Summer Berry Smoothie plus 9 Summer Favorites

This started out to be a blog about favorite links, and then I decided to add my favorite smoothie recipe, so this week it's a little of both.  I'm late posting this week, and last week, well, it was a lost cause.  I've plenty of excuses. Mostly it has to do with writing other things.

A few months back I finished this article about antibiotics.  As I did the research I got sucked into the microbial world, a world I'd never really given much thought to before.  A friend of mine, a retired UW biology professor, loaned me this Field Guide to Bacteria. I like it so much I'm buying my own copy. I'll put it next to my Kafka collection.

Maybe I'll put a microscope on my wish list.  We're giants in a microbial world.

I worked on anther article last month--bees and neonicotinoid pesticides and got sucked into that topic too. I watched this podcast twice.  I got caught up with what's going on in Australia with bees.  No bumblebees in Austrailia.  What? My favorite bee of all.  

I was also working on a salad article for Vegetarian Journal.  I love Vegetarian Journal!

What I wasn't doing was posting on my blog. Maybe you noticed. And maybe I was overdoing it with the long, long dog walks. 

Hey, it's summer, the best time of year in the Northwest.

I actually wrote most of this blog last week.  All I needed was pictures and a short recipe.

It had to be about berries.  The thing about berries is the price varies in the Northwest so much and I can't figure out why exactly.

The berries from the garden are my favorites.

1. A berry smoothie on a hot summer day. (A berry smoothie on any kind of day.)

Berry Smoothie
(Serves 2)
Packed with phytonutrients, this smoothie goes down easy on a hot summer day.

1 1/2 cups berries
1/2 to 3/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 ripe banana
1/4 cup coconut sorbet
1 tablespoon almond butter (optional)
2 tablespoons protein powder (optional)
Ice (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender.  Turn on high or pulse for about 30 seconds.  Pour into glasses, garnish with a mint sprig if desired.


2.  Hummingbirds in the garden.

3. This ultimate Northwest garden.  Can't wait to go this summer.

4. Tiny houses are all the rage.  Love, even though we don't exactly qualify.  Dream on--a  long library list for this great read.

5. Dreaming about the sand castles at Long Beach.

6. I just got this book for the garden.

7. This great summer reread.

8.  Can't get enough summer salads.  I noticed cabbage is coming back in at the market, so here's my favorite coleslaw recipe.

9.  Reading too about honey bees. They must be the most written about insect ever. I found this cool column called The Curious Beekeeper from the National Honey Advisory Board.  Check it out.

10.  Anything to keep my Cooking Assistant happy. He loves homemade dog biscuits: 

Buckwheat-Peanut Butter Treats.  As soon as it cools off, we'll be back in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving favorites

Anne Bramley's Lemon Tea Bread in Eat Feed Autumn Winter

If it were up to me, I'd reserve the entire day on Thanksgiving just for vegetable sides and maybe an apple crisp or a cranberry slump for dessert.  I never look forward to sitting down at the same table with an unfortunate bird, but give me good vegetable sides, salads and a simple dessert (no pumpkin pie please!) and I'm there.

Here are just a few ideas for sides:

If you're a Brussels sprout fan, check out this post. (Northwest grown are simply the best, by the way.)

And forget the standard green bean casserole. Check out these green beans from 101 Cookbooks.

If you like carrots, here's a great idea for carrots from Vegetarian Times.

For easy and dairy-free check, out 10 vegan side dishes from Treehugger.

If you're looking for Northwest grown, check out these ideas from Whatcom Locavore -- German Sweet Potato Salad,  Garlic Rosemary Smashed Potatoes, or  Caramelized Onion Topping, a recipe simply made for mashed potatoes!

And wait, here's a few more ideas from  Food Connections:

Romanesco with Northwest Berry Vinegar

Quick and Easy Coleslaw

Sweet Potato and Parsley Salad

Just desserts

Looking for something besides pumpkin pie for dessert?  Try any one of these ideas:

My all-time favorite is this recipe--the best berry crisp ever.  Apple crisp comes in a close second with this same recipe.

For true apple dessert fans, my choice is an Apple Pie with the Oatmeal Cookie Crust.

Apple pie with coconut sorbet

Another option is to take advantage of cranberries, pair them with frozen raspberries and make this old-fashioned Cranberry-Raspberry Slump.  This is a simmered dessert with sweet biscuits simmered on top.

While you're planning all the goodies for the annual feast, don't forget your canine friends.  An easy treat to make is sweet potato chews.   Slice sweet potatoes or yams lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices.  Place on a pizza screen or baking sheet and bake at 200F for 8 hours or until crisp.

Coco posing for treats.

