Tag: strawberries

Healthy Alternatives for July 4th Cookouts, Pot Lucks, or Picnics

If your plans for the upcoming July 4th holiday include hosting or contributing to a cookout, potluck, or picnic, here are some healthier alternative dishes plus a few tweaks to longtime favorites.

Dress your potato salad or coleslaw with a tasty vinaigrette. Add a punch of flavor with prepared mustard (great with potato salad), herbs, or spices. I use mustard seed or celery seed in my coleslaw. You not only lighten the calorie and fat count, but also lower the food poisoning potential if you don’t use a dressing that contains raw egg.

Bruschetta with chopped tomato and scallion and olive oil.

Other healthier menu items to consider are grilled kabobs, shrimp, chilled soups, bruschetta, ceviche, satay, cobblers, meze, poached salmon, Scandinavian open faced sandwiches, lettuce wraps, or summer rolls.

When you are invited to a potluck meal, bring something that will offer you (and any other guests being careful about what they eat) a break from the usual fare. A platter full of fruit presented on skewers is easy to transport, serve, and eat. A big jug of gazpacho with a tray of toppings can be a welcome addition to a summer menu.

If you are better at shopping then cooking, you can purchase fruit platters at most supermarkets. It can also be fun to simply have a great big bowl of something that everyone adores like fresh, in-season strawberries.

And, if you want to take shopping to another level, check out our post on our traditional Strawberry Shortcake dessert bar we've served to friends and neighbors on July 4th.

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Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Bar for Your July 4th Party

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2008-2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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June 23, 2015
Coming Home with Full Bags from the Copley Farmers Market

Happily our shopping bags were heavy on the way home from the Copley Farmers Market on Friday. We did miss out on our favorite strawberries so we plan on being on hand at the opening bell today.

The Atlas Farm stand had a nice selection of greens, vegetables, and even some heirloom tomatoes. And, of course, this market has a great fish vendor, bakeries, meat, and prepared foods.

What's on your food lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2015 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

Boston Public Library's 2015 Concerts in the Courtyard Series

Best Bite: Blue Prawns on the Plancha at Select Oyster Bar

DCR's Universal Access Program + Accessible Recreation Fair, May 30, 2015

June 9, 2015
Coming Home with Full Bags from the Copley Farmers Market

Happily our shopping bags were heavy on the way home from the Copley Farmers Market on Friday. We did miss out on our favorite strawberries so we plan on being on hand at the opening bell today.

The Atlas Farm stand had a nice selection of greens, vegetables, and even some heirloom tomatoes. And, of course, this market has a great fish vendor, bakeries, meat, and prepared foods.

What's on your food lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2015 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

Boston Public Library's 2015 Concerts in the Courtyard Series

Best Bite: Blue Prawns on the Plancha at Select Oyster Bar

DCR's Universal Access Program + Accessible Recreation Fair, May 30, 2015

June 9, 2015
At The Market: Strawberry Season!

The scent of strawberries is in the air at local farmers' markets, this week, and shoppers all seem to have a basket or two or three among their selections. We captured our friend Bob Oppenheim buying his berrys at the Atlas Farm Stand during Tuesday's Copley Square market.

We purchased these beauties from Hamiltion Orchards. Is it possible for berries to have terroir? Whatever the secret, Barbara Hamilton and her crew grow some delicious berries. We ask her every market when her blueberries will be coming.

If pick-your-own is on your agenda, you can start checking your favorite places to see if they've opened their strawberry fields for the season.

The big displays of garden plants are slowly being replaced with harvested greens and vegetables. If you are thinking of adding some herbs to your life, this is the time to buy the plants.

In Season, Right Now!

Strawberries, hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils – many farms will stop bring plants to market when they have enough produce to fill their stands.

Coming Soon!

After strawberry season comes blueberry season. I start looking for the first blues about July 4th.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 20, 2013
At The Market: Strawberry Season!

The scent of strawberries is in the air at local farmers' markets, this week, and shoppers all seem to have a basket or two or three among their selections. We captured our friend Bob Oppenheim buying his berrys at the Atlas Farm Stand during Tuesday's Copley Square market.

