Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog

Refried beans should not be eaten cold. There, I've said it. I don't usually put my foot down about food preferences, but cold refried beans are about as appealing as a cold hamburger. This is why I make 7-layer dip...

This Mexican meatball soup was a family favorite growing up. Not an appetizer, always a main course, either for lunch or dinner. "Albondigas" means "meatballs" in Spanish, and the trick to perfect albondigas soup is to put chopped mint leaves...

Are you familiar with Cook's Illustrated? It's a magazine and a website from the same people who create the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. It's the only cooking show we watch with any regularity, and we read each issue of...

There is nothing better than homemade applesauce with hand-picked apples, and it is so easy to do! If you want chunky applesauce, use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples. If you prefer smooth apple sauce, run the cooked...

The foggy coastline of Northern California is artichoke country. Like finding small hole-in-the-walls that serve clam chowder in New England, here one can sometimes find local diners that sell delicous artichoke soup. I first developed a taste for artichoke soup...

We have a 3 ft by 6 ft patch of arugula growing in our garden and for the last two months I've been looking for ways to make use of it. By the way, arugula (a.k.a. rocket) grows like a...

Winter in California is the season for arugula, along with many other lettuces. A few years ago we planted some in our garden and now each year the arugula re-seeds itself and takes over with a flourish, starting in December...

Selland's market-cafe in Sacramento is an uncommonly good café and often a source of inspiration for foods to prepare. Recently I had some of their asparagus and loved the texture - slightly crunchy (definitely not mushy!) - and the hint...

My father got bit by the frittata bug this week and made these for us for lunch a few days ago. This is a quick and easy, no-nonsense recipe that makes a terrific frittata in hardly any time at all.

In California winter can transition to spring in a flash. It seems like yesterday we were beset by chilly storms while the forecast for this week is all sunny and 70s. Daffodils are blooming, as are cherry trees, and the...

Mark Bittman of the New York Times recently did a write up of simple meals ready in 10 minutes or less. This avocado tomato salad would be my entry, but in five minutes or less, and that would include picking...

Sometimes the simplest things are the most enjoyable. My mother whipped up this quick and easy baby bok choy dish the other night. It was so good I made her make it again the next day so I could watch...

I admit, I am not the greatest fan of bok choy, perhaps as result of too many poorly done stir-fries during college. That said, my father made this recipe the other day and it was so good I made a...

An easy way to dress up a simple pork roast is to wrap it in bacon. The bacon fat brings extra juiciness and flavor to the roast.

It's apple season here in New England, where I am visiting my goddaughter and her family. We went apple picking a few days ago and came home with so many apples, we'll be cooking with them all week. Today the...

My father's been going through 20 years of old cooking magazines, looking for interesting things to cook and hoping to clear up some space on his bookshelf. Last night we enjoyed this delicious stew, pulled from a back issue of...

One of our favorite side dishes is hot sauerkraut, delicious served with pork or bockwurst - a mild German sausage. You can also make a sandwich with toasted or grilled dark rye bread, melted Jack, havarti, or Muenster cheese, the...

Many recipes call for beef stock (e.g. French onion soup), but good beef stock is hard to come by, with beef prices these days, expensive to make. Beef oxtails make a wonderful stock and sometimes you can get them (try...

This beef stew recipe is from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It cooks up in about half an hour and is surprisingly rich in flavor given its short cooking time.

According to the Wikipedia, Beef Stroganoff was invented by a chef working for a Russian general, Count Pavel Stroganov, in the 1890s. It became popular in the U.S. in the 1950s from servicemen returning from Europe and China after WWII...

All these years I've been loving beets but throwing the beet greens away. Yikes! No more. This is a delicious way to serve greens, whether collard, kale, or beet.

Prep time 10 minutes. Total time 3 hours 10 minutes. This berry and banana terrine is an easy and beautiful way to serve summer berries with bananas for added sweetness. Think Jello but packed with fruit. And instead of neon...

What is it about a black bean salad that practically shouts, "summer potluck"? The mercury has been edging past a hundred degrees lately here and I've been getting nostalgic for some of the picnic foods I remember having often as...

As some of you may be aware, California has been hit with some stormy weather recently. We warm-weather low-landers don't do cold and wet too well and for the last several days of rainy and cold I've been craving some...

