The judges: Laura Koski, MA, RD at Price Chopper, MaryEllen Fillo of the Hartford Courant, Teresa LaBarbera of WTNH and me.

I love this photo. It was such a fun time — judging a cooking event here in Connecticut recently. Let me back up for a sec.

Back in July, I was invited by the National Mango Board to be one of the judges of a fun cook-off between two chefs when their Mango Hometown Tour came to Hartford, Connecticut, on August 26.

After I peeled myself off the floor in shock (there’s a National Mango Board? They want me to be a judge?) I agreed to do it. I mean, of course I did. The whole idea of tasting incredible foods from two of Hartford’s finest chefs was too good to pass up. And the fact that I love mangoes helped a lot too.

The event pitted Chef Chris Torla of Trumbull Kitchen (left) and Chef Billy Grant of Grant’s (right) in a Battle Mango. Ok, ok. It’s not Iron Chef. But it was a really fun and interesting thing to see what each of them came up with.

Billy Grant’s dish was served first: a mango barbecue braised beef short rib with a crispy onion ring and mango garnish. It was heavenly … the tender, fall-apart short rib was braised for about three and a half hours. I loved the way the mango added a tangy sweetness to the dish too. And the onion ring – Grant’s father’s recipe – was too good to stop at a polite bite.

Chris Torla did a trio of mango recipes: a mango lassi, a mango fondue tartlet and an OMG-pork belly slider topped with a mango slaw. It was my first introduction to pork belly (well, aside from its cured brother bacon), and it was an awesome one — the kind that leaves you craving more and wanting to swipe someone else’s portion (not that I would ever do that. Ever. Really). The fondue was really memorable too.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the event ended in a tie.

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Mango Recipes from the Archives

- Mango Iced Tea
- Mango Chipotle Shrimp
- Mango Salsa

I love beets.

They are one of those vegetables that you can toss with a glaze or chop into a salad. But they don’t require special preparations to be great. They can also shine alone with just a sprinkle of sea salt. When steamed or boiled just right, where they still have a bit of give when you bite into them and they spring back with a trickle of sweetness, they are spectacular.

But beets aren’t just tasty, they are incredibly healthy too. They contain high amounts of folate, potassium, vitamin C and iron. The nutrients are known to help guard against birth defects and heart disease, as well as fight inflammation.

Best of all? Beets are at their freshest right now. When you eat in-season produce fresh from the farm, like these were, the taste is far superior to off-season produce that has been flown thousands of miles and picked before its peak of perfection.

Do you like beets? How do you eat them?

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I just wanted to say a big hello to everyone who is just discovering my site. A very nice person submitted my post on parmesan rosemary sweet potato fries to StumbledUpon, and I have had a number of new visitors since. Thank you all for visiting! And welcome to the Shell Avenue crew and Michigan family too!

Be sure to check out my recipes section for more tasty dishes like zuppa toscana, bacon cheddar barbecue chicken rollatini, and sinfully good salted triple chocolate brownie cookies.

Also, I wanted to give a special thanks to Maddie of Better in Pink!, my site’s host, who has worked hard to ensure that I had enough bandwidth to stay up and running with all of my great new visitors. Thanks Maddie!

See all the Wordless Wednesday participants here.

I was absolutely blown away by my overflowing CSA box this week. So much great stuff to use!

The heirloom tomato, grape tomatoes and a red tomato went into a tomato and blue cheese salad (more on that later this week). Another tomato went into a summertime favorite for the kids and I: lemony tomato pasta . . . again, more later this week. I have big plans for pestos — a basil one and a kale one that I am experimenting with.

Now, off to roast radishes, beets and more. As for the corn? It has a date with the grill … mmmm.

Any suggestions for summer turnips? I’ve never had them before.

In My CSA Box – Week 2

1 bunch radishes
1 bunch summer turnips
1 bunch beets
1 bag cabbage
8 nectarines
6 ears of sweet corn
1 bunch kale
1 bunch basil
3 leeks
1 heirloom tomato
3 red tomatoes
1 box yellow grape tomatoes

As far as summer salads go, coleslaw is a classic. It’s great with everything from hamburgers and hot dogs to fried chicken. But as classics go, there are millions of variations with differing ingredients lists and must-haves. Some are more saucy, some are less. Some have the traditional creamy dressing and others have oil and vinegar or sweet and sour versions . . . talk about classic confusion.

For this recipe, I adapted Robert Irvine’s version from Dinner: Impossible. But the recipe makes so much dressing that I added additional cabbage to soak it up. I also used an herb vinegar instead of the white wine he suggests, and added some blue cheese to the dressing.

