I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Simple Vegetarian Pleasures, by Jeanne Lemlin. I’ve used a few of her recipes before on this blog back when I had, like, two readers. So I thought it was only fitting to end with one from her.

Yep, that’s right. This is my last post — at least for a while. I’m embarking on a new adventure.

You might remember me mentioning that my mother has had cancer three times over the past 15 years. Her experience has shined light on a new career path for me — nursing. I have been taking prerequisites for nursing school this summer and hope to start full time in the fall of 2010 at University of Maryland, Baltimore. In preparation (and to give me more time for classes), I will be leaving Erickson next week to start working at a startup nonprofit in Annapolis, Md., called The Wellness House. It’s a place for cancer patients and their families to get support throughout their treatment and healing process.

I’m very excited. Except, of course, that I won’t be doing this blog anymore after today. That is sad. However, I will be starting a blog for the Wellness House guests, and I thank you all for the learning experience that will help me in this new endeavor. And with any luck, I’ll start my own food blog sometime in the near future to continue taking photos, scaling down recipes, and creating interesting flavors. I’ll let you know where I end up if you have any interest in following me

So with that, here is today’s recipe:

Recipe: Spinach, artichoke, & prosciutto dip with pita chips (adapted from Simple Vegetarian Pleasures, by Jeanne Lemlin)
Serves one

Dip:
1/4 cup plain, low-fat yogurt
2 Tbsp light cream cheese
4 quarters marinated artichoke hearts in a jar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp chives, finely chopped
1/4 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed
1 tsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 slice prosciutto, finely chopped

Pita chips:
1 6-inch whole wheat pita bread
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp roasted garlic salt (such as McCormick or She Sells Sea Salts)

Place the thawed spinach in a strainer and squeeze out all of the liquid. Place all the dip ingredients in a food processor, and blend until combined. Cover and chill at least two hours to blend the flavors.

For the chips, preheat the oven to 300F. Cut the pita bread into quarters, then carefully separate the two layers, creating eight pieces. Place the pita pieces rough (inner) side up on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, pour the olive oil and garlic salt, stir slightly to combine, then brush the rough sides with the olive oil mixture using a pastry brush. Bake until golden and crisp, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely, and store in a plastic container until ready to serve.

Serve the dip cool or at room temperature but not cold. Lemlin suggests using the leftover spinach to fill an omelet, mix with pasta, or stuff into a baked potato with cheese. You could also use it in quiche or frittata.

Thanks for reading, folks. It’s been fun! I will miss you.

XOXO,

Julia

No, I haven’t lost my mind.

This is the final part of my strawberry project, and I saved the best for last. Bacon is the new “it” food; companies and chefs are pairing it with everything from ice cream to chocolate. So it’s got to go with strawberries, right?

Well, I set off today to find out. I tried several techniques, from wrapping fresh strawberries in prosciutto to stuffing strawberries with chocolate chips and wrapping them in a cooked piece of bacon. The prosciutto was a definite no, but I knew I was on to something with the bacon. It just needed one adjustment…

The oven! Again, I tried a few techniques, including broiling the bacon-wrapped berries, but I really only ended up filling my house with smoke. Finally, I stuffed three berries with chevre, three with chocolate chips, and three with nothing, wrapped them each in a strip of low sodium bacon, and roasted them in a 450F oven for roughly 10 minutes — 7 on one side, 3 on the other.

They were all wonderful, but I liked the chevre-filled ones the best. They were even better drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. Okay, so maybe I also drizzled a tad of chocolate sauce on the plate. But I swear it was just for the visual effects.

Ohhh, but it was good.

Now, normally I wouldn’t eat nine pieces of bacon unless I was serving these little piggies as an appetizer to guests. Instead, I might do something like this and eat three or four pieces with a salad for lunch or dinner:

The good thing about strawberries is that you can eat them plain, use them in baking, or eat them any of the various ways I’ve been testing out. And bacon is sliced, so you can use just a few pieces at a time. I honestly have never tried freezing bacon, but I don’t see why you couldn’t if you used a freezer bag. Either way, paired with a salad, this makes a great lunch or dinner and a perfect appetizer for friends. Plus, they’re so easy!

Recipe: Berries in a blanket
Serves one

4 fresh strawberries, washed and capped (stem removed)
4 strips reduced sodium or turkey bacon
1 tsp chevre, divided into 1/4 tsps (optional)
1 tsp aged balsamic vinegar (optional)

Preheat oven to 450F. If you’re going to use the chevre, make a shallow slit in the side of each strawberry, just big enough to fit a 1/4 tsp of the soft cheese. Filling the strawberries from the side instead of the top helps keep the cheese from melting out while roasting.

Wrap each berry horizontally (to cover the chevre and hold it in) with one strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. Check after 5, and if the bacon is browned, turn each piece with tongs. Roast for another 2 — 3 minutes until all sides of the bacon are cooked and brown.

Remove from the oven and immediately place each piece on a plate covered with two layers of paper towels to drain the grease. Cool slightly, then plate and drizzle with the 1 tsp of aged balsamic vinegar. Enjoy with a salad or as a snack.

It’s day two of my strawberry project. I’m back from the International Food Styling and Photography Conference at Boston University, and I’m itching to try some of the photography tips I learned over the weekend. Not only that, but I’m excited to experiment with new flavors and representations of food.

Today I dipped strawberries in honeyed whipped cream; lemon, mint, and basil; and freshly ground black pepper.

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Strawberries are one of those amazing fruits you can eat just about a million different ways. From sweet whipped cream to tangy balsamic vinegar to spicy freshly ground black pepper, it seems that just about anything enhances their flavor in a new and exciting way.

Starting today, I’m embarking on a project to test several of the various ways to eat strawberries. Today’s parings are traditional cream with raw sugar and the more eclectic age balsamic vinegar.

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Photo by Julia Boyle

I wait all year for strawberry season. So much so that I meticulously plan out my jam-eating throughout the year so the frozen jars last until I pick again. And the time has finally come; as long as the rain stops for a few hours tomorrow, I’ll have my hands in the strawberry patch. In preparation, I’ve been browsing the blogosphere for other jam posts. Here are a few of my favorites:

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