Eat Your Chickpeas

Need a flavorful salad to share at your table? Toss one up with chickpeas and let this salad featured in my Cook On food column work like a meal.

Day-old bread panzanella

With your best extra virgin olive oil and a loaf of day-old crusty bread, add a few juicy tomatoes and toss up panzanella. Try this amazing and simple take on the Tuscan salad in my Cook On food column.

Upgrade the Pickle Platter

Cook On: Pickle Relishing By Mary Ann Ebner Whether kosher, old fashioned, garlic dill or bread and butter, when a crunchy layer of pickles stacked across a slice of bread turns a basic sandwich into a spicy snack, cucumbers deserve a nod. The crisp green vegetable rules the pickling palate with distinction, but pickles come […]

Savoring Gifts

Cook On: 1 part chaos, 2 parts calm Give me an edible gift and I’ll give you a nourishing meal in return. If we’re sustaining the age of natural gifts of food, I’m going to do my part to continue the trend. Who doesn’t love the surprise of a beautiful bottle of wine or even […]

Strawberry bliss

Berries aren’t forever, and our somewhat local strawberry fields have nearly reached picking limits at the close of their strawberry season. We managed to find a few Texas strawberries just in time this week at Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls. The berries provide plenty of reason to be thankful, but what I really appreciate is Sweet Berry Farm’s candor […]

Date night gets luscious with this simple salad

Sweeten up the menu for date night with Medjool dates. Dates may be nature’s candy, and I hesitate to calculate the calories, but ever since I started craving these while I was a puffy pregnant woman, Medjool dates remain near the top of my all-time natural favorites list. If you can find them fresh, you’re off to a sweet […]

Best price on pomegranates

If you can beat this price on pomegranates — $1.50 each — please put your hands in the air. Pomegranates do seem like a luxury of rich comfort, but Sprouts makes them look affordable in Austin this week. I love adding pomegranate to salads and spiking sauces with pomegranate juice. But the real reason for this week’s haul […]

Fattoush

I’m rounding up the ingredients to prepare fattoush and hoping to find just the right produce to toss into this beautiful salad. Fattoush is light and colorful with the perfect crunch to stand alone as a meal.

Spin This . . . Spinach Salad

Thinking of lightening your plate now that the days are warmer? Try this spin on spinach salad.  Thanks, Carla! Spinach Strawberry Salad 1 bag rinsed fresh baby spinach (9 ounces) 1 cup cleaned and sliced strawberries 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon raspberry preserves 1 tablespoon light sour cream 1 teaspoon dijon mustard […]

Beyond burgers

We’ve been eating out and about the last few days.  Big thanks go out to our backyard dinner hosts.  This meal stretched way beyond burgers.  My top side?  C’s cabbage salad! I also tested my new dillweed dip.  Not bad.  I’m going to run it through the nutrition counter and post it here soon.