Raspberry, Pistachio, and Vanilla Semifreddo

My latest video was supposed to spotlight raspberries.

But cream is such a hog for fame and glory and that it had to get in on the action.

Oh cream, you will always have my heart, even though you can be very vain and selfish. Here's the video, CO-starring raspberries and cream (pistachio and vanilla have supporting roles):

I am going to keep this one short and sweet other than to say this: semifreddos are my new summer obsession. I love them because you don't need an ice cream maker to make them. I love that you slice them like a piece of cake. I love that they contain an ungodly amount of cream. Last night, I devoured a rhubarb semifreddo at a local restaurant. It was divine (of course) and inspiring. I look forward to a lifetime of making every imaginable semifreddo flavour I can think of.

Now, if this Bon Appétit-inspired 3-tiered delight seems a little too daunting and time-consuming, I've provided a simplified variation of the recipe where you don't make the 3 separate layers. It's so easy to make and every bit as delicious, so please don't be swayed from making this dessert. Here's what the quick version looks like:

Here's where you can find both versions of my raspberry, pistachio, vanilla semifreddo recipe.
And here's my coconut rose petal semifreddo recipe.

Now dear beloved reader, go forth and make semifreddo.

Mango Salsa and my August Giveaway

Hey! How did August sneak up on us like that? Summer's flying and it's already time to announce July's giveaway winner as well as my August giveaway. Thank you so much to everyone who entered the draw for the book "Cooking With Flowers", I loved reading all your comments explaining why you're inspired to cook with flowers. I wish I had a copy for every single one of you! But I only have one, and Sarah Fisher you are the lucky winner. Enjoy this magical book!

Now a little drumroll for my August giveaway... 

One of the perks of being a food blogger is that every now and then, companies send me food samples to try. Which I love. And recently a company called Way Better Snacks sent me 5 different flavours of their corn chips. Holy yum! 



Now. Let me first say that I am someone who is extremely picky about corn chips because they are usually made with genetically engineered (GMO) corn and canola oil, which I avoid like the plague. To find out why, you can read this post and this post. But these particular corn chips are certified GMO-free by the non-GMO project. Hurrah! PLUS, they are very unique in that they are made with sprouted seeds such as flax, chia, broccoli, and daikon which increases vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, digestibility and nutrient absorption. 

I was so enchanted with my 5 bags of chips that I gobbled them up faster than I'm willing to admit here. They were all delicious, though my favourite flavour is Sweet Chili, sooooo addictive! I wanted to share the fun with you all, so Way Better Snacks has kindly agreed to send 5 bags (1 of each flavor) to 3 lucky Kitchen Vignettes readers at the end of this month. All you need to do to be entered in this giveaway is leave me a comment below telling me why you'd like to try these chips. Or share their photo on my facebook page. The contest is open to residents of Canada and the US. 

At this time of year when there's fresh tomatoes and peppers in the garden to turn into tons of salsa, well, it's just really nice to have guilt-free chips around the house. Here's my recipe for fresh and delicious mango salsa. Enjoy!

MANGO SALSA

2 large ripe mangoes
2 ripe medium-sized tomatoes
1 small red onion (or half a medium-sized one)
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 sweet bell pepper, finely diced
1 small hot pepper, seeds removed, finely minced
1 small bunch of cilantro (about 1/2 cup chopped)
1/2 tsp. cumin
Juice of 1 big lime (or 2 small limes)
Salt to taste

Very finely chop all ingredients and mix together. Salt to taste. Serve with your favorite (hopefully non-GMO) corn chips. *Note: I prefer chopping everything by hand because it yields a less "soupy" salsa. It may seem like it will take a lot longer, but when you factor in washing the food processor, it doesn't take that much more time. It took me no more than 30 minutes to prepare this salsa, chopping everything by hand.*

Cream of Lambsquarter Soup

Weeds weeds weeds. Our garden is overrun with them right now and we've been busy hoeing and pulling (mostly pulling since things have gotten beyond hoeing), and generally trying to get things under control to give our poor crops a bit of breathing space. But while weeds can seem like our worst enemies at times, it's good to remember they can be some of the tastiest and most nutritious plants in the garden. 

You may remember my passion for eating weeds from this post about the most annoying weed of them all. But I haven't yet written about the queen of weeds yet: lambsquarter.

I've been eating this weed since I was a little girl because my mom was extremely fond of it. It's called chou gras in French, which I used to confuse with foie gras. Not quite the same... but both delicious. I've always preferred it over spinach and other cultivated greens. It has a naturally creamy texture, a rich 'green' taste, and steamed or sautéed with a little butter, it's simply lovely. But not only does it taste great, lambsquarter's nutritional profile is outstanding. It contains more nutrients than spinach and recent studies have even shown it to be capable of blocking the growth of breast cancer cells.

If you also have got more lambsquarter than you know what to do with, try making this delicious cream of lambsquarter soup. 

I promise it will put you on friendlier terms with at least one of your garden weeds. You can find my recipe here on PBS Food. Bon appétit and happy weeding!