(photo by google images)

To juice or to blend?  That is the question I was asking myself a few weeks ago.  After looking into several brands and different options on both, I chose the blending route and we have been enjoying fabulous fruit smoothies since!  What is best for you really depends on your goal, and this difference was as fuzzy as a peach before I looked into it.  I hope sharing what I learned can make this process simpler for you, whether you are interested in it or just reading for fun.

In a nutshell, pun intended, juicing takes a whole fruit or vegetable and separates the skins and pulp and leaves a concentrated juice.  It is great for detox type cleanses and yields pure and natural unsweetened juice.  Blending produces things like fruit smoothies by processing the whole fruit or vegetable.  In blending the skins are retained, so you’re able to consume more vitamins and minerals.   Juicing yields a smoother juice, and blending yields a thicker product but can be thinned to your liking with water or adding other juices in the process.  After looking into many different makers both on line and in stores, I chose the Ninja Professional 1500 and I have been one pleased customer.  While this post is not an advertisement for Ninja, I will elaborate that I like the options it provides of economical, powerful blending with your choice of a single serve portion, a full blender, and it has a totally separate food processor system- a lot of bang for the buck.

(photo above of my Ninja with it’s parts)

So enough about Ninja, and onto the fun stuff.  There are as many combinations as you’d like to make and it is fun picking our smoothie flavors.  I think our favorite household combination has been some sort of pineapple-banana-strawberry, but I feel like I am leaving out so many others.  We have made green smoothies with kiwi and mint…we have added cucumbers and kale and spinach and my kids even liked it.  Other days we have gone tropical with mango, and sitting on my counter right now is a whole coconut we are going to bust open to use the fresh coconut water and pulp in some smoothie combination.  True, I am a food dork with things like this coconut, but it is fun, different and great for kids to know a coconut doesn’t always come shredded out of a plastic package.  I always think fresh is best, but I can’t leave out the fact that a lot of people buy frozen, already cut fruit and whip up fresh great smoothies.  If that is your style, do what works for you.  We have made what I called “Blueberry Bucks” which uses Buck O’Hairen’s Legendary Sunshine, a ginger berry flavored energy drink made right here in Winston Salem.  I blended it with blueberries and banana, and the “Rising Sun” was another Sunshine energy smoothie with fresh oranges, pineapple and apple- both great day starters when I didn’t have time for coffee or breakfast!  Whatever flavor concoction you come up with, I have found it is easy to make smoothies when I have the fruit already prepared and sliced or cut for the easy use.  Then it is like you have a fruit buffet to easily make fun smoothies for snack, breakfast or anytime in between.

So, as I was researching fruits, smoothies and so forth I ran into some quotes about fruit that I just can’t end without sharing.  I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor as you blend or juice away!

“Avoid fruits and nuts, after all you are what you eat.”  Garfield

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is not a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad.” Miles Kington

 “Women are like fruits.  Every one has its unique color, shape, aroma and taste.  The problem is with men.  They like fruit salad.”

I’ve got a bad case of this.  I’m not even sure the last time I had it so bad, and it’s driving me crazy.  I could pull my hair out every time I see one.  Drosophila, aka, fruit flies!

Summer time is here and the living is good, especially if you’re a fruit fly in my house.  It’s like they think I have set up a buffet for them.  “Should we take the summer tomatoes, peaches, or that banana today?” they are saying to each other.  I personally am hoping they will choose the pineapple I have left out in a saran covered glass dotted with holes, a ‘fly trap’.  Oh yes, I have tried many other remedies in the past week.  So if you’re thinking I should put vinegar in a glass overnight, check that off.  Sugar water?  Check.  Bottle of wine with an inch I grudgingly left in the bottom, well so far that has caught the most victims.

How do they do it?  They seem to multiply right in front of my eyes.  If you are reading this laughing because you’re in the same fruit boat I am, google it and you will not feel so alone.  All throughout the house, probably even the neighborhood, you can hear me clapping.  I’m really not clapping, only attempting to slap the beasts between my hands and trying to body slam them against the window pane.  How can they do this to me?  I am one of those people who loves animals, and I do think everything has a purpose no matter how pesky it might be.  These little bugs have me swearing at the air.  So good luck to you and yours if you have them, and congratulations to anyone who doesn’t.  If you find the “cure all” please do everyone a favor and comment here!

Dear Marion,

Again, here I am.  Staring at your house from my kitchen window.  I am struck by how quickly the past ten years have flown by.  No longer do I wait for your lights to go out at night, knowing that meant you had safely gone to bed.  No longer do I watch you at your porch door, or bring you a plate of dinner.  Now the memory of your sweet crackling voice saying “oh Julia” lingers behind, a treasure in my memory.  Ten years ago there you were, apron tied around your waist and broom in your hand.

Now the brown paint is a fresh new color, and thinking about it floods my mind with a mixture of emotions.  Overall, it reminds me change can be hard, but the results can be unexpectedly beautiful.  It’s a reminder of the fragility of life, and makes my heart feel a little heavy missing you.  I know it’s human nature, but why is change so hard sometimes?  Why are the things we can’t see things that scare us?  Isn’t that what faith is?

Someone else will be living there soon, new memories to be made and new life amongst the walls inside.  The cycle of life, to be appreciated, enjoyed, and above all not taken for granted.

So here’s to a happy new year to all my readers, customers, family and friends. Enjoy the best of food and life, and fresh changes of the new year.

If you went to the Reynolda Farmers Market early Friday, you might have been able to get a jar of Tomato Jam while it lasted. For those of you that did not, I will be making it again as I continue perfecting my recipe…as I am quite taken by this new condiment.

