The parade of peaches continues. Yesterday the peach salsa had the extra benefit of mango and strawberry.

Today’s salad gets an extra fruity punch from apricot.

Dave is the salad lover in our family. I love soup. But I will admit, I do love this salad.

Oh, and I used the sliced honey roasted almonds from Trader Joe’s but plain sliced or slivered almonds, or any nut of your choice for that matter, would work perfectly fine. I would just toast them in a dry skillet or in the oven first. Enjoy!

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I have a peach tree in my backyard and boy do I love it! So much so, that I’ll be using the ripe juicy peaches and other fresh summer fruits in every recipe for the rest of the week. I really have no choice. The season is fast and furious and it’s a “use it or lose it” situation.

The peach tree I have now is a sweet little dwarf tree.

But back when we bought the house in 1999, I planted a full-size peach tree, and was that ever a mistake!

By May 2003, the tree got so big and produced so much fruit that I could not keep up.

The previous three photos were taken at a “Peach Pickin’ Dinner” where I begged my friends to come over and help me pick and eat peaches. We picked enough peaches to cover the entire kitchen island, and those were just the ones that were ripe that night!

By 2005, the tree could not keep up either.

It produced so many peaches that the limbs broke under the weight of the fruit.

A couple of years later, we remodeled the entire backyard, so the damaged and the sad big peach tree was out and the dwarf peach was in.

The dwarf is in the same place and it must be the perfect local for such a tree because it produces like crazy too.

Thankfully, not a kitchen island full of peaches, but a cutting board full every few days of the short season. Much more manageable!

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This layered fruit-cheese salad was the first course for our Spring Reunion Dinner. I decided to make individual servings, but it could be made even easier in a large clear bowl or better yet, in a trifle dish.

If you’re making one large salad, you’ll use all the fruit. For these six small individual portions, you’ll end up with about half of the fruit left or enough to make at least 12 individual servings. So either cut the fruit portions in half or freeze the remaining fruit and use it for smoothies, that’s what I did.

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On Friday night we had a little reunion of sorts. Our dear friends and former neighbors, Lori and Jonathon, were in town for the week.

In December, Tram and I flew to Chicago to visit them and do a bit of Christmas shopping. We had an absolute ball! I meant to blog about our trip but I never got around to it, you know, with the holiday rush and all.

Tram and Steve and Lori and Jonathon came over for dinner and we had the very best time! I’ll be posting recipes all week; appetizers, cocktails, starters, salads, and even a salt block cooking recipe. I’m going, to begin with a gorgeous smoked salmon appetizer. It’s hard to take that first chunk out of it because it’s so beautiful, but once you get going on it, it’s hard to stop. It’s as delicious as it is lovely.

There is no cooking involved and you’ll be using a food processor to put it together. As such, I’ll be tagging this one as an Easy-Breezy Recipe.

Once you add the herbs, you want to use the Pulse button ONLY. You don’t want the mixture to turn green from the herbs or the processor to turn the salmon and cranberries into baby food. What you’re going for is a cohesive mixture with a bit of texture.

Fresh Fruit – Smoked Salmon Spread

• 4-ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon each; fresh minced dill, mint, and thyme
• 24-ounce package of smoked salmon
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped dry roasted almonds
• Fresh sliced peaches, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and fresh sprigs of thyme, basil, dill, and/or mint for garnish
• Crackers for serving

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and blend; add the mayonnaise and salt and blend until smooth.

Using the pulse button, add in the fresh herbs with only 2 or 3 short pulses.

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The menu for the second of my three-week series of cooking classes at Les Gourmettes was Pool Party. This Pineapple-Palm Tree Fruit Bowl was the centerpiece.

When we have an actual pool party at home, one of the best things about this presentation is that not only is it eye-catching, but it looks beautiful from all sides and can be enjoyed by those in the sunken kitchen or those chilling at the swim-up bar.

It is not difficult to create, the only hard thing is finding the right thing to “impale” the pineapples onto. Three pineapples stacked atop one another is precarious, so you need a sturdy pole. A broom hand or dowel, nailed into a round wooden base would work well.

