What’s Going on Today: Morning at the Farmer’s Market, rainy afternoon at home, laundry, scheduling fall activities!

Naptime Goals: Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, prepare zucchini and herbed ricotta.

Tonight’s Menu: Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Zucchini and Herbed Ricotta Caprese-Style, grilled Lemon Chicken, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Coconut Cookies.

I am all about tomato season these days. The little tomato plant I’ve been cultivating all summer on our back porch is yielding at least two cups of delicious cherry tomatoes every day and our farmer’s market is positively brimming with tomatoes of nearly every variety. What I wouldn’t give to have tomatoes like this available year-round! Since I don’t, however, I do what any normal person would do and completely gorge on the harvest while it is here. I also plan to brave my grandmother’s canning recipe and preserve some for this winter. But, that is a story for another time. Today we are doing to talking about my newest favorite riff on caprese salad and why it is bound to become yours, too.

This summer has been pretty low-key. We’ve been traveling to our usual haunts, trying out new recipes and enjoying the slower pace of the season. Work-wise I’ve been spending a lot of time editing the manuscript, revising the layouts (which look awesome) and getting down to the nitty gritty. It has been a blast and I truly can’t wait until Spring 2012 to show you the final product. In the mean time, next month I have a newly redesigned website so share with you. It contains everything you see here, plus much, much more. You could say this summer I’ve been fine-tuning behind the scenes and everything will roll out this fall and winter.

Since I’ve written about our favorite Northeastern vacation spots before I thought I would share links to old posts and tidbits about what we’ve been up to as a little wrap-up for the season

Lagoon Pond, Martha's Vineyard

Martha’s Vineyard {travel series, here} was our destination for the 4th of July. We ate at our favorite seafood shack, grilled swordfish and had tons of boat picnics. We also ate at Saltwater for date night, it is now our newest favorite island restaurant. Highly recommend!

1. Whiskey Ice Cream with Caramelized Corn Flakes
2. 15 Easy, Healthy After School Snacks
3. Gwyneth’s Tortilla Soup
4. 10 Interest Food Sporting Events
5. Homemade Goldfish Crackers

My sweet neighbor just had a beautiful new baby and I am planning to cook a few meals for her as soon as her mother-in-law leaves. It’s not that I don’t want to feed her mother-in-law, it is just that I want to wait until all of her help has departed so I can swoop in when she really needs an extra hand. I’ve cooked for many of my friends after they’ve had babies and I find that around the four week mark, once the helping hands have gone home, that they need a warm meal and some extra TLC.

As I plan the menu for her family I thought I would share a few simple tips I’ve picked up over the years I’ve been feeding my friend’s with newborns. Do you have any tips for feeding parents with newborns? I would love to hear!

Considerations for Menu Planning:

• New Moms often have the same diet restrictions as when they are pregnant since they are usually nursing. Check with the new mom to see what foods she might be avoiding. This list might include raw seafood, blue cheeses and alcohol.
• When a mom is nursing nutrients and elements of the food are passed through the breast milk to the baby. Sometimes a baby will react poorly to a specific food or meal that a mom eats. For example, my friend’s daughter got very gassy after her mother ate particularly spicy food. Again, check with the new mom to see what food she is avoiding, or, alternatively, what she is adding in to her diet for extra protein and strength.
• Serving: Generally speaking, households with new babies can be quite chaotic and any food that is delivered can be served and reheated with easy. This is not the time to bring anything over that needs to sauced or handled delicately!

The Occasion: Cookout with friends on summer weekend.

Menu: Salmorejo, Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken, Marinated Green Beans, Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese with Crackers & Breads, Plum Torte

Attendees: Party of 4 adults, 3 kids!

Naptime Goals: Marinate chicken, marinate green beans, prepare chilled soup, prepare goat cheese terrine.

Whenever I am in Cooperstown I always make a point of picking up a tub of Painted Goat goat cheese at the Saturday farmer’s market. The locally made cheese is perfectly tangy and smooth and they make all kinds of interesting spreads with their product. This summer I became addicted to the Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese terrine and was beside myself when I ran out of the tub I brought back to Connecticut. I had a dinner to throw and knew it would be the perfect thing to serve as an appetizer before our chilled soup! Since I didn’t have time to do a quick round-trip upstate I decided to do the next best thing, recreate the spread myself.

This is the latest installment of my Powernap column. The series where I share quick, easy food that can be made for all kinds of situations. Powernaps are short and sweet, and so are these recipes. These are the things I make in a jiffy when I need a quick snack, am in the mood for a recipe experiment, or simply need to clean out the pantry.

Last month when my friend Caroline served us the Strawberry Slushies from the most recent Bon Appetit and I thought I’d just about died and gone to heaven. Fresh juicy strawberries and dry wine churned into an icy slush, the boozy concoction straddled the line between cocktail and dessert. It was sweet, yet refreshing, and became an instant summer favorite. I’ve made these slushies several times since, and while Caroline served them for happy hour, we usually enjoy them as a cool apertif.

1. The Jello Fishbowl
2. Surfing Gummy Bears
3. Gwyneth’s Berries with Caramelized Cream
4. Lightened up Fettucini Alfredo
5. Red Velvet Ice Cream