The result is a very creamy coleslaw with just the right amount of sweetness.

When I served this with dinner, I fully expected to be the only one eating. Shawn isn’t a cabbage–or coleslaw–fan and I just didn’t think Will would be interested. It’s not the most inspiring looking dish, after all. But boy, was I wrong. When I asked Will if he wanted some, more out of politeness than an honest belief that he’d want it, he said yes. And then, he asked for seconds.

Yay! My boy likes his mama’s cooking!

Classic Cole Slaw
Inspired by Robert Irvine’s recipe from Food Network

8 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup vinegar (a mild vinegar like garden herb or white wine)
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup blue cheese
Salt and pepper

Combine the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl.

Combine mayonnaise, vinegar, celery seed, sugar, blue cheese, salt and pepper in another bowel. Whisk together.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Oh, what a mess. A huge, giant mess.

It seemed like such a great idea: Go get ice creams, stroll home, collapse on the lawn and finish them. Except Will’s ice cream had other ideas. It melted like instantly.

Did I get upset? Nah. Why worry? THe stroller can be cleaned. So can Will.

Instead, I laughed. We laughed. I never imagined that the ice cream would melt so quickly and I suspect it came as a surprise to Will as well. I may still be picking bits of dried up ice cream from the stroller belt, but it doesn’t matter. The stroller is just an object. No harm, no foul.

See, that’s the thing about parenting. Sometimes you just have to remember: it’s okay just to laugh. And baby, I am still laughing.

I should have taken a picture of Paige. I really should have. She enjoyed the papery, thin, crispy bits of kale I gave her . . . but since it was papery, thin and crispy, it also broke apart very easily. That meant green specks everywhere — in her hair, on her hands, in her diaper . . . oy. Shawn had a good ol’time with the polka dotted bath water later that night.

Yes, so crispy kale. This is a different take on a veggie that not everyone tries. But everyone should. It’s much firmer than other greens like spinach and Swiss chard.

We eat a lot of kale. Russian kale, actually. It’s in season and always ultra fresh. But there is only so much sauteed kale a family can take. So I decided to try something different: roasting it. Turns out, it’s my farmer cousin’s favorite method of making it.

Shawn and Will liked the crispy, salted kale. Just make sure that you cook the kale in one single layer — no overlap. That way it will get perfectly crispy.

Roasted Kale
serves 4

1 bunch kale, stems removed
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Chop kale roughly. In a bowl, combine kale, olive oil and garlic. Spread in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle gingerly with sea salt.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook 10-15 minutes, turning once.

Serve.

It’s still summer here. We’re spending as much time as we can enjoying everything that the outdoors can offer. Soon, the season will turn to fall, then winter. It will be harder to withstand the temperatures for a little outdoor play, but we will try anyway.

When we get deep into summer like this, simple food is king. Burgers on the grill, corn on the cob and fresh vegetables. As in just-picked vegetables. That’s why I joined a late summer CSA here. Not only do I get a box of produce each week, but I also am forced to expand our palates even more — something I relish in.

I kind of feel like Paige did in the water the other day when it comes to ultra-fresh veggies. I nearly squealed with glee when unpacking our first box . . . I think Shawn might find that a little weird.

In the CSA Box – Week 1

• 1 bunch kale
• 2 purple peppers
• 2 green peppers
• 1 heirloom tomato
• 6 ears corn
• 1 gigantic bag of green cabbage
• 8 peaches
• 5 russet potatoes
• 4 red potatoes
• 5 pattypan squash

The corn we will eat tonight. The cabbage is sweet enough to just snack on, though I think it will make its way into a veggie soup this weekend. The potatoes will go into another special soup next week. The peaches will be devoured by Shawn and the kids. The peppers will either go into a salad or stir-fry.

The pattypan squash though . . . I am open to suggestion. That’s my challenge this week since I have never made it before. In my quick research though, it seems that stuffing it is pretty popular.

What do you do with pattypan squash?

It’s Wordless Wednesday.

It certainly wasn’t something I came to lightly. But the cost of the commute, daycare, etc, plus a growing freelance business, made me seriously consider if I was better off working at home. You can read all about my decision on SheKnows.

Right now, I am looking to finish up my last project at work and tidy up some freelance work that’s dragged on because I work too much. But as of Monday, I will begin looking for new opportunities to enlarge my business and I am hard at work on a new book proposal (and word has it the first book may indeed may its debut this year as planned. Fingers crossed). If you hear of any opportunities, drop me a line.

More news to come in the coming months. I’ve got some big things going on . . . hope you’ll stick around for the ride.