Summer is here and I’ve got some favorites that are making my life complete. I’ve just wrapped up my classes until late August because I am working on something fab that I will share with you soon!  In the meantime, here’s what I am loving right now!

All Natural Liquid Smoke

If you saw my post from earlier this week, you saw that I used this liquid smoke in my homemade barbecue sauce. I kind of think of it as a secret ingredient that adds this incredible rich, deep, smoky flavor that suggests whatever you added it to has been sitting on top of wood chips for hours on end, seeping up all that smoky goodness. While it may seem that this kind of a liquid seasoning would be made in a lab with a bunch of chemicals, not the case.  If you find a natural brand, you are just getting water and the smoke from hickory, mesquite, or applewood chips. Not only is this a great addition to homemade barbecue sauce, but you could also use it in baked beans, chili, brisket, pulled pork, bean stew, and all different types of sauces and marinades. Do be modest though when using — a little bit goes a long way and you can go from adding a subtle smokiness to a bitter, chemical taste really quickly. The two brands that I like are Living Nutrition and Wrights, both of which are available on Amazon, and I have seen Wright’s at my local Whole Foods.

 

 Bamboo Salt Spoons

In my opinion, properly seasoning food is the key to successful cooking. You would be surprised how quickly a dish can go from “eh” to “wow!” with a pinch of salt. Everyone’s preference for salt varies and it is important for those of us that are crazy about salt to be confident in adding that extra pinch or two. That being said, I always like to have salt available for my family or guests or students, and I think it is really fun and chic to serve tasty sea salts with these cute little bamboo salt spoons. They are teeny tiny which allows you to just get a sprinkle on your food and is handy for passing and sharing so not everyone is sticking their fingers in the salt cellar. The ones that I have were purchased on vacation somewhere.  But I found these on Amazon that I think are great and at a great price.

 

 

Jovial Beans in Glass Jars

I am obviously very passionate about nutrition and the health benefits of food.  However, something that I think is often overlooked is the packaging of food. We are all well aware that the BPA that is present in many plastics and in the liners of aluminum cans are no joke and contain hormone-disrupting toxins. Once consumers caught onto that, food manufactuers started replacing BPA with BPB, in order to claim that their packaging is “BPA-free.” Unfortunately, BPB contains those same toxins that are hazardous to our health as BPA. The options then became to find unlined cans or tetra-paks (which although I have not been able to find any research on, learned from a student who attended a major health conference that whatever is lining these tetra-paks is not good, and the tetra-pak company has paid big bucks to keep that under wraps). However, when the cans are unlined the food is exposed to the bare alumimun, which can possibly leach into our food.  And the last thing we need is more heavy metal circulating through our system. Sorry for being a bit of a downer.  The good news is, there are other options (and I mean aside from making common canned goods like beans and tomatoes from scratch.)  Thank goodness for companies like Jovial, whose organic glass jarred tomatoes I have been buying for years.  They have recently release my dream come true: organic beans in glass jars.  I know!! So exciting!  I found these at my local Whole Foods, but they are much cheaper if buy them directly from Jovial.

Crate and Barrel Outdoor Plastic Candles

Summertime is the perfect time for outdoor entertaining, and I love accenting my outdoor space with lots of candles.  I have these hurricanes from Crate and Barrel that I love and are the perfect patio accessory and can really add character to an outdoor space.  Up until recently I have been keeping regular wax candles in the hurricanes, but as the temperatures have been warming, my candles actually melted in the sun!  I needed a different option that was more weather-proof than the standard candle, and I was able to find these plastic outdoor candles at Crate and Barrel as well!  Not only will they stand up to the sun, but they also look really nice and are flameless, which provides an extra measure of safety.  You can even set these candles on a timer to have them turn on and off at a specific time frame at night.  How cool is that?  These would be a great hostess gift maybe along with your favorite hurricane!  They come in two sizes, 3×6” and 6×12″.  My hurricanes sit up pretty high on my fireplace outside and you can’t even tell the candles are plastic.  Swear.

 

 

Seasonal Produce: Figs

I was lucky enough to know from a young age that figs were not just a filling in Fig Newtons.  We had fig trees and my father taught me to wait until they were super soft before eating them. Figs are available for such a short time during the summer that I am running out to the market each week to snag some up. Figs are extremely versatile and work well in a variety of dishes. And since they are only available fresh for a few months out of the year, anytime I have a dish with them in it, it feels like a treat! They have an incredible, subtle sweet taste that combines with the smoothness of their skin and the slight crunch to their seeds to create a taste that really is unlike any other fruit. Figs are related to mulberries and high in fiber and potassium, which helps lower blood pressure. They come in a few different varieties but the most common and my favorite is the black mission, which is the one with the dark purple skin and pink flesh inside. Figs are one of the most perishable fruits so they won’t last more than a couple of days on your countertop. I love having figs on oatmeal, smoothie bowls, salads and toasts.  I did this fun appetizer for Jenni Kayne that she posted on her blog using fresh figs.  Check out these other recipes from around the web!

Yogurt with Fresh Figs, Honey, and Pine Nuts from Bon Appetit

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Fresh Figs from Ottolenghi

Fresh Fig and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad from Jamie Oliver