Asian-Style Strawberry Napoleon Recipe (Mille-feuille Fraise Noix de Coco Dessert)

Mille-feuille, called "Napoleon" in the U.S., is a very popular French dessert. Traditionally [according to Wikipedia], a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of cream pâtissière, but sometimes whipped cream or jam. The top is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) strips, and combed.

I’ve made traditional mille-feuilles many times before, and I was in the mood for a change. I assembled a gluten-free version using layers of Vietnamese coconut paper called bánh phông sữa. They are paper-thin sheets made of coconut milk, sugar, cassava and condensed milk. I flavored the dessert with fresh strawberries and a coulis de fraise, which is a strawberry sauce. This dessert is bake-free and so easy to create, that I had the girls do the assembly. They had so much fun putting them together and even more making them disappear!

Roasted Creamer Potatoes

Creamer potatoes are potatoes that are harvested while they're still young. I recently bought these apricot-sized potatoes at the farmers' market. They were so cute, I couldn't resist!

I roasted them whole with skins on and rubbed them in butter flavored with oregano flowers from our garden. The potatoes have a crisp-skin on the outside, while the inside is tender and moist. If you can't find creamer potatoes, you can use Yukons that have been cut into quarters, but it's not the same as having each bite wrapped in crispy potato skin. Mmmmmm.

French Cauliflower Salad Recipe (Salade de Chou Fleur)

Today's recipe is an easy and healthy salad called "chou-fleur vinaigrette". During my childhood in France, it was a dish that was served fairly frequently at the cafeteria of my elementary school (carottes Vichy too!). Cauliflower is boiled, then coated with vinegar and oil and sprinkled with flat-leaf parsley. That’s it! Who says French cooking has to be complicated?

I've mentioned quite a few times lately that I've been trying to eat healthier. Cauliflower is a big part of that because it's packed with fiber and vitamin C. But cauliflower salad is not a full meal by itself, so I added hard-cooked quail eggs and a piece of bread on the side. It’s a simple, quick and healthy summer meal. Rachael Ray would be proud!

Grilled Tomatoes (Simple Barbecue Recipe)

This tomato recipe is simple but so flavorful. I always make it when we barbecue. Unfortunately, this year was horrible for the tomatoes from our garden. Lulu planted two dozen tomato plants. I was so ecstatic about getting sweet, juicy tomatoes, but the gophers killed all our plants. If you have a cure for a gopher infestation, please send me a message. Anyway, since we didn’t have enough from our garden, I bought plum tomatoes from the farmers' market for our 4^th of July barbecue.

Grilling tomatoes only requires skewers, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. To make it more flavorful, I thread the tomatoes onto oregano sprigs. Once the tomatoes are cooked, I drizzle them with shallot vinaigrette. They're best when they're still warm. Yum!

Gourmet Red Potato Salad Recipe

This potato salad recipe is unique in that it contains no eggs. My husband Lulu doesn't like mayonnaise and one of his sisters is allergic to eggs, so I made an eggfree salad dressing using chipotle peppers, lime, cream cheese, sour cream, roasted Roma tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers, red wine vinegar and pickled garlic. I used wax potatoes from our garden which add color to the salad. To the potatoes, I added red radishes, celery, sun-dried tomatoes, red kidney beans, pine nuts and a myriad of herbs. It’s perfect for a summer picnic!

Gardening with the girls... They were so proud of finding the potatoes!