Kailey's Box Lunch Tuna Rollwich

Trying to recapture one of my favorite parts of summers past!

When I was a kid, I had the good fortune of visiting my grandparents and other extended family up on Cape Cod. We'd go up for at least a few days every summer and enjoy the beaches, hiking trails, mini golf, local shops and - especially - the food. There's nothing like getting some fried fish after a day on the beach, or going to a lobster pool on the water where you can watch the sun go down over the marshes!

Unfortunately, my grandma sold the Cape house after my grandfather passed away, and it's been a while since I've gotten to enjoy some of my favorite Cape Cod treats. But as much as I miss the ice cream and fried shrimp, there's one thing I crave over everything else, and any attempts at recreating it just don't do it justice.

I'm speaking, of course, about the wraps at Box Lunch.

Ivy's Chinese Fruit Salad

Looking for a way to spice up a fruit salad?

Is there anything more refreshing than a fruit salad? Probably not, especially when the fruits are in season. And summer is definitely the time to enjoy most of my favorites, whether it be in pies, cobblers, or just eaten immediately after getting home from the grocery store. Summer can also be a difficult time of year for fruit, though - my mom always complains about fruit rotting before we can eat it because of the humidity and temperature - so it's good to have a couple tricks in your back pocket to make sure you're using your fruit creatively!

I've found a couple different fun recipes that can be a good way to feature some of your favorite fruits, but this was the one that excited me the most. With a perfect combination of interesting fruits and just the right amount of extra sweetness and spice, this is a lot more exciting than your average fruit salad. The fact that it used a lot of my favorite fruits was sort of just an extra bonus.

Felicity's Chocolate Cupcakes

Historically accurate flavor, not quite historically accurate recipe!

I'm making good on a promise I made a couple months ago. Does anyone remember the post I did about Heritage Chocolate? Well, I finally got around to baking with some of the chocolate I brought home from Williamsburg, and it turned out to make very tasty cupcakes. So tasty that even people who don't like the chocolate sticks on their own liked them! I figure that's a good sign - or maybe they just need to give the sticks themselves another chance!

You may notice that Felicity definitely isn't posing in my kitchen or somewhere around my house, and the truth is, she's not! Obviously, I think you probably would have seen any giant statues I've got sitting around in my front lawn by now. We'll get to our field trip after I tell you a little about the cupcakes.

Kaya's Salmon with Blueberry Pan Sauce

Stay with me: fish with fruit sauce is actually a pretty stellar combination.

As much as I love Kaya both as a character and doll, and have a lot of respect and appreciation for the history of the Nez Perce, she can be frustrating to cook for. A lot of the regional treats she would have grown up eating are tricky to find on the opposite side of the country... or a hard sell to my taste testers!

This recipe falls in the latter category, because while my mom loves salmon, my dad, brother and sister are not fans of fish, and my dad hates salmon. I've actually been sitting on featuring this recipe or something like it pretty much from day one of the blog, and the stars had never really aligned until this past weekend. I'm not the biggest salmon fan myself, but I have to admit, this was very tasty and won the approval of everyone who tried it, even my sister's notoriously picky boyfriend!

A few people I've told about this thought putting fruit on top of fish sounded crazy, but read on and I'll show you how it's definitely not.

Julie's Berry Banana Smoothie

Just the thing for when the weather gets hotter!

The 1970's were an interesting time when it came to food. On the one hand, you had more and more processed and prepackaged food, and on the other, you had a growing interest in health foods and vegetarianism. People were starting to rethink what it meant to eat well, while being a little enchanted by things like TV dinners and going out to eat at chain restaurants.

The smoothie is kind of a perfect example of both sides of this culinary divide. At first glance, smoothies seem like the ultimate health food for someone on the go - which a lot of people were during this period! But often times, commercial smoothies can actually be more or less glorified milkshakes because of how much sugar and ice cream goes in them. What I've got for you today is hopefully healthier than what you're going to order at Jamba Juice (although I love Jamba Juice), but still super tasty and one of my favorite ways to solve my problem of what to eat for breakfast... or lunch. I'm kind of bad at both of them, honestly.

But before we get on to the recipe, I have a little aside about Julie's new skateboard set...