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Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad Bowls with Berries

This Vietnamese rice noodle salad is a vegetarian-forward version of the traditional bún salads drizzled with nuoc cham—the popular Vietnamese dressing and dipping sauce—with spring lettuces, crunchy fresh vegetables and sweetened with the season’s best fresh berries.

Yes, this noodle salad does taste as good as it looks. And it’s just the beginning of my job to convince you to try this baby soon.

I’ve been a fan of fresh and crunchy Vietnamese vermicelli noodle salad bowls (bún) since my college days way back when, and ever since visiting Vietnam last Christmas, lighter, healthier, simpler recipes with a flare of these worldly-inspired Asian flavors have been at the top of my must-have cravings.

Today I’m sharing this recipe for vermicelli noodle salad to be served as a main meal noodle bowls for four. Or, the salad can be served in smaller portions as a side dish to this lighter chicken satay, tossing it all together in one big bowl the same as I do in my basic, fresh and easy Vietnamese noodle salad for serving to a party or salad recipe for a potluck or bbq.

There’s no cooking involved with this salad, just some peeling and chopping, so let’s get on to getting our salad cravings cured.continue to the recipe… about Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad Bowls with Berries

Mango and Avocado Salad With The Healthy Apple

The combination of nutrient-packed greens and antioxidant rich fruit makes this a super superfood vegan salad with a tangy ginger and berry dressing.

Some of us deal with minor gluten intolerances, occasional heartburn, and lactose-intolerance. But we’re still able to enjoy most of the foods we love, and frequent just about any restaurant.

But for some, like food blogger Amie Valpone, life can throw a pretty major curveball when it comes to eating food we all suppose is healthy for us.

Amie is the unbelievably friendly and incredibly vivacious blogger behind The Healthy Apple — a wellness blog devoted to clean eating. I first met Aimee at a food blogging event where she exuded boundless energy and vivaciousness.

I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone so outgoing and so friendly, or who can talk so fast. Anyone who knows her will attest to that.

So when she shared with me her health story, I was shocked. This petite, energetic woman who simply radiated from the inside out and drew you into her passionate world was a far cry from the 20-something year old girl who found herself immobile and deathly ill. She was chronically sice, bedridden and riddled with questions of what was wrong with her, and doctors didn’t have the answer.

But that didn’t deter this ball of fire. She pursued her own personal health crusade. She didn’t have a choice. For her, it was life or death.continue to the recipe… about Mango and Avocado Salad With The Healthy Apple

Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

Store-bought pie crust, fresh raspberries and sweet peaches make these simple hand pies an easy dessert made extra yummy when served with vanilla ice cream.

Even as little tow-head, I had a very special relationship with my Grandma Frieda.

Because she lived just outside San Francisco and we lived in Utah, we only saw her twice a year, sometimes three. But the times we did see her, either at our house or hers, it was all about spending time with her granddaughters. She taught us old old German children’s songs (hoppe hoppe reiter!), taught us the finer points of eating cottage cheese with jam on toast, and squired us in her 1968 VW Beetle that she and Grandpa brought over from Germany up and down El Camino Real to Safeway for treats.

We didn’t let the distance stop our relationship from growing because my grandma and I were die hard pen pals. My grandmother and I wrote letters back-and-forth, forth-and-back. She had the most beautiful penmanship, unlike any I’d ever seen thanks to her schooling as a youth in Germany, and no matter how mundane, she was always keen on receiving my letters.

I’d tell her about the weather, or my latest soccer game or that we gave the dog a bath. Whatever the topic was that either of us wrote about didn’t really matter. It’s the fact that we wrote one another at least once a month, and the anticipation of getting that familiar looking addressed envelope in the mail. That was always the most exciting part.

I’m trying to instill that same love and connection in my daughter for her grandparents. But it’s not easy.

It’s a lot harder today because letter writing just doesn’t happen as much anymore. It’s more about the immediacy of texting and seeing each other in person thanks to FaceTime. But I’m okay with that. Because no matter if it’s with a pen and paper or a device and a video, it’s really just about keeping in touch.

And that makes it even more special when Smudge gets one-on-one time with her grandmothers, like cooking lessons from her Grammy Pat.

continue to the recipe… about Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

4 Ingredient Ice Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Krispie Crust

Use whatever store bought or homemade ice cream you desire to fill this crispy, peanut butter crust for a super easy dessert.

The note with an asterisk at the bottom of the recipe reads, “*green peppermint choc. chip is gram’s fave.”

Apparently my grandma had some pretty wild taste buds. Green peppermint chocolate chip with peanut butter? She had cravings too.

