design Seeds.

Where I live we don't just get strawberry season.  We get strawberry spring, summer, and fall.  Strawberries from May to November.  So many strawberries.  

I love strawberries, but I also run out of ideas for what to do with them (other than straight from the basket - ahem).  Here are 10 new ideas that I'm going to try this spring/summer/fall.

1. Strawberry Cheesecake Cups - strawberries stuffed with goodness!
2. Slice fresh berries over this Flourless Chocolate Cake from Real Simple. 
3. Strawberry strawberry cheesecake for a lucky dad!  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the recipe.
4. Here is a vegan smoothie recipe that sounds delicious and filling - Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie.
5. Last time I was at her house, my sister threw together a quick salad with spinach, gorgonzola and strawberries.  It was delicious!  Here is a similar salad from Whole Foods Market.
6. Here's a different salad with strawberries spin - this one with pecans and a sweet onion dressing.
7. Summer is not complete without fresh strawberry ice cream.
8. I love this post from the Tea and Cookies blog about failed strawberry jam. I also love making strawberry jam more than I love eating it, even when it comes out well.  I'm so glad I'm not alone! Here is Orangette's recipe for the jam she recommends.
9. I might try this as an alternative to strawberry jam this year - a conserve of berries in a barely set syrup. If that phrase makes your mouth water, rest assured you are a foodie.
10. These strawberry-mint  ice pops sound deliciously refreshing!

Guest Post: 10 Easy, On-The-Go Toddler Munchies

 I'm so pleased to share a post with you today by Danielle of Danielle's Kitchen and Velveteen Mama. Danielle and I met in an online writing class taught by Meagan Francis last fall, and I was lucky enough to meet her in person this spring at Blissdom in Nashville. Danielle launched Danielle's Kitchen last month to focus on allergen-free food and eating well with allergies.  We have toddlers about the same age so I asked if Danielle would share some recipes for on-the-go toddler snacks.  Now excuse me while I go make some of of these nut butter balls.  Enjoy!

   

As a food allergic family, we cannot rely on any packaged food to meet our needs for quick, on-the-go snacks.

This means we've had to get a little creative about our snack options and are used to toting our food with us wherever we go.  A side benefit is that packaged foods are expensive and typically filled with all kinds of stuff we really don't want in the growing bodies of our children anyway.  

Here are some ideas for healthy, on-the-go food that are friendly for toddlers, too.  As a bonus, most of these are (or can easily be made) allergen-free. 

Invest in some good quality small containers and it's easy to toss a few snacks in your bag on your way out the door.  

 

Nut Butter Balls

 Mix 3 parts nut or seed butter, 2 parts nutritional yeast, 1 part honey (or maple syrup) and a pinch or two of salt (to taste) until you have workable dough.  Roll into balls and then roll in crushed cereal or nuts.

These are a great source of protein, healthy fats, and B vitamins. Store in the fridge or freezer and they'll stay firm in a snack box for a few hours.  

For a treat for mom and dad, melt a few chocolate chips and roll the balls in chocolate before or instead of the chopped nuts. If you use peanut butter and coat them in chocolate, I'm told they taste strikingly like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 

Hard Boiled Eggs, Cheese Cubes, Deli Meat

Simple and accessible, these are all easy and relatively tidy protein sources. Paired with fresh fruit or veggies, they make a pretty complete lunch, too.

 

Sardines and Crackers 

These might be a little messy on the go, but if you can get past the yuck factor, sardines are a great source of healthy omega fats and calcium (which is a boon for those of us who are dairy-free).  My 15-month-old loves to be fed bites of sardine (yes, bones and all!) while munching on some rice crackers.

This is also a quick and easy lunch when you're stuck for ideas.

 

Fruit and Nut Bars

If you have a food processor and 30 minutes, you can make these.  

Use a ratio of 1 part nuts/seeds to 1 part dried fruit, pick a nut and/or seed (cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds) and a moist, dried fruit (dates, prunes, raisins).

Lightly roast your nuts/seeds (if desired) and blend in food processor until pieces are small, but not granular. Remove nuts/seeds from processor and set aside in a bowl.  Put your dried fruit(s) in the food processor and pulse until they form a paste.  Go easy on your food processor so you don't send it into cardiac arrest!  You might need to give it breaks to cool the motor.

