Valentine Ice Cream Sundaes

Lovin’ Spoonful

Everyone has their own ideas about how to celebrate Valentine’s Day. My family is no different.

In the past, my husband and I would do the usual things to celebrate Valentine’s Day. By usual things I mean that I would remind him about February 14th, to which he would reply, “That’s today?!?” (Sigh.) Times are a bit different. Gone are the chocolates, fancy dinners and roses. Though there never really were any roses—Cupid has horrible allergies. And, of course, the reminders are still required. But we do manage to enjoy some fun for Valentine’s Day.

My husband has always loved ice cream. His love of ice cream is second only to his love of cookies. I come in a distant third…maybe.

A few years ago we started the Valentine’s Day Ice Cream Sundae tradition. Instead of dinner out, or eating huge boxes of chocolate, the five of us make our own Hot Fudge Sundaes. And I do mean Sundaes. We’re not talking a couple of scoops of vanilla with some Hershey’s squirted on it. I mean legit Sundaes. We go all out.

Anything we could possibly want in or on our sundaes is available. We have multiple flavors of ice cream on hand including the hand-packed, special trip up the street to purchase, gallon of Fenton’s Toasted Almond. To my mind, it ain’t a real sundae without Fenton’s Toasted Almond.

The toppings are myriad, and range from Hot Fudge to Marshmallow to chopped nuts and fresh brewed espresso. (If you have never poured cooled espresso over your ice cream, you haven’t lived. And if you add some chocolate chips? Shut The Front Door!)

This year I might stray from my usual path, and go a bit outside my comfort zone just to shake things up a bit. (However, these things require a lot of thought. I wouldn’t want to mess it up.) As a family rule, we tend to stick to the chocolate, vanilla and nutty type flavors but adding coconut and raspberry sounds interesting…

This is my proposed line up for this year: Read more…

Jumbo Pico Salad

Tahoe Time
As you read this, I am up at Tahoe with the family for the annual trek to the Lake. Life’s pretty good right about now. My toes are most likely in the sand and my face in a book as I lounge in a chair on the beach at Sand Harbor. Dinner is most likely marinating in the fridge waiting for us to come home and throw it on the grill. We’ll throw together a quick salad to go with it and probably have a cocktail or five on the back deck. I know. It’s a really tough way to spend your days.

For the past few years, I have made a point to pick any vegetables in my garden that are even close to being ripe and bring them up to Tahoe with us, especially the tomatoes. Gotta have a tomato on your beach sandwich, right?

This year I will do the same with the intent to make my new favorite tomato salad. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and I love it because it is kind of a no-brainer, “Duh!” salad.

If you like Pico De Gallo you will know why this Jumbo Pico Salad makes sense. It’s really good and it goes well with anything grilled. It’s also tasty for lunch on the beach the next day… Read more…

Avocado Gelato

Brain Freeze

For at least a month I’ve had ice cream on the brain. The world of ice cream has just become SO interesting. The flavors available are much more creative. Honey Lavender anyone? Candied Kumquat? People are taking the art of ice cream to a whole new level. The funny thing is, I seem to be on some sort of ice cream carnival ride because interesting ice cream just keeps popping up in my life when I least expect it.

My recent ice cream odessy started when I discovered these really yummy ice cream bars at our local Hispanic grocery store. Every time I am in that store, after picking up some of the world’s freshest tortillas, I buy a few. (You know, for the kids. wink, wink.) They are Mexican Paletas made out of super fresh and all natural ingredients. The flavors range from Strawberries and Cream to Guava and Tamarind. Not to mention Spicy Mango and Corn. Totally refreshing and a great treat.

