Summer

From the LA Times

Peaches and nectarines are kissing cousins. In fact, maybe closer. Plant a bunch of peach pits and a few of them will actually sprout nectarine trees, and vice versa. It used to be said that the difference was that peaches had fuzz while nectarines didn’t. But in supermarkets today, that’s hard to determine since many of the peaches have been mechanically de-fuzzed.

Generally, the flavor of nectarines is lighter and a little more acidic, almost lemony, while peaches are richer and muskier. Ripe nectarines can make you gasp with pleasure, but a great, perfectly ripe peach will make you fall to your knees. Still, you can use them interchangeably. What’s good for the peach is good for the nectarine.

How to choose: Check the background color. Ripe fruit will be golden, not green. Mature fruit that hung on the tree long enough to develop full sugar will have a distinctive orange cast. Always with peaches and nectarines, trust your nose: fruit that is ripe and delicious will smell that way.

With the warm weather upon us (100 degrees for the past two days at my house) I know I will be attending countless backyard barbeques, pool parties, graduation celebrations and other outdoor events.

What will all these events have in common?

Yucky, mushy salads that have been sitting out and left to glop together in the summer's heat.  It's really disgusting.

That is why, salad on a stick, is so PERFECT for the blazing hot summer afternoons. The salad itself reminds me of the County Fair where everything from Twinkies to Gyros are pierced with a skewer and served to the crowds.  It's really a brilliant concept, food on a stick that is.

These Caprese Salad Kebabs with spinach-basil pesto are the answer to your summery salad woes.

There was just enough of a breeze to keep us cool and comfortable. Six of us sat around the table on a backyard deck enjoying dinner together last night. Sipping white sangria and eating a meal made of stone fruits. Our hostess had thrown out a challenge for us. Each guest was to bring any dish that included stone fruit in the ingredient list.

My first thought was that we'd wind up with a bunch of desserts like peach crisp, plum tart, cherry pie. What is stone fruit? A stone fruit has a pit in the middle, surrounding a seed. Most well known stone fruits include peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries and apricots. But olives, almonds, mangoes and even dates are technically part of the stone fruit family.

Our entree turned out to be BLATs, sandwiches made of crispy bacon, fresh lettuce, slices of creamy avocado, thick rounds of tomato layered on bread that had been brushed with oil and toasted on just one side in the oven.

This is a dish that is perfect for all of the endless “end-of-school-year” pot luck dinners or for BBQs all summer long: Oven Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad with Skinny Basil “Pesto.”

Real pesto–which is made with basil and garlic but also loads of oil, nuts and cheese–is delicious…but also very calorie dense. (The Barefoot Contessa’s recipe costs you 430 calories for a 1/2 cup serving.)

But by using more herbs, calorie free lemon juice and Dijon mustard, less cheese and oil and skipping the nuts altogether…this skinny “pesto-ish” dressing has just 120 calories but still packs a flavorful punch and a toothsome texture.

And by using an equal amount of green beans (40 calories a cup) as potatoes (140 calories a cup), you can have the sensation of a pesto potato salad with less than half of the calories!

Even the choice of potatoes–a mix of organic fingerlings, white, red and purple potatoes– makes a healthy difference in this recipe. Purple potatoes, while having about the same calories as russet potatoes, have 4 times the amount of antioxidants and are more effective in regulating blood pressure than regular potatoes. And almost as important as the nutritional value, is how easy this dish is…