This month’s Improv Challenge (a creative monthly recipe challenge created by Kristen @ Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker) paired strawberries and cream. Could any two foods be more elegant together? Many lucious dessert ideas ran through my head. I tried to think of some “out of the box” twists but why mess with ingredients really don’t need any fuss?

So in the end, I decided to keep it simple. As in, fresh sliced strawberries layered in a parfait glass, topped with just beaten, fresh whipped cream. Yes, I’m a dietitian who uses and eats heavy cream! But a little goes a long way in this recipe which besides strawberries (Vitamin C, fiber, folate), also features lowfat granola (fiber, whole grains), mascarpone (essentially a reduced fat cream cheese) and nonfat Greek yogurt (calcium, potassium, protein.)

Now that I’ve gotten the nutrition disclaimer out of the way, please enjoy this “summer is coming soon” sweet treat for yourself!

What’s your favorite berry? Yes or no to real whipped cream?

On several occasions, I’ve roasted broccoli until it’s smoky-sweet; but why, oh why have I never roasted cherry tomatoes? They emerge from the oven, split open from the juices that carmelize them into sweet-savory flavor bombs. Had I known this, I would have doubled the batch of tomatoes; as it was, there were barely had enough to make this Roasted Broccoli Panzanella salad. The kids and I kept popping the tomatoes into our mouths.

The inspiration for this Salad Social salad was simple: I had a craving for panzanella salad and for roasted broccoli at the same time. I knew I needed tomatoes for color and for juicy sauciness to soften the crisp bread cubes. For ease of preparation, I thought I’d just throw the tomatoes in while roasting the broccoli. (While searching for recipes to assure the tomatoes wouldn’t explode if roasted at the same temperature as the broccoli, I found this recipe which coats them with [a lot] of honey before roasting.) Since lovely oregano is currently the only green thing that has emerged from garden (besides chives and green garlic) – it adds a welcome fresh flavor.

Roasted Broccoli Panzanella salad stands up to being dressed ahead of time (without wilting,) so it’s perfect for a picnic. Fill the picnic basket with some lovely Vermont or Wisconsin cheeses, maybe some cold cuts and olives, and don’t forget dessert.

 “Come join The Salad Social at TidyMom sponsored by The International Olive Council’s Add Some Life”

Up until last year, I pretty much ignored radishes. Besides being tossed into a salad or perhaps carved into a rose, I wasn’t really sure of their purpose. But after weeks of having them in my CSA share last season, one week I resisted adding them to the swap box and decided to take them home and roast them. That dish changed my view of radishes. Next I discovered the perfect combination of sliced radishes, slightly salted and layered on a baguette with a pat a butter. Tangy, peppery, salty, creamy – this is how simple food can create taste bud harmony.

Based on those ingredients and a recent Twitter #SpiceChat discussion on chives led to this recipe that highlights the humble spring radish – these biscuits would also make a pretty presentation for Mother Day’s or any spring luncheon celebration. And since salt and butter are also sharing the spotlight, I used gorgeous yellow Kerrygold butter and this beautiful coral pink Himalayan salt. (Here’s a recent “salt primer from Food52: 10 Salts to Know.)

Do you like radishes? How to you like to prepare/eat them?

Since it’s nearly Mother’s Day, I need to share about how my mom invented Popcorn Cake…The rest of this story can be found in my guest post on Food Babbles . The author of this popular blog is Kate, the co-founder of the  “First on the First” monthly baking challenge – for which I just posted Homemade Soft Pretzels. I like to read about Kate’s kitchen projects in her fun, approachable prose. Click here to read about Popcorn Cake – the easy and healthful snack – that will also be the most popular dessert at a potluck. And Happy Mother’s Day Mom…and to all moms!

