When is that in season?

If you're like me, you probably don't have a farm, maybe not even a garden. And you may not have the pleasure of scouring the farmers market every other day for ingredients that still have dirt on them.

Chin up! You can still shop like a farmer! Check out this infographic to see when your favorite things are in season:

by Column Five Media.
Beautiful infographic via Visually.

I had no idea sweet potatoes were so short lived. And I still can't believe that grapefruits are winter fruits!

What do you find surprising?

TGIFriday: Things to cook in August

It's August you guys! Can you believe that?!

I was trolling BuzzFeed this week and came across a glorious post on 31 things to cook in August, based on the yummy things that are in season as fall approaches.

I pinned the heck outta those recipes, here are some of my favorites to try soon!

blueberry hand pies, white peach gin fizz, grilled shrimp with cilantro, lime and peanuts,

creme fraiche galette with heirloom tomatoes, Mediterranean lamb burger]

Which ones catch your eye? Take advantage of the weekend and try them out for yourself

Happy eating!
   

    

You put the lime in the coconut... olive oil greek yogurt cake.

Happy Monday, eaters!

I'm really excited about this cake. Like, really, really excited. 

I'm one of those strange birds who doesn't really like icing on cakes. It actually really used to stress me out when I was younger. My mom was typically a no-to-light-froster on birthday cakes and when I found myself at a friend's birthday party with a store-bought, icing covered cake, I would get really stressed out... What if some poor soul handed me an end piece? It doesn't sound like such a dilemma now, but when you're 8 years old and the highlight of the party is the cake, and you've been waiting for it the whole party... waiting for a middle, only-on-the-top frosting piece feels like eternity. 

As it turns out when you are 26 years old, waiting for this cake to bake feels like an eternity. Don't get me started on how long it takes for it to cool...

Anyways!

This cake is first and foremost delicious, without any frosting. And secondly, it's quite lovely without any frosting.

I combined two recipes (found here and here) to make this one. I'm a big fan of using both Greek yogurt and olive oil in cakes- the Greek yogurt keeps things light but the olive oil adds a certain je ne sais quoi. This cake turned out incredibly moist, light and super fresh- perfect for the end of a Memorial Day cook out.

Coconut Lime Greek Olive Oil Cake

3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup low-fat vanilla Greek yogurt
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons lime zest
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4  cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

Zest of one lime

1-2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease an 8-9" round pan. 

In one bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add olive oil, yogurt, milk, zest and lime juice. It'll look like you're making a key lime pie at this point. Really pretty and really great smelling. Add your coconut and whisk gently or use a spatula to fold gently into the mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flours, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly add your flour mixture to your wet ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until there are no clumps (you'll be able to see the coconut, but no lumps aside from that). 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. 

While the cake is baking, prepare the topping. Combine sugar and lime zest in one bowl and mix together with a fork. Keep your sugar zest separate from your coconut for the topping. Mixing together just creates for a soggy mess. 

Once the cake is done and cooled, sprinkle the sugar zest and coconut on top of the cake and garnish with lime wedges. 

Until next time,

What have we always said is the most important thing?

[fresh herb omelet]

 
After talking with the other two happy eaters, it turns out we all had the same thing on our minds this week: Breakfast.
 
Katie and Laura have the sweet stuff covered, but I've got a savory tooth that would only be satisfied by something salty, eggy and sans a lot of carbs. Enter: the omelet. Or, as Jacques Pepin and the rest of ze French call it, ze omelette.
 
Omelets are super easy. And super easy to screw up. I was inspired to learn how to make the perfect omelet after I saw Wolfgang Puck instruct the latest contestants on Top Chef how he makes an omelet- and then they were to replicate it. My husband and I watched as the contestants struggled, for various reasons, to replicate his simple recipe with their own added twist. After the verdicts were handed down, my husband and I were silent for a long time. I knew what he was thinking. After what seemed like forever, he finally asked me the question I was dreading, "Do you know how to make an omelet?" I'm sure I defensively replied, "Pshyeah! Do you?!" I'm also sure I stayed away from making him eggs of any type for a couple of weeks (a difficult task for us- we go through about a dozen a week). I couldn't admit that I just wasn't sure.

As it turns out my omelet-how-to knowledge was hovering at around 60%, if you want to try to quantify it. Which I do. I was overstuffing. I was cooking it at too high a temperature. I was just letting it sit there. I was using Pam instead of butter. I was ashamed. Ashamed, I tell you. But then I watched a short video tutorial and gave it a go. And it was good.

Here are some easy, basic tips I took away from Jacques Pepin's video:
 

• Eggs, salt and pepper. That's it for the base.
• Make sure you've beaten your eggs enough so that you don't have pieces of egg whites in your pan.
• Use a non-stick pan and just a little bit of butter (1/2 tbsp) to coat.
• Pour your eggs into a low-medium hot pan. You don't want to cook your eggs too quickly.
• Add your fillings as soon as you put your eggs in the pan.  
• When your eggs start to cook (coagulate) around the edges, use your fork or a spatula to gently drag the cooked eggs towards the center (but don't scramble them). Then, let a 'crust' begin to form again. Repeat this process again. And again, if necessary.
• Gently fold your omelet in half while it is still fairly wet in the center. This keeps it from getting too cooked and breaking in half. I did this slowly using a spatula- a fork tends to tear.
• Let your omelet brown on one side and then flip it onto the plate (browned side up).

 
For my omelet, I wanted to do something simple, light and flavorful, so I went with what I had on hand: fresh basil, parsley, chives and thyme (about 1 1/2 tbsp chopped) with some grape tomatoes to garnish. I used 3 eggs, a little salt and pepper, butter in the pan and that's it.
 
 

[aww, look how those pre-birds are nestled in those fresh herbs]

 
 

[eggs, salt, pepper, fresh herbs]
 



[almost ready to flip]


*At this point I thought I was going to switch to a post about scrambled eggs with fresh herbs. But have faith in yourself and in Jacques Pepin. He won't lead you astray.   
 




[perfect]

 Until next time...