Easy to make, easier to eat this cherry-almond crunch is delicious for breakfast with yogurt or tasty as an afternoon snack.

The real offal experiment continues… with a sheep tongue.

My attempt with the brain was fascinating but not incredibly tasty.  Will the tongue taste better? If looks are any indication then the answer is a resounding no! Good god a tongue is an ugly piece of meat. None of the silkiness of a prime cut. No. It’s all ugly. It’s also a process.

To start a tongue needs to be brined – this is a familiar first step with organ meat. I used a combination of sugar, salt and spices. At that point, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my tongue or I would have put a mexican spin on my spice mixture. Instead I threw in a couple bay leaves, some black peppercorns, and some coriander. To keep the tongue submerged I put a pretty blue cup on it. And there is sat stewing for a few days.

A simple, tasty, nutritious treat.

• 1 tin 4.2 oz (120g) cod liver, sliced
• 2 T sauerkraut
• 2 T grebenes (optional)
• 4-5 dried tomatoes, sliced
• 5-6 green olives, sliced
• 1-2 T fried lentils (substitute sunflower seeds
• 1 limes juice
• 1 T olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• dried mint for garnish (optional)

Oh man this dish is so delicious too bad my image doesn’t really do it justice! I can’t wait until we have fresh local blueberries and cherries again. The salad is delicious on its own as well. For the tarragon mustard use my probiotic-rich Date-Mustard recipe and just add tarragon to it.

This is one of my all time favorite salads. Very simple. Slightly under-ripe nectarines make a great substitute for tomatoes–sweet and sour with just enough firmness not to turn to mush when you mix it. The sweet-sour flavor of the nectarines goes just divinely with the peppery rocket leaves. Avocado rounds it out, the pecorino adds that extra salty tang and the sunflower seeds give dimension to the texture. Add some fresh crab to this salad and you will just die of delight.

The rhubarb theme continues in my mother’s garden.  My niece was visiting from LA and the family decided to celebrate her “Almost 1” birthday since she wouldn’t be in town when she actually turned one.  It was the perfect opportunity to use up some of my mom’s rhubarb and introduce my wee niece to a new taste!

But first I needed rhubarb inspiration.  Epicurious is so helpful for this.  They had a ton of rhubarb recipes – rhubarb upside down cake, rhubarb pie, rhubarb cheesecake, the list went on…  For once though I didn’t want to spend hours prepping and/or making my dessert.  I wanted simple and delicious.  Rhubarb fool was the obvious choice.

Often the first vegetable to pop up in the spring, rhubarb is one of my favorites.

While I love it in pie my new favorite way of using rhubarb is making compote. Compote is french for “mixture” and is basically just a stewed fruit dish. Rhubarb makes a beautiful compote.

Compote is also a great way to prepare rhubarb for canning so it can be enjoyed in the winter. The version I am making is sweet but a savory variety is fabulous with roast pork.

Sauerkraut is easy to make and great for your digestion. The addition of tarragon (traditionally known as the ‘king of herbs’ in France) enhances the digestive assisting powers of kraut. Tarragon stimulates bile production among many other things (see below).

• 1 head of cabbage, shredded
• 1 T dried tarragon (or 2-3 T of fresh tarragon)
• 2 T sea salt

This delicious compote is made from local biodynamic cherries from Harvey’s Orchards. Dried cherries are very high in antioxidants and are also helpful in reducing inflammation. I find that cardamom goes very well with any type of stone fruit, especially nectarines, peaches and plums. This compote is delicious with yogurt, as a spread, or to glaze a pork tenderloin. This recipe was made especially for my amazing, antioxidant-rich and grain-free Chocolate Walnut Torte.

For my first recipe out of Odd Bits, I decided to bust it open, literally.

The author, Jennifer Mclagan, mentioned that a sheep’s head was quite fiercesome looking.  When my butcher brought it out from the back, held right about head level, I’ll admit that it looked quite hideous. The eyeballs bulged from the naked flesh, teeth bared, tongue limp having fallen through the bottom of the jaw. He wrapped it up gently so the eyeballs didn’t break – a sheep’s head with a broken eyeball could be even more gruesome if it were possible – threw in a couple pig’s feet and off I walked home.