The first fall apples are just now appearing at the farm stands. They are so delicious, crisp & tart that I cannot get enough of them! Although usually they do come in a fairly large bag. Even though they are delicious eaten plain as a snack, it is always nice to be able to incorporate them into a dish. I was trying to think of the best way to use them in a really healthy salad. (I love fruit mixed in with salad as you may have noticed!) Then I remembered something called…

A strata is a custardy, cheesy egg dish with bread cubes & cheese baked in it.  You can add any vegetables to a strata, and for this one I decided to use baby kale, mushrooms and sliced tomatoes. We have so many juicy garden tomatoes all coming ripe right now so I keep trying to think of recipes to use them. (This is one of those attempts). Sharp cheddar cheese made it extra good! A strata is a wonderful dish to prepare for guests because you can actually make it the night before…

A Dutch Baby is one of the most impressive, yet extremely simple egg dishes you can make. If you have never tried making one, you definitely should! It is literally made up of four simple ingredients; eggs, flour, milk & butter. The key is the hot skillet which creates the beautiful puffy & eggy dutch baby! Dutch Babies are often topped with fresh cut fruit like strawberries and blueberries, but this one is a savory version. It is topped with sliced green onions and fresh herbs. I have tons of herbs in my…

This is a nice change from the usual summer salad because of the crisp vegetables used and the tangy ginger lime dressing. You can use any mix of crunchy vegetables, but some of the common ones used in Asian salads are: cabbage, carrots, snow peas, peppers, radishes, cucumbers, bok choy and green onions. Fresh herbs like mint or cilantro add a nice flavor - and make sure you have fresh ginger and a lime or two on hand! I went to my favorite local farm to see what they had that might work…

SUMMER PANZANELLA SALAD Panzanella is a rustic Tuscan salad that uses toasted bread, juicy ripe tomatoes, onions, basil & other chopped summer vegetables all tossed in an olive oil vinaigrette. It is a wonderful summer salad as it uses many of the seasonal vegetables available at the farmer's markets. If you happen to grow tomatoes, you know how they all come at once, so keep this dish in mind! This salad would be a great accompaniment to grilled fish or meat and is simple to make. Ingredients: a small French baguette (cut into…