Better Home Cooking Basics: #66 Store Peaches Upside Down

I know Georgia supposedly has the best peaches but I'm partial to South Carolina peaches (they're the best in my book!). Aside from being insanely delicious &  great on their own or even on pizza they can bruise pretty easily. To get the most life out of your peaches try storing them stem end down on a flat surface at room temperature. This way they won't weeble or wobble or roll around & get bruised.

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #65 Choose the Watermelon With a Yellow Spot

When picking your watermelons out this summer look for ones with a yellow or deep cream ground spot. This yellow spot marks where the melon sat on the ground & grew! It shows that it’s ripe. Spots that are light green or white are signs of under ripe melons.

After you’ve picked your melons make yourself a refreshing glass of juice or this salad.

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Better Home Cooking Basics: #39 Choose Eggplants that are Firm & have Fresh Green Stems.

Chris & I spent a glorious week in the NY Finger Lakes last week. On our sad (sad because the end of vacation is always sad) trek home we stopped at this uber farmers market to pick up some local produce for Chris' parents & ourselves. Eggplant was one of the veggies we scored. We got to talking about eggplants with our family & realized that besides that we like to eat them we didn't really know a lot about them. So I took to the innerwebs to find this super basic tip on how to pick the best eggplant at the stand: Choose firm, even hard eggplants. You don't want them to be mushy or have any soft spots.  Then look at the stem. If it's fresh & green looking you've found your plant - if not keep searching because those shriveled & dried leaves are not the ones to bring home to mom!

Now that you have your fresh eggplant try this or this recipe!

 Get more of my better home cooking basics here. 

Garlic Scape Pesto

At lunch time I peruse the Union Square Farmers Market in NYC. It’s usually after I’ve already gone grocery shopping for the week but I can’t help but pick up the farm fresh produce they have. I mean there’s always room for blueberries & peaches & those random veggies I’ve never heard of.  A few weeks ago I saw garlic scapes for the first time offered at the farmers market (first time I noticed them that is). I looked at them & gave them a slight head tilt of curiosity & kept walking. Later that day on my Facebook feed Cookshop (a very tasty farm-to-table kind of New American style restaurant) had a photo for garlic scape "frites" they were serving that day.

I took it as a sign from the universe to check them out. So I did a bit of research (read: I googled them) & found out that they’re the top flower part of the garlic that grows out of the ground. They can be used the same way as green onions. They have a mild garlic taste. You can sautee them in olive oil & butter & toss them with tomatoes & pasta like my friend Kara does or even mix them into your meatballs like my friend Kim or make them into a pesto like I did & will be showing you today.  Whatever your choice of recipe, know that the season for garlic scapes if very short so if you see them buy them they might not be at the farmers market next week. You can even freeze them for later use!


How do you use garlic scapes? Please share below as I'd love new recommendations.

Have a great weekend!

Better Home Cooking Basics: #27 Use a Serrated Knife to Cut Tomatoes without Smushing Them

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. The sun finally decided to come out here on Sunday & we were blessed with two great sunshiney days - the others were just as good, sans the vitamin d.

Now that summer has unofficially started I am pretty excited for some fresh farm-to-table produce I plan on hitting the farmers markets for. Tomatoes are among some of my favorite finds at farmers markets, especially heirloom tomatoes (the green zebras are my favorite!).  I picked up this tip to cut tomatoes with a serrated knife to keep them from smushing when you do. Try it - I think it'll give you a good grip on cutting tomatoes the next time you do.

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Cute Market Totes

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I am THAT girl at the super market. I bring all my reusable bags that I’ve been hoarding collecting mostly from recent shopping trips to Shobha (where I work) or Sephora. I pack & store them inside one another like Russian dolls. Then I pop them in the car & bring them with me to the super market. Chris wasn’t initially on board with this extra step, eco-friendly idea but once he learned we could save 5 cents per bag used at check out at our local Shop Rite I didn’t have to convince him any further. It was win win. I get to use my bags & do my part to save the environment & Chris (& I) love to save money when we can.

My girlfriend, Amanda, opened my eyes to these market bags at West Elm & inspired me to look for what else was out there for eco-friendly & chic shopping. This is what I found (click the number corresponding numbers in the caption for more details on where you can get them).

What do you use for your grocery store or farmers market shopping?

Lemon Herb Pistachio Pesto

If you follow me on instagram you already know that I spent Sunday with the hubs in search of a farmers market.  I was eager to find some farm fresh produce to cook with for the week.  Luckily, after a quick search Chris found some great farmers markets in Northern Jersey, more specifically Ridgewood (my new favorite town).  That night we ate an early dinner with some of our farmers market finds that consisted of (store bought) sliced roasted chicken, green beans & potatoes all topped with this lemon herb pistachio pesto, quickly quick & tasty.

Read on to learn how to make my lemon herb pistachio pesto that is delicious on poultry, veggies, potatoes, bread, pasta... & pretty much anything.