Please welcome Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic who shares this delicious cancer-fighting fruit salad with us. ~Elise Recently my mom, Suzanne McCord, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was surprised when I heard the news, my mother is in her...

My first memorable encounter with borscht was at a pot-luck party I had in San Francisco, in which my friend Elisabeth brought a huge, must have been 12 or 16-quart, pot of drop-dead delicious, deep purply red soup filled with...

My father made the most succulent, tender, "Wow" beef short ribs this week. Yes, it is a 2 day process, but the actual hands-on cooking time is at most two hours, and is broken up over two days. It is...

Braised onions are the side of choice with beef Bourguignon but they are also wonderful with roast beef and other stews. Trader Joe's sells a pack of multi-colored pearl onions that cook up beautifully as braised onions. The catch? You...

Everybody loves turkey breast for their turkey sandwiches but the more flavorful meat comes from the dark meat found in turkey thighs and legs. These, by the way, are much less expensive than the breasts. Mom and dad have a...

The problem with most broccoli salads is the broccoli - the raw broccoli. Some people like raw broccoli, and actually, I love raw broccoli stems. They taste a lot like cabbage or cauliflower. But the florets? If they're raw, keep...

Some people get chocolate cravings. I get broccoli cravings. Sometimes I think it's my body's way of telling me I've been laying on the bacon a bit too thick (or maybe the chocolate!) But honestly I could eat broccoli every...

I never used to like brussels sprouts, until one day I had them when they weren't over-cooked. Still just a little bit crunchy, they had a wonderfully nutty flavor. Who knew brussels sprouts could taste so good? Now I love...

Football (American) championship season. Sports bars, beer, and spicy things that make you want to drink more beer. Darts, pool, loud conversation, an either ill-spent or well-spent youth, depending on your perspective. Once in my early twenties I happened to...

Can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. The trick to great butternut squash soup is the simple addition of one tart green apple to balance the sweetness of the squash.

Our next door neighbor Pat has a wonderfully productive garden where she grows much of her own food. We are the lucky beneficiaries of her overflow in times when, for example, she has harvested 15 large butternut squash and there...

If you have only one oven in your kitchen, any Thanksgiving side dishes you prepare generally need to be made on the stovetop, as the turkey is taking central stage in the oven. Here is a simple butternut squash side...

When it's citrus season here in Northern California our grapefruit, lemon, and orange trees are heavy with fruit. Taking inspiration from Il Forno's wonderful blog entry on candied orange peel I decided to try my hand with some grapefruit peel...

Walnuts. Sugar. That's pretty much all you need to make candied walnuts. A dash of salt helps too. These are very easy to make. The trick is to work very fast once the sugar starts melting, because once it gets...

Caramel candy apples are one of those things that are as much fun to make as they are to eat. I helped out at a young friend's birthday party this week, making up a batch of these caramel apples for...

Making your own caramel sauce from scratch is a lot easier than you might think, and it takes practically no time at all. This recipe comes from my friend Suzanne who is a baking genius. I've watched her make caramel...

These homemade, candied caramel walnuts are a little sticky, and a little chewy, but oh so good...

On my recent trip to New Zealand, my hosts sent me home with a wonderful cookbook from BeesOnline, a local café and honey factory right outside Auckland. The Cardamom and Honey-Glazed Chicken recipe caught our eye and we made it...

Carne asada shown wrapped up in a flour tortilla with pico de gallo and avocado Carne asada is the thinly sliced, grilled beef served so often in tacos and burritos. It is also commonly served as is, with rice and...

Enter any Mexican taqueria in California and you'll find carnitas on the menu, usually pork butt (the shoulder roast) braised first, pulled apart, and then roasted on high heat to caramelize. This is my father's favorite recipe for pork carnitas...

People either really love cauliflower or they really don't. Those of us in the first camp will enjoy it almost any way - raw, steamed with butter and lemon, or in this case puréed.

Also known as celeriac remoulade, this salad is a refreshing accompaniment to seafood dishes and very easy to make. Celery root looks like a giant turnip, but tastes more like a cross between celery and jicama. The result is a...

The first time I made ceviche, I was amazed. I could actually see the lemon and lime juice turning the color of the fish from translucent pink to opaque white. The acid from the limes and lemons change the structure...

Being a quintessential Swiss dish, cheese fondue conjures up images for me of alpine ski huts, deep snow and 20°F weather. Well, we don't get much snow or cold weather in the California central valley, but that doesn't mean we...

