Peach Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Adapted from “All Cakes Considered”

  

         One of the most anticipated arrivals at our local farm stand is the peaches.  These deliciously juicy fruits with their beautiful golden flesh are the height of summer’s goodness.  It’s always a struggle to avoid those awful hard and hardly ripe early birds in favor of waiting until the real deal arrives.  Fortunately, this year’s crop is in full flavor right now.  Now peach pies and cobblers are standard ways to use this fruit.  But Andrew loves to find a reason to bake a cake and he found this fantastic recipe for one in “All Cakes Considered”.  The book is “a year’s worth of weekly recipes tested, tasted, and approved by the staff of National Public Radio’s ‘All Things Considered’ (Chronicle Books 2009).

Sizzling Pork Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa and Salsa Crudo adapted from the New York Times

A Basketful of Tomatillos

         Summer cooking should be as easy as this every day of the week.  These tacos are great fun to make.   Sitting around the table with a stack of corn tortillas, filling as many as you like with a delicious stuffing of pork and two salsas is summer at its simplest.   The salsas, which you put together in a matter of minutes, take full advantage of summer’s ripe tomatoes and freshly harvested onions. It’s also a great way to discover the tomatillo—if you haven’t already.  In Mexico, they’re called “tomate verde” and they are the backbone of salsa verde and any number of both fresh and cooked green sauces throughout Latin America.  This dish has its roots in Mexico but let’s be honest, tacos are as American as apple pie at this point.  And that only makes life easier since you can readily find everything you need at your supermarket.