Here in the South it's shrimp season pretty much all year long.  I'm ashamed to admit, though, that despite my years growing up here, shrimp and I never really had a chance to get  acquainted.

That is, until I met a certain Southern gentleman and he and I decided to get married and settle down.

I remember one summer visit with our families when the aforementioned Southern gentleman and I were just engaged.

How does one have a garden without tomatoes?  Tomatoes are a staple in every garden's summer bounty, right?

Well, not ours.

I may be queen in my kitchen, but the garden is one area that is outside my domain.  It's not that I have a "black thumb."  Or that I don't enjoy gardening. It's just that my husband has taken complete ownership of it.  The garden is his realm.  And it happens to be one of his favorite hobbies.

'Tis the summer season for grilled, juicy burgers and dinner out on the back porch.

Well, unfortunately, we don't have a back porch.  Or a decent grill.  So when it came time to make burgers this week, I pulled out my trusty old cast iron grill pan, set it on my stovetop to heat up, and proceeded to set the kitchen table.

That magnificent grill and picture-perfect patio would have to wait yet another year.

As we wrap up the month of May and our focus on dandelion, I have one more recipe to tempt your palate.

One of the things I like about dried dandelion is that you can throw it into anything, just like nettle, and the recipe will still come out great. The same rings true for this curried tuna salad recipe.

Our family goes through a fair share of canned tuna fish for lunches and I like to use it primarily for salad, playing with flavors for some added variety, especially for my husband who hates mayonnaise. Or any condiment of any type. Is it strange for a man to dislike condiments?

My husband grew up on the West Coast and consequently is a lover of all things Mexican. Truth is, nothing I make qualifies as true Mexican food in his mind.
But that doesn't keep him from loving this recipe...

Whether you're an authentic Mexican food lover or one satisfied with a Midwestern substitute, this recipe offers terrific flavor while being quick and easy to prepare. It's a great dinner option when the day has got the best of you, the kids are experiencing meltdowns, your blood sugar is dropping and your husband just suggested take-out. Not that I've ever experienced this. Yah, right.

I'm pretty sure that every American household has some form of mac n' cheese that's a family favorite. Both of my grandmothers have their own take on the traditional dish: one bakes hers in the oven until the cheese on top bubbles and turns brown, the other prefers the stove-top method and coats her pasta with a thick creamy sauce.

Prepared either way I can easily eat more than my fair share of the cheesy goodness. Can anyone relate with me or am I alone as a self-labeled mac n' cheese junkie?

In the country, I get more peace of mind that the wild plants and herbs I pick out there are safe and pesticide-free.  That's just not the case in my neighborhood.  So when I knew we were planning another trip out to my in-laws, I had every intention of picking fresh dandelion to bring back home with us.

Well, it didn't happen this time around.  We returned home empty-handed after my couple failed attempts to get outdoors.

So what did I do instead?  I purchased fresh dandelion leaves on a recent visit to Whole Foods.  Yes, true story.  I actually bought the most common weed on the face of the earth.

On this quest for vitality, I started making batch after batch of kefir soda for digestive health, immune support, and increased energy.  I was on the hunt for specific ways to increase my iron levels, too.

So the other day I added an herbal infusion of both iron-rich nettle and dandelion to my water kefir and  --  viola!  

I got everything I was looking for in an iced kefir herbal tea.

If you read about culturing milk earlier this week, then you know what amazing stuff kefir is made of.  High in calcium, phosphorus, K2, and a bunch of other vitamins, it may be termed a superfood.  

What you may not know, however, is that kefir grains have the wonderful reputation of lasting indefinitely if given the proper attention they deserve.  Add to this their special habit of multiplying over time and you've got yourself a lifetime supply of this "cultured gold."

Since feeding my kefir grains with fresh milk has become a regular kitchen routine, I usually have about 1-2 cups of finished kefir each day that stores nicely in the fridge.  The question naturally follows then... what do I do with it?

Today we shift our focus from the wonderful tonic herb, Nettle, and set our sights to another "weed" in our yard: Dandelion.

It's hard to believe that this pesky lawn nuisance would have anything beneficial to offer the medicinal herbal world, let alone our kitchen tables. But the smiling faces of my kiddos at the breakfast table this morning and their multiple chortles of "more, please?!" suggested there is good use out there for even this weed. And so I ask you this: What is a weed, really?