Salad from Miramar Farm

Jonathan, baby Max and I visited the most inspiring farm recently in Half Moon Bay, on the coast near where we live called Miramar Farms. It's a stunning spot created by Jayne and Mark Battey that hosts groups for learning programs, meetings and workshops. I was moved by the beauty and quiet of this farm overlooking the sea. Guests must leave feeling so renewed and rejuvenated! After spending just an hour there, I sure did.

Miramar Farms. The ocean at Half Moon Bay is in the distance.

A labrynth for personal reflection

Jon & Max walking the Labrynth

Visitors can sit in the tea house for some quiet time.

The farm beds

Food is grown at the farm specifically to be served to the guests. We met Miramar's chef, Robin, and farmer, Liz, who work together with others to create amazing meals throughout the week. They sent us home with a huge bag full of the most beautiful greens: lettuces, a spicy salad mix, kale, radishes, turnips, herbs and flowers. There's really something about seeing where a vegetable is grown, picking it, and eating it on the same day. It tastes SO much better!! (Because it is!) Knowing exactly where it came from, and meeting Liz who had spent weeks cultivating it, made me appreciate the flavor even more. 

Lettuce we got to take home

Liz holding baby Max

We went to a friend's house for dinner that night and I made a giant salad, with nothing but the lettuce, radishes and the spicy salad mix Liz had picked for us. I served it with this citrussy dressing below (that I created recently for Buzz + Bloom honey) and it was the best salad I'd had in a LONG time. 

Get the salad dressing recipe here.

Cheers!

Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade Cocktail

I have been following Lily Diamond's blog, Kale & Caramel, and Instagram (@kaleandcaramel) for years and so enjoy it. Her unique kitchen approach includes recipes not only for deliciously fresh food (like these Crispy Lentil Smashed Potatoes) and drinks (like the cocktail below), but also for DIY beauty products (like this Blackberry Basil Healing Face Mask).  

Her first book, Kale & Caramel,  just came out and it is BEAUTIFUL. Having grown up in an apple orchard in California where we grew a lot of our own vegetables, I think there's something so valuable about connecting to plants in the place that you live; watering them, feeling their leaves, watching them grow, picking them, eating them, having your hands and feet in the dirt. Lily grew up in Hawaii among a bounty of edible flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables in her backyard which informs her kitchen approach. This connection to plants and dirt and place is often difficult to maintain when you live in a more urban area without things readily growing around you, but Lily talks about how using fresh herbs, flowers and other plants in the kitchen can help you retrieve that connection. She calls it a "return to wildness", which I think is so valuable, grounding, and healthy. 

Here's Lily's recipe for Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade from her new book. (her pic below, plus my little watercolor illustration above.)

Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade

serves 2

preparation time: 5 minutes

3-inch length of cucumber, chilled and coarsely chopped (about ⅓ cup), plus cucumber slices for garnish 2 to 3 fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish

1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus lemon slices for garnish

Add the chopped cucumber to a blender or food processor with the basil, lemon juice,still water, and honey. Blend until smooth,then distribute evenly between 2 glasses.

Add the sparkling water, again splitting evenly between the glasses. Drop in a few ice cubes, and garnish with cucumber slices, lemon slices, and basil as desired.

1⁄4 cup still water 1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar

3⁄4 cup sparkling water, or more to taste Ice cubes, for serving

* * *

Lily suggests making it a cocktail by adding gin, vodka, light rum, or cachaça. Yes, please. Cheers!

Recipe and drink photo copyright © 2017 by Lily Diamond from KALE & CARAMEL: Recipes for Body, Heart, and Table published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Photos copyright © 2017, Lily Diamond

Mother's Day Brunch

In case you're hosting a brunch for Mother's Day next weekend, and stressing over what to serve, I've got you covered! If you have my Forest Feast Gatherings book, you can serve the entire Brunch menu on page 95 (done, and done!). The star of that menu is an easy, make-ahead frittata loaf...recipe below.

Zucchini Frittata Loaf + Ruby Mimosa Punch from the Brunch menu in Forest Feast Gatherings.

Serve it with grapefruit mimosas, a green salad, a fruit salad and some pastries, and call it a (Mother's) day! For more ideas, see this menu from the archives.

PS: Looking for a fun foodie gift? How about these placemats?!

Cheers to Mom!

Za'atar Sweet Potatoes and Garlicky Kale + The OPP Cookbook

I love listening to podcasts while driving and Jessica Murnane's is one of my favorites. In fact, one of my favorite interviews I've ever done was by her on her One Part Podcast– she asks great questions! So I was super excited to meet her in person last year when I was in Charleston. We met for a drink while she was in the middle of working on her first cookbook. I remember her telling me she was looking for a photographer and considering Nicole Franzen, who I thought would be a dream to work with (who I love to follow on Instagram and who she ended up choosing!). 

Her book, One Part Plant: A Simple Guide to Eating Real, One Meal at a Time, was just released and I was so excited to get a copy in the mail recently to see just how beautifully it turned out. The book is full of recipes that are vegan and gluten-free, although that's not really in the tag line. Instead it's about choosing to eat at least one plant-based meal a day, which can be very healing and make you feel great. After being diagnosed with endometriosis, she began eating a plant-based diet which basically healed her, and that prompted the OPP movement. He recipes are delicious, clever and colorful...and of course beautifully shot. Plus she is always wearing super cute outfits in the book (and in real life) and has a fabulous design sense. 

Here's her recipe for Za'atar Sweet Potatoes and Garlicky Kale from the One Part Plant cookbook. YUM!

Find the full recipe HERE. Photo by Nicole Franzen.

Check out Jessica's website, follow her on Instagram @jessicamurnane, and buy her book here.

Congrats, Jess!

Radish-Beet Slaw

I've been getting so many beautiful watermelon radishes in our farm box lately! I made this salad recently and it was easy, tasty, and colorful. Full of crunch! The recipes serves 4 as a side.