fftf: hot tip friday #13 🥗📚
new & unique lime-y salad dressing, gift idea = kids books about food, cute cookbook habit
Hello and happy Friday! A fun little roundup of foodie tidbits today :)
#1 - Lime & Coconut Vinaigrette
I’ve been very bored with my usual salads lately, then this dressing came to the rescue! I don’t have any coconut-based dressings that are “regulars” in my salad rotation, but I think this one might finally change that :). The recipe comes from a physical print magazine (gasp!) that my dad picked up on vacation recently and gave to me - Edible Port City (the region near Wilmington, North Carolina).
I’ve only made this dressing twice, so haven’t *fully* tweaked it to my own liking, but I want to share it anyways as it’s super refreshing and already great as it is.
My version is adapted slightly from the “Charred lime and coconut vinaigrette” by Chef Dean Neff of Seabird Restaurant, found on page 15 of Edible Port City from Fall 2023, Vol 1 Issue 1. (You can actually read the whole thing here online too.)
Lime & Coconut Vinaigrette
makes about 1.5 cups of dressing - will last a few days in the fridge and make multiple smaller salads and/or will make one a BIG salad!
Ingredients:
juice from 3 limes
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut milk
1-2 scallions and/or 1/4 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup neutral oil such as avocado oil
salt to taste
optional - a few tablespoons yogurt or coconut yogurt to thicken
Instructions:
Add all the ingredients (except yogurt) to a jar with a tight-sealing lid and shake vigorously until well blended. Taste, and if you want it thicker, add a few tablespoons of yogurt to thicken. Continue to taste and adjust till you love it!
Note: I think this dressing really benefits from a quick blend with an immersion blender - it helps break down the scallions/cilantro and makes their flavors come through better, plus it helps the dressing emulsify. If doing that, I recommend mixing the dressing in a 2-cup pyrex, as pictured.
Salad notes - this dressing is works with a variety of greens. So far I’ve tried it with chicories and bibb lettuce, both were great! It’s a bit tart, so for additional salad components, I’d recommend creamy, sweet, and crunchy stuff to create good balance. A selection (or all) of the following would work well: orange or clementine segments, toasted pumpkin seeds, avocado, grated or thinly sliced radishes, and/or some pomegranate seeds for color/pop!
#2 - Last minute gift idea / my (new) favorite kids books about food!
Until I became a parent, I didn’t quite realize just how many BAD children’s books are out there! Many are SO boring, dumb, old-fashioned, or just annoying to read. Especially when you end up reading the same book 10+ times a day, day after day after day… as a parent, we need GOOD children’s books too! :). I’m sure everyone has different tastes, but my ideal book is rhyming, with a narrative arch (you’d be surprised how many kids books are not even a story!), a meaningful teaching message/lesson, and artful illustrations.
WELL! I have a new favorite children’s book company: Gloo Books, because so far their books hit all my marks! Let me tell you about a few cool books from this company… you won’t be surprised that two out of three are about food.
Gloo Books is also having a holiday sale of 15% off everything right now, and if you order today, you still have pre-Christmas UPS ground delivery options! (This is not sponsored/no affiliate links, I just genuinely like this company/these books!)
What’s That? - this is my #1 fav - it’s about two kids who have “different” lunches at their school (Chinese and Indian food), who then bond/gain confidence by sharing their love of food/pride in their families’ cultures. I literally tear up every time I read it, it’s so sweet. (This book is a bit too advanced for Jazzy, but I try to read it to her anyways 🤣. Never too early to prep her to be proud of her lunch!)
Asian Food Guide Series - these are the books that first got me interested in this company! They currently have four books that are guides to Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino food. I am hoping they’ll make guides like this for as many cuisines as possible! I started with the Indian food guide and love it. (Also way too advanced for Jazzy, but, again, I still try to read it to her, lol.)
Mostly Me - this one is not about food, but is very special. It’s written for multi-racial kids and, as their website says: “Mostly Me is a rhyming picture book about navigating biracial identity and creates a vibrant and uplifting message for anyone who feels like they’re in-between.” The main character is a color, not a person, so the story is very open-ended/widely relatable, and really about celebrating and embracing all the different parts of you, that make you who you are. A truly beautiful message!
Books are my favorite gifts, so - for any kids/parents in your life, I highly recommend!
#3 - The cute & sentimental cookbook habit I learned from Nonna
I’ve been cooking out of my cookbooks lately, and realized I’ve probably never shared this super simple, wonderful, and sentimental habit that my Nonna taught me… to use personal cards/notes/memories as bookmarks in your cookbooks! I have random cards, notes, menus, tickets, and old photos scattered all throughout my cookbooks, marking recipes I want(ed) to make. It’s so fun to find them after a while and remember that sentiment or moment in time. I thought to share this because Jazzy was playing with one of the notes that had fallen out of a book… and then I thought… how cool, if I someday pass these books onto her, she would also get all my old love notes from friends and family! As someone who LOVESSSSSS reading old letters from generations ago, this thought turned Nonna’s trick into even more of a treasure 😍.
That’s all for today. Stay well :)
Love,
Jess