I’ve created a summer salad around one of my favorite July fruits–watermelon. (Chilton County peaches are at the tippy top of my summer fruit list–something we’ll cook up later with pork tenderloin–closely followed by watermelon and, then, apricots.)

The cool watermelon and fresh, juicy mozzarella are a great foil for the spicy Italian arugula and the lime vinaigrette seasoned with juuuust enough chili.

Light, fresh and different–this is something you’ll serve up to your family or to beach house friends and everyone will think, “Now, why didn’t I come up with that?”

Of course, fruit in a salad is nothing new–there’s always been the classic pear and blue cheese (or strawberry and blue cheese with pecans over baby spinach, for that matter). There’s something about the savory and the sweet–and the bite of good-for-you lettuces–that make the combo irresistible.

Pair this salad with any protein–steak, chicken or fish–that you or your hubby have pulled hot off the grill. That’s an easy ON THE HIP dinner.

Watermelon Salad Recipe

We’re trying on all of our most fashionable bibs and onesies for the big trip down South. First, we’ll spend several weeks on the family farm where Parker will get to meet her still-fabulous, beautiful-as-ever great grandmother. Then, we’re off to the beach. I’m wondering if I can squeeze all of those little folds into a baby bikini…

Yes, and in case you’re wondering, those are little Eiffel Towers on Parker’s bib. Because, in this family, you have to love a good meal and you gotta love Paris.  

I think she has the French hand gesture thing down pat…

I’m tiptoe-ing back into the kitchen after three months away…

Even though hubby is a chef and cooked up lots of delicious food for me and the brigade of visiting family and friends, I missed my food, my recipes. Getting back into the kitchen, slow cooking shortribs and ragus, composing beautiful summer salads would relax me, I thought. Clearly, the post-pregnancy hormones were clouding my brain…

New ‘Mommyhood’ and cooking with Parker means I have no time, no hands and no patience. Standing at the stove for hours–with multiple pans going at once–is a thing of the past. Complicated recipes are saved for special occasions. I’ll shop in one grocery store, shove the ingredients under her stroller and hit the cash register before she begins wailing, ready for her next feeding.

Yep, Ms. Gourmet is going a little bit Rachel Ray…

On the Hip Recipes are for my new life and my new way of cooking. The whole point is that the recipes are so easy, they can be made with a baby or toddler on your hip. And the dishes only require as many ingredients as you can fit beneath your Uppa Baby or MacLaren.

My Roasted Cherry Tomato Rigatoni leaves a ton of time to play with Parker, feed her, do her mountain of laundry or sit on the couch with a big fat glass of Nero d’Avola. (Guess which activity I chose?) The onions and tomato almost become a confit (the veggies taking on a jam-like quality) because they’re cooked down, or reduced, to their sweet essence. Finished off with pecorino romano, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, this pasta looks and tastes like it took hours. Sshhhhh…

Roasted Cherry Tomato Rigatoni 

We snooze…

… and then we eat… Then, we help Mamma test out her Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomato Rigatoni recipe…

We all know that I have multiple culinary crushes; each one of them plays a different role in my fantasy life.

Anthony Bourdain, The Bad Boy.

Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, The Sweet-Quiet-One-Who-Secretly-Sports-Multiple-Tattoos-and-Drives-a-Ducati-on-Sundays (the one day he’s out of the kitchen)  

Daniel Boulud of Restaurant Daniel, The Sophisticated-Euro-I-Never-Married (and that’s probably a good thing)

But the chef/culinary journalist who tops them all (aside from my hottie-of-a-husband, of course) is the the inimitable, Michael Ruhlman. The man can do no wrong. He’s the Thinking Woman’s Chef, the Literary Culinary Crusader, the best- damn-writer-that-has-ever-graced-the-pages-of-Gourmet Magazine (and I’m obligated to mention that he has the thickest, most luscious hair in the biz).

And this July, my two worlds collide… (That kinda sounds like a movie trailer, right?) 

Michael Ruhlman will judge Jamie in the 2009 Food & Wine Celebration to benefit Veggie U. The Star Chef Cook Off will be a show-down between the hottest cooks on television. In competition: 3 stars from Top Chef (BRAVO), Hell’s Kitchen (Fox) and Chopped (Food Network).

I’m a little nervous… Will my boyfriend and my husband get along? What if their culinary styles clash and I’m caught in the cross-fire? Will Parker get to see her Daddy walk away the champion?

Get your forks out and stay tuned. The boys will spar in mid July.

Call me demanding and prissy (okay, my husband and my sister do all the time) but I expect a lot out of my $15 bottle of wine. I want to be able to sip a glass at the grill with my husband–while he sears amazing Newport Steaks and whips up Grilled Fingerling Potatoes with Arugula Pesto–and drink a glass with the girls on the fire-escape or by the pool. Yep, I’ve become such a New Yorker that even my wine has to be a multi-tasker.

Instead of my usual 6 o’clock sip–a crisp, grassy, minerally Sauvignon blanc–I’m branching out to reds, slightly chilled, that will stand up to the smoke, char and fire in our meals. 

Blends, ladies, blends! 

Forget single-grape reds and go for wines made from different grapes and different vintages–these beauties work overtime to please your palate with their complexity, texture and balance.

For my three favorite grape blends, check out our MyScoop article, Get Your Grill On!