When I learned pasta was the theme for this month’s love bloghop, I had dozens upon dozens of recipes go through my mind. You see, pasta of any kind is a huge pantry staple here – I’m 1/4th Italian (which pretty much like being 100% Italian) and I was pratically weaned onto semolina flour. My mom says I could twirl my spaghetti perfectly by age 3. By 6, I knew the best dried pasta brand was the blue box with the picture of the peasant lady - DeCecco, which is still my hands down favorite. (Barilla is a decent substitute.)

So I had visions of writing a post about how to best drain pasta, the perfect way to achieve “al dente” pasta (shut off the stove a few minutes before the recommended cooking time and toss with your sauce still cooking on the stove), how to use the pasta water to thicken your sauce (it only took my husband one time to learn that one should NEVER attempt to clean the pot containing said pasta water before asking wife), what shapes are best for what type of sauce, etc. etc.

Then reality set in. It came down to procrastination and our first spring trip to our outdoor farmers market to come up with this dish. A bagful of beautiful greens and some amazing crimins (I live 25 miles Kennett Square, the mushroom capital of the world!)

I always have frozen potato (dense) or ricotta (light & fluffy) gnocchi pasta in the freezer from a local pasta maker for last minute dinners.  This is one of those super adaptable recipes that can highlight any seasonal veggies you have on hand – I’ve made it with tomatoes, squash, green beans, spinach, the list is endless!

Your hosts for this month’s #PastaLove:

Astig Vegan | Richgail | @AstiVegan
Badger Girl Learns To Cook | Kimberly | @BdgerGrl
BigFatBaker | Erin | @bigfatbaker
Bon À Croquer | Valerie | @Valouth
Cake Duchess | Lora | @cakeduchess
Elephant Eats  | Amy | @ElephantEats
Hobby And More | Richa | @betit19
Mis Pensamientos | Junia | @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | TR | @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake | Jessica | @jesshose
Rico sin Azucar | Helena | @ricosinazucar
Simply Reem | Reem | @simplyreem
Soni’s Food for Thought | Soni | @sonisfood
Teaspoon of Spice | Deanna | @tspbasil
That Skinny Chick Can Bake | Liz | @thatskinnychick
The Spicy RD | EA | @thespicyrd
The Wimpy Vegetarian | Susan | @wimpyvegetarian
Vegetarian Mamma | Cindy |@Vegetarianmamma
You Made That? | Suzanne | @Youmadethatblog
Vegan Yack Attack | Jackie | @VeganYackAttack

Please join in on the #pastalove fun by linking up any pasta recipe from the month of May 2012. Don’t forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #pastalove event! The twitter hashtag is #pastalove.

Today’s guest post is written by Teaspoon Communications’ intern, Taryn Berry. Taryn is a senior at Saint Joseph’s University who will earn her B.S in Food Marketing in a short few weeks!

Fortunately for the Mexicans defeating the French at the Battle of Puebla, we now have an excuse to indulge in the cuisine of our southern neighbors every May 5th. With Cinco de Mayo fast approaching, I wanted to share with you a recipe that is perfect to bring to any fiesta you are planning to go to. One of my favorite, light and healthy side dishes to pair with my tacos (or even scoop up with chips), is this delicious Black Bean & Corn Salsa!

Happy Cinco de Mayo and buen provecho! Do you have a favorite Mexican (authentic or Tex Mex) dish/recipe you love to make/eat?

I’d been looking for a good excuse to make ‘authentic’ homemade soft pretzels ever since I saw this photo in the Chicago Tribune. The food section of a newspaper is not normally the spot you see rubber-gloved-hands dipping dough in toxic chemicals! I was fascinated by the paper’s discussion of the different washes that can be used to give pretzels the golden brown color and sour-tangy taste: Lye (for which rubber gloves are used,) baked baking soda, regular unbaked baking soda, whole egg, or egg white. So now, thanks to the First on the First recipe challenge, I have an excuse to try my hand at making homemade pretzels…and a recipe containing mention of rubber gloves for something other than de-seeding a chili pepper!