Scrape your fruit paste into the bowl with your nuts/seeds and mix well (use your hands and get in there!). Either roll them into bars or  press into a parchment lined pan and chill.  When firm, cut into snack-sized bars. Store in the fridge or freezer.

 

Pancakes  

They're not just for breakfast anymore! You can hide all sorts of nutrient dense things in pancakes.  Try adding nut butter, protein powder, cottage or ricotta cheese, and/or mashed fruit (bananas, applesauce, pureed sweet potato, carrot or beets, etc).  

Make ahead and keep them in the fridge or freezer.  We like to warm them up in a toaster.  Because we're gluten-free we omit any sweetener and use pancakes in place of bread on sandwiches, hot dogs/hamburgers and as toast.  My kids also love to grab them for a quick snack. 

 

Cheesy Chickpeas 

These are a big hit around here as a snack or full meal.  My six-year-old takes these to school for lunch in her thermos on a regular basis.  

Put your chickpeas in a bowl, drizzle with oil or water, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and titch of garlic powder.  Tailor the amount to your tastes.  Toss well and enjoy! The grown-ups like theirs with a bit of salt, too.   

These can be eaten cold or heated up a bit.  An alternative for older children: Drizzle with oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and a few pinches of salt.  Toss well, then bake on parchment at 350F for 20 minutes or until crispy.  

 

Speedy Salsa

In a bowl mix some drained and rinsed black beans, chunks of avocado and/or tomato, and a squeeze of lime.  Add a titch of onion, garlic and/or chipotle if your toddler likes those things.  Adjust amounts to your liking.  

This is a great finger food to enjoy alone or with bits of soft tortilla. 

 

Hummus

My toddler eats this right off the spoon, but yours might enjoy dipping carrot sticks or crackers in it. Mine will dip carrots in his, but then he just sucks it off and goes back in for another dip.  If you're worried about choking on bits of carrot or cracker, just keep an eye on your little one to make sure they don't bite off big chunks.  

My favorite hummus recipe is 1 can of chick peas, 1/4 cup of reserved liquid from the can, 1/4 cup sesame tahini, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 large (or 2 small) cloves garlic and 1/2 tsp salt. Blend in a blender or food processor.  Add more of the reserved liquid until you get the consistency you want and adjust garlic, lemon and salt to your tastes. Easy breezy!

 

Granola

Granola is a great way to exercise that toddler pincer grasp and by making your own, you can tailor it to your individual families tastes and needs.  

My basic recipe is 3 cups oats, 3 cups seeds/nuts/dried fruit, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon (optional), 3 tsp ground chia seed (optional), 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/4 cup applesauce.  Mix together and bake at 350F checking every 10 minutes, tossing or flipping occasionally, until cooked to your desired crispiness.  Store in an airtight container. 

 

Other Snack Bars and Bean-Based Goodies

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of my favorite websites for healthy, tasty, vegan snacks.  I'm not vegan, but her recipes contain healthy fats and proteins that are often portable for on-the-go parents.  Here are some favorites that mimic store-bought treats:

• Quaker-Style Chewy Granola Bars.  I can't wait to try these!
• Snickerdoodle Blondies (but they're good for you!) These use white beans or chickpeas as a base and you cannot taste them!
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookie LaraBars (nut-free)  (nut-free)

Eating healthy and wholesome food doesn't have to be hard or tricky.  With some imagination and a little preparation it is relatively easy to have handy snacks your toddler will love and you will feel good about eating.

What are some of your favorite go-to toddler snacks to have while you're out and about? What do your little ones love to eat?

 

Danielle is a mom of three, writer, and veteran allergen-free whiz in the kitchen.  When she's not whipping up safe meals and treats for her family that are free from gluten, dairy, soy, corn, peanuts and (usually) eggs, she can be found reading, writing, or knitting.  She blogs about the joys and struggles of being human atwww.velveteenmama.com and her allergen-free wisdom and goodies can be found at www.danielleskitchen.com.

 

10 links on Tuesday - The Mason Jar Edition

It isn't quite canning season but I have all these jars so I was wondering what else I could do with them while I wait for the berries and stone fruits to ripen up.  And lo, this post was born.  10 things you can do with Mason Jars:

1. Make Butter 

Since my friend Veronica posted recently about making butter in Mason jars, I've been wanting to make some at home.  When I was a kid we would do this with my mom.  It is surprisingly easy, and makes really really good butter.  I also found some flavored butter recipes that I'd like to try.