Most kids grow up learning how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so they can help themselves in the kitchen when they want some lunch. In our family, it was cheese tacos. It's our stand-by what-do-you-make-when-you-haven't-really-thought-about-it-in-advance lunch. There's always...

Here it is September and this is the first cherry tomato salad I've had all summer. The culprit? My own greedy hands, the hands that pick them when I'm out in the garden and pop them in my mouth like...

Arugula on its own is so peppery it can almost be too much. However, partnered with either walnuts, goat cheese, or in this case both, mellows the tanginess of the arugula. A perfect, light, luncheon salad.

You know what the best thing is about boneless, skinless chicken breasts? They cook up in about nothing flat. Great for midweek meals when you are just rushing to get something on the table. Chicken breasts also take to sauces...

Chicken cacciatore is an Italian dish of chicken braised in a tomato-based sauce and often includes wild mushrooms. It is frequently referred to as "hunter style" as the word cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian. I don't know the source of...

I love this curry chicken salad. I made up this recipe 20 years ago after a friend of mine gave me a gift box of curry spices and have been making it ever since. It's quite easy to make. The...

I received a review copy of Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times in the mail this week and thumbing through it found this recipe for a quick chicken curry. Are you familiar with Mark Bittman...

The tomatillos in my garden are all ripening at once. Have you ever cooked with tomatillos? They look like little lanterns, with their green papery husks. Sometimes people mistake them for green tomatoes (doesn't help that their Spanish name is...

Prunes with capers? Not the most appetizing combination if one stops to think about it. However, when cooked together with chicken they create a delectable sweet and sour, savory flavor. The original recipe calls for the chicken pieces to be...

We've been experimenting with chicken lately and stumbled upon a recipe in a 10 year old Good Housekeeping for chicken paprikash, a Hungarian dish. The printed recipe actually called for roasting a whole chicken; we chose to use pieces. What...

I've been begging my friend Arturo to teach me how to make pozole for months now. The problem is that it is sort of like asking someone to make you "taco night". Pozole is a big production, not in the...

My friend Leigh Anna prepared this delicious chicken for me the other day. The sage and prosciutto bring so much flavor to the chicken breasts.

Inspiration for good food can be found anywhere, even Starbucks, where I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich recently. The key ingredients other than chicken? Cranberries and tarragon. French tarragon is a distinctive herb, with a slight anise or licorice...

"Stews are your best ally for stress-free dinner parties," says Clotilde Dusoulier, of her Mustard Chicken Stew in her Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook, and I couldn't agree more. They cook happily away while you enjoy the company of your guests...

We have a patch of arugula in our garden that not only re-seeds itself every year, but manages to seed itself outside its raised bed as well. No one in a temperate climate should ever have to pay a dime...

This is one of my father's favorite chicken recipes. We don't make it nearly often enough.

Fresh summer tomatoes, garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas), hard boiled eggs, and sweet onions, tossed with a light vinaigrette - here are the makings of a surprisingly delicious summer salad. I made this for lunch yesterday from a recipe...

I recently tried out this chickpea potato curry recipe from my friend Ann's new cookbook, Hands-Off Cooking: Low-Supervision, High-Flavor Meals for Busy People. Curry recipes can be a bit problematic over here, as the spices don't always agree with my...

Chilaquiles. Chee-lah-KEE-less! I mentioned I wanted to make chilaquiles to a Mexican friend the other day and you should have see the smile and look of rapture that come over his face. This is true Mexican comfort food, what your...

Walk into almost any taqueria in this country and you will find chile verde on the menu. The chile will likely be made with chunks of pork shoulder, slow cooked in a green chile sauce of jalapeno chiles, garlic, and...

It seems as if there as many ways to prepare chili as there are cooks who make chili. Ground beef versus chunks, pork versus beef, pinto versus kidney beans, beans versus no beans, red chili or green chili - the...

This Chinese chicken salad is a colorful and tasty way to use up some leftover chicken and makes for a light lunch. I experimented with few different dressings and ultimately settled on this one which I think is quite good...

Tostadas are toasted or fried corn tortillas, topped with a layer of refried beans and other things such as cheese, lettuce, and salsa. Growing up, my mother made tostadas or tacos for us at least once a month, the main...

Before sprinkling with cilantro This recipe comes from the Sacramento Bee article on Bill Niman of Niman Ranch. They picked it up from Gary Fuller of Laurier Cafe and Wine in Houston. We made it today and it was absolutely...

