It has been a bit of a blur since Gideon's arrival, as we remember what it's like to go weeks without a full nights sleep. Little Gideon and Mom are both doing well, and so we are on track to returning to Haiti in early August. As we wrap up our last weeks here, stateside, we are relishing the tastes of North American summer: impossibly good sweet corn, tart local blueberries with a dash of cream, and fresh peak-of-summer tomatoes and herbs. This Marinated Tomato and Mozzarella Salad has been a frequent highlight on our table these last few weeks. It is ready in minutes, bursting with summer flavor, a balance of bright sweet tomatoes and creamy fresh mozzarella.

It's moving day for us at The Hungry Hounds. Fueled by donuts, coffee and tons of moving help from family and friends, we are on our way from Pennsylvania to Indiana for our final goodbyes with Paul's family before we leave for Haiti. Cooking and eating in our kitchen for the past few weeks has been a bit of an awkward experience with many frustrated sighs and the frequent realization, '...oh right, we packed that already, didn't we!?' One of the last dishes we made when our kitchen was still in full swing was this tasty Flammkuchen, a comfort pizza-like-classic from the Alsatian and South German regions, with many variations and names. We modeled ours after the classic version, a thin crusted flatbread pizza with a creamy, slightly tangy sauce, smoky bacon, a smattering of cheese, and the succulent sweetness of caramelized onions.

Rebecca has always had strong food cravings; from adventures across the city to find the most mouth puckering sour candy, to a months long quest to reproduce a Vietnamese street food from our travels. While spousal cravings can get a bad rap, I'm personally a big fan. Spur-of-the moment homemade rice crispy treats, check. Ten versions of fried potatoes in a week, twist my arm. Or, most recently, a grilled cheese to beat all other grilled cheese sandwiches: perfectly crisped bread, an extra creamy cheese mix (including cream cheese), and smokey bacon. Not an everyday meal, but a craving induced celebratory treat. In addition to our upcoming move to Haiti, Rebecca and I are celebrating another exciting life change. Rebecca is just entering her third trimester of pregnancy, and we couldn't be happier! We're expecting our little son or daughter to make an appearance in early February, with a planned delivery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. And if they come out craving ooey gooey cheese...we'll know why!

We all have our food indulgences. For Paul, it is a perfectly seared steak. For me, it is a custardy coffee dessert. This incredibly easy mousse recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsey, uses mascarpone cheese as a brilliant shortcut to avoid messing with egg whites. Somewhere between a classic mousse and an airy cheesecake, this Mocha Mascarpone Mousse is a crowd favorite. If you find the coffee and chocolate combination stuck on the brain, check out two of our other favorites:  Mexican Chocolate Custard Cake & Black Fudge Pudding Cakes.

One summer in high school, my sister and I discovered the brilliance of white pizza with fresh summer veggies. The simple contrast of creamy sauce and peak of season vegetables is a dynamic combination. The local favorite at the farm-stand near our house featured sweetcorn and mozzarella. I had this summery veggie pizza in mind as I layered fresh August tomatoes, peppers, corn, and red cabbage on creamy basil studded ricotta and gooey mozzarella, topped with leaves of sweet basil. Heaven. 

For another great vegetarian main, check out our grilled spelt flatbread with tapenade and tomatoes.

Normally tomatoes and I aren't close. I am that annoying person who picks them out of my salad and fishes tomatoes out of my sandwich, it's an embarrassing trait. This tomato avoidance changes each summer with the arrival of beautiful, sweet, summer tomatoes. This week we got two colorful striped heirloom tomatoes from our CSA and my tomato appetite returned with a vengeance. Paul had just pulled a grainy loaf of sourdough bread out of the oven, our basil plants were looking lush and prime for the picking, and so decided on bruschetta for dinner. We gobbled up a platter for an al fresco summer dinner.

It’s a holiday week, and we’re eating hotdogs. To be honest, hotdogs have long been a favorite of mine, and our freezer is stockpiled, prepper-style, in case of a global shortage. We got sick of the soggy, too large buns and obvious condiments, and for this grilling season we’ve gotten creative and kicked out the bun, brought on the tortilla, and seriously ramped up the flavors for gourmet Loaded Hotdogs. We wanted to share our favorite flavor combination; where ketchup and mustard are supplanted by tart homemade quick pickled red onions, tangy guacamole, creamy queso fresco cheese, and if you are feeling decadent, crispy bacon.

