We Tried Trader Joe’s Sparkling Watermelon Juice

Over the last couple of weeks I've been taste testing canned rosé, but if you don't or can't drink alcohol, Trader Joe's has a lovely new sparkler to fill your glass with this summer: Trader Joe's Sparkling Watermelon Juice ($3.99 for a 4-pack). Made with 100% juice, each 8.45 oz. can has 60 calories and…

ByMichelleMay 12, 20190Comments

Book Reviews

Book Deal Alert: Food52 ANY NIGHT GRILLING

Book Deal Alert! Paula Disbrowe's Food52 Any Night Grilling is $2.99 on Kindle, iBooks and Google Play. Before the summer grilling season runs out, pick up this book, fire up the grill and enjoy some deliciously summery grub! Any Night Grilling was the July selection for Deb Balint's @rainydaybites Instagram cookbook club (#rainydaybitescookbookclub). I joined…

ByMichelleAugust 27, 20180Comments

Pasta Recipes

Summer Pasta Solution #2 – Spaghetti with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with No-Cook Tomato Sauce is an oldie but goodie that's perfect for the hottest days of summer. When you can only bear to turn on the stove for a few minutes, you'll only need to boil the pasta. The rest happens in a food processor. Adapted from a Giada de Laurentiis recipe, I think of…

ByMichelleJuly 31, 20180Comments

Product Review Wine

The $6 Rosé at Trader Joe’s That’s Blowing Our Minds

In 2002, Trader Joe's introduced Charles Shaw wines, forever altering the "extreme value" segment of the wine industry. Nicknamed Two Buck Chuck, it cost $1.99 a bottle. Sixteen years later, news outlets are *still* writing about it. Trader Joe's wine selection (the lesser known labels) is hit and miss for me, but a friend recently…

ByMichelleJuly 27, 20180Comments

Recipes Side Dishes

Green Beans with Sesame-Miso Vinaigrette

Green Beans with Sesame-Miso Vinaigrette is the summer variation of an asparagus recipe I make every spring. While you do have to boil water to blanch the green beans, you won't be heating up the house for long. Served chilled, this green bean salad is just what you need for the dog days of summer…

ByMichelleJuly 25, 20180Comments

Recipes Salads Side Dishes

French Potato Salad with Green Beans

I've got France on the brain this week. France and Croatia are headed to the World Cup final, I'm reading the Paris Wedding, then Bastille Day falls on Saturday. It's all France all the time. So it should come as no surprise that it creeped into my cooking as well. French Potato Salad with Green…

ByMichelleJuly 12, 20180Comments

Recipes

Six Delicious Summer Dishes from Josh McFadden’s Six Seasons

Israeli-spiced tomatoes with yogurt and chickpeas from Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons cookbook. I first cooked from Six Seasons, Josh McFadden's vegetable-centric cookbook, before it came out in May. Spring took its time getting here in the Pacific Northwest and I only had a chance to cook a few recipes before summer came on full force. I'm…

ByMichelleAugust 29, 20170Comments

Cooking Recipes Salads

Grilled Radicchio and Corn Salad

I've made a good number of salads this summer, some simple, some complex. This grilled radicchio and corn number falls somewhere in the middle and it might be my favorite one so far. It features a roasted cherry tomato vinaigrette and creamy fresh mozzarella along with the grilled veg. The recipe is adapted from Around…

ByMichelleAugust 24, 20170Comments

Beverages Recipes

Cool off with a Watermelon Cocktail on National Watermelon Day

It's National Watermelon Day and we're in the midst of a heatwave. Other than a cold slice of watermelon, the thing I'll be looking forward to at the end of the day is a watermelon cocktail. This riff on the Americano combines Campari, sweet vermouth, bottled watermelon juice and Dry Sparkling Watermelon. Proportions are dialed back…

ByMichelleAugust 3, 20170Comments

Pizza Recipes

Make this Tonight: Zucchini Pizza with Feta and Garlic

We're deep in the heart of the summer and zucchini is getting cheaper every week. We're talking 99 cents a pound cheap. And if you've got a neighbor growing zucchini, it might just be free. This zucchini pizza with feta and garlic was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's latest Guardian column in which he celebrates his love for…

ByMichelleAugust 1, 20170Comments

We Tried Trader Joe’s Sparkling Watermelon Juice

Book Deal Alert: Food52 ANY NIGHT GRILLING

Summer Pasta Solution #2 – Spaghetti with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

The $6 Rosé at Trader Joe’s That’s Blowing Our Minds

Green Beans with Sesame-Miso Vinaigrette

French Potato Salad with Green Beans

Six Delicious Summer Dishes from Josh McFadden’s Six Seasons

Grilled Radicchio and Corn Salad

Cool off with a Watermelon Cocktail on National Watermelon Day

Make this Tonight: Zucchini Pizza with Feta and Garlic

Book Review: A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn

The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

26 New Asian and Pacific Islander Books for your 2026 TBR