Maple Roasted Peaches with Coconut Whipped Cream

Fresh garden vegetables are one of the few reasons I look forward to the end of summer. Newly harvested vegetables are among my favorite summer pleasures, as I admire the bright colors and fresh scents of ripening plants. The sharp snap of a tomato being picked from the vine and the hard tug on the top of a buried onion remind me once again why food has become such a large part in my life. There's something unique about burying your hands in dirt to uncover the carrots hidden below—I'm always curious to see how large they have grown—or find the ripe cucumbers hidden among the plants' leaves.

Oh, don't get me started on the difference in taste...

This year I don't have a backyard garden to tend. Since moving away from home, I'm suddenly much farther from the garden in my parent's backyard than I might like. While I don't miss looking after the plants myself (I've never been much of a gardener), I do miss the rewards after a few months of hard work. I tried to start a small herb garden on my apartment balcony, but the plants died a miserable death relatively quickly, shriveling under the sunlight despite the careful watering.

The plants, now a shade of brown and death, still sit on the deck. I ignorantly hope they will come back alive overnight and surprise me by sprouting new leaves, but I have a feeling that little fantasy won't come true.

Fruit is one of my favorite parts of the summer harvest. My kitchen is often filled with several pounds of sweet berries, as they vie with the stone fruits for counter space. When I'm not certain if my stone fruits are ripe and ready to eat or still in transition, I like to roast them in the oven or cook them on the grill. Roasting fruits brings out a deep flavor and caramelizes the sugar in the fruit, creating a masterpiece out of the most unremarkable of fruits.

With a sprinkling of sugar and a dash of spice, roasted fruit can easily take center stage to a summer meal.

Maple Roasted Peaches are a sweet way to enjoy fresh summer fruit. I almost don't need to share a recipe for roasted peaches with you because they are so simple to make, but the combination of maple syrup, cardamom, and coconut whipped cream is honestly something special. The coconut whipped cream needs to be made the evening prior (or at least 8 hours before serving), so it does require a bit of thinking ahead, but you could certainly substitute the coconut whipped cream for traditional whipped cream, yogurt, or vanilla ice cream.

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Mango Coconut Striped Popsicles

We are in the midst of the dog days of summer. The days are long, the sun is bright, and the nights are cool and fresh. In the summer, I'm drawn to fresh foods, light dinners, and chilled treats. Though my usual desserts during the summer are ripe fruits, some days I just need something a little different. While ice cream can be oh so nice, sometimes it's just too rich to eat by the side of the pool.

I recently rediscovered popsicles after buying a popsicle mold. For the last few years I simply haven't found any hidden away in the freezer, but I can already tell it is going to get plenty of use (especially this summer).

When I was growing up, popsicles were part of the daily culture at daycare. After playing outside all afternoon under the hot sun, my daycare provider would show up in the backyard with a box of popsicles in half a dozen flavors. She'd watch as we carefully made our color selection, breaking up the arguments that popped up when everyone decided they wanted the same flavor. Back then, popsicles weren't about the flavors, they were all about the colors.

Blue was my favorite flavor simply because it would dye my lips and tongue a bright shade of the sea—a fun accessory for any seven year old.

Most days we'd eat them on the front steps, trying to eat them faster than they could melt, a respectable feat on the warmest of days. Other days we were foolish and we'd let our popsicles melt completely in the sun, in their little plastic tubes, until they had turned into a very expensive Kool-aid. We would down the sweet juice in seconds, curiously wishing we had more.

Nowadays I savor popsicles, licking them instead of biting, hoping they last into a little slice of forever.

These Mango Coconut Striped Popsicles have a bold and fresh taste. The popsicles alternate between flavors of mango, coconut, and orange; the variety is clean and energizing, which keeps your taste buds on their toes. The alternating stripes of flavor and color are fun. Though it does take a little longer to make these popsicles because of the freezing time between stripes, the final product is gorgeous and the flavors are lovely. This is a lovely treat to cool you down on a hot summer afternoon.

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Roasted Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream

Ice cream has many faces. To young children, ice cream is a delight, enchanting both the mind and the mouth. The frozen treat leaves a sticky smudge all over their faces as they attempt to lick the bowl clean. In the heat of a wild summer, ice cream cools down the body during warm afternoons, bringing a smile to anyone who happens to find a towering cone in their hands. Ice cream can also be a comfort food, a friend in moments when the world just isn't in your favor.

During my college years, my friend and I developed a ritual to coping with boy trouble whenever we found ourselves in a wearisome place. The routine always began with a hesitant call on the phone; once the strain of the situation became evident in one of our discordant voices, it was time to take action. The solution for these problems was always the same—ice cream. The grocery store became a fixture in those moments, as we'd wander the frozen food aisle carefully choosing the chilled tonic that would heal our wounds.

In the eve of twilight, we'd walk our heavy souls to a nearby park, with spoons in our back pockets, and dig into the melting cream, eating more than we should have dared. Just as the remaining ice cream would melt into a pool in the bottom of the container, the rush of sorrow and heartbreak and the unfairness of love would come spilling out of one of our hearts. As one bared her soul to the other, the other would open her ears, hoping the simple act of listening would lift just a part of burden the other carried. Some nights we'd find solutions to the problems together, but more often than not the troubles would hang in the air, unsolved and unresolved, as a satisfying answer failed to appear.

When the sugar would gather in our bloodstreams, we'd find ourselves on the park swings, cursing men and love with every pump of our legs. Higher and higher into the air we would fly as the metal chains of the swings began to shake. In those moments, with a belly full of ice cream and a dear friend by our side, the weight of the world would lift an inch off our shoulders for just a moment and we could begin to feel free.

To me, ice cream has always been a healer—a healer of broken hearts, hot summer days, and scraped knees. Ice cream has the uncanny ability to ease the troubles of life and bring lightness to the heaviest of situations. Ice cream, in its own way, is a carrier of happiness. In the chocolate swirls, strawberry chunks, and Neapolitan flavors, there holds a promise of smiles, happy moments, and ice cream smudged faces.

This is why I love ice cream.

Roasted Strawberry Coconut Ice Cream is light and creamy, with bursts of strawberry flavor. Strawberries are sliced, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and sweetened with a spoonful of sugar before roasting in the oven until the berries are dark and sweet. The ice cream is very simple to assemble (and dairy/egg-free!). The flavors alternate between spoonfuls of smooth coconut and bright strawberries.

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