Grilled Potato Salad with Jalapeno, Bacon, and Blue Cheese is inspired by my father-in-law’s love of bacon, blue cheese, and caramelized onions. This 'salad' is decadent and packed with rich flavors. The grilled new potatoes are tossed in a garlic jalapeno vinaigrette and layered with smoky slices of thick-cut grilled bacon, sweet charred red onions, and pungent blue cheese. Move over mayo, there's a new potato salad in town! 

Grilling is our cooking method of choice for these early summer days, but it's not all about the meat.  Actually, our summer diet has tilted vegetarian since we started making this Grilled Greek Salad. I dreamt up this colorful dish in the colder months, with longings of summer. This salad knocked our socks off and had my meat loving husband requesting more. We made Grilled Greek Salad through bitter March sleet, April winds, and May rains. And now finally, with seasonal vegetables and balmy temperatures, we can grill in the sunshine. Unlike some grilled salads, this isn't grilling for cuteness. Grilled Greek Salad is a hefty, hearty entree salad, that relies on the grill to give the peppers, onions, and tomatoes their luscious char, and to add caramel sweetness to tangy halloumi cheese. Topped with kalamata olives and a tart lemon-zest vinaigrette for contrast, this salad is dynamic. Halloumi, for those not familiar, is a hard salty sheep-milk cheese from Cyrpus, a great cooking cheese that keeps its shape and texture at high heats.

Paul is in the homestretch of his masters program, and is once again home in the evenings. He has been cooking, smoking and grilling up mountains of food in celebration. I sometimes have trouble focusing on the meal he’s made, because it’s such a novelty to have our evenings together again. To warm us up on this cold spring week, Paul made a extraordinary Cream of Asparagus Soup and fresh sourdough bread. The secret, I discovered, was in the short cook time on the asparagus, and the addition of peas for color and sweetness at the end of cooking. Paul finished the soup with savory flavor boosts of parmesan and vinegar to add depth to this quick spring soup.

In honor of festive eats and Mexican flavors on this Cinco De Mayo, we wanted to share one of our latest favorites: Smokey Ancho Cheddar Burgers. Despite the ample use of homemade Garlic Ancho Chile Paste, these burgers are not spicy, but bursting with sweet roasted garlic and smokey, earthy, dried anchos. Tangy melted cheddar, addictive ancho mayonnaise, and bright bursts of Yucatán Quick Pickled Red Onions garnish this delicious burger to mouthwatering perfection.

 When Paul asked what I wanted for my birthday meal this week, I immediately blurted out 'lots of potatoes!' Paul smirked, ok, so nothing new here. Upon further consideration, I requested a potato dish that was both creamy and crispy, pungent with garlic and goat cheese. This aromatic Potato Goat Cheese Gratin was the magnificent result, which I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This recipe is adapted from one of our favorite cookbook authors, James Peterson. It forgoes a bechamel or cream sauce since the high starch content of the potatoes eliminates the need for additional thickeners. For a crisp fall day, nothing beats the smell of slow roasting garlic, goat cheese, and potatoes! 

I have been on a quest for the perfect Reuben sandwich for 3 years, ever since tasting the amazing version at Lucky's Cafe in Cleveland. The basic elements of the Reuben may seem pedestrian: rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and cheese. However, each element, when done right brings complex flavors and loads of unctuous umami. This Reuben is the product of my DIY quest: built from scratch from sourdough rye through home cured corned beef and everything in between. If you want to go whole-hog DIY, follow the links in the ingredients section back to the recipes to make your own scratch made versions. Any element you make from scratch is going to make a big difference in your final product. This Oktoberfest, celebrate with an old classic, done right.  

Our friends Beth and Justin, both creative cooks and passionate gardeners, made our day when they dropped off some beautiful carrots, freshly dug from their garden. While hardcore carnivores may lay claim to nose-to-tail cooking, we think that this veggie based dish gives the concept a run for its money, as it uses all parts of the carrot plant: root-to-leaf cooking in its colorful prime. Carrot Ribbon Salad with Carrot Top Pesto is adapted from vegetable whiz Diane Morgan’s Roots cookbook. In this dish, the carrots are first mellowed with a quick hot water bath to soften their texture and bite. Carrot top pesto, with its subtle parsley-like flavor, is a lovely match, accented with dollops of creamy goat cheese. Find a source for fresh vibrant carrots with tops and make this beautiful dish.