This flourless chocolate cake by Garrett is to-die-for. Almost like fudge. ~Elise For a recent potluck for all the Sacramento food bloggers I decided to throw together this intensely decadent and very easy chocolate torte. The original recipe is based...

When I put the call out a few weeks ago for July 4th grilling suggestions, Simply Recipes reader Chuck mentioned bacon-wrapped shrimp. I'm sure this is a standard fare for many of you, but I can't remember ever eating bacon-wrapped...

What to do on the last day of vacation with a kid who loves to help cook, a fridge stocked with whole milk and eggs, and a pantry with cocoa, chocolate chips and sugar? Make chocolate pudding, of course! Aldie...

Growing up, we had some of the standard American foods for breakfast - cream o' wheat, oatmeal, waffles, fried eggs, pancakes (no sugar coated cereals in this household!) - and a couple things I never saw in any of my...

I have, over the years, attempted to grow cilantro several times. Each time the plants bolted before I got much use out of them. This year I planted a bunch of seed in October, when the scorching Sacramento summer weather...

"I'll make cioppino," my brother John announced as the family discussed what to make over the holiday weekend. "Great!" said my father and I, relieved that someone else would do the cooking for a night. "Have you ever made cioppino...

The weather has finally decided to cool down around here and the first acorn squash have appeared at our local farmers market. Acorn squash are wonderfully easy to prepare - just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, add...

This baked chicken recipe is one of those recipes that every home cook should have in their repertoire. It uses a minimal amount of ingredients - chicken, olive oil, salt and pepper (and if you want gravy, chicken stock or...

Grated carrot salad has to be one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare, as well as being pretty kid-friendly and good for you. The trick is to start with the best carrots you can find. Here is...

Cobb salad is the quintessential American salad, first pulled together on a whim by Robert Cobb of the former Los Angeles landmark Brown Derby restaurant when he needed to feed Sid Grauman late one night (1937). It was such a...

The word "coleslaw" comes from the Dutch word, "koolsla", "kool" meaning cabbage and sla, salad. The word entered our English language from the Dutch in New York in the late 1700s. Since then it has been a featured side dish...

My brother Eddie was over for dinner a while ago one fortuitous night when we happened to be having collard greens. I say fortuitous because Ed introduced us to a wonderful new way to serve these healthful, somewhat bitter greens...

My father found this Louisiana recipe for collard greens in the Wall St. Journal earlier this year that we've now made several times. Each time I wonder why we don't make them more often, they're so good! The combination of...

My parents experimented for 40 years before finally settling on this one chicken soup recipe. It is a variation of a Colombian recipe (Ajiaco) and is served with a special salsa, "Aji", that truly defines the dish.

Pictured served with the bones removed. Coq au Vin is a classic French dish of chicken cooked in red wine, a surprisingly easy way to make delectable chicken. I consulted recipes from several sources to make this one. One tip...

With sweet, fresh corn, still available at the local farmers market, we just couldn't resist trying our hands at some fresh corn chowder. The recipe is adapted from one by Mitchell Davis in Kitchen Sense and is full of flavor...

During the winter months, our local Whole Foods gets one or two shipments in a week of freshly cooked Dungeness crab. Like all seafood, crab tastes best when it is as fresh as possible. When buying crab, ask the guy...

Winter is fresh crab season here in Northern California. When our local Whole Foods gets in a shipment, we're first in line for the biggest (anything greater than 2 lbs) fresh, cooked crabs, already cleaned and broken. Dad calls it...

I first encountered a crab mango salad at Fringale, the exquisite French-Basque restaurant on 4th St. in San Francisco. Recently at a restaurant in LA I had another delicious crab mango salad, this time with avocado and surrounded by peeled...

Most crab lovers know that fresh crab pairs well with avocado. But have you ever tried it with roasted hazelnuts (also called Filberts)? I got this idea from a crab hazelnut pear appetizer prepared by Oregon chef Jason Stoller Smith...

This is a great cranberry relish for all turkey dishes and turkey sandwiches, and a tasty alternative to a more traditional cranberry sauce. The relish consists of raw cranberries, apples, and an orange, all put through a grinder with sugar...

My father loves cranberry sauce. I think he enjoys turkey during the holiday season just as an excuse to eat more cranberry sauce. He stocks up on fresh cranberries when they are in season in the fall, and freezes them...

