Creamy Mushroom Soup with Black Rice

Delectable, creamy winter soup created from a blend of mushrooms, herbs, and wild rice — this is our choice for an easy and healthy vegetarian or even vegan supper that highlights the variety and richness of the fungi kingdom.  

Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad

Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad

A simple, healthy Thai shrimp salad with an authentic sour-savory-spicy-sweet combination of fresh lime juice, fish sauce and chili paste, showered with fresh herbs and crunchy roasted peanuts.

Summer is almost done but we are officially in the middle of a heat wave. You know those shots in movies of a long, empty road, heat lines shimmering up from the pavement? Maybe a tumbleweed blows by, lazy and misshapen? That’s our living room right now. In this case the “tumbleweed” is Arya, our rescue dog who, for a pup who lived her first year on the streets of West Virginia, is hilariously particular about the range of temperatures she finds acceptable. 70º – 75ºF is fine, but a few degrees in either direction and get ready for dramatic sighs and woeful glances.

I hear you, puppy. I’m hot too.

Arya, hot and cranky
Arya, hot and cranky

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Easy Creamed Corn with Basil

Easy Creamed Corn with Basil

Easy Creamed Corn with Basil is a summer staple in our house. These sweet kernels are just barely simmered in a sauce made from silky mascarpone cheese, a little half and half and not much else. Add a sprinkle of fragrant basil and you’ve got a simple, supremely summery side!

When summer corn is at its sweetest, it doesn’t take much to make it shine. A quick steam, a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, maybe a slick of good cultured butter is all that’s needed, and often not even that. But towards the end of the season our taste buds (and our teeth) need a break from gnawing kernels straight from the cob. That’s when we make this Easy Creamed Corn with Basil. Almost as quick as a simple steam, this method brings out the best in the corn, keeping the kernels crunchy, but bathing them in a silky, creamy sauce that’s the work of minutes.

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Brussels Sprout Pizza with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese

Brussels Sprout Pizza with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese

If, like me, you get a lot of your culinary inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram (I admit it, I’m completely addicted to both), you might well think that pumpkin and squash were the only vegetables available from September through November. Not true!

Don’t get me wrong, I love squash and that high-pitched squeal you heard was probably me squee-ing with excitement when the first delicatas arrived at the farmer’s market but a girl’s gotta mix it up a little, right?

Thus, our Brussels Sprout Pizza with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese was born.

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Stir Fried Farro with Garlicky Kale and Poached Egg

Tender stir fried farro, garlicky sautéed kale, and a perfectly poached egg. If that’s not a good breakfast, we don’t know what is. This simple, healthy grain bowl is packed with everything you need to start your day off right. 

Breakfast isn’t typically an ideal meal for slow food. Our modern lives pack our days with tasks demanding attention: we have kids to get to school, work deadlines to meet, errands pulling us in twenty directions. But while a cup of coffee and a quick carbohydrate filler, like a bowl of cereal or piece of toast, may get us up and out of the house quickly, they hardly constitute a satisfying and well-rounded meal. That’s why when we’re able to, dedicating a little more time to a breakfast that actually provides a whammy of flavor, as well as going some way to fulfill those balanced-food-groups and five-a-day promises, is a worthy goal.

Note: This recipe is part of our series with Serious Eats.

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Basil Green Goddess Grilled Chicken with Red Onions

Green Goddess Grilled Chicken with Red Onions

Give grilled chicken thighs or breasts a long pre-cook marinade in Green Goddess dressing, and then char them to perfection along with sweet red onions. Then dollop more herby dressing on them for good measure and eat dinner under the stars.

Well, it was inevitable. Last week, after complaining that the summer had been so cold after a spring that was so cold and a winter that was so very cold, we finally got hit with the annual New York heatwave. And to the friends and family members who always say “OMG I love this heat! I could take it all year round!”, I literally do not know who you are and please get off me with your sweaty hug. While we were merrily cavorting around the garden a few days ago, tending to the herbs, the tomato plants and the budding zucchinis, now we’re staring sadly through the window from the air-conditioned interior. It may look pretty out there, but just half an hour in the sun and we both tend to go all Mad Max Fury Road. And nobody wants that.

So if we can’t go to the herbs, the herbs must come to us. And that’s best achieved in the form of Green Goddess dressing. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s basically a fancied up ranch, loaded up with Greek yogurt, a little mayonnaise, garlic and all the soft herbs in the garden.

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