This salad has an almost nacho feel to it. Need to get the family back on board with the salad thing? This is a pretty good trick. It’s got a walnut and carrot mixture that ends up a little like a ground beef substitute. Not in that, “close your eyes and pretend it’s meat” thing, but a texture you might enjoy with a new taste that doesn’t make you feel like you’re cheating on your veggie love.

Let’s pretend one morning you wake up miles from civilization. You somehow find yourself in a tiny cabin in the middle of a snowy wilderness. There’s a fire burning and a big pot of soup that is magically always full. That sounds great, except it’s this soup right here.

Once upon a time, there was a leafy green so unpalatable that when it appeared on a dinner plate, it was relegated to being a green blanket under the real food. It was served on plates with the sole intention of ending up in the trash. It wasn’t even a food! One day a magical health scientist waved his refractometer at the leaf and –poof– Kale arrived, fully dressed and ready to party! Today we know that lame, old, “thrown onto your plate as a decoration” leaf is super nutritious, and when given the love and attention it deserves, it’s delicious.

Breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day, right? Wrong! Gotcha! You thought this would be a recipe, not a test. That's fine. Even if you failed the test part, this breakfast hash is delicious.

Tacos! Bravo! Delicioso! Fantastico! I cannot overstate the importance of tacos. Why? They’re crazy fast and easy to make. They’re over the top delicious. They’re low in calories. They’re inexpensive. Am I making myself clear? You should have some tacos and think about what I’ve said here. It must be Cinco de Mayo somewhere, right? Ole’!

This is an amazing chili, because it has so much flavor to it. The two types of beans make this extra hearty and the quinoa adds a nice "meaty" texture to it. Serve this to your family and they will hardly notice it's plant based and "healthy!"

Did you know you could cut asparagus with a vegetable peeler or a mandolin? It’s easy and so danged fancy! The texture is great. It changes that every day salad into an evening at the Metropolitan Mouth Ballet. This recipe’s not crazy enough for you? Add some baby spinach, mixed greens, fresh basil, maybe red onion, maybe all of them! Raw asparagus is delicious!

Most people think of soups as a cold weather only food. I know the title on this one clearly states this is a “Mexican” soup. When you think Mexico, you don’t picture you and your amigos sitting by the fire at a ski lodge but you’d be wrong! I looked it up. There actually is at least one ski resort in Mexico. Maybe they serve big bowls of this soup there. Probably not. Most ski resorts don’t have food this great. It’s tiempo to realize it’s okay to have soup when it’s warm.

Strawberry, Pecan, Spinach Salad. That’s the title AND pretty much the whole recipe. There are a few other things in it, and they’re worth adding. This recipe has no oil, and it’s all raw, but you could toast the pecans and not really violate my shaky notion of “raw.” For the past four and half billion years, this salad would have been a summer salad, and we’d only have a few weeks each year to eat something this magical. We’re living in the future. We ship strawberries from all over the world, so you can now choose to eat this any time. I’d still try to find a few days in the summer when the local strawberries are showing off their magic, and I’d make it every day that week for my family and friends. I might even call strangers in off the street and serve it to them. When things are good, share them.

Namaste! To many of us, “Indian Dal” sounds so exotic. Indian food can be an adventure, but this is just a quick wave to the Indian Subcontinent. Dal is just beans, and the “Indian” part consists of a couple of delicious but pretty mild spices. This is a very gentle “intro to India” recipe. It’s not going to overwhelm anyone. There are no tigers or elephants involved. Most folks are going to enjoy this variation of bean soup. You can cook it in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker if you’re in a hurry.