Join Debbie as she raves about whole foods, rants about chemicals and generally celebrates cooking and eating with fresh, local, nutritious foods. And sometimes she might get a little feisty….

Really, what could be fresher than a potato salad made up almost entirely of ingredients from this week’s CSA farm harvest? Yes, it’s true: with the heat wave has come the vegetable wave, and we are finally getting a decent amount of veggies each week; a good variety too.

So while we’re still waiting for the tomatoes (I don’t suppose 10 cherries count?), there are still lots of other goodies in this salad: Yukon gold potatoes, corn, radicchio, zucchini, fresh basil and chives, all from our CSA farm. I tried to counterbalance the bitterness of the radicchio (only a selling point in my opinion) with the sweetness of some of the other ingredients as well as the balsamic vinegar dressing, and it turned out just the way I wanted it. If you’re not a fan of the bitter greens, you can use any greens you like, or blend some of the radicchio with something less strong to get the flavor you love.

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You almost need nothing but a big, juicy slice of watermelon, dripping down your chin as you slurp it down, on this list. My only regret is that seedless watermelon has rendered the seed-spitting contests of my youth obsolete.

Sometimes, though, I just feel the need to get creative. Yeah, I know you’ve figured that out by now. There are some really fun and easy things you can do with watermelon that not only enhance the flavor, but keep you from getting bored.

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The last clambake that my family went to, a few years back, our then almost two-year-old ate the lion’s share of my lobster. I’m a loving, giving, generous mom, so I only resented him a little bit for it, and I was secretly tickled that my crazy kid adored the bizarre shellfish.

Fast forward three years: I ordered a whole lobster for the kid, because I simply didn’t want to share. Well, Owen simply didn’t want to eat more than five or six bites of his lobster (the slip and slide is way more fun), so we ended up with almost a whole lobster left over. Next year, it’s hot dogs for the kid, but my more immediate problem was not solved quite as easily.

I wanted to be more creative than just throwing the lobster over a salad, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to mix it with mayonnaise and stick it on a roll. The fleeting thought of making my own raviolis thankfully passed (although I’m really doing it someday), but I couldn’t get the idea of lobster with pasta out of my head. And so my dish was born….

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When assigned an appetizer to bring to a clambake, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Quick! It’s not chicken wings, is it? Yeah, I know, but that’s what I brought anyway (if only I had taken a picture because they were so, so beautiful).

I’ve had — and made — chicken wings about a gazillion ways, but I wanted to try a recipe I’ve never done before, and you can’t go wrong with Tyler Florence. His teriyaki chicken wings with sesame and cilantro were divine, and met rave reviews, with one exception.

With just a few tips and tweaks, you’ll be able to make these wings easily and to everyone’s taste satisfaction.

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I’ve written before about how spelt flour can sometimes make baked goods come out a little dry. Yes, there are some recipes it works wonderfully with, like these dark chocolate brownies and sprouted spelt flour pizza dough for the bread machine.

So you might think that any corn bread, a dish that can be dry by nature, would completely suck when made with spelt flour. You’d be wrong. I’ve gotten more compliments on the moist and yummy corn bread that I make, based on a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. People want to know the secret for its moistness. Sure, there’s a boatload of butter in it, which is probably the main reason, but it’s nice to know that using a healthy flour doesn’t make corn bread dry. And it really is just as easy as opening the box of mix — wouldn’t you rather serve something made from scratch?

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There’s something magical about a good bean dip. Sometimes it’s the perfect hummus, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika. Other times it’s a spicy black bean dip threatening to ooze over the side of your organic blue corn chip if you don’t scoop it into your mouth in time.

But today, I’m thinking about white bean dip. In the wintertime, white bean dip is perfect with sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and crusty bruschetta. Summertime brings a lighter, lemony bean dip served with veggies and crispy brown rice crackers. Making a delicious white bean dip is criminally simple, and the one I made this weekend should land me life in prison. Yeah, that was totally hokey, but the bean dip really was good!

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Far be it from me to ever assume that northern New Hampshire wouldn’t have any good restaurants to choose from. Granted, they are few and far between, but isn’t everything up there? You have to drive 20 miles just to find a gas station, let alone a gourmet restaurant.

There are a couple of gems that we’ve enjoyed for years, though, in Glen and North Conway: Margarita Grill and Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery.

Every year when we go to Bretton Woods, we try to make it to at least one of these. In the past, we’ve always made it to both, but this year, since Margarita Grill was on our way home from Story Land, it won. Every year, I forget that Margarita Grill is not just your average Mexican restaurant. Everything they make has a unique flair and although the cuisine is scrumptious, the service is so fast that they get you out before your kid melts down, so it’s a win-win.

Join me as I re-create the meal I enjoyed so thoroughly it was nearly embarrassing: blackened tilapia with red grape and currant pica de gallo with roasted vegetable salad and honey rum black beans.

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