At a recent Cookbook Club Dinner, we were treated to some fabulous Avocado Ice Cream made by the same company as the ice cream bars. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Avocado Ice Cream? Hmmmmm. That’s kinda pushing the boundaries of the ice cream comfort zone. I am here to tell you it’s tasty. It’s really tasty. It’s creamy, sweet and so good on a hot day. Even my 9 year old loves it. He chose the Avocado flavor over the Mexican Chocolate. What kid passes up chocolate? Crazy…

The other day I found myself walking down the street with some time before an appointment, so I wandered around and did a little window shopping. I noticed a new creamery selling small batch artisan ice cream. I stepped inside to see what flavors they had. I was floored. While the traditional Vanilla and Chocolate was available, they also had a variety of interesting flavors that changed daily. My choice that evening was the Thai Iced Tea ice cream which was phenomenal. But, Thai Iced Tea? Huh?

Most recently at the store, we had the pleasure of tasting a new product that is made locally called Genuto. It is a dairy-free 100% nut-based “ice cream” and it is fantastic. As an unrepentant lover of fat and other things that are bad for me, I was super surprised at how good this was. You would never know that there was no cream in this. It’s totally nuts. Yes, pun intended. The Lemon Almond was my favorite.

I have been having so much fun on this adventure and I encourage you to go on an ice cream adventure of your own. Whether you make it or buy it, do yourself a flavor (ha ha ha) and seek out the unusual. You will be glad you did. Read more…

Watermelon and Arugula Salad

The Ripe Stuff
Last week I was out in my garden, and noticed that one of my watermelons “looked” like it was ready to be picked and devoured. Silly me. After many years in the grocery business, not to mention growing my own food, I assumed I would be able to figure out if a watermelon was ripe. Oh the arrogance! I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.

When I cut open the melon, it was totally white inside. No ruby red juiciness. Not even a lovely shade of blush. It was straight up flavorless, white melon flesh. I was mad, I was sad, and I was frustrated. Why couldn’t Mother Nature have come up with some handy little device that would tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bounty in your garden was ready to be enjoyed? Kinda like one of those pop-up things that comes in your turkey. That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?

Alas, it was not meant to be. So instead, I went in search of tricks to knowing when your produce is ripe. Some of the info I got was pretty cool. For most fruits and vegetables, it can be as easy as looking at the color. Bananas turn yellow, tomatoes turn red, and carrots turn orange.

It’s not always about looks. Sometimes you need a trick from an expert. So, I went our produce manager for a tutorial. Here are a few things I learned:

To test if artichokes are ready to eat, squeeze them. If they squeak they’re good to go. If they don’t they’re probably old. It’s the same with Zucchini. If they squeak when two squash are rubbed together they are ripe.

Peaches may look ready, but when you get them home they are either too hard and flavorless or too soft and icky. Color is a good indicator but not always accurate. The best way to know if a peach is ready is to push gently at the top where the tree stem should be. If it is soft it’s ready. For nectarines, if the skin on the outside is shiny, it’s not ready yet. The skin should be matte in appearance for a perfect nectarine. I learned these tips a few years ago from Fitzgerald Kelley who provides us with his tasty peaches and nectarines. I haven’t had a bad one since.

Melons probably present the most challenges when trying to determine their ripeness and, apparently, watermelons are the hardest of all, which made me feel a little better. The best way to check a watermelon for ripeness is to thump it with your finger. If it sounds hollow, it’s ripe.

Muskmelons, like Cantaloupe, are easy. The more fragrant they are, the riper they are. Also, if you push on the blossom end and it gives a little bit, then it’s ripe.

Honeydew Melons are the most fun though. Honeydew is ripe when you run your fingers across it’s skin and they stick. If your fingers slide easily across the skin, it’s not ripe yet. The reason is that as the melon ripens, the sugars from the fruit are released through the skin thus making it “sticky”. Not honey sticky but, well…sticky. Try it next time you’re in the store. It’s kinda cool.

So when you find that perfect watermelon, enjoy it right out of the fridge or, better yet, try this Watermelon and Arugula Salad adapted from the Barefoot Contessa. It’s a super fast great Summertime salad! Read more…