With one sleeping toddler and one 4 year old child eager for a project, a block of time emerged – and I knew this might be the only chance I’d have to spend 1 hour and 20 minutes plus raising time to complete Project Pretzel. Thus, I did not rush out to my local kitchen supply store to purchase lye; instead I used the baked baking soda wash as I’d read that the flavor was “somewhat similar to lye, but the color isn’t as dark or shiny, and the crust isn’t as crisp.” Upon completion of the project, I would agree that the color was more of a dark golden color (see comparison photo below) – and it’s also none too shiny.

Baked baking soda wash on right, unwashed dough on the left

The flavor was classic pretzel and the crust was mighty crisp straight out of the oven. Just make sure you have an extra box of baking soda in the cupboard – most of us who bake don’t often have a whole 1 1/3 cup of baking soda left in the box. By the time you’re done mixing the dough (especially with the help of a 4 year old) and letting it rise, the baking soda will be done baking. I baked mine at 300° for 1 hour.

You must use rye flour as specified in the recipe; the flavor is lightly pumpernickel and unmistakably authentic pretzel. I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Grain Dark Rye Flour. And then, because I didn’t have any of the called-for bread flour, I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 3 cups of all purpose flour. The result was deliciously hearty and nutty; I figured it was an ‘authentic’ whole wheat pretzel. To recap, the only changes I made from the original recipe were to switch out the bread flour and to cut the salt to 1 ½ teaspoons; instead of 12 pretzels I got 14 – and that doesn’t include the unbaked pretzel the toddler snatched when he awoke – so the recipe probably makes 15!

Toast any leftovers to maintain the crisp crust. Ideally, serve your authentic soft pretzels with aged Cheddar, German mustard, sausage and good beer!

Want to expand your kitchen skills this year? Created by Carrie of Poet in the Pantry and Kate of Food Babbles, First On The First is a year-long challenge of tackling certain culinary feats. On the 1st of each month, the results of that month’s challenge will be posted by all bloggers participating.

Foodie Penpals is the brilliant concept started by Lindsey @ Lean Green Bean Blog last September. The program is simple, you get matched with another blogger or blog reader and send a $15 dollar “foodie gift.” Then at the end of the month, you post what you’ve received. Who doesn’t like getting a food package in the mail? Apparently 600+ bloggers do (at last count, that’s how many people are involved in this fun exchange.)

For my first time participating, I received a lovely package from Somer @ Good Clean Food. Getting the the goodies is just half the fun – the other bonus is connecting with fellow food bloggers like Somer. She has a very inspirational story about how she lost 100 pounds by way of good old fashioned exercise, diet changes and determination. After finding out our shared interest of running and eating well, we must have exhanged half a dozen emails chatting before I even received her package!

So, what did she send? Some of her favorite snacks, fuel for running and a treat or two.

Lundberg Sesame Tamari Rice Cakes – I don’t think I’ve had rice cakes since my calorie-obsessing 20s. But I love Lundberg Farms rice products – they grow and package some wonderful grain blends. These had some good flavor to them unlike typical cardboard tasting versions.

Lara Bars - True confession, I’ve only had them once and wasn’t that into them. Somer sent me Banana Bread (pretty tasty) and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough(ok.) I do like that they have minimal, natural ingredients – I just like some texture and crunch to my energy bars.

Mocha Clif Shot Energy Gel – I swear I got energy just looking at the packet. Somer and I are both runners and she uses this to refuel on long runs. Perhaps this gel will give me some motivation to go over 7 miles!

Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter Blend - Bring it! I eat peanut butter daily and this cute little packet is perfect when you are the run (traveling or an actual run.)

Hemp Hearts – I’ve never had hemp seeds, which are a great source of omega 3s, zinc, iron and a slew of other nutrients. I tossed some over a salad – they tasted like a cross between a bean sprout and a sesame seed.

Lake Champlain Dark Chocolate - Another daily must for me – I will never turn down an opportunity to try a new brand of dark chocolate. Let’s just say it did NOT disappoint.

Burt’s Bees Beexwax Lip Balm – I just love that she included this – I’ve been a fan of Burt’s Bees products for years and how did she know I just lost my lip gloss?

