Lori, Author at Fake Food Free

Late Summer Lentil Salad with Cilantro Dressing

August 17, 2018

Late summer.

I love those words.

They mean there is light at the end of a tunnel of hot, long days. You see flashes of orange pumpkins and cream colored butternut squash, but you still hold bright, ripe tomatoes in your hand along with crunchy cucumbers and possibly still some sweet corn.

Most people might consider the holidays the season of hope. But this. This is my season of hope. I’m hopeful that I just might make it through another hot summer in California’s Central Valley.

Truth be told, though, my coping mechanism is really to stay on the road a lot. That mission has been successful lately which has meant few blog posts and a need for lighter, wholesome foods upon my return.

It’s making our epic tomato season come in handy. I kept things simple this year and only planted cherry tomatoes and Early Girl plants, fearing they would all die like previous years.

Now that they are doing so well, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t plant some rarer heirloom varieties.

But then something magical happened.

Favorite Sweet Corn Recipes

July 27, 2018

I’m headed back to Indiana soon to visit family and that always brings one vegetable to mind…corn.

Fresh sweet corn is my second favorite summer vegetable after heirloom tomatoes. I’ll admit I have pretty high standards for it, too. We grew up eating it straight from the garden so I know a good ear of corn. The kernels burst in your mouth with each bite. If there is even the slightest hint of chewiness, it’s past its prime.

Since one can only eat so many ears of corn on the cob this time of year, I’ve come up with many recipes that use fresh corn cut off the cob. These are a few of my favorites to enjoy every summer from soups to salads to relishes!

Carrot Spiked Bloody Mary

July 25, 2018

This flavorful twist on the Bloody Mary is made with Boardroom Spirits C, a distilled spirit made of 100% carrots, and their Fresh Ginger, a ginger infused vodka. Bottles of these spirits were sent to me to experiment with, and experiment I did.

I’ve been completely intrigued by carrot cocktails lately. I’m not even a huge carrot fan, but I find myself ordering them out and experimenting them simply because I have an adventurous side when it comes to new flavors that never seems to go away.

Most recently, I had a cocktail with carrot juice and mezcal on our last trip to the East Bay.

Then Boardroom Spirits emailed me about a distilled spirit that is made from 100% carrots.

The intrigue continued.

Parmesan Cornmeal Crusted Heirloom Cherry Tomato Galette

July 23, 2018

I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.

I hope to see you there.

Parmesan Cornmeal Crusted Heirloom Cherry Tomato Galette Recipe | FakeFoodFree.com #summer #recipes #tomatoes #galette

I can still remember those hot and humid days in central Kentucky in July and August when I’d laugh about not wanting to heat up the oven due to summer temperatures.

Then I’d do it anyway because a blueberry pie or peach crisp was worth a couple hours of mild discomfort.

Looking back all I can think is – Heat? What heat?

Here in the Central Valley, heating up the oven is no laughing matter. I barely even want to turn on the burners on the stove.

Not even dessert is worth it.

But on rare occasions, I don’t look ahead to when a deadline will actually fall and I pitch something like a bread to a client. It finds me with no choice but to turn on the oven. Last week, I had one of those days.

Not wanting the extra degrees to go to waste, I sliced some tomatoes from the garden and put together an easy galette for lunches.

Fairmont Orchid Hawaii

July 17, 2018

We recently returned from an 8-night trip exploring nearly every part of the Big Island of Hawaii. This is the start of a few picture-full travel recaps. If you are looking for what to do, where to eat, and where to stay on the Big Island. Look no further. On our last night, the Fairmont Orchid partnered with me to offer us a one-night stay while I got to photograph and enjoy the grounds. This post is about that excellent experience.

Vacationing in a Postcard | Fairmont Orchid - Big Island Hawaii | FakeFoodFree.com Travels

We pondered the idea for only a few minutes before our minds were made up. Once we were ready to book our flights to the Big Island we realized that it was more affordable to fly back on Sunday versus Saturday. We’d booked our lodging before our flights, like we normally do, so we had seven nights booked at rental houses, three in Kona and four in Hilo.

Flying back on Sunday would put us on the island for a night with no place to stay just yet, but we were too tempted by an extra night in paradise so we clicked purchase on the flights.

We’d figure it out.