We purchased these beauties from Hamiltion Orchards. Is it possible for berries to have terroir? Whatever the secret, Barbara Hamilton and her crew grow some delicious berries. We ask her every market when her blueberries will be coming.

If pick-your-own is on your agenda, you can start checking your favorite places to see if they've opened their strawberry fields for the season.

The big displays of garden plants are slowly being replaced with harvested greens and vegetables. If you are thinking of adding some herbs to your life, this is the time to buy the plants.

In Season, Right Now!

Strawberries, hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils – many farms will stop bring plants to market when they have enough produce to fill their stands.

Coming Soon!

After strawberry season comes blueberry season. I start looking for the first blues about July 4th.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 20, 2013
At The Market: Strawberry Season!

The scent of strawberries is in the air at local farmers' markets, this week, and shoppers all seem to have a basket or two or three among their selections. We captured our friend Bob Oppenheim buying his berrys at the Atlas Farm Stand during Tuesday's Copley Square market.

We purchased these beauties from Hamiltion Orchards. Is it possible for berries to have terroir? Whatever the secret, Barbara Hamilton and her crew grow some delicious berries. We ask her every market when her blueberries will be coming.

If pick-your-own is on your agenda, you can start checking your favorite places to see if they've opened their strawberry fields for the season.

The big displays of garden plants are slowly being replaced with harvested greens and vegetables. If you are thinking of adding some herbs to your life, this is the time to buy the plants.

In Season, Right Now!

Strawberries, hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils – many farms will stop bring plants to market when they have enough produce to fill their stands.

Coming Soon!

After strawberry season comes blueberry season. I start looking for the first blues about July 4th.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 20, 2013
At The Market: Brookline & Belmont Markets Open Today

Brookline Summer Farmers' Market

Long before every neighborhood was setting up a farmers' market for locals, the Town of Brookline was supporting fresh and local food every Thursday afternoon in summer at the Brookline Summer Farmers' Market. It will run each Thursday from now until October 31st. Hours are from 1 pm to dusk.

Last year, a winter market was set up in the Arcade building, making this town the year-round envy of many of its neighbors.

We've told you about the joys of this market before both here and on Serious Eats. Plan a Thursday afternoon in Coolidge Corner, and you'll discover many food related joys!

Belmont Farmers' Market

Also, today from 2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., you can enjoy meeting a great group of vendors on opening day of the Belmont Farmers' Market. We're going to put a trip to Belmont on our market shopping list because we really enjoyed this market the last time we were there.

Market Tip of the Week

Chef Seta Dakessian from Seta’s Mediterranean Foods (shown above) with Jason Tucker from Red's Best seafood at the Copley Sq. Market, suggests bringing a cooler to your farmers’ market, especially if you're buying fresh fish!

Farm & Market Tidbits…

Genevieve Stillman from Stillman Farm reports, "We are harvesting lettuce, chard, beets, arugula, mesclun, turnips, onions, strawberries, snap peas, and more. Of course, we'll have plants at the markets for the coming month too! I've been enjoying freshly snipped herbs in all my salads, as well as edible flowers."

Ben Sommer, Copley Square Farmers' Market Manager, said, "I've always liked a good dilly bean. Now I can get them at the market from our new vendor Maine Homestead! There are so few commercial picklers in New England that sell at farmers markets. I think we're really lucky to have them here with us on Tuesdays."

Peter Ward, Central Square Farmers' Market Manager said, "Great to see Chef Steve Johnson of Rendezvous – a regular at the market – back shopping this season."

In Season, Right Now!

Mushrooms, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok Choi, chard, snap peas, chive flowers (love those- break them up in your salads,) herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils.

Coming Soon!

Strawberries are about to star at all our markets.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Farmers' Markets Opening Dates Spring 2013

At the Market: New Location for City Hall Market

Farmers' Markets a "Win-Win-Win"

Early Season at the Copley Square Market

June 13, 2013
At The Market: Brookline & Belmont Markets Open Today

Brookline Summer Farmers' Market

Long before every neighborhood was setting up a farmers' market for locals, the Town of Brookline was supporting fresh and local food every Thursday afternoon in summer at the Brookline Summer Farmers' Market. It will run each Thursday from now until October 31st. Hours are from 1 pm to dusk.