Want to see what everyone else got this month? You can check out all of the Food Penpals posts here. (And here’s what I sent to Kammie @ Sensual Appeal.)

Want to become a Foodie Penpal? Foodie Penpals is open to both bloggers and readers in the US and Canada. (There’s also a UK branch of Foodie Penpals if you’re a blogger across the pond.) If you’d like to participate next month, click here for more information and instructions on participation. Registration closes at the end of the day on May 4th, so don’t delay!

If you order food/foodie products online, what are your favorite stores that deliver to your doorstep? (Zingerman’s is one of my favs.)

First thing is first: Welcome to our newly designed Teaspoon of Spice blog! Today is launch day and Deanna and I are so happy to have you at “our kitchen table.” We hope you pull up a chair to get comfy and spend a moment clicking around. Maybe you’ll find a recipe for a baked treat in our new Recipe Index to go with a cup of hot cocoa. If you have a bit more time, visit The Recipe ReDux section for links to hundreds of healthy & delicious recipes from us & fellow ReDux bloggers – or poke around the Our Kitchen Table tab to find a few more topics about which we can chat. In the end, we hope you visit with “two dietitians who love food as much as you do” often! And this leads us to the second star of this post – someone else who likes to eat (maybe even MORE than we do) – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, of course. And this is the story of his party and cake.

Actually, it was my son’s second birthday party. True confession: The Very Hungry Caterpillar was about the easiest homemade theme I could imagine. The popular children’s book by Eric Carle had brilliantly already set the menu, color scheme and cake idea for me! All I had to do was make a short shopping list and wash the dust out of my bundt pan. So for the kid (and adult) friendly dinner party I served foods mentioned in the book:
-Fresh strawberries
-Freshly sliced apples and other fruit
-Grilled (turkey) sausages on crusty bread
-Pickles
-Grated cheese for the sausages
-Sauerkraut (no it’s not in the book, but necessary for sausages in my own book)
-Marinated potato salad with artichokes and olives (also not in the book)
-Cake (and watermelon if you can find it)

The cake was simple. I mixed up my favorite yellow butter cake recipe and poured most of the batter into a bundt pan; the remainder (about 1 1/2 cups) I poured into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup. To assemble the caterpillar, the bundt cake was cut into pieces and fitted together until it resembled the green and red guy on the front of the book. The small round Pyrex cake served as the head. The kids helped me whip up my standard buttercream and drop in lots of red food coloring to make frosting for the head. (Mix the red first so you can use the remaining frosting for the body.) You’ll need about 15-20 drops of green food coloring for the body. Use black licorice for the antennae and legs and Easter grass for the background. The eyes and mouth/nose were fruit roll-ups (which my kids know are ONLY for birthday cakes!) Lastly, enjoy the process, because in my history of blogging about birthday cakes, this was one of the easiest cakes to assemble!

What was the theme of one the most successfully birthday parties you planned?

If you're wondering: It's sparkling grape juice in a rummage sale goblet

Is kale the new bacon? A recent article in The Balitmore Sun summarizes the sudden rise of this superstar green. And it’s true (much to the liking of this dietitian), kale IS all over food blogs –  I swear I see a new kale chip recipe almost daily. Can other bitter greens (like mustard, collards, dandelion, Swiss chard) be far behind?

Here’s a recipe I’ve been making and tweaking for years – and the first one that got me to sit up and notice kale instead of wrinkling my nose at its bitterness. I like to blanch heartier greens (boil in water for a few minutes & drain before sautéing) as a way to take out some of the bitter (an absolute must for broccoli rabe, in my book.) The other hook with this dish to add just a pinch of sugar, along with briny olives & capers and a touch of heat to marry all the fabulous flavors together. Toss in tuna & beans and you have a one pot meal and perhaps not even any leftovers – to this day, I still marvel at how huge bunches of greens wilt down into just a few servings.

Are you a kale lover or do you have another favorite green?