Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Another one of my favorite summer recipes is strawberry cream cheese pie. This recipe came from my grandmother and my mom made it all through the summer.


1 baked pie shell
1 package cream cheese
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar

Spread cream cheese softened with a little cream (or in the microwave) over the bottom of the crust. Place half of the strawberries over the cream cheese. Mash half of the berries until they are really juicy. Bring to a boil and slowly add sugar and cornstarch stirring constantly. Cook slowly for 10 minutes. Cool and pour into pie shell. Chill. Top with sweetened whipped cream.

Mmmm, zucchini blossoms...

Eric and I picked some zucchini blossoms at the community garden and we bought some more at the Lexington Farmer's Market. I thought that it would be lovely to make fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with herbed goat cheese.

So I stuffed each zucchini blossom with about a tablespoon of herbed goat cheese. The blossoms that we picked at the community garden were very fresh, so I was able to open the blossoms and spoon in the goat cheese. The farmer's market blossoms were a little older, so I had to slit their sides open to spoon in the goat cheese.

I dipped the stuffed blossoms in beaten egg and then in a mixture of Italian herbs, sea salt, and panko.  I fried them on each side in medium hot canola oil until they turned golden brown. They were delicious!

Spinach Salad with Peaches and Blueberries

I made a delicious spinach salad for Yoli and Eric over the weekend using the fruit that we bought at the farmer's market and the yummy blueberry balsamic vinegar.

I rinsed and picked them stems off of some spinach.  Then I pitted and sliced some peaches and tossed them in blueberry balsamic vinegar to keep them from turning brown. I placed the peaches and some blueberries over the top of the spinach with some feta cheese.  I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and more blueberry vinegar over the top.

Grandma's Peach Cream Pie

This pie, more than any other, reminds me of summer and my childhood. My mom used to make it every summer during peach season.  It was her mother's recipe. I made the pie this weekend for Yoli and Eric with peaches Yoli and I bought at a farm stand. It's important to used only fresh, tasty peaches.  Frozen peaches are too watery and the pie will never set. Tasteless peaches make a tasteless pie.


1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup cream
3-4 fresh peaches, peeled and halved

Mix first 3 ingredients together. Pour half into unbaked pie shell. Fill with fresh peach halves. Cover with the rest of the mixture. Pour cream over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until set.

Making Pesto

Eric and I made pesto this weekend while Yoli sat on the sofa reading a book. We harvested two bags full of pesto that was starting to flower from the community garden. I left enough lower leaves and stems that the plants should send up a new burst of growth within the next couple of weeks. I cleaned the pesto and removed the leaves and small stems from the larger, tougher stems while Eric made the pesto.  My thumbnails are still stained from using them to cut the basil stems.

To make the pesto, we stuffed a food processor bowl with basil and added about a tablespoon of salt, 1 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of walnuts (because the one store in their town didn't have pine nuts), 2 tablespoons of minced fresh garlic, and 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt. These measurements are approximations because we eyeballed the amounts of ingredients that we added. We processed the ingredients on high until they were fairly smooth. We spooned the pesto into 1 cup containers and froze all of them except for what we ate over the weekend.  We made a gallon and a half of pesto. Stupidly, I left mine at Yoli's house and will have to pick them up next time I visit her. This weekend, we made crostini and roasted potatoes with the pesto.

Breakfast Crepes

One of my favorite summer breakfasts is fruit crepes. They're healthful, delicious, and easy to make.

To make the crepes, I just throw a cup of flour, 2 eggs, a cup of skim milk, a dash of salt, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter into a blender and blend them until they are well mixed. Then I spray a small skillet with cooking oil.  I heat the skillet to a medium-high heat.   Then I pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet and swirl the batter so that it covers the bottom of the pan.  I cook the crepe until the sides start to curl up, flip it over, and cook it for about 30 more seconds.  I place the cooked crepes on a large dinner plate and cover it with a kitchen towel to keep the crepes warm until I finish making all the crepes.

I make the filling by sweetening some yogurt with stevia powder or honey. Sometimes I add other favorings like high quality flavored balsamic vinegars or spices. I added cinnamon and blueberry balsamic vinegar to the filling in the crepes that I made this weekend. I fill and top the crepes with the filling and fresh fruit. I used mango and blueberries in the crepe shown above.

Lexington Farmer's Market

This past weekend, I visited my friends, Yoli and Eric, in Georgetown, Kentucky. Eric and I are both foodies, so while Yoli went to belly dancing class, we went to the farmer's market in Lexington. We bought fingerling potatoes, blackberries, zucchini blossoms, black cherry tomatoes, and beef short ribs. It was wonderful to have fresh, locally grown tomatoes. Lexington in a zone south of us so their tomatoes are a little earlier than tomatoes here in Indianapolis.