How many annoying blog posts about the weather being so hot have you read this week?
I'm betting the topic is almost as likely to get the "OMG DELETE" treatment as the tired old "How can it be August already? Where has the time gone?"
I mean, it's summer and it's supposed to be hot, duh, no big news here, right?
Still, I will say this: there is such thing as too much heat. I mean, surely some sort of line must be drawn at a point when even I can't bear turning on the oven?
The only positive aspect of this situation is, I'm eating plenty of fruit.
Of course, me being - well - me, you can't really expect me to munch on a peach and be done with it. So, I'm going to share with you a bunch of recipes by other bloggers that I have personally tested, and utterly adored.
Which are, being fruit-based, inherently HEALTHY. Wow, don't you feel righteous already?
I'm getting the weirdest one out of the way first - and let me tell you, it took a huge leap of faith for even me to be persuaded to put fruit into my pasta.
I mean, you know by now I despise food bigots, and will happily mix flavours and influences from all over the world in the same meal - and in the same dish - if so I fancy.
I don't even like pasta that much, so I don't share the reverence some of my fellow countrymen have for its tradition.
Still, I couldn't honestly say that the idea of topping spaghetti with fresh peaches didn't freak me out a little. Which is strange, really, since I've already put fruit in every possible course except main until now, and always loved the result...
Her blog is my go-to reference for Japanese recipes mainly, but because she travelled extensively through Asia, America and Europe, she developed a cosmopolitan view of food (among other things) that I immensely respect and admire.
Another thing I immensely respect and admire is her pic-taking mojo - how do you make a bowl o' marinade (with shredded basil leaves and chunks of peaches in it to boot!) look pretty?
Get the recipe for Pasta with Peaches and Basil from her directly, and gape at her photos with me - they're so much more appetizing than mine!
(Hey, but I did put it on a purple plate! Serious colour theory going on here, b*tches! Do I get bonus points for that? Do I?)
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Onwards to the next treat, and once again we're marinating our fruit first thing - this time it's huge, sweet, gorgeous dark cherries into balsamic vinegar!
Here's when your cherries get roasted - which makes them way yummy and jewel-like glossy...
...and finally they're smothered with Brie Cheese and chocolate (yep, you heard it right!) and turned into the most blissful grilled cheese ever!
The genius behind this lunch/dessert hybrid is Kevin Lynch of Closet Cooking.
His blog I discovered only recently, but I'm loving it to pieces! First of all, Kevin's a guy and this fact alone makes for a refreshing point of view in a girl-dominated foodie world.
Also, I kind of have a crush on his rationale for blogging...
Here's when your cherries get roasted - which makes them way yummy and jewel-like glossy...
...and finally they're smothered with Brie Cheese and chocolate (yep, you heard it right!) and turned into the most blissful grilled cheese ever!
The genius behind this lunch/dessert hybrid is Kevin Lynch of Closet Cooking.
His blog I discovered only recently, but I'm loving it to pieces! First of all, Kevin's a guy and this fact alone makes for a refreshing point of view in a girl-dominated foodie world.
Also, I kind of have a crush on his rationale for blogging...
I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.Way to go, bro! Seriously, what's not to love in this man?
The recipe for Balsamic Roasted Cherry, Dark Chocolate & Brie Grilled Cheese Sandwich is wonderful as-is, but I found the chocolate flavour to be a tad overpowering, so the second time around I adjusted the cheese-to-chocolate ratio slightly.
Also, since I'm a lazy bum who hates cleaning her oven, I pan-roasted the marinated cherries instead of baking them. I liked this version better, honestly, but it's of course just a matter of personal preference - also, I see lots of possibilities for experimenting with other fruit and types of cheese here!
Which seamlessly leads me to...
...this veritable pièce de résistance!
I don't know how well you can see them in the pic above, but there are figs on this pizza. Gorgeous, honey-sweet, HEALTHY figs...
...and then, of course, there's bacon and fontina and sharp gorgonzola. What?
A Fresh Fig, Bacon + Blue Cheese Pizza could only be the brainchild of Jessica of How Sweet It Is.
Now her blog, it's one of the very first ones I found out and kind of loved - and I say "kind of" here because her recipes tend to be very hit-or-miss with me. I mean, she loves anything cheese, which makes most of them (such as, uh, this one) super extra gorgeous in my book. But she also loves melon and avocado and mascarpone. Ouch.
Also, you know that friend everybody has, who is invaluable in that she'll recommend her favourite movies and TV shows and whatnot - and you know that you can pretty safely shun them, and watch the ones she didn't care for, and be sure not to be disappointed?
She's kind of that to me. Honest, it's such a sure hit, it is uncanny. But her blogging voice is so lighthearted and fun and playful that I drink up her opinions as hungrily as her recipes, and of all the foodies I'm following, she's the one that feels like the closest friend to me (even though she doesn't know, LOL!)
...OK, so I gave you lots of food for thought today (as well as, y'know, food plain and simple.)
How about you start doing something for your health now, and treat yourself to one of these recipes - or all three?