Describing this tomato jam isn’t fair to it. It is one of those items that is best tasted on the tongue rather than heard in words. Slow simmered for three hours, the tomatoes develop a deep and complex flavor and color. The first thing that teases your taste buds is the sweetness from the brown sugar, then you might notice a hint of lemon and spice. Then, like a fine wine, you are left with a tame spiciness to finish it off.

What is it that has me so taken? Like a new book, outfit, or needlepoint canvas, I think it is something familiar yet something new. Just old fashioned fun. Or perhaps my nerdy food side comes shining through. Either way, it has me jammin’ to a new flavor profile this week and I am thrilled about it.

I haven’t had time to sample it on many different things yet, but I can taste the yumminess of it over sliced grilled chicken, or on top of goat cheese or Brie with a nice glass of Cabernet, and it would make one the finest grilled cheeses I can imagine slathered between nice cheese and fine bread, with a surprising layer of sweet and spicy. I will leave you with a recipe idea I did make yesterday, which I called Jammin’ Salmon, and yes I did think the name was quite catchy. It is a simple and simply delicious dish.

I hope to see you soon. Until then, enjoy the best of food and life.

Jammin’ Salmon, serves 2

2 skin on salmon fillets
Olive oil
One lemon
Salt and pepper
4 oz jar of Julia’s Tomato Jam

1- Preheat oven to 375. Lightly drizzle olive oil in bottom of a covered baking dish or small casserole.
2- Place salmon fillets in covered baking dish, skin side down, and season with salt and pepper.
3- Squeeze juice of lemon over salmon to your liking.
4- Top each filet with a spoonful of tomato jam, cover and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked to your liking. 5- Remove salmon to serving plates and smother with remaining tomato jam on top.
6- Enjoy with family and friends, at a table, no tv, with nice music and sides!

On our way home from the beach the other week we stopped at a fabulous produce stand we enjoy in the summer when crops are coming in heavy.  I loaded up like a kid in a candy store with a $100 bill!  Tomatoes, squash, eggplant, cucumbers, peas, blueberries, Sandhill peaches, watermelon, potatoes and more!  Last night we reaped the rewards of our stop with our first dinner using produce this week:  Sautéed Turkey Cutlets with Herbs de Provence (a cherished gift straight from France), with Summer Squash and Tomatoes lightly sautéed in pan juices & sprinkled with salt, and a side of crowder peas I shelled then cooked in a little bouillon, with a fabulous piece of burrata right in the middle.  Heaven on a plate.

As much as I love the summer produce, I realize most of you are very familiar with those ingredients.  What I want to share with you is the last little item mentioned, burrata.  It is a fabulous ingredient to pair with many summer dishes and in case you aren’t familiar with it you might want to put it on your summer grocery list.  Burrata is an Italian cheese.  The outside is fresh mozzarella, with a creamy center that is a mixture of mozzarella and cream.  When cut into, it is very soft and decadent.  Better yet, you can purchase it at  Trader Joe’s for under $5 and I have found it to be consistently delicious.

Oh burrata, how do I use thee?  Let me count the ways…

~Simply cut open, sprinkled with a good salt.  I love Maldon Sea Salts, and Southern Home & Kitchen at Thruway sells a great line of exotic salts by the Salt Sisters.  My favorites are the black ash salt and the merlot salt, go check them out and choose!

~Burrata Caprese Salad, just a little different than what you are used to.  Fresh sliced tomatoes and basil with burrata is simply wonderful.  You say tomato, I say tomato… with burrata!

~Burrata with Balsamic Vinegar and chopped shallots.  I am slightly addicted to the 18 year aged Balsamic Vinegar from Green Gate Olive Oils.  This Balsamic is great as mentioned above and makes an incredible dressing, too.

~Summer tomato sauce with pasta and burrata.  This summer tomato sauce is so easy anyone can make it, and it’s not even cooked unless you want to give it a quick sautee with your pasta.  I think I will need to devote a short blog to making this summer sauce separately, stay tuned.

I think you get the idea, but use the burrata creatively.  Last night we didn’t have a starch with dinner, so the burrata was a nice addition to a very un-Italian meal.  I hope you will be inspired to check it out, let me know how it goes, and enjoy!

I am not a person who has many regrets, if any.  Regret is like a poison that can darken your heart if you let it creep in.  I believe things happen in life for a reason, and although we often don’t understand for years to come, it is a part of what shapes us into who we are and what we do.  Blind faith if you will.

Yet today, I do find myself thinking if only.  You see, it is Father’s Day and I am missing my dad more than I have in recent years.  Time definitely heals, but I always miss him. Every day, at every event, at every birthday, at every sunset on the beach, and at every sunrise in the mountains.

If only…

I could see him today, walking through the woods, fly rod in one hand hiking up in his waders.

If only… I could hear his wise words and sweet laughter.

If only…I could hold his dark hand, oh how as a little girl in church I always loved playing with his callused and strong hands.

If only…I could see him with the grandchildren he never met and the joy and love they would bring him.

If only…I had one more chance to have him over for dinner tonight, share one more song, one more dance.

If only.

But each moment that passes in time is never to be recovered, and I am not regretting.  Instead I celebrate a life well lived and a dad who gave meaning to the word hero, teacher, friend, unconditional love.  Because of him, I celebrate the dad that my husband is to our children, and the memories we are building.

We are all dealt from the same deck of cards;  joy, sorrow, hope, despair, laughter, loss,  heartache,  optimism, choice of attitude.  How you play them is up to you.

Because of my dad, I find true meaning in the words I write with every blog, enjoy the best of food and life.  So here is to all the dads we remember, those with us now, and those yet to be.  Like a cookie cutter you shape our lives.

“Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.  And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.  And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”  K.G., The Prophet