I copied this from my grandma’s recipe book at an early point of my cooking career, it must have been when I was a teenager. I later transferred it to my master recipe book, handwritten at least 25 years ago. By the way, that book is now about 5 inches thick, with a broken bind and is a hot mess of recipes, some written but most of them torn from magazines, newspapers or written on scraps of random paper. It’s where I store all of my family favorites.

I’ve wanted to share this recipe for oh…say…ever since I started the blog. Somehow or another it would always get pushed to the back burner, but with summer in full swing and my wish for easy on the brain, it popped right to the top of this week.

It’s time to indulge in the easiest of ways.

continue to the recipe… about 4 Ingredient Ice Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Krispie Crust

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Ribs

The secret to the best barbecue ribs starts in the oven and is finished with this spicy sweet and tangy raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce.

It has been our Saturday routine for years. We wake up, my husband cracks his first Diet Coke of the day and we ask each other, “What do you feel like for dinner?”

Barring Smudge’s early morning soccer and basketball games, or my weekend honey-do-list, we jump back into bed, flip on the TV and take a tour of the cooking shows while eating Frog In the Hole. Our dinner time feast is typically chosen thanks to what we discover from PBS and Food Network and the talents of Tyler Florence, Jamie Oliver, Anne Burrell and one of our own, The Pioneer Woman.

Our weekend food tour inspired me to start sharing recipes on Saturdays, because I figured you’re looking for ideas too. And so here we are, with the first installment of Weekend Eats.

Each Saturday I’ll be sharing a seasonal recipe idea for what to have for dinner come Saturday and Sunday, with the occasional breakfast or brunch thrown in. Rounding out the post will be a few suggestions of what to pair with my main dish, recipes from other food bloggers, and some favorites from FoodieCrush too.

First off the block, ribs!

continue to the recipe… about Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Ribs

Acai, Pomegranate and Raspberry Smoothie

Acai juice, pomegranate juice and raspberries are full of antioxidants with all sorts of health benefits in this sweet and tart superfood packed smoothie.

Because if you’re like me and my soon to be 6th grade babe who this week declares, “School’s out for summer!” (cue Alice Cooper) you will in short order be seeking anything cool, frothy and delicious to take away the bite of summer’s heat that is about to descend upon us like a triple-woven wool blanket.

Honestly? I’m looking forward to it. Remind me of this come August when I’m walking across the hot grocery store parking lot, sweltering as I peel my tank top from my sweaty skin and seriously debate booking a flight to Alaska.

Until then, let’s just enjoy it, shall we?

One thing that will be making our summer all the more chill is this new cookbook from my friend Deborah of the blog Taste and Tell. It pretty much says it all in the title, Best 100 Smoothies for Kids. But like all good things in life, it’s truly not just for kids. Pass me a straw!

continue to the recipe… about Acai, Pomegranate and Raspberry Smoothie

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce Plus 10 Finger Lickin’ Barbecue Sauce Recipes to Light Up the Grill

This sweet, spicy and smoky BBQ sauce is ready for ribs, wings, chicken and pork, plus 10 more favorite BBQ recipes that are finger lickin’ good.

In my book, a good old summer barbecue simply isn’t up to snuff unless you’ve exhausted the supply of napkins.

Go ahead and leave be those fancy-schmancy cloth napkins you so out of character ironed after last Thanksgiving for next year’s turkey throw down, because when it’s Q-time, manners that fit dinner with the queen go right out the window. BBQs are the time to get in touch with our inner caveman, dig in with our hands, gnaw our way to the bottom of the pile and finally swipe that barbecue mustache off your lip. Don’t miss that bit on your chin, either.

A spicy and sweet bbq sauce is the ticket to my flights of food fancy. This BBQ sauce is the epitome of the two and is ready and willing to submit to your grilling pleasures.

Now that’s a partner in grilling I can get down with.

continue to the recipe… about Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce Plus 10 Finger Lickin’ Barbecue Sauce Recipes to Light Up the Grill

Quick and Easy Raspberry Fool

Raspberry Fool is a quick and easy raspberry dessert recipe. It’s essentially raspberries and cream that’s been swirled together to make an elegant treat!

Her: “A fool? What’s a fool? Mom, why are you calling this a fool? I don’t even know what that is. I’ve never heard of it. It has whipped cream but why is it a fool? Or are you calling me a fool? I don’t want to be a fool. Mooooooommm.”

And then one big spoonful of raspberry swirled whipped cream into her mouth. And in 3-2-1…

Her: “Oh mom, this is really, really good.” Smiles and licks and more creamy swirled spoonfuls into her rosebud shaped mouth.