Cream of mushroom soup was the first soup I fell in love with as a child. Of course, back then it was Campbell's. At age 8 I could make it myself, quickly learning that adding milk tasted a whole lot...

This delicious cream of spinach soup is as rich, smooth and creamy as the label "Cream of" would imply. It's basically a vichyssoise, with spinach in addition to the potatoes, and can be served either hot or chilled.

Corn season has finally arrived. This morning my father picked up some yellow corn from the local farmer's market that was so fresh we could eat it raw. Must have been picked this morning. Did you know you could eat...

Spring here means strawberries and rhubarb, sweet peas and asparagus, and dreams of the summer bounty to come. Asparagus are everywhere, big, fat, and fresh. And yes, although we can get them all year round, I'm especially happy to eat...

The simplicity of this creamy polenta recipe belies its true wonderfulness. This polenta is so light, so fluffy, so creamy, it could almost be a dessert. Polenta is made from coarsely ground cornmeal and is a staple of Northern Italy...

Shown cooked with brown rice pasta. We were recently sent a review copy of Dave's Dinners: A Fresh Approach to Home-Cooked Meals by Dave Lieberman of the Food Network. Honestly, I've never heard of Dave as I don't watch much...

Looking for a special soup to serve over the Thanksgiving holiday? Consider this creamy sweet potato soup seasoned with nutmeg and maple syrup. We found this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit and made it this weekend. I...

Updated. From the recipe archive. The debate usually begins like this. ME: Dad, how do you make your hash browns turn out so crispy? DAD: Use a potato ricer. It's the only thing I've found that really gets the moisture...

When the hot weather hits, nothing is more cooling than a cucumber salad. Inspired by a fabulous cucumber salad shared with a friend at the Sea Salt restaurant in Berkeley, I canvassed my neighborhood grocers for some delicate Persian cucumbers...

We eat a lot of hot and spicy dishes around here; a great way to cool the palate is with the delicious combination of yogurt and cucumber. This easy-to-make cucumber salad, also called "tzatziki", is a refreshing accompaniment to spicy...

In honor of my friend Barbara and her efforts with the food blogger Taste of Yellow event raising awareness for Lance Armstrong's LiveSTRONG Day, I set out to make a vibrant, yellow soup. This curried potato soup is filled with...

Tis the season for squash and pear. My friend Lorenza gave me this recipe back in the spring, when neither were in season. I finally made it last week, and it was lovely! Similar to the spicy pumpkin soup I...

Years ago when I was living in Japan I bought a high-tech rice cooker with a 14 hour timer and settings for white and brown rice. Occassionally I would make much too much rice, especially brown rice. Not wanting to...

My father has been making this soup for several years now. It is incredibly easy to make, given how tasty the results. The key ingredient is the clam juice, though I have prepared it for people with shellfish allergies substituting...

Let me preface this recipe by saying my dad is not Greek. But this is our family's rendition of a Greek salad and it is one of our standby favorites. The original recipe came from Bon Appetit, but it has...

A month ago or so I made some potato salad. I love potato salad and was well pleased with this one. Then the next week my father made his version of potato salad. It was great! Better than mine. The...

Dad originally got this recipe from Dean & DeLuca, and over time it has become a family classic. Only he has the patience to make it. The recipe is little involved, but the results are fantastic. Luxuriously rich, smooth, and...

One of the most filling, delicious and affordable dishes one can make is turkey stew. You make it with turkey thighs (or legs), which, in addition to being the tastier dark meat, you can usually get for $1.50 per pound...

Deviled eggs. Easter egg hunts and summer picnic potlucks. I have been known to devour a dozen of these in one sitting. These were quick and easy. If you want them to be a little prettier, put the egg filling...

Black beans and rice is such a classic combination, especially in Caribbean or Southern cooking. There are probably dozens of ways to make it; this one is an easy recipe that cooks up quick and tastes great. Now, if you...

Shepherd's Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd's Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a "cottage pie". Naming conventions aside, Shepherd's Pie is essentially...

Here in the San Joaquin Valley, the eggplant season is in full swing. At our local farmers market last weekend one could find eggplants of every variety - globe, Japanese, striped, white, even eggplants that looked like tomatoes. I have...