Watermelon Feta salad is cool, sweet and salty. This is the salad we have been eating almost daily in this heat wave! Paul was initially somewhat hesitant to embrace this funky salad, but after 4 bowl in one evening, I think we would both agree, watermelon and feta are surprisingly good friends in this delicious salad.  In these dog days of summer, this crisp quick salad is only five minutes away.

Food is one of the most powerful ways that we connect with people, places, and cultures. This weekend we had a festive gathering of old and new friends: a perfect venue to debut Paul's new sandwich. Our Scratch-Made Cubano starts with mojo marinated pork, slow smoked to moist tenderness.  This citrus and smoke laced pork is then thinly sliced, and piled high on fresh baked sourdough and topped with garlicky pickle slices, Swiss cheese, mustard and our house cilantro sauce. This Scratch-Made Cubano builds on the classic Cuban sandwich, with amped up flavor and unique home-made ingredients. Try this sandwich, and you may never go back.

Portobello Burgers With Green Olive Tapenade are funky and slightly off the beaten veggie burger path with a briny sauce that will send your taste buds into cartwheels of happiness.  All modesty aside, we are were feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves when we first bit into these burgers, creamy mozarella melts into smokey portobellos with a full meaty texture.  Green olive tapenade brings a mysterious licorice and sea salty flavor, respectfully sandwiched between rolls liberally smeared by basil mayonnaise. High-fives and groans of delight were followed by a respectful 5 minutes of silent appreciation (read: scarfing) of these Portobello Burgers With Green Olive Tapenade.

This past weekend we had our first outdoor dinner party of the season and I had an edible centerpiece in mind while concocting this marinated feta with rosemary and juniper. This dish captures the soft light and open skies of an evening in early spring.  Marinated feta is a fresh take on a cheese course that delivers a surprising burst of lemon and woodsy flavor to salty cubes of feta.  We served marinated feta as an accompaniment to Paul's grilled Greek chicken and vegetables.  The leftover feta, which grows more flavorful as it sits, can be added to grain dishes, mixed into omelets, pureed into dips or stuffed into veggies.  The olive oil and herb mixture made a tasty addition to a salad vinaigrette, and would be delicious on pasta or used to sop up with crusty bread. 

We've made somewhat of an art form of converting leftover ingredients into individual lunches and sometimes even spunky new dishes, like this comfort classic: Skillet Mac & Cheese with Rye Bread Crumbs.  This rye crusted dish is a savory answer to what to do with two-day-old homemade bread: pulse it up, mix in butter, salt and cheese and use it as a flavorful topping. We paired the sour and caraway laced crumbs of homemade sourdough rye bread with a sumptuous homemade macaroni and cheese that Paul whipped up stove-top while the oven preheated.  The combination of creamy, subtle local cheeses and pungent crunchy bread crumbs was lovely. We used a 50/50 blend of two local cheeses. One was a mild farmer's cheese, which gave a smooth creaminess to the sauce. The other was a young asiago, which added a subtle nutty sharpness. Feel free to use your favorite cheese, but try to stick with ones that will melt smoothly.  It may be spring, but we are are not done with creamy comfort foods yet!

Sometimes you just need a mouthful of umami: that indescribable savory unctuousness, even meatiness, that defines many of our favorite foods.  This dish is quick to prepare (about 30 minutes if you've got a bread/dough on hand), and will leave you satisfied without feeling heavy. It was inspired by the the last delivery of our winter CSA from Penn's Corner, which included chives, local pecorino style cheese, and fresh crimini mushrooms. Mushrooms and aged cheese each pack an savory wallop, and when you bring this together with deep browning of the mushrooms and flat-bread crust, it makes for an unbeatable combination.  For those less inclined toward vegetarian cooking, this recipe will not let you down.

Spring is so close you can taste it. The daffodil bulbs we forced in our basement this winter are starting to bloom. But spring is still not close enough to give up winter's comfort foods just yet. Back from our trip to Philadelphia, it was time for quiche. The recipe below is simply delicious, and you could easily swap out the extras if you liked. The filling is adapted from Anne Willan's The Country Cooking of France. For a side Rebecca made an white bean salad with quick pickled red onion, feta, CSA dilly beans, and a garlic mustard vinaigrette.