fftf: introducing Hot Tip Fridays #1 🍦

Hi friends! Happy Friday!

I am experimenting with something new this week/going forward... HOT TIP FRIDAYS, in which I share three quick tips/ideas/etc - mostly food/cooking related, but I'll probably throw in other things here & there.

My current plan is to alternate these with longer-form Food for Thought Fridays, which often include recipes. As my current job is taking care of my daughter full-time, I really only have time to write this during her naps, and I realized that I simply do not have enough (nap)time to write the high-quality FFTF I want to every week (especially as writing those is predicated on me cooking a lot, recipe testing, etc, which I also don't have as much time for).

But what I CAN do is share hot tips! So - gonna try alternating weeks, and/or sending hot tips when I don't have time for the full FFTF. I'll see how this goes, and likely it will evolve over time. Thank you for your patience as I figure out how to keep up my writing while also mothering! (Please - as always - share your feedback and/or unsubscribe as you wish!)

I will likely share some of my baby-feeding learnings as part of the "hot tips." I know some of you desperately want to hear from me about baby/kid-food content, while I'm sure others could care less, so this will also allow me to write about that without dedicating the whole newsletter to it. Woohoo!

And now for this week's 3 hot tips!

1) Herb Storage Update - My new method for herb storage is this: roll up your herbs in a damp towel, secured with a rubber band or twist tie. Herbs will last a good two weeks (or more) in near-perfect condition! Especially cilantro and parsley, but dill and mint are doing very well this way too! As proof - here's some still-salvageable mint that I literally purchased on May 6 (3 weeks ago!!) and is not totally dead thanks to this method! (Took this pic just now as I'm writing this.)

Here are the steps to take when you get home from the store/market (or within a day or two of buying the herbs):

get out a clean dish towel and lay it on the counter next to the sink
remove twist tie/rubber band from the herb bunch, and save it! we will use in a minute
if you see any obvious brown/yellow leaves, quickly remove them (if you have time)
holding the bunch together in one hand, gently rinse the stems in cold water. If they seem dirty/sandy, you can rinse the leaves as well
shake the bunch out over the sink to get rid of some water
wrap/roll the wet herbs in the dry dish towel, and secure loosely with a rubber band or twist tie to hold the towel bundle together (see below)
store in the produce drawer, or in a plastic container in the fridge

The only downside of this method is that you can't SEE the herbs inside the dish towel, so you may be more likely to forget that you have them. But the good news is that if you forget, hopefully they'll still be nice and green when you open the towel to see what's in there! If you have a labeled twist tie from the grocery store, this will help! I also find that the rubber band reminds me that there's something in there... without it I'm more likely to think "what's this damp towel doing in the produce drawer?" and next thing I know, the herbs are all over the floor🤣.

2) An easy baby finger-food/kid snack: stuffed grape leaves/dolmas! (see photo at the top; also a great adult fridge-snack you might have forgotten about)

To feed my daughter, I did a mix of the "strategies" (mostly baby-led weaning and some spoon-feeding of foods that are already-purees). My simple tactic was that - when at home - at each meal, I'd aim to give her at least one finger food she could pick up and feed herself, and then I'd feed her with a spoon/with my hand from our food to get her more nutrition/flavors/textures. In those first 3 months (before she could do the pincher grasp), it was TOUGH to find the perfect finger foods. They have to be big enough/hold together enough that the baby can pick them up, but soft enough that baby can bite and chew/swallow a piece without it being terrifying. At the grocery store one day, I had a craving for stuffed grape leaves (dolmas) and realized - these are actually quite soft, but hold together well! They are also pretty simple (usually just rice + lemon/spices wrapped in a leaf) and also have interesting flavor and texture. They worked GREAT as a finger food that kept my daughter happy/busy while I prepped the rest of her dinner. And best of all, I snacked on them too! I bought mine in the prepared food/cheese/olive section of my whole foods, but they also come in a can these days. (Pretty sure I ate these Divina brand ones, although these ones have slightly better ingredients IMO.) Also great for summer picnics/cheese boards/on the go. Dip in hummus for more nutrition and to make them more interesting!

3) My FAVORITE EVER ice cream shop (Frankie & Jo's) is opening in the Bay Area!!!! (plus they ship)

I can't remember if I've ever written about this before... have I ever told you about my FAVORITE ice cream in the United States?? It's Frankie & Jo's in Seattle and it is truly one of a kind. It's dairy-free, gluten-free, hippie-ish ice cream, but you wouldn't know and couldn't care less because it's THAT delicious. Their flavors are unlike anywhere else (Chocolate Tahini Supercookie is a top favorite, also Salty Caramel Ash and Golden Mylk, and the seasonal berry flavors are always bonkers.) Anyways - they were exclusive to Seattle but just announced the opening of their Marin shop this June 21! For all my Bay Area readers - you GOTTA, GOTTA go!!! It is worth a special trip (read: stop any time you are passing through Marin).

If you're anywhere else in the 48, I'm also happy to report that they ship nationwide! In the pandemic, when I was desperate for joy, novelty, and connection, I started sending my special people ice cream (it's expensive, which is why I likely haven't written about it too much. See pricing details below). But ESPECIALLY if you have a dairy-free and/or gluten-free person in your life who you want to WOW, or just when you really want a special treat, it's worth the spend. Since being in Pittsburgh, I may or may not have sent this ice cream to myself postpartum, and then again to my mom for Valentine's Day (partly so I could also try the flavors, LOL)... it's just so hard to resist the seasonal flavors once you're on their email list!

My husband really enjoys chiding me: "You claim you care about the environment but then you ship everyone ice cream from Seattle!" Sorry not sorry, it's that good!

{{ #factcheck... I have ordered this ice cream 7 times since May of 2020, LOL. Only once for myself (postpartum) and 6 times as gifts. You have to buy 4 pints at a time. Interestingly, the shipping to the east coast used to be $70 (what!) but is currently $49. And shipping is ~$10-15 cheaper if sending to the west coast. Pints range between $14-17 each. Last summer they had a deal during which shipping was only $20! That was when I sent it to myself, heehee. Current total pricing (for 4 pints) is ~$95 to the west coast, ~$109 to the east coast, but they are having one special where you can get 5 pints instead of 4 for that price (for specific flavors).

TLDR - If you are in Seattle, or in Marin, CA, after June 21, go to Frankie & Jo's! If not but if you are very intrigued, you can sign up for their email list (they send about 4-6 emails per month) to keep your eyes peeled for very occasional deals on hippie-GF/DF-delicious ice cream :). }}

And that concludes our first HOT TIP FRIDAY! Hope ya liked it! See you next week.

Love,
Jess

All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.

If you like this email, it would mean so much to me if you'd forward it along to your favorite food-loving friends. Wannabe subscribers can sign up here. Thanks for reading!

In case you missed out, here are a few past issues to check out:

May 19: going exotic🌴 fruit-wise that is!
May 12, 2023: I'm back! with my daughter's first salad 🥰
July 1, 2022: 3 recipes for a summer cookout/weekend 🏖
June 10, 2022: my #1 dressing for delicate summer salad greens 🥬
June 3, 2022: crunchy seeds MAKE the salad! 💥

The current (ever-evolving) plan is to write every week, alternating longer Food for Thought Fridays with shorter Hot Tip Fridays!

Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!