I happen to have a three-tiered server that screws apart. I was able to remove the center and top tiers and use the bottom tier as the base for the fruit.

The first order of business is to hollow out the pineapples. To do so, cut off both ends of two pineapples and only the bottom of the third. This third pineapple will be the top.

Next, use a sharp knife to score and cut out the center cord of each pineapple.

Continue to dig and whittle away at the center core of each pineapple until you have hollowed it from one end through the other. It’s not hard to do, it just takes a little time and patience.

Slip one pineapple onto the pole. Since my pole was threaded, I placed a piece of plastic wrap over, so the pineapple flesh wouldn’t get caught up in the threads.

Slide on the second pineapple.

And finally the third, with its top still attached. Since I had a large bowl as my base, I filled it with watermelon rind to “fill it up” so I wouldn’t have to use so much fruit to make it look full and lush. If you’re using a flat wooden base, you will skip this step.

If you live in an area with palm trees, go out and cut off about a dozen small palm fronds. If not, these can be ordered through any florist. Use stick pins or florist pins to attach the fronts to the top of the pineapple.

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On this, the third day of “Stone Fruit” Week, we’ll use both fresh and dried cherries and apricots, along with plum, a peach, and a pear – tossed in for good measure.

I also threw in some of the delicious Trader Joe’s Golden Berry Blend; a wonderful mix of golden raisins, dried cranberries, cherries, and blueberries. If you don’t have the blend, use the same amount of golden raisins in its place.

This compote is the perfect complement to chicken and pork.

It also makes a tasty treat served at room temperature over Greek yogurt, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.

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This is stone fruit season. Are you ready for a week’s worth of stone fruit recipes? Yes? OK, let’s get to it.

According to the Cook’s Thesaurus –

“The family of stone fruits includes cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines, and peaches.   They all arrive in the summer, though you can sometimes find pricey imports during the off-season.  Stone fruits don’t become sweeter after they’re picked, but growers often harvest them while they’re still a bit underripe so that they won’t bruise during transit.  At the market, select specimens that have the color, if not the softness, of fully ripened fruit, then take them home and let them soften at room temperature for a few days.”

How about we start off with a cool refreshing drink on this hot summer day?

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Watermelon and summer go hand-in-hand. Here’s a fun way to serve it up!

This recipe comes from an image I found on Pinterest. It is important to use full fat, not lite, coconut milk. Lite coconut milk will not whip.

Placing the coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight is also a must. It will cause the cream to separate from the milk. The thick cream is used, and the milk is poured off.

If you’d rather skip the coconut cream altogether, I have another Watermelon “Cake” photo from Pinterest at the end of the post, no recipe is needed for it.

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The 4th of July is two weeks from today. It’s not too soon to start planning the menu for your party or the dish that you plan to bring to that party you’re invited to.

Even if the “party” is just you and the kids waving around sparklers in your backyard, you need some fun festive food.

I’ve got just the thing for you.

I am in the middle of a week-long set of private cooking classes. We made a super simple Fruit Flag for dessert. Obviously, no recipe is needed!!

Skewers + Strawberries, Blueberries & Bananas = USA Flag

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After our luxurious and relaxing day at the Willow Spring Spa at the Scottsdale Princess Resort on Friday, the very first thing I wanted to do when I got back home was to make a huge pitcher of spa water. You know what I’m talking about – the glorious fruit and herb-infused waters they always have available to you at a luxury spa.

My absolute favorite flavor is one that I call “Summer’s Splendor”.  To make it –  find as huge a pitcher or dispenser as will fit in your refrigerator. Throw in several handfuls of fresh basil leaves, peel and then thinly slice one English cucumber and add it to the basil. Then take 1 or 2 lemons, wash really well, thinly slice, and add to the mix. Fill the picture with cold water and refrigerate.

I like to make this just before I go to bed and then enjoy it for the next day or two. Be sure to give it a good 12 to 18 hours to macerate and let the flavors blend.

Below you’ll find another 12 flavor blends to give you a nice baker’s dozen.

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