finding local flair anywhere
One thing that I try to do (but haven’t been great at recently) is try new foods at the farmers market. I always knew that chard was a good-for-you green, but as far as cooking it at home, I just didn’t know how to handle it. Even though I kept seeing it, I resisted the urge to buy it until I had something in mind….
Even though we didn’t grow any cucumbers of our own this year, there are plenty in the farmers market, in case you want to relive #CucumberSummer2k15. Our tomatoes and just now coming in, but I bet we’ll be making a bunch of this cucumber ranch salad once they start rolling in.
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Happy Summer! It’s official as of this week, right? The weather certainly seems to think so. The best part of summer is the booming Farmers Market! I got some beauties this week and am so glad I get to share them with you. I was looking for some inspiration a few weeks ago, and my dear friend Maggie told me about zucchini boats. I’ve never had them before – but I trust her, and her photo convinced me!
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You can’t celebrate Flag Day properly without a Patriotic Parfait! Plus, it’s a “twofer” because you can also do it again for the 4th of July! Or in the UK. Or France. Or Texas. Or even North Korea. Truly, red white and blue is a popular flag combination, if we’re being honest. That’s why I named it Patriotic Parfait, because the original name was Flag Day Parfait (but who searches for that, right?!). (Also, if you’re unfamiliar with a twofer, it’s a shortcut for the phrase “two for one.” Oklahoman lesson of the day.)…
Is your hum-drum salad life getting you down? No worries – the Rankins bring you: Atomic Salad! Justin loves this salad, but I think it’s mostly because it has olives and they’re “probably” in his top 5 favorite foods. I’m pretty sure that we had this with dinner the first time I went to his parents’ house for dinner when we were dating. I’m not an olive fan, but you can go without! (Just give them to your resident olive-eater.) I’m grateful that Justin’s mom was willing to share this with me and gave the OK to share it with you!
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Homemade peanut butter is so easy. It requires peanuts and a trusty food processor. And that’s all. Unless you want to get fancy. I usually sprinkle in a little sea salt for good measure, but that concludes the exceedingly long list of ingredients! It will sometimes thump around in your machine, but just keep letting it go, and it will eventually turn smooth….
Who doesn’t love an easy chicken salad? Well…me, at one point. I think it’s because I have this distaste for all condiments besides BBQ sauce, and mayo just doesn’t ever really cut it for me. Although I’ve definitely warmed up to mayo in chicken salad, I knew there was a way to health-ify this lunch favorite. It turns out, you can use plain Greek yogurt! Yep – even though I also use it for sour cream. It’s so versatile!
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This spinach and bacon quiche will satisfy even your biggest meat eater with an easy one-dish dinner!
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It’s nearly February (already!) and that means it’s almost time to break out one of my only once-per-year pieces of clothing that I own: My Korean football jersey. It’s red, and it’s got a tiger on the side. It’s cool. But it’s a little big. So I wear it as my “red” for the Lunar New Year. (And also that one time freshman year I wore it to a “Stoplight” Party…thanks KA). Lunar New Year this year is on February 8. And it’s the year of the Monkey. Which is the year of my husband!
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Confession: I don’t really eat lettuce. That being said, I had some salad with dinner today. Which was mostly ranch dressing…Lettuce is simply a vessel for bigger and better things, let’s be real here. It’s the same with these chicken lettuce wraps. If you don’t have any lettuce, it’s still a great filling for tortilla wraps, or eating straight out of the pan by the spoonful.
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