Taste and Tattle Tuesday: Summer Salad

Hi Everyone! It's Colette!

We hope you have been enjoying our "Taste and Tattle Tuesdays" thus far. We're looking forward to bringing you more fun stuff on this blog soon, so thanks for sticking around and reading. Make sure you check out our Facebook page as well!

Well, it's time for another taste and tattle post! You know how this works -- we share a theme/recipe/idea, and then you link up with your own creations below! If you don't have a blog to link, just leave your ideas in the comments section.

Today's theme is Summer Salads!

To me, fresh salads are the BEST part of summer. They're light, they're delicious...there's just something about salad that says summer to me. This is especially true when I've had time to swing by a local farmer's market to pick up great ingredients. That's what I did this week!

Here are my tips for what make a great salad: 

A good base. Remember when salad used to be that brownish iceberg stuff that they slapped on your lunch tray in the school cafeteria? That's not food. Play with what you use as the base for your salads by trying lots of different greens. When you find some you like, start mixing them to create new combinations. 

An amazing dressing. But DON'T slather it on. Let the flavors you've assembled do their job; the dressing should just be a nice accent.

One of my personal favorites, and the one I used for the salad recipe on here today. It's a perfect mix of sweetness and spice, and the honey makes it creamy without extra fat that you get in an actual cream-based dressing, like Ranch or Caesar.

Add texture. For the recipe I'm sharing today, I didn't do this as well as I should have. Part of what makes a salad a great dish or meal is the texture. Add nuts, seeds, fruits, meats, cheeses -- lots of different options when you're assembling your veggies. Also, add veggies of different sizes and textures as well.

Cheese. Salads need cheese. Not too much, but enough to give you some extra tang or kick. My favorite booth at the local farmer's market is "The Goat Cheese Man." (That's not their real name, that's just what I call them)

They have many different flavors. The one we used (pictured here) is herb and garlic goat cheese.

Make sure there's protein! You get a little bit from the cheese, yes, but the key to making a salad a real meal is having a protein component. This doesn't have to be meat - you could also use eggs, nuts, beans, or some grains (like quinoa). 

So, now that you know the basics of a good salad, let me share mine:

Ingredients:

• Fresh spinach
• Hard boiled eggs
• Herb and Garlic Chevre (goat cheese)
• Blueberries
• Ken's Balsamic with Honey Dressing

That's it! Toss and serve! I had mine with some quinoa and brown rice:

So, now that you've heard from us, we want to hear from you! What's your favorite summer salad? Do you have any salad making tips or tricks you swear by? Let us know in the comments!

Taste and Tattle Tuesday: BBQ Fun!

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the late post, but it's time for another Taste & Tattle Tuesday!

Okay, most of us love a good hamburger, but it's fun to change things up now and then. I recently had a BBQ with friends, and I was in charge of side dishes. Well, I wanted to do a play on a hamburger, so I made meatballs, flattened them into patties, and turned them into sliders. So, take your favorite meatball recipe (Mine is secret. Shhhh!), fry them up, melt some provolone (or mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, or whatever your fave Italian Cheese is at the moment), and put 'em in a bun!

Had I had more time, there's what else I would have done:

Naturally, I would have made a marinara sauce to accompany the sliders. You could spoon a little on yourself or set it out for your guest to use as a dip. I also would have used different bread. Hamburger buns are fine, but I would have bought some Italian baguettes, sliced them up, and toasted the slices. It would have made it much more Italian and, well, better :) 

Enjoy!! Feel free to share your favorite meatball recipes in the comment section below! 

Taste & Tattle Tuesdays: Happy 4th of July!

Hi, Everyone! It’s Lauren!

This week, our Taste and Tattle recipe has a patriotic theme. 

It’s an Italian dessert, but hey, it looks American.  We hope this recipe helps you cool off and show off this 4^th of July! 

I love me some Giada De Laurentiis. She’s, like, legitimately Italian, so I always check her recipes first. 

Here is her panna cotta. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 cups assorted fresh berries

Directions

Place the milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. Pour milk mixture into a heavy saucepan and stir over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves but the milk does not boil, about 5 minutes. 

Add the cream, honey, sugar, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat. Pour into 6 wine glasses so that they are 1/2 full. Cool slightly. Refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours. 

Spoon the berries atop the panna cotta and serve. 

Lauren’s side note: Do not ignore that 6 hour part. The first time I made this, I did. My guests had vanilla ice cream for dessert. I ate panna cotta for breakfast. Not ideal…for my guests. 

Now, it's your turn! Link up your favorite red-white-and-blue treats, or share ideas in the comments section below!