2. Candle holders for the garden

Here is a how-to for a straightforward hanging candle holder made from a Mason Jar. This version, all in a row, is lovely, but I can't figure out how it was assembed and there are no instructions.

Or stick a face on it and it becomes a jack'o'jar.

3. Wired Light or a Wired Chandelier

For those of you who are a bit more handy, here is a DesignSponge DIY for making a wired fixture using jars for the bulb shades. 

I also really like this version, which was inspired by a pottery barn fixture. 

4. Pack a Salad for Lunch

This one is entirely new to me - making a layered salad in a jar.  What a good idea!

5. Premade Drinks for a Party

I love this idea for a fancy garden party.  You could go beyond lemonade, too.  How about herb-flavored iced tea, or sangria? So very Martha Stewart! 

6. Wall Organizers

I've seen a few different versions of this idea on Pinterest.  

8. Wall Planter

Take the wall organizer a step further and you have a sweet herb planter.

9. Reusable Storage Containers

Change up the jar lids and you have reusable pourable jars and pumpable jars.

10. Sewing Kit

I saved the real Martha Stewart link until last.  Add a bit of fabric and padding to the lid and store your sewing notions inside.  Use a tiny jam jar to make a travel kit!

 

I put my baby in a box

And she loves it.

I have been cooking dinner with Bean at my feet for a while now.  She has a set of play food and play pans and access to the tupperware cabinet.  But as she gets taller and more inquisitive, I've been getting more and more nervous about her roaming the kitchen below hot pans and near a hot oven. Her dad doesn't get home from work early enough to help distract her during this window of time, so I needed another solution.

I read about the Fun Pod on Liz Lamoreux's blog recently. Her daughter is just a little older than mine and at about the same developmental stage.  A couple of  local mom friends with slightly older toddlers have the Learning Tower, but I was worried about the open sides.  Bean isn't quite walking yet, and I was afraid she'd slip and fall out.  Or climb in when I didn't want her to have access to the counter.  Also it has a huge footprint and I do not have a large kitchen.

The Fun Pod was exactly what I was looking for.  It allows Bean to be up at counter height with me, safely, and only when I want her there because she can't climb in and out on her own. It is sturdy and stable, but small enough that I'm not tripping over it. It is short enough to fit under the counter when not in use.  The Pod can be adjusted as she gets taller so it should be useful until she is several years old.

Our kitchen isn't arranged in a way that allows her to be very close while I'm actually cooking, though I have let her play in the sink behind me once and I imagine it will be great for her to help me clean up when she's a bit bigger.  Usually I set her up on the opposite side of our penninsula, in the dining room, but facing me.  She can color, play with blocks, or eat a snack while I cook.  She's not underfoot, is safe from the hot stuff, and can see me. She also asks to get in throughout the day so she's in and out of the thing all day.

I'm cheap when it comes to baby stuff.  With the exception of her car seat, I've managed to source almost all of her big items free (from friends or freecycle) or used and cheap.  But I'm really glad I invested in this item brand new.  We use it so often, and will be using it for years.

Cooking my way from funk to epiphany

 

This weekend started off with me reading feedback on a piece I'd written that I really didn't agree with. And then reading an email from someone who had tossed out something else I'd written and replaced it with her own version. And then yet a third email along the same lines. And at the end of a week when the whole family had had the flu, it had been raining for days, and I had been struggling just to produce anything - let alone anything of value - during my precious working hours, those three things were enough to crush my fragile little writer's ego and make me want to quit.

On Saturday morning while I snuggled in bed with my little nursling I considered my options. I could quit. I could take this as a sign that I really have no talent and no business trying to make a living putting words together. I could stop writing, stop trying to build my skill and get my words out into the public. Or I could walk away for a bit.  Do something else. See if I felt better in a little while.  In order to make time to write I have been making some tradeoffs that are not all that comfortable. I gave some things up entirely and let some other things slide.  I have tried to make peace with doing many things badly.  My life was already pretty trim this fall when I started making those changes and some of the things I let go of were actually things that were important to me.  Having a clean and organized house.  Cooking food from scratch for my family.

