so my lunch today?

a tomato plate

and a frothy glass of fresh carrot juice

and it was a working lunch. some photo editing + a little sewing of some flowers while the bird napped and henry played up the street at his best buddy’s house. and the windows were open for the first time in a week. no ac, no 90-100 degree temps.

it was a good afternoon.

a bowl full of tomatoes just like this every other day now.

i see canning in my near future.

basically i just chop a bunch of ingredients and put it all on the table in small bowls for everyone to take what they want and do their thang. i don’t have an exact recipe for you, but i found this one that you could use.

here’s mine, before i rolled it up in the rice paper wrapper: thai basil, rice noodles, cilantro, shredded carrot + shrimp. with some sriracha + peanut sauce on the side.

dotty will eat the heck out of some tofu- she’s loved it since she first tried it around 6 or 8 months. cubed tofu makes a great snack for babies and kids too, if you can get ‘em to eat it!

kiddos having fun.

hubby’s was almost a burrito, it was so stuffed. i give him props for being able to roll so much into one thin rice paper roll without it all ending up crashing down onto his plate.

anyone else make these and have some different variations to share? i’d love to hear!

i have a treat for you. peanut butter ‘nana milk. it’s easy, it’s pretty durn healthy, and it’s yum. my kids go nuts for it. it’s known in our house as pee-bow-mah-mok (thanks to dotty) and i kid you not, they both squeal and jump with delight (and dotty actually giggles) when i utter the phrase: should we make some pee-bow-mah-mok??

here’s what you need:

frozen bananas, and this is key. the frozen bananas give it a milkshake texture- you really will think there’s ice cream in there. and there is not! i usually toss 1.5-2 in the blender- which makes enough mah’mok for mama to have a couple sippies after the kiddos have had their fill.

peanut butter i am going to guess and say a tablespoon, maybe 2? you guys know me! i never measure, i just go by looks and taste.

milk again, just eyeball it. how much you wanna drink + how many people are drinking?

that’s it! blend and serve. it should be a nice, thick, shake-like consistency.
and you can thank me later.

slice 1 vine ripened early girl, 4 yellow pears, a handful of basil leaves. add some fresh mozzarella pearlini (or even better), s + p and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (maybe a half-ish teaspoon). stir and EAT.

just look at all those tasty little morsels!

hands down, one of my favorite foods that summer has to offer.

the days of coming back from the garden with a big bowl full of tomatoes are here.

i’ll be back later on with a few of my favorite things to do with fresh tomatoes.

start with these 3 basic ingredients: cucumber, fresh dill + onion.

chop and peel as you see fit. (i like to peel off most of the skin from the cukes, leaving little pretty stripes )

layer in your fresh dill, cukes + onions (if you’re making it right in a canister like i do- or just toss it in a big bowl- the end result is the same- you’re eating it, and it tastes AHmazing)

top it off with freshly ground salt + pepper. and then add a few glugs of white vinegar and a splash of water- but not too much, because there’s a secret ingredient in the end… (i say “glugs” because i never really measure anything- i just go by eye and taste- just play around with it until you get the right amount of ‘kick’ from the vinegar without it making your face look like this- you know, it’s a fine line, friends )

now for that secret ingredient: before you close that jar…. ICE! it makes the whole thing so nice and cold- the cucumbers + onions have such a nice crunch and the ice only makes it better. then just shake, shake! (or stir, stir! if you made it in a bowl) and EAT. i like to eat this within minutes of these flavors doing their little dance together, but the beauty is that it is amazing as leftovers- so if you want it to marinate a bit longer, hey- that’s how we make pickles, right?

enjoy!

hooked on juicing.

i suppose there are worse things to be hooked on.

so this time i used:

tri-colored rotini
black olives
scallions
diced red bell pepper
cherry tomatoes
fresh corn
black eyed peas
and fresh oregano

while the pasta is cooking, you can start cutting + preparing all the good stuff that’s going into the salad. i also boil the corn for a couple minutes before shaving it off the cob, but i’ve heard of people just eating it raw too. but really- go for the fresh corn. when it’s in season, you can pick up like 8 or 10 for 2 bucks and there’s just no beating that fresh flavor.

once you’ve got that pasta cooked and drained, stick it in a big bowl, drizzle on a couple glugs of olive oil, splash on some white wine vinegar (i’m going to take a guess and say, a quarter cup? but just taste it and see… if you want more of a kick, add a little more vinegar.) after that, start piling on all your fresh ingredients…

toss in some good coarse salt + pepper

last up! the corn. nothing better than freshly shaved corn right off the cob. YUM.

once everything is in the bowl, give it a good toss, all the flavors can do a quick meet-and-greet and then promptly serve yourself some. i like this salad slightly warm- just kind of a bit above room temperature, where the cold ingredients and the warm pasta + corn sort of do a little dance and meet in a happy place.

and what’s awesome about this salad is that it’s really so flexible- if you don’t like olives or you don’t have scallions on hand, so what! leave ‘em out or change the black eyed peas to a white bean, and when summertime is here and providing you with many different varieties of tomatoes, use ‘em! the corn gives it a really nice sweet touch, the white wine vinegar gives it an awesome kick. oh! and sometimes i toss in a clove or two of minced garlic. the key is that it’s totally fresh. and also, so healthy and i would imagine pretty darn lowfat.

and my kids gobble it up.

dotty always picks out all the olives first.

if you end up trying this at home, let me know what you think! bon appetit! XO