Summer Street Corn Salad

Summer Street Corn Salad

I love summer food. Fresh watermelon, peaches, and corn, grilled everything, and all those potlucks. Yes, I love potlucks. And since we don’t go to nearly as many family parties or reunions since moving to Texas, I miss them. So, over the next few weeks or so, I’m having my own virtual potluck. A ‘here’s what I would take to the potluck’ if you will.

To kick off this summer party potluck: Summer Street Corn Salad. Another salad today? Really, Jill? Yes. Yes, yes yes. If this is the last salad I ever write about (hint: it’s not), then I’m glad I snuck it in. This corn salad is my go-to, my answer to what should I make to pair with that grilled chicken or spoon into some tacos to add a little umph or scoop right out of the bowl with some tortilla chips. I make some version of this corn salad almost all summer long, and it’s long overdue for its own post.

Continue Reading

Sunday Dinner Green Beans

Sunday Dinner Green Beans

Sunday dinner is a bit of a big deal in my family. Growing up it was always the “big meal” of the week, when my mom made things like roast beef with potatoes and Yorkshire pudding and homemade gravy and always dessert. Always. Calories don’t count for Sunday dinner (right?) and we go all out.

I’m not sure which matriarch of my family started this tradition, but I know for sure that my Grandma solidified it. My family is BIG on tradition (sing it with me… Tra-di-tion, tradition….. tradition!) and I love it! I really do – the holidays and the specific things that we eat on specific days and how we celebrate birthdays.

I also love Sunday naps. And Sundays full of reading on the couch. And Sundays most importantly not full of doing a thousand dishes. So I want a nice traditional Sunday dinner but I gotta get in my Sunday nap too. Enter these green beans.

Continue Reading

Peach Summer Salad with Fresh Corn and Basil

Peach Summer Salad with Fresh Corn and Basil

Hello, hello, hello! I hope you’ve all been well and are soaking up the last little bit of summertime before kids go back to school and we plow full-throttle into fall. I do love summertime and have really amazing childhood memories full of night games, family vacations, water parks, countless sleepovers, and pretty much living on the trampoline in our backyard.

I’m gonna be totally honest though – summer in Texas is hard. I will even go so far to say that I dread summer. This is my third Texas summer, and they are getting a little easier. But the heat and the humidity . . . I’m a melty puddle 90% of the time, with the other 10% being spent in the pool or the shower, after which I promptly return to said melty puddle. Ugh. I can’t even say I glisten. It’s sweat guys. Just straight up sweat, and it happens all. day. long. Ughhhhhh.

Continue Reading

Bacon Sweet Corn Guacamole

Bacon Sweet Corn Guacamole

Is it un-American of me to say I don’t LOVE bacon? I like it well enough, and I enjoy it on occasion. But bacon has had its day in the sun for a few too many days in my opinion. Bacon-infused donut with bacon filling and maple bacon frosting, bacon-wrapped hot dog with bacon jam on a cheddar bacon bun, deep-fried battered bacon – I’m gonna take a strong pass on all of this. Bacon is a great flavor but this is all just too much.

Continue Reading

Chipotle Grilled Sweet Potatoes on Live Grow Give

Chipotle Grilled Sweet Potatoes

One of my favorite things about moving to a new city (or visiting one for that matter) is figuring out where all the good food is. Cities we previously lived in had a few highlights here and there, all which could be condensed to a short list. Since moving to Austin, I have the opposite problem. My list is MASSIVE, and every time we go somewhere new, it usually is mind blowing, and I just want to go back and try the green apple guacamole with pineapple, jicama, and mint or that eggplant parmesan pizza because their pepperoni pizza was the best I’ve ever had. Oh and I almost forgot the milkshake with miso hazelnut blondie and huckleberry jam swirls.

Continue Reading

Ruby Red Slaw

Ruby Red Slaw

I’ve learned a lot about the science of food over the past 8 or so years. I studied the chemistry behind the individual molecules that physically make up different foods to the metabolic reactions that happen in our bodies to digest food. Food science was fascinating to me – the idea that I can take raw, whole, natural ingredients, add some heat and maybe a few things like fat, acid, salt, or sugar, and in return I get something far greater than what all those raw ingredients could have ever dreamed of being to begin with.

Continue Reading

Mushroom Spinach Salad with Almond Crumbs

Mushroom Spinach Salad with Almond Crumbs

I realize I’m a little late with this, but here it is anyway… Happy Spring! It’s been a while. My parents came to visit for a few days, and like the fabulous planner that I am (ha!), I had set aside the entire day before they came to shoot photos for two new posts. Where are these posts, you ask? Ugh.

The first recipe was a total flop – inedible, I couldn’t even eat it. The next recipe was a much beloved favorite of ours that I’ve been excited to share. It involves a rainbow of root vegetables, a hot oven, and cozy comforting herbs like thyme and rosemary. All good things for sure, but decidedly not spring-y. The opposite actually. Turns out this day was the first official day of spring. Of course. Even better. Nobody wants to turn their oven on to roast squash on the first day of spring, Jill. Needless to say, the roots never got published, though they have a very firm rain check come mid-October, and I’ve been absent for over a week.

Continue Reading

Salt Crusted Herb Potatoes

Salt Crusted Herb Potatoes

After gushing about sandwiches last time, I figured next up on the list of “Getting to Know Jillian” should be that I enjoy meal planning. I know I’m in the minority here, but my dietitian nerd brain goes wild with the weekly meal plan challenge. It’s a balancing act: not too much meat but enough that my husband won’t complain, a good mix of light, lighter, and heavy-ish meals, and exactly how many times is too many times to have pizza? Big questions here.

Continue Reading