I decided I wanted to spend my weekend doing something I missed having enough time to do well: Cleaning my nest and cooking. Cleaning - especially clearing clutter - calms me and makes me feel lighter.  The act of letting things go gives me more emotional space. And cooking, especially when I am cooking for other people, makes me feel really good. The process of chopping, measuring, stirring and simmering slows me down and gives me enough distraction that I can process stuff in the back of my head. Thoughts simmer on my internal back burner.  And having a fridge full of fresh and delicious food just feels good.  Taking care of my family this way makes me feel good.  Watching them enjoy food I have prepared for them makes me feel good.  And I needed very much to do something that was going to make me feel good.

So I pulled out my tattered little notebook of favorite recipes, consulted the cupboards and made a menu and a shopping list.  After Bean's afternoon nap we headed out to the store and stocked up. On Saturday evening I tidied up the main living areas and cleaned the kitchen. On Sunday morning, after lazy breakfast and showers, I enlisted the LHM to help me entertain the girl, got my comfy Dankos on and got to work.  This is what rolled out of the kitchen, onto the the table and into the neatly-labeled containers now lining my fridge:

• roasted chicken with lemon and thyme 
• pan-roasted brussels sprouts with the addition of my special secret ingredient 
• custardy popovers from the Moosewood Cookbook
• a loaf of bread from a recipe labeled "Martha's Oat and Honey Bread" but otherwise uncredited
• a pan of quinoa, half of which I used to make...
• a batch of my mother's quinoa dulce cereal
• adzuki beans and rice, a Japanese comfort food I found on Tea's blog
• a jar and a half of meyer lemon marmalade (another uncredited recipe cribbed from someone's blog)
• a fresh quart of whole milk yogurt

As I stood at the sink washing the last of the cooking pots and looking through the steamy window at the twilight I had an epiphany.  I call these "kitchen sink epiphanies," though it is unusual that they actually happen at the kitchen sink.  They are those moments when you are in the midst of doing something mundane and you realize something that you didn't know you knew before. That moment when have a thought that you know immediately is deeply true and you say to yourself, "Of course!" The moment when something that was tangled suddenly smooths out and begins again to flow. My kitchen sink epiphany on Sunday evening was this:  I have to keep writing.  Not that I can't or don't sometimes want to quit, but in order to keep my courage and my resilience up, I have to keep showing up at the page.  At the end of February I set myself a goal of writing 750 words each weekday.  The first week I did pretty well.  The second week a little better.   Those words are the roughest of drafts and not nearly publishable yet, sometimes little more than a list of ideas that I mean to come back to later.  Sometimes the words just flush out the crap from my head so I can focus on the next task at hand.  But when I write those words regularly, my confidence grows.  My ideas flow faster, the pieces start to come together more easily.  When I am away from the page I find myself yearning to get back to it, thinking about what I want to write about next, forming fragments and structures in my head.  I am a better writer when I write regularly, and because the words are plentiful I feel less precious about them.  I can see that even in this example of only half a month.  Last week I only wrote my 75o words on one day of the week. Without the habit of my practice, my resilience was gone and the criticism (or perceived criticism) hit me hard.

So Sunday evening, knowing my family's bellies were nicely filled and feeling my creative well filled as well, I resolved to get back to work on Monday morning. I also read the feedback again that had sat so wrong on Friday. I still didn't agree with all of it but I was able to find useful parts.  And then I was able to let go of the rest. 

And on Monday at my first opportunity, during a nap and instead of the laundry, I came back to the page.

 

The best garlic soup

We've been sick around here and it has been cold and the intersection of the two is soup.  Soup made with chicken broth, preferably.  Or garlic.  Or both.  This soup is the both.

I originally found it on the tremendous 101 Cookbooks blog, a spin on a recipe from Richard Olney's The French Menu Cookbook.  Heidi Swanson's version nails down amounts, the main difference from Olney's version, but I just don't cook that way, so my version goes back to rough measurements and reflects my adjustments.  It turns out this is actually a soup that you can wing pretty well.

This soup is likely to cure what ails you, and will also keep vampires away.  I recommend feeding it to anyone you are likely to be up close and personal with in the next 24 hours so at least you all stink of garlic the same.