Me: “Give me a bite.”

With the look of shock and awe and a wickedly fast turn of her entire torso, she guards her glass jar of Raspberry Fool like she’s just rebounded the game winning shot in the finals of the WNBA championships.

And replies curtly, “No!”

Me: “Seriously? Not even a bite?”

Her: “Uggggh. Okaaaaaaay,” as she wipes the raspberry swirled cream from the sides of her mouth and hands me the jar.

Just another example of the generosity that’s shared when I deliver leftovers of the day’s recipe creations to my sweet—and can I say it again—more than generous 10-year-old. Sheesh. Who’s the fool now?continue to the recipe… about Quick and Easy Raspberry Fool

Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone

Today, you almost had me at quinoa. Or rather a twist on quinoa salad of a favorite ethnic variety. A recipe I’ve been craving, with bright flavors, creating lighter lunchtime fare. But then…this happened: Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone.

Don’t be ashamed, be real. It’s okay you too like these berries more than quinoa. Even when you’re secretly giving me fist pumps and high fives. Even when your conscience is chanting, “Quinoa! Quinoa! Quinwwwwwaaaa!!!!!!”

My little Meyer lemon bushes have been wintering indoors like retired Upper East siders who call the southern beaches of Boca Raton their snowbirding home.

So there I was with hands on hips, staring these little bushes down as I pondered whether it was time yet to subject them to the harsh reality of the wild outdoors where they belong. Like swallows heading back to Capistrano, is it time for my two little lemons that bloomed over the winter to face the outdoor elements?

What? And leave their personal furnace vent and sunny west side disposition? Or would that be west side exposure? Just so long as it’s the good side of the west side we have a deal. Wazzup Westsiiiiiide?

Gosh, that makes me almost want to come back one day as a lemon tree. But only if you’ll call me Ms. Meyer.

continue to the recipe… about Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone

Baked Stuffed Orange French Toast

The breakfast was a hit. Again.

I made this Orange Stuffed Baked French Toast for Smudge when I was testing recipes a few months ago and in just one hot minute she deemed it birthday worthy. A big deal? If you’re turning 9 years old you bet it is.

“Are you sure you don’t want your favorite from last year, the Banana and Chocolate Chip Baked French Toast?” I asked, knowing that it was a huge hit at last year’s birthday sleepover.

“Nope. I want this one.” A girl who makes up her mind and knows what she wants. I like that. But the fact she chose orange over chocolate? Maybe that red hair has singed her taste buds because as a blonde, I always go chocolate.

The menu quickly became one less thing we had to worry about once we settled on the birthday guest list (10 friends who are just as crazy and fun as she is) and decided what to do in lieu of birthday gifts (donations to our local humane society) then set the party itinerary of swimming and a sleepover.

All that was left to do was bake her traditional Birthday Cake Pie and prep the french toast for baking in the morning.

That’s what I love about doing a baked french toast, and I have several recipes on the blog because of it. They’re so easy to pull out of the fridge, pop in the oven and snap, you have a sweetened breakfast treat fit for a gaggle of gals.

continue to the recipe… about Baked Stuffed Orange French Toast

Birthday Cake Pie with Chocolate Mousse and Berries

Who is this girl, my daughter, who doesn’t like cake?

I continually expect her taste to change, to adapt as every mom hopes their child’s palate eventually will. But instead of willing her to accept broccoli or whole-wheat bread into her life, instead I’m wishing she’d just like cake.

For her birthday for the past three years, Smudge has eschewed cake in favor of pie for her celebratory dessert. I still don’t get how or why she has such a definite preference for pie over cake, but I am nothing but accommodating to my girl’s wishes on her big day.

But I am still a mom, and I do have an ulterior motive. Yep, I’m sneaky that way. To try and sway her in the slightest way possible, I posed we create a combo cake pie, where cake and pie meet in the middle. With chocolate mousse. And whip cream. In decadent, lush layers.

continue to the recipe… about Birthday Cake Pie with Chocolate Mousse and Berries

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad Bowls with Berries

Mango and Avocado Salad With The Healthy Apple

Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

4 Ingredient Ice Cream Pie with Peanut Butter Krispie Crust

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Ribs

Acai, Pomegranate and Raspberry Smoothie

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce Plus 10 Finger Lickin’ Barbecue Sauce Recipes to Light Up the Grill

Quick and Easy Raspberry Fool

Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone

Baked Stuffed Orange French Toast

Birthday Cake Pie with Chocolate Mousse and Berries

How to Make the Best Potato Salad

How to Make Classic Macaroni Salad

How to Make the Best Grilled Salmon

The Best Greek Chicken Marinade

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