Is the summer really almost halfway over?  I’ve been so busy studying for this little exam that I’ve hardly had time to notice, let alone enjoy, the weather.  Though I did enjoy the pleasure of a particularly vicious mosquito attack … but that’s another story.  Ah, the joys of summer in the city!

When it’s hot outside and life is hectic inside, the last thing you want to do is spend hours in the kitchen.  Forget about hours, even 20 minutes seems like an eternity when it’s sticky and soupy outside.  Summer calls for nothing more than a few minutes of actual standing-in-front-of-the-stove kinda cooking.  Summer is the era of simple salads and simple slaws.  This chicken salad fits the bill perfectly.  No goopy mayo, this light, tart salad with crisp green apples is the perfect summer meal.

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I subscribe to a ton of food blogs and, as a result, I generally get a handful of recipes personally delivered to my email inbox each day.  The gems get filed away under the bulging To Make List.  Some get a quizzical, “Really? You think that tastes/looks/smells like a good idea?” and are promptly filed in the mysterious Gmail “archive,” never to be heard from again.  Very rarely do I receive a recipe that produces a Run-Don’t-Walk level of urgency.  This salad was of the Run-Don’t-Walk variety.

The recipe showed up on a Monday.  Had it not been for the fact that I am currently studying for a rather large, life-altering exam (ahem, The Bar) that will determine the validity of my last three years of oh-so expensive schooling, the salad would have been made that very evening.  Rest assured that despite my current level of chaos, this salad was still made before the end of the week.  You would think that this story would end with the expected disappointment that usually results when one has such heightened expectations.  But, you would be wrong.

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You will never guess the secret ingredient in this moist, fudgy, not-quite sinful chocolate brownie cake.  Never.  Besides, when I tell you what the secret ingredient is you probably wont believe me.  At least my lovely family that got to eat this cake didn’t believe me.  It wasn’t until after a few “Really?” “No way!” “Seriously?”s that it began to sink in.

Except, of course, for the birthday girl.  When you have an extraordinary cousin who is probably one of the coolest people around and you are lucky enough to call her family, you relish the opportunity to bake her a birthday cake and help her eat it on her birthday.  Now, what of the fact that she is a recycling vegetarian, sustainable-living, slow-food loving, farm friendly girl who knows her way around all corners of the food growing world? Clearly, bacon cupcakes were out of the question.  Did I mention that she was the only one who could guess the secret ingredient after just one bite?  Yep.  I told you, she’s awesome.

Lest this challenge seem easy, let’s not forget that her birthday also happened to fall on Passover this year thus removing the possibility of using leavening, flour or any variety of other baking staples.  An extraordinary challenge for an extraordinary girl … to that I say: Bring it!

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I’ve had this scone recipe from the incomparable Heidi, waiting in the wings for a few weeks. I’ve become slightly obsessed with agave nectar and, since Heidi already used a natural sweetener (maple syrup), I thought this would be a perfect recipe to experiment with.  I should probably warn you … when you come home from the store with a mountain of strawberries that look as beautiful as these do and you happen to have just enough milk in the fridge for one batch of scones … you might end up having what I’ve termed a Sudden Strawberry Scone Emergency.

Fear not, this emergency can be easily and quickly handled.  However, there is only one way to put out the fire: Make strawberry scones immediately.  Luckily, these only take about 35 minutes to prep and bake (plus a few minutes for cooling … if you can wait!).  Upon devouring these perfect little scones, your Sudden Strawberry Scone Emergency will be under control in no time.  At least mine was!

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We are stuck in that weird time of year right before spring when you are just plain tired of winter foods but the spring fruits and veggies haven’t really started to blossom yet.  As a result, cabbage salads are popping up all over the food blogosphere! Cabbage is perfect for this uninspiring time of year because it can make for a very light salad that evokes the upcoming spring.

This salad (or slaw) was the result of one of those what’s-in-the-fridge-that-I-can-make-something-for-dinner moments.  It is painfully easy.  Almost embarrassingly easy.  This would be fantastic to take to a potluck or a summer BBQ in a few months.  It is sweet and crunchy with a little kick! The recipe below makes enough for two people (or one very hungry person) so you would want to double or triple if you intend to share.  I used Fuji apples since that is what I had lying around but you can use whatever crisp apple variety you prefer.

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