Richard Olney's Garlic Soup

4 cups chicken stock (homemade is best for combating a cold)
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
a small handful of fresh thyme
about 2 medium cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled, and pressed (un-pressed cloves should measure about 1/3 cup)
fine grain sea salt to taste

Binding pommade:
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
medium handful freshly grated dry cheese (Parmesan or Asiago)
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

day-old crusty bread or large croutons, shredded cheese & more olive oil to drizzle

Bring the stock and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan and add the herbs, garlic, and salt. Heat to a gentle boil, cover,  and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the bay leaf from the pan. Taste and add more salt if needed.

With a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolks, cheese, and pepper together in a bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil, beating all the time. Very slowly, while continuing to beat the pommade, add a large ladleful of the broth to heat the eggs.  If you do this or the next step too fast, the broth will break (it won't look pretty, but still tastes ok). While whisking continuously, add the contents of the bowl into the garlic broth. Keep stirring until the broth thickens slightly.  If the soup doesn't thicken within a few seconds, turn the heat back on medium and keep stirring.

Place a handful of fresh croutons (that would be in my old life) or torn bread chunks (what I do now) into the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the bread. Finish with a sprinkle of cheese and a drizzle of oil. Serve immediately.

Makes about 4 cups of soup.

This recipe was adapted from the 101 Cookbooks Blog where it was adapted from The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney. Originally published in 1970, this edition was republished by Ten Speed Press in 2002.

 

From my kitchen: pancakes

Sometimes, just occasionally, I have a craving for pancakes.  Though not a particularly complicated thing to make, I so rarely make them.  Why is that?  

When I was a kid, my mom was the pancake maker.  My dad made waffles.  Mom never made waffles that I recall, and Dad never made pancakes.  The pancakes of my childhood had weight.  Literally.  I remember them thunking on to my plate.  They were hearty and healthy, and filled my belly solidly and I could just feel them sticking to my ribs, as the saying goes.  Mom probably made them with whole wheat flour, and even a slather of butter and real maple syrup really never turned them into a treat - they were always healthy.

Those are  not the pancakes I crave (sorry, Mom).  I crave the sourdough pancakes they used to serve at an earlier incarnation of the Davenport Cash Store, but no more.  I crave the eggy, rich pancakes I get at the French bakery near my house on lazy Sunday mornings (they make their own yogurt and an order of pancakes with a bowl of yogurt  laced with maple syrup will hold me happily sated until late afternoon). I crave the puffy baked affair that I used to sneak out of the office to go eat with my friend Erik that I contest is not really a pancake at all, more like a huge sweet popover that you have to eat immediately out of the oven before it falls.  We tried cooking one at my house once and got batter all over the inside of the oven.  After that we went back to the restaurant down the street from our office when we had to have that particular treat. And although I had forgotten them until I was searching for these recipes to share, I once had ricotta-based pancakes at a bed and breakfast that were out of this world.

I have a bottle of real maple syrup in my fridge and I'm going to start making pancakes this fall.  I'm going to be the pancake-making mom in this house.  Want to join me?  Here are some that I want to try:

Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Swedish Apple Pancakes (popover things)

Thin eggy pancakes

Thick and Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

 

 

From my kitchen: 10 things to do with tomatoes

When I was putting together my September editorial calendar in July, I was picturing my tomato harvest ripening in the warm days that late summer and fall usually bring to my cool coastal town.  Growing tomatoes here is an act of faith.  You put them in the ground in May or June and they get tall and put out flowers, and maybe in July when you are reading on everybody else's blog about their plentiful and delicious harvest you might start seeing some hard green fruits forming. Maybe the cherry tomato plants will start ripening around then. If you put them in a warm enough spot. And then finally, finally, around the time that everyone else is sick of tomatoes and their vines are starting to die back and get pulled down and the beds put away for the winter, right about then will I get my first ripe tomato.  And then it is a mad whirl of eating and freezing and roasting and canning because the span of warm days is brief and always over too soon and the first cold storm always catches not-yet-ripe fruit still on the vine.

At least that's what usually happens.  This year the fog was even cooler and more persistent than normal and the warm days were very few and very far between.  My cherry tomatoes, even though planted very late, were looking pretty good and covered with baby fruit.  And then a gopher came through and lopped the vines all off right at the soil surface. So I turned my hopes to the 4 plants safely planted in the raised beds lined with gopher wire.  That were strangely without fruit even in early August.  But I am a patient woman. Then one evening I saw my next-door neighbor post on Facebook that she had just lost her garden to early blight thanks to our cool cool summer.  Oh no!  The next morning I went out and checked my plants and sure enough, two of them were blighted.  One was looking pretty good with reasonable fruit set and encouragingly pink fruit and the forth appeared healthy enough but had hardly any fruit.  And when I checked again this morning the other two plants are now showing signs of blight, too.  So out they will come and my total tomato harvest for the year was a handful of sungolds and two San Marzanos.  Two. And I was so looking forward to canning some sauce this fall.