Last year, a winter market was set up in the Arcade building, making this town the year-round envy of many of its neighbors.

We've told you about the joys of this market before both here and on Serious Eats. Plan a Thursday afternoon in Coolidge Corner, and you'll discover many food related joys!

Belmont Farmers' Market

Also, today from 2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., you can enjoy meeting a great group of vendors on opening day of the Belmont Farmers' Market. We're going to put a trip to Belmont on our market shopping list because we really enjoyed this market the last time we were there.

Market Tip of the Week

Chef Seta Dakessian from Seta’s Mediterranean Foods (shown above) with Jason Tucker from Red's Best seafood at the Copley Sq. Market, suggests bringing a cooler to your farmers’ market, especially if you're buying fresh fish!

Farm & Market Tidbits…

Genevieve Stillman from Stillman Farm reports, "We are harvesting lettuce, chard, beets, arugula, mesclun, turnips, onions, strawberries, snap peas, and more. Of course, we'll have plants at the markets for the coming month too! I've been enjoying freshly snipped herbs in all my salads, as well as edible flowers."

Ben Sommer, Copley Square Farmers' Market Manager, said, "I've always liked a good dilly bean. Now I can get them at the market from our new vendor Maine Homestead! There are so few commercial picklers in New England that sell at farmers markets. I think we're really lucky to have them here with us on Tuesdays."

Peter Ward, Central Square Farmers' Market Manager said, "Great to see Chef Steve Johnson of Rendezvous – a regular at the market – back shopping this season."

In Season, Right Now!

Mushrooms, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok Choi, chard, snap peas, chive flowers (love those- break them up in your salads,) herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils.

Coming Soon!

Strawberries are about to star at all our markets.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Farmers' Markets Opening Dates Spring 2013

At the Market: New Location for City Hall Market

Farmers' Markets a "Win-Win-Win"

Early Season at the Copley Square Market

June 13, 2013
At The Market: Brookline & Belmont Markets Open Today

Brookline Summer Farmers' Market

Long before every neighborhood was setting up a farmers' market for locals, the Town of Brookline was supporting fresh and local food every Thursday afternoon in summer at the Brookline Summer Farmers' Market. It will run each Thursday from now until October 31st. Hours are from 1 pm to dusk.

Last year, a winter market was set up in the Arcade building, making this town the year-round envy of many of its neighbors.

We've told you about the joys of this market before both here and on Serious Eats. Plan a Thursday afternoon in Coolidge Corner, and you'll discover many food related joys!

Belmont Farmers' Market

Also, today from 2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., you can enjoy meeting a great group of vendors on opening day of the Belmont Farmers' Market. We're going to put a trip to Belmont on our market shopping list because we really enjoyed this market the last time we were there.

Market Tip of the Week

Chef Seta Dakessian from Seta’s Mediterranean Foods (shown above) with Jason Tucker from Red's Best seafood at the Copley Sq. Market, suggests bringing a cooler to your farmers’ market, especially if you're buying fresh fish!

Farm & Market Tidbits…

Genevieve Stillman from Stillman Farm reports, "We are harvesting lettuce, chard, beets, arugula, mesclun, turnips, onions, strawberries, snap peas, and more. Of course, we'll have plants at the markets for the coming month too! I've been enjoying freshly snipped herbs in all my salads, as well as edible flowers."

Ben Sommer, Copley Square Farmers' Market Manager, said, "I've always liked a good dilly bean. Now I can get them at the market from our new vendor Maine Homestead! There are so few commercial picklers in New England that sell at farmers markets. I think we're really lucky to have them here with us on Tuesdays."

Peter Ward, Central Square Farmers' Market Manager said, "Great to see Chef Steve Johnson of Rendezvous – a regular at the market – back shopping this season."

In Season, Right Now!

Mushrooms, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok Choi, chard, snap peas, chive flowers (love those- break them up in your salads,) herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey. Plus, you'll find annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Green garlic, garlic scrapes, pea tendrils.

Coming Soon!

Strawberries are about to star at all our markets.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Farmers' Markets Opening Dates Spring 2013

At the Market: New Location for City Hall Market

Farmers' Markets a "Win-Win-Win"

Early Season at the Copley Square Market

June 13, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

May 29, 2013