Dog biscuits are easy to make and fun to give as gifts.  These Buckwheat-Pumpkin biscuits are always a big hit.  The measurements don't have to be exact, it just has to be a dough you can handle, roll out and cut.  I like to get interesting shapes, you can find cookie cutters in any cooking store.

Whatever you make this holiday and wherever you go, have a great time, drive carefully and come back with delicious memories.

Favorite Links

I thought I'd round out this week with some of my favorite things that have really excited me this year.

This blog intersects with my three loves, food, photography and my two basset hounds, so here are a few of my links that I've returned to more than once:

Food Connections

• Spinach Soup with Cashew Cream--this soup was crazy good. Of the 22 soups from "The Soup Project" that I've made, this one by far has the most possibilities for spin off recipes. What can I say? I love cashew cream!

• Quinoa Fritters--this recipe that I pilfered from The South American Table by Maria Baez Kijac has saved me many times when dinner time approaches and I have nothing in mind. Okay, it's not the healthiest recipe because the fritters are fried, but the flavor and texture will leave you wanting more.

• Make an Artist Date in Your Garden--this concept has changed my life. The artist date concept came from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and the idea is to make an artist date with yourself once a week. It can be anywhere--walk on the beach, check out an antique store, go to an art museum, watch a parade--but you must immerse yourself in the moment like an artist. This is a way to fuel creativity and I find it helps a lot in the kitchen, the garden and with photography. If you don't have a garden or it's raining like it is here, check out this fabulous garden blog.

Food blogs

I'm over the edge lately when it comes to food blogs. I've been looking at as many as I can and it feels like every stay-at-home-mom and home cook has started a food blog. Here's a tip for you if you're thinking of starting one, please don't start out with "I have four lovely children" (or two or three). Please look at many blogs first and see if you have anything new to add besides your own recipes, we're knee deep in recipes, I never thought it could get deeper but it does. Every time I turn around someone mentions a food blog they've started. I find myself smirking, thinking, really, another one? And yet here I sit writing about food. You can find many food bloggers at blog hops--the biggest trend blogging this year.

Blog hops are like putting your name in a fishbowl for a prize. If you put your name in enough bowls, you'll pick up followers. Here's how you do it: get the Mr. Linky tool and hook up. When I checked out the people who participated it seems like a workable strategy, especially for the host who gets all the incoming links but are these these people all really followers? On the creepy side, the crowed ocean of what-I-cooked-for-diner-is just a hint that we've become way too obsessed over our daily menu choices. The good and the bad blogs, I check them all. Check out this one with the carved shark over blue jello cubes. What do you think? Creepy, quirky or boring there isn't enough time in the day for all food blogs in this country. Enough rambling.

Here are my favorite food blogs (no Mr. Linky tools here):

• 101 Cookbooks--I love Heidi's vegetarian recipes and her photos can be quite inspiring.

• Smitten Kitchen--I'm a new follower for this one, and it's not vegetarian but her photos, story and recipes are worth taking a look at.

• Orangette--not vegetarian either but seriously who doesn't love Molly Wizenberg's Orangette?

Food Photography

Good food photography is intriguing, inviting and harder than it looks to get the right angle and right lighting using the right lens. One way to improve it study popular food blogs where lots of comments are generated about the photos. Another way is to find tips on line. Here are some of my favorite links to better food photography

Tips to improve food styling

Angles for food photography

The Pioneer Woman's tips for better food photography--I like her focus. Pioneer woman's recipes with close up photos comes about as close as you can get to food porn. Check out this rhubarb dessert and see how she gets hundreds of comments without any blog hopping parties.

Photography

Compositon, lighting, lenses and filters--Since I took pictures for my book, I've been interested in honing my skills. I check out photography websites and blogs and here are two of my favorites.

• Danielle Leavelle--check out where the shadows fall and the colors in the photos

• Dean Riggott-- amazing farm photography for landscape photos

This is Whispering Winds Farm (not my best moment in the farm photo category), but it's yet another shameless attempt to mention that Farm-to-Fork dinner I'll be attending on July 16th. Check it out, it's so affordable for a dinner on the farm. Plus we're giving out door prizes, so get your tickets!

Basset hounds and dogs

If you haven't seen Cooking with Dog and you like dogs, you simply must see it. The talking poodle is totally my favorite. Also, when I realized Pioneer Woman has two basset hounds, I now check her posts about for news about Charlie and Walter. Anyone with one or two dogs on their blog gets my attention. Here are my favorite links for those of you with four footed assistants.

• 50 basset hounds running

• Pioneer Woman (Charlie)

• Tall Clover--Tom a farmer-blogger on Vashon Island and has two bulldogs who are hilarious.

I need to ramp-it-up, get a few basset action photos, but every time I take out the camera Finn poses.

Don't try this one without serious supervision.

Rumbling on the tracks? I think Finn and sister Chloe are keepers.