So I'm sorry, but I have no new tomato recipes for you.  But I do have 10 here that I recommend because I've been making them for years.

1. Amsterdam tomato soup, so named because I made up this recipe based on a soup I ate in Amsterdam on a cold fall day several years ago.  Warmed with cumin and paprika, this is a good soup on a cold day or any day you have a cold.

2. Gnocchi and chicken with pomodoro sauce.  

3. Beef and Bulghur pilaf with tomatoes and mint.  This one is a staple around here and what I used that handful of sun golds in.

4. Oven-dried paste tomatoes.  The Juliet plant was one of the first two to get the blight - no fresh dried tomatoes in my pantry this year.

5. Tomato sauce. I'm partial to the Heidi Swanson version.

6. Heirloom tomato salad. I will be getting some heirlooms from the market this weekend to make this one... 

7. Sausage and Kale.  Funny, I still make this dish, but it has continued to evolve and doesn't look much like this any more.  It would be  more accurate to call it "sausage and peppers" now because I don't always include the kale any more.  And Justin moved to Philadelphia and we have a new charcuterie in town.

8. Cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese. This one reminds me of my mom.

9. Pizza Margharita. I haven't made this in way too long!

10. And finally, Fried Green Tomatoes, because not all the tomatoes will ripen before the weather turns.

From my kitchen: 10 things to do with basil

Every summer I plant several varieties of basil in my garden.  This year I had  some Genovese, a sweet basil, several Thai, a couple of lemon, a Holy Basil, and one poor lime basil that didn't make it.  I would do well to space them better so I have some basil all the time and not all of them at once, but I don't generally remember to do that.  So it is that I get to this part of the summer and I have a lot of basil that needs to be eaten.  Now I love pesto, but one can only eat so much of it.  So in the interest of variety, I've collected a few other uses for this surprisingly versatile herb.  I fear that means that next year I will plant even more basil plants so that I have enough to try all of these!

1. Pesto.  Of course.  My go-to pesto recipe is the one in the original Moosewood Cookbook that I've had since I was 17 and cooking in my first kitchen.  I generally make it in double batches and freeze it, either in ice cube trays that I tip into a bag once frozen or just in a jar.  The oil prevents the pesto from freezing really solid, so you can scoop some out and put the rest of the jar back without defrosting it.

By far the best version I've ever made was with 3/4 lemon basil and 1/4 sweet basil.  I don't consider the cheese optional.

Check out Pioneer Woman's great suggestions for using pesto, too.

2. Basil Croutons.  These would be great on fresh tomato soup!

3. Bruchetta. You can make this really simple, just a Caprese salad conveniently on a little toast, or a more unexpected combination like this roasted red pepper and goat cheese.

4. Basil Gimlet.  I've been accused of drinking like an old man.  I'm a fan of single malt scotch, vodka tonics, and gimlets.  I don't know if making my gimlet out of basil instead of mint would change that reputation, though.  Maybe if I used the holy basil? Or chocolate mint?

If you prefer your cocktails a bit more on the fruity end of the spectrum, here are a few options, like strawberry-lemon-basil.  Yum!  

7. Basil ice pop. Here's a versatile ice pop recipe that I missed in my last round-up.  It uses a simple syrup base that you can use to make a ...

6. Basil Cooler. This is just basil-flavored simple syrup mixed with plain bubbly water to make a refreshing non-alcoholic drink. I just made up the name Basil Cooler.  I think it needs some work.

You can use the same method of making simple syrup with other garden flavors.  Think lemon verbena, thyme, or rose geranium.  I have a friend who keeps a batch of lemon simple syrup in her fridge all the time that she makes with Meyer lemon zest.

7. Basil mayonnaise. This recipe is just adding stuff to mayonnaise already mixed, but you can get all fancy and make it from scratch, too.

Basil mayonnaise would be great on a chicken panini, to mix with tuna or potatoes for a salad, or as dip for an artichoke.  Of if you could step it up a bit with a Lobster BLT. 

