We were in Paris last week and I was reminded by how the French prepare vegetables that are simple and beautiful.  These vibrant and opinionated people (whom I love by the way) seem  to effortlessly throw raw or cooked veggies on a plate with a bit of a sauce and voila!  Lunch or dinner is served!   These radishes looked so rich and crispy on the produce shelf that I whisked them up right away to create a French style roasted sa...

I have always loved polenta and in the most traditionally cooked ways.  Polenta is popular in Italy and Latin America where many times it is served with a red sauce on top.  Sometimes I make it in this way too but it is a heavier dish and better left for the winter time.  These polenta rounds are made in a more contemporary way and are lighter as well as easy to make since you can buy a tube of pre-cooked polenta and just cut sli...

Edamame is a favorite side dish/snack that I serve my family a few times a week.  My husband and toddler both love it and I am overjoyed that my little one is getting protein and fiber while having fun picking the beans from the pods.  We eat edamame plain mostly but when I want spicy, salty and garlicky, seasoning these babies is the way to go.   Best part is that you can make edamame in a few minutes without thinking too much a...

Spring appears to be committedly here now and I get the fever for all things fruit.  These Bartlett pears were looking pretty and almost ripe at the produce section of the super market and all I could think was about grilling something. That something would be pears.  Grilled pears are great on their own since the cooking process brings out their sweetness. But wouldn't a chilled dill mayo just totally balance out the sweet and...

It was one of those days where I was struggling on the elliptical half listening and watching E!, flipping through gossip magazines and where every minute felt like ten.  Starving and climbing speedily for the last five minutes as if it would push time forward magically, I bumped into a recipe for Cacio e Pepe (cheese & pepper).   Ding, ding, lunch! I thought about ripping the recipe page from the gym's magazine but I a...

These beautiful little potatoes have been coming from Oregon to my local supermarket for the last two weeks.  They range in a medley of colors and the grocer has them in baskets where you can just grab and mix whatever hues you want. Seems like I spent more than a few minutes picking out the prettiest potatoes thinking how lovely they would look on my dinner table. Actually, it was probably not more than a minute since G reaches h...