I’ll admit it; I’m a bit obsessive when it comes to chili. Most people have one chili powder blend in their pantry. I have four, all of which I buy online at wholespice.com: Chili Powder Dark; ancho chili powder; Chili California Powder; and Chili New Mexico Powder. You get the idea. But my recipe tester Catherine was having none of it when I suggested this recipe include all four of my chili powder blends. “No,” she said. “I have one blend, just like any other normal person. Either this is going test well with one blend, or it’s not going to fly at all.” Fortunately, it achieved the correct flying altitude with just one blend—whichever one you happen to have on hand—but if you want all three (I can’t resist), look at the Cook’s Note. I love this chili straight up, topped with avocado-cilantro cream, while Catherine likes it best topped with poached eggs. Talk about a protein hit! And for a brain boost, there’s nothing like the choline that both black beans and eggs provide.

Leave it to the Japanese to help me come up with a healthy version of my favorite bagel topping, lox with a schmeer (that’s Yiddish for a slathering of cream cheese). Instead of a bread bomb, I start with a wrap made of nori, the dried seaweed sheets often used to wrap sushi rolls. Nori contains nutrients that support thyroid function and provide many other health benefits. The lox—smoked wild salmon—stays the same (thank heavens!), and the schmeer is something I’m quite proud of: a creamy spread made with edamame and wasabi. It’s a lot more healthful than a chunk of cream cheese, and it tastes a lot better too. Thin slices of avocado, red bell pepper, and cucumber up the vegetable factor. Roll it up, slice it up, and eat it up and you won’t need to nap it up fifteen minutes later, which is what usually happened to me in my bagel-eating days.

Leave it to the Japanese to help me come up with a healthy version of my favorite bagel topping, lox with a schmeer (that’s Yiddish for a slathering of cream cheese). Instead of a bread bomb, I start with a wrap made of nori, the dried seaweed sheets often used to wrap sushi rolls. Nori contains nutrients that support thyroid function and provide many other health benefits. The lox—smoked wild salmon—stays the same (thank heavens!), and the schmeer is something I’m quite proud of: a creamy spread made with edamame and wasabi. It’s a lot more healthful than a chunk of cream cheese, and it tastes a lot better too. Thin slices of avocado, red bell pepper, and cucumber up the vegetable factor. Roll it up, slice it up, and eat it up and you won’t need to nap it up fifteen minutes later, which is what usually happened to me in my bagel-eating days.

Often when I’m developing a recipe, I think about texture as much as taste. That is the case here, where there’s a creamy/crunchy thing going between the white beans and the radishes. This is the kind of light fare Italians are known for and that I commonly found served up as antipasti as I traveled across that country. 

Gone are the days when asparagus was boiled until it resembled a gray Seattle drizzle. Here we roast asparagus until it becomes sweet and caramelized in a way that’s hard to believe until it’s tried. Asparagus is full of antioxidants that help in DNA synthesis and repair. In this soup, it’s paired with the nerve-protective benefits of pistachio as part of the minty, creamy topping. This is some serious yum in a bowl.

If you’re a coleslaw fan or have a jones for a crunchy salad, this recipe is for you.  Red cabbage is a nutrient-rich cruciferous vegetable.  Jicama is loaded with nutrients, including iron. Together they make a colorful pair. 

Bread croutons are so yesterday. This recipe is incredibly easy to make; just some torn up kale coated with olive oil and salt that gets popped into the oven. The alchemy of the cooking takes away the kale’s bitterness, leaving you with an irresistible garnish on top of a bowl of soup.

Drizzles are designed to brighten up everything they touch, and they can be found in nearly every culture’s cooking. France? It’s a pistou. Italy? Pesto. Morocco? Chermoula. They’re all made similarly; herbs, olive oil, lemon juice and salt go into the Cuisinart, and what comes out is a fine dining refinement, if you will, for everyday soup.

Another good all-purpose salad dressing that comes together quickly and lasts for a week in the
fridge. I love Meyer lemons because, relative to other lemons, they’re quite sweet. If you don’t have a few Meyers hanging around, use a combination of regular lemon juice and orange juice.

“Tahini” sounds exotic, kind of like Tahiti, but if you can get past the name it’s one of the simplest ingredients in this most basic—but delicious, of course—of dressings.

A little song, a little dance . . . this is sweet-and-sour doing a delightful tango on the taste buds, with the intense tartness of the pomegranate molasses magnificently mollified by the orange’s mellow sweetness. This vinaigrette partners delightfully with just about any salad that happens to sashay its way.

I love this salad. I dream about this salad. It’s a variation on fattoush, a fabulously named Mediterranean salad. This is the freshest, cleanest salad I can imagine. It’s like Nautilus for the taste buds: the sweetness of fresh tomatoes, a starburst of fresh mint and parsley, creamy cheese, salty olives, crispy pita chips, and crunchy lettuce . . . like I said, it’s a workout for the palate. Like most workouts, you’ll feel wonderful after you eat it.

If age is any indicator, hummus has been popular since at least the 13th century, where it was listed in an Egyptian cookbook. So as far as it being too exotic to cook, well, that’s really not the case. Hummus is a mix of pureed chickpeas, lemon juice and tahini-- which is just ground up sesame seeds that, fortunately for your brain, are full of zinc. Hummus is a great foundation for experimentation, and here I’ve pumped up the colors and flavors by introducing sweet potatoes topped with pomegranate seeds and mint. There’s an earthy, mellow taste to this creamy hummus that resonates on a deep level, with cumin, curry, and ginger spicing providing just the right level of ahhhhhh….