8. Ice cream. We have a local ice cream shop that is genius with herb flavors and they have had basil ice cream on heavy rotation this summer.  I find it a little bit green for my preference, but I'm curious to try this lemon-basil version.  I'm also intrigued with this vegan version with a coconut milk base. Or if you prefer to leave out the creamy base altogether, here is a blueberry basil granita.

9. Salad dressings.  I found a basil vinaigrette as well as a creamy basil dressing.   I prefer creamy dressings, but the basil vinaigrette would be really good on an heirloom tomato salad.

10. Frozen basil cubes. This would help solve my winter craving for that fresh basil taste in the middle of winter.   

And finally, the salad pictured at the top of this post was served at an Outstanding in the Field dinner I attended in 2008.  It had watermelon, prosciutto, toasted pistachios and fresh goat cheese as well as the sprigs of basil.  I haven't found a recipe for that particular combination of flavors, but it would be pretty easy to re-create.  I wish I remembered more about the dressing! 

 

From my kitchen: ice pops

I just discovered that the term "Popsicle" is a registered trademark - the proper name for the juice treats in my freezer is "ice pop."  I also discovered that the first Popsicle was an accident.  According to Wikipedia, "The first ice pop was created by accident in 1905 when 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a mixture of powdered soda, water and a stirring stick in a cup on his porch in cold weather."  Really.  I love me some Wikipedia.

Whatever you call them, I grew up thinking ice pops were a treat of the highest order.  Up there with sugar cereal and chewing gum, which is weird, since we weren't allowed to eat sugar cereal or chewing gum, and I think my mom made ice pops on a pretty regular basis.  Maybe they felt like such a treat because they were so very good on a really hot day.  And those long hot days of summer feel so very long when you are a kid.

My mom had a Tupperware mold, made of that oddly translucent and flexible plastic that older Tupperware  was made from.  It had little "sticks" with a loop for your finger on the end that stuck through a lid that snapped onto the open end of the mold.  I don't know how my mom got them closed without spilling the contents everywhere. I remember that the stick was just a little short and you had to be careful not to lose the middle of the pop as it started to melt.  I also remember having very sticky fingers often.  Mom probably made plain juice pops sometimes, but mostly I remember yogurt pops.  The ice crystals form differently in dairy than in juice and I remember peeling apart the flat crystals with my teeth before they melted.  

Yes, I was an odd child.

Last Christmas my brother found an ice pop mold on my Amazon wish list that I had honestly totally forgotten putting there.  And so there it was under the tree, totally out of season.  I would have loved to have ice pops in my freezer the summer before, when I was all queasy and hot all the time, but in December they didn't seem quite like the thing. So the mold sat on the floor in my office for months, still in the box, until I read a blog post early in the summer about "treats" and I flashed on a memory of sitting on the porch steps eating an ice pop, our German shepherd dog Elsa sleeping in the shade at my feet. And then I really wanted an ice pop.  So I picked up some peach juice the next time I was at Trader Joe's and filled up those molds. I realize now in retrospect that it was the *juice* that was the treat when I was young, not the fact that it was frozen.

And you know?  It doesn't really get so hot here and I don't have a dog to keep me company, but eating that ice pop sitting in the sun on the front step was just as good as I remembered. 

Simple juice pops were just about my speed with a newborn in the house, but when I started looking at recipes for yogurt pops I found some really yummy recipes.  These blackberry-honey-yogurt pops are next up to try, now that blackberries are in season. There are a couple others in that round up that I'm going to have to come back to, like the sangria pops. There is a whole genre of boozy ice pop recipes should one care to go that route.

Then there are the ice pops made from drinks with a creamy consistency, like horchata pops (yum!) or chai tea pops. 

Another good seasonal option are the strawberry-basil pops in this Mark Bittman article in the NY Times. He has some interesting savory suggestions, too, though I have to say that the tomato-cucumber pop just sounds too much like frozen gazpacho.

This list of herbed and spiced pops got me thinking about how I could use the herbs in my garden in interesting ways.  Like lemonade with lavender.  Apple juice and rose geranium. Pineapple juice with basil or thyme. White tea and lemon verbena. Lime and rosemary.

Now all I need is for our Indian summer to arrive and burn off this fog that's been hanging around all week.