I started looking at resort hotel accommodations. We’d planned to be on the go for most of the trip, exploring the island and picturing what it might be like to own a plot of farmland in the middle of such a peaceful place.

But the idea of completely relaxing that last night with no hikes to take and no drives to dinner was growing on us.

At that, knowing a colleague had recently stayed at the Fairmont Orchid, I reached out to their marketing team to see if they might work with me for a one-night accommodation. They responded with a generous offer of a night on their beautiful Gold Floor.

I will admit we are not the types to stay on a resort for our entire trip when traveling to Hawaii. We don’t travel with family, simply as a couple without children. We take on a lot of exploration and pack light-ish, making a washer and dryer beneficial.

All that being said, we’ve already started discussing staying a few nights at the Fairmont Orchid on our own to end future trips to the island. I don’t know if it was the friendliness of the staff, the comfortable room, the grounds, or the food and drinks. Probably a combination of them all. It was so nice to wind down from an adventure inspired trip and completely relax a little while before heading back home.

This is a little bit of why we loved it so much…

Salted Watermelon Margaritas

July 2, 2018

These salted watermelon margaritas use fresh watermelon that has been cubed and frozen for a frosty cocktail that is perfect for summer!

I’m not watermelon’s biggest fan. It just isn’t my first choice for summer fruit.

Lately, though, I’ve found that I like watermelon flavored things – juices, beers, desserts. I’m not sure why my taste buds make the distinction, but they do.

I was traveling for work a couple weeks ago and I had a cocktail that used watermelon shrub. It was excellent. I wasn’t ready to jump into making a shrub, but after that, getting creative with watermelon was on the back of my mind for sure.

So with watermelon on the brain, when I got home and found them piled up at the farmstand, I grabbed one thinking I could make something interesting with it if I decided I didn’t want to eat it fresh.

Satsuma Plum Red Chili Jam

June 27, 2018

I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.

I hope to see you there.

One thing you might not know about me is that I am a nightmare of a consumer.

If the opportunity presents itself, I will always ask what something is, it’s correct name, or where it’s from when I’m shopping for food.

This is especially true during stone fruit season here. There are so many varieties that I find myself constantly introduced to something new.

And I want to know what it is.

A couple weeks ago, I bought a bunch of fruit from the farm stand. They make it super easy. All the stone fruits are the same price so you can mix and match white and yellow peaches and nectarines, apricots, plums, and pluots to your heart’s content.

When I got home and cut into a fruit with a greenish-brown skin, I was expecting a pale center. Instead, I was greeted with one of the most gorgeous hues I’ve seen.

I knew it was a plum or pluot, but I needed more details. I also needed more so I could photograph them!

Nectarine Recipes

June 25, 2018

Believe it or not, I don’t remember being introduced to nectarines until we moved to California about six years ago.

I knew they existed, but they weren’t around in Kentucky and Indiana like, say, peaches. Peaches were everywhere there. And delicious.

But nectarines were a new-to-me fruit. I actually started liking them a lot more than peaches. I think it has to do with their firmness. They have a peek moment of ripeness for me where they are super sweet, but still firm, not mushy.

Over the past few years, in addition to eating many fresh, I’ve also used them in some recipes. Given that their season is rolling back around, I wanted to bring some of those back to the spotlight.

Summer Shrimp Cobb Salad

June 21, 2018

So I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.

I hope to see you there.

Every now and then in my monthly newsletter, I have a section called Not Really a Recipe. It’s where I share some of the ordinary foods that I eat for meals that are simply a combination of ingredients without much measurement.

This shrimp cobb salad falls into that category.

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower and Mushrooms

June 15, 2018

This simple vegetarian side dish combines cauliflower and mushrooms with cilantro and lime! It’s also hearty enough to make it your meal.

Ugh. No riced cauliflower?!

That thought ran through my head at the supermarket this week. It’s pretty ridiculous if you think about it. Since riced cauliflower didn’t even exist even a few short years ago.

Between the time that it became popular and it became available in bags, I’d buy a whole head and send it through the food processor. Which is always a mess to clean up. Which is why I now buy it in bags.

But our supermarket can be hit or miss with it. So it was back to buying the whole head this time.

And I decided to chop it by hand instead of dirtying the food processor. Which is equally as messy, by the way.

I’ve been needing some new go-to vegetable side dishes, though. Something that could pass as a main course if I didn’t feel like making anything else to go with it.