Aperol Spritz

It’s summer which means outdoor spritzes on warm afternoons! This is my favorite way to make an Aperol Spritz, the cocktail that reminds me of being on the beach in Italy. I like to make it with sparkling rosé wine instead of Prosecco, for added color and fun. Look for the small cans of bubbly if you’re just making one or 2 of these.

These are fun to sip with my new favorite sunglasses and bubbly wine glasses!

MY FAVORITE APEROL SPRITZ

Mix equal parts Aperol, rosé sparlkling wine and club soda with ice. Garnish with your favorite seasonal fruit. Orange is the traditional garnish, but right now I’m using nectarine.

Cheers!

Summer Dinner Menu

If you have people coming over for dinner, sometimes it’s hard to think of the right grouping of recipes that you can make ahead, won’t take too much time, can be served at room temperature and will be delicious. I hear that and I have a plan for you!

I usually do my menu planning in the produce department of the grocery store the day-of and I recently came up with a seasonal menu that checked all the boxes. We had friends over for an outdoor vegetarian dinner last week and what we made is below.

I want you to know that each “recipe” below is loose, because you really can’t go wrong. If you add more of one thing or the other, it will still turn out fine. So be creative and use these ideas as a starting point!

White Peach Caprese

On a platter, layer slices of white peach and yellow tomato. Top with pieces of Burrata cheese and sprigs of fresh basil. Drizzle the whole platter with good olive oil, flaky (Maldon) sea salt and black pepper. This is one of my favorite things to eat!

3-Bean Lentil Salad

Combine roughly equal parts lentils, shelled edamame beans, and canned Cannellini beans. Add chopped scallions and sliced cherry tomatoes. Toss with rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil and Bragg Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce).

Roasted Potato Salad

Roast halved mini potatoes and a chopped onion with olive oil and salt on a sheet pan at 425˚F for about 25 min or until fork-tender. Cool for a few minutes them spoon them on top of a bowl of arugula. Dress with balsamic.

Beyond Kebabs

Jon started making these recently with a recipe (meant for beef) from the Balaboosta cookbook. It’s so delicious and such a fun and different way to eat faux meat. Just mix herbs and spices into the Beyond ground meat and pack them onto wooden kebab sticks before putting them on the grill (you can also use the patties if you can’t find the block of ground “meat”.) They are especially good with chimichurri sauce (I have a recipe in my FF Gatherings book) or the Zhoug sauce from Trader Joe’s (I’m obsessed).

Summer dinner party buffet on our deck!

We also served a platter or fruit and sliced raw rainbow carrots for our picky kids (and everyone) and a loaf of really good bread with butter. The kids made s’mores over the BBQ for dessert.

Campari & Sodas feel so Italian-summer (and they are so easy!!)

Winnie is 15 months already (!) and was at my feet as I prepared everything.

Cheers to summer al fresco dining!

Campari + Soda

A colorful cocktail makes happy hour even more fun! Every time I drink a Campari + Soda I am transported immediately back to sipping them on warm afternoons in the main plaza of Bologna, Italy. That’s where I studied abroad for a year in college at l’Accademia di Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) and the year I really began to take photography seriously. Bologna is also the food capital of Italy, so looking back it all makes sense how I arrived at photographing cookbooks!

Campari is a bitter liqueur, perfect for an apéritif, a before-dinner drink to whet the appetite. An orange slice is typically used as the garnish, but for an early summer option I’ve been enjoying a strawberry slice from our local farm box delivery and a sprig of mint from the garden. Cheers!

Basic Campari + Soda

1 part Campari (about 2 oz)

3 parts soda water (about 6 oz)

ice

garnish

Any glass will work, but I like to use my everyday wine glasses. Fill the glass with ice, pour in the Campari, then top the glass off with soda water. Add an orange slice as a garnish, or choose something in-season like I have here: strawberry and mint.

My New Shop!

Some fun news! I’m excited to share my new online shop! We have been curating it for a while and now every time someone asks, “where did you get that?”, I have everything in one place. In addition to my cookbooks and stationery, you can now find some favorite items from around our home. There are the string lights we’ve had up on the deck for years, my everyday cast iron pan, my watercolor paints, and the copper cups I use for everything from paint water to Moscow Mules…plus lots more. And we’ll be adding new items regularly. Check it all out here!

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Mother's Day Gift Ideas – 2021

With Mother’s Day coming soon, I’m excited to celebrate with my mom and aunts who are all fully vaccinated now (as am I!). What a relief! That’s really all I wanted for Mother’s Day, but here are a few more ideas for something to give, make or send…or even DO with mama on the special day.

1. WATERCOLOR SEED PACKETS: Buy some blank seed packets and paint them! (see above) We did this with the kids this year and they came out so cute. I bought a big packet of cosmo seeds (because we have had good luck planting them from seed) and I poured a bit into each packet. Fits nicely into an envelope to mail, too! Both the blank packets and the seeds are made by Seed Needs, a company in Michigan.

2. A BEAUTIFUL PUZZLE: I love this foodie floral puzzle by Galison, a company based in New York City.

3. DESIGN BOOK: Justina Blakeney’s gorgeous new coffee table book Decorate Wild is so much fun for anyone interested in eclectic, colorful home decor and lots of house plants! (We share a publisher, my dear Abrams, in New York City!)

4. A FLORAL APRON: Give one of my cookbooks and wrap it in an apron as a nice little gift package. This floral apron is made by a company based in Massachusetts.

Wrap a cookbook in an apron using the waist strings to tie it together. Top with some fresh leaves and flowers.

5. WATERCOLORS: Gift a set of my favorite simple watercolors and cold press paper, and watch one of my painting tutorials on YouTube, like how to paint the flowers below (and please subscribe!)

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas and mother figures out there! It’s been a YEAR and here’s hoping things get easier from here on out.

xx

Erin

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