I love Swiss chard. During the winter, I actually crave it.

Maybe I am really craving antioxidants. Swiss chard has lots of those.

It’s also a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin K, B vitamins and Omega 3s and offers up healthy doses of minerals like calcium and iron.

So who really knows why my body loves it?

Could be because it is so darn tasty.

My favorite preparation for Swiss chard (or any chard for that matter; the bright colors of rainbow chard make me especially happy!) is to saute it in olive oil with a little chopped garlic and crushed red pepper flake. After it is wilted, I add in some cooked white beans.

The mix is great over rice, tossed with pasta, or all on its own.

Chard is great in pace of spinach in most recipes, like yesterday’s calzones. It pairs well with eggs in quiches and frittatas. And it is terrific chopped up into soups.

And it is actually pretty good in a banana, berry and flax oil smoothie. A few leaves don’t change the taste, but pack in some really valuable nutrients. (Try it – I promise you won’t even notice!)

You can find lots of great recipesfor chard, and it is in season in most places across the country until Semptember. So buy a big beautiful bunch today. Your body will thank you!

When my boy was tiny, he had a real problem with peaches.

I can’t imagine what the issue was, and he outgrew it within a few years.

But during those few years of peach dislike, anything that disagreed with his palate was deemed, “berry (very) peachy.”

It really was adorable.

When I began thinking about peach recipes for this week, I couldn’t help but think of those years. And so, in honor of Owen, a few “Berry Peachy” recipes to try with all those delicious peaches and berries popping up at farmer’s markets everywhere:

• Berry-Peach Cobbler with Sugared Almonds
• Grilled Peaches with Blackberry-Basil Butter
• White PeachBerry Sangria
• Blackberry Peach Crumb Topped Muffins
• Blackberry Peach Ice Cream

Berry Peachy. Maybe not so bad.

What berry-peachy stuff are you eating this summer?

Homegrown and farmer’s market strawberries are one of our favorite summer treats.

But last year, when we joined a CSA, we learned something important — the strawberries you can find at small farms are very different than the ones you find at a supermarket.

They are grown for flavor, not portability, our farmer friend told us.

That means that farm-fresh strawberries often don’t last as long and need to be processed right away. When we were picking buckets each week last year, we would wash and freeze a lot of the berries right away.

We would eat some too! But another simple recipe we created allowed us to enjoy that fantastic taste of fresh summer strawberries the afternoon they were picked.

Give it a try, and add your own ideas for strawberry recipes in the comments below!

Strawberry Aqua Fresca

A handful of strawberries

A few leaves of fresh mint

A bit of agave

Water

A squeeze of lime juice

A few ice cubes

Mix ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust sweetener to taste. garnish with more mint.

Amounts listed or not exact, of course, but you want sort of a thin slushy consistency. Experiment a bit and see what appeals to your family!

Happy Summer Sipping!

In her later years, my grandmother became addicted to radishes.

No one could tell her why.

She actually asked her doctor, because she worried that craving radishes was abnormal.

Although no one could ever tell her it was normal, it also is a pretty healthy addiction — radishes are a good source of B6, riboflavin, calcium and magnesium and they are mildly anti-inflammatory.

So a much better addiction than street drugs or online gambling, probably.

My grandma used to eat radishes at her desk, while adding up the day’s receipts from the family business on an old adding machine. (It was not a calculator. Do not call it a calculator.)

I always think of my grandma this time of year when radishes start popping up in the garden and at the farmer’s market.

I consider eating them sprinkled with salt, while enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee, the way my grandma used to, but thankfully I am not a coffee fan, because I loved my grandma but that is just gross.

Instead, I snack on some and try to get a little creative with the rest. My favorite uses for radishes …

Pickled Radishes

Frenchy-French-like: In a sandwich, with a little butter and salt

How are you enjoying radishes this season? Add a recipe idea in the comments below!