Mango and Peach Salsa Burgers

It's summer and for my birthday last month I treated myself to a new grill and smoker. I love smoking meat but I wasn't a huge fan of the electric smoker I purchased a few years ago so I didn't use it much except for a turkey at Thanksgiving. My new grill is a Traeger and it smokes as well as grills and I've been experimenting with it as much as I can. My favorite thing so far has been the huge pork butt I smoke a few weeks ago. We used it for over a week and had everything from sandwiches to tacos with the meat. My mouth waters even now when I think about it.

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Macerated Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar

On one of my recent food truck forays, I tried a panna cotta from the Get Sauced truck in downtown Minneapolis. I had bought it and brought it back to my desk to eat while I worked. As I sat there eating bite after bite I was just blown away by the way that these simple flavors had combined to create such a complex eating experience. I think my co-workers might have got a little annoyed because after every bite I had to remind them how amazing this was. And I wasn't sharing.

Peach Pie Two Ways~ Vanilla Cardamom and Caramel

Well, my Emeril streak is over and it's time to move on to my regular schedule, which is certainly not three posts a week. It was a lot of fun but cooking, photographing and posting that much is just a little too much for me to keep up with.

I made these pies a few weeks ago, so I wanted to get this post out before it was impossible to get fresh peaches anymore this season. Although, truthfully I really actually prefer canned peaches when I make pies most of the time. Is that sacrilegious? They just hold up better when cooked and I just love fresh peaches, well, fresh.

Fruit Pizza

For Mother's Day, my wife requested fresh fruit. Lot's of it. So we had crepes filled with strawberries and blueberries for breakfast and flank steak with grilled pineapple for dinner. Then for dessert we had the beauty pictured above; Fruit Pizza.

Coconut -Piloncillo Ice Cream with Coconut Tortilla Chips and Fruit Salsa

I mentioned last week that while I was shopping in the Thai grocery store that I found some beautiful mangoes. I had seen this recipe for ice cream with the fruit salsa that looked so good but usually mangoes are so expensive. When I saw these I couldn't resist.