A few weeks ago I was wondering what to do with the end-of-season eggplants, tomatoes, and chiles from our garden and stumbled across this recipe from Food and Wine, which also calls for pomegranate molasses. The recipe comes from the...

Tucked away in funky Bernal Heights, my old neighborhood in San Francisco, used to lie Palatino, an Italian trattoria which served unexpectedly exceptional Italian food. I used to go there regularly and became addicted to the eggplant caponata condiment they...

This eggplant terrine is a perfect dish for summer entertainment - chilled roasted eggplant, cheese, red pepper and parsley covered with a gazpacho-like sauce. A couple of notes on the preparation - if you use Mozzarella cheese, be sure to...

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Enchiladas were a family staple growing up, though thankfully this cheese enchilada recipe has much less fat in it these days. My mother, a fifth generation hispanic Arizonian, learned this recipe from my grandmother. Note that...

Fresh fava beans require patience. You have to shuck them twice, once to remove the thick shell, and then again, after cooking the beans, to peel the outer skin. Are they worth the effort? You tell me. Fresh favas, or...

I made these fingerling potatoes a few days ago as part of a composed salad and we loved them so much I made them again tonight just on their own, to accompany steak. These potatoes can be served warm, room...

A few weeks ago I got a call from my friend Elizabeth who said, "You've got to try my mother's flank steak; it's soooo good!" I begged the recipe from Maria (Elizabeth's mother) and tried it out last night. It...

When my father told me he had made "weenies and sauerkraut", all I could think of was, not another pork and sauerkraut recipe. My dad must have sauerkraut juice running through his veins by this time, given how often he...

Years ago I remember my father making vanilla ice cream for all of us with an ice cream maker that required a lot of crushed ice and salt. Can't remember now if it was hand crank or electric. But man...

Every year we plant basil and every year the plants do so well that we can't use it up fast enough. What to do? Basil pesto, of course! Here is a simple recipe. Note that pesto is always made to...

A Simply Recipes reader, Ms. Annie M, sent us a garlic chicken recipe she found on Epicurious that looked so good we couldn't wait to try it. (Annie, by the way, knows how mortified I am by typos and thoughtfully...

Gazpacho soup was invented for the summer. Refreshingly cold on hot summer days, this adaptation of the classic Spanish cold tomato soup deliciously combines the best of summer vegetables. Make sure you only use the freshest, highest quality ingredients for...

One of my mother's favorite breakfasts to prepare for our family has always been German Farmer's Breakfast, also known as Bauernfruhstuck. I remember eating this several times a month as a kid. It's sort of like a large breakfast hash...

My friend Steve-Anna recently sent me this wonderful recipe for ginger chicken and claimed that it was one of her all time favorites. My father doesn't eat ginger if he can avoid it, so when I made it I just...

Have some plain leftover rice? This is a great rice side dish for shrimp, pork, or chicken that calls for starting with chilled, cooked rice. I grilled some shrimp with some fresh pineapple the other day and served it with...

This simple but delicious salmon recipe comes via my friend Heidi in Carlisle, Massachusetts, who got it from the Boston Globe (Thanks Heidi!). Because there are so few ingredients, the recipe relies completely on the freshness of the ingredients.

Many people are sensitive, some extremely so, to gluten - a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Shauna of Gluten-free Girl has a whole blog devoted to gluten-free cooking (with recipes and gorgeous photography, by the way). As someone...

Now here's a salad for the season. Our neighbor Pat stopped me yesterday and handed me a recipe for a beet and pomegranate salad that she had pulled from an old issue of Sunset magazine. (Thank you, Pat!) Perfect timing...

A recipe for those of us who love both beets and brussels sprouts. (Isn't it pretty?) Note that thyme is the essential accent which brings all the ingredients together.

Grapefruit and avocado are one of those natural food pairings, like lamb and mint, or dark chocolate and raspberries. They just taste good together. They are perfect for a summer salad when avocados are relatively cheap and the grapefruit from...

I found this recipe in the weekend edition of the Wall St. Journal as good "noshing" food for New Year's and had to give it a try, with a few minor changes. It comes from chef Michael Symon of the...

This green bean recipe comes from my friend Heidi who loves to prepare green beans this way for holiday and dinner parties. Can't go wrong with butter, garlic salt and toasted almonds!

My mother is the only person I know who prepares green beans with salsa. It is such an easy and delicious dish and perfect for the summer when fresh green beans are plentiful. The trick of course to great tasting...