Please don’t hate me Northern folks, but I just have to share a refreshing, summery recipe.  It’s blue skies and 80° in Miami and we’re picking strawberries right and left down here.  If your backyard is covered in snow, perhaps you’ll have to bookmark this recipe and save it for summer, when I will be melting under a scorching tropical sun.  For those of you who live here, you simply must throw this together tonight.  It tastes like a trip to a spa, I kid you not.

1/2 an English cucumber
1 c strawberries
1 T fresh orange zest
1 T fresh herbs (mint and basil)
sea salt

1.  This tastes best if ingredients are chilled.  Chop cucumber in quarters, lengthwise.  Then slice into 1/2 inch pieces.  Hull and quarter strawberries.  Taste one.  If it is not completely sweet, consider adding one squeeze of fresh orange juice.

2.  Just before serving combine fruits.  Chiffonade or tear your herbs and sprinkle sea salt with a light hand.  Toss gently and serve immediately.  Enjoy! 

One of my favorite candies for Valentine’s Day are Conversation Hearts.  The candy itself isn’t that great, but I love the small pastel hearts and sweet messages.  I often play off of them for my own creations.  I love making cookies that look like them, but this year I came up with a simple fruit salad.  Of course, there aren’t any messages, but the small colored hearts play off the idea.  I will be serving this along side a heart-shaped sandwich for my little boys for Valentine’s Day lunch.  The small heart cookie cutter came inside a set of many hearts I purchased at (ugh!) Walmart. 

1.  Use any fruit you like.  I used kiwi fruit, bananas, pineapple (a bit too fussy), papaya, cantalope and strawberries.

2.  Slice fruit about 1/4 inch thick and cut with the smallest cookie cutter you can find.  If using bananas, serve right away or preserve color with a few drops of lemon juice.  Enjoy!

Did the name of this recipe tempt you?  From the moment I first tasted pistachio oil, I’ve been dying to celebrate it.  One of my favorite things is to drizzle it onto a piece of homemade Artisan Bread and savor every morsel.  For Easter brunch I decided to share this treat in a very simple salad fit for the Easter Bunny himself.  Most of my recipes use regular ingredients, but sometimes it’s just nice to splurge.  This recipe uses Himalayan sea salt, but you could use a different kind (perhaps fleur de sel).  Dress it yourself or let guests experiment on their own.

1 head of leafy green lettuce (Butter lettuce would be lovely.)
2-3 carrots, peeled
3 green onions, thinly sliced
generous handful of shelled pistachio nuts
lemon wedges
Himalayan sea salt

1.  Wash and spin dry your lettuce.  Tear into bite-sized piece.  Arrange on a platter.

2.  Get a bowl of ice water.  Peel carrots, shape them into curls and plunge them in the cold water for a few minutes to help the curling.  Scatter carrot curls and green onions over lettuce.  Drizzle pistachio oil and squirt with lemon juice.  Shave sea salt and crasck black pepper over salad.