Garlic has a long list of health benefits: antibacterial, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antivampiric (okay, I admit it’s been hard to find research studies on that last one), and much, much more. Garlic lovers will gravitate toward this soup, but I want to convince those of you who say, “Garlic? Eww!’ to try it. Those overwhelmed by garlic’s natural pungency will delight in how roasting transforms the garlic into a caramelized, sweet-smelling delight. In this recipe, roasted garlic is simmered in the broth, adding to the gentle mellowing. Further fortified with Yukon gold potatoes, thyme, pepper, onion, and a spritz of lemon, this nutritious soup will arm you to the teeth . . . so to speak.

My first internship when I got out of culinary school was in the kitchen at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, where they had an entire wall filled with dozens and dozens of spices. I swear that wall looked like a piece of art—in the form of a jigsaw puzzle that I had to figure out. The way you knew you had earned your stripes in the kitchen was when the executive chef finally let you make their famous dahl. Wouldn’t you know, the very first time I made it, an honest-to-goodness Indian saint had come to visit. There are rules regarding saints, and at mealtime, the first and foremost is that no one can try the dahl before she does. I must have done something right, because she tasted, smiled, and kissed me gently on the forehead. I treasure that memory, and also appreciate the experience of making that dahl because it taught me that spices—which have phenomenal healing properties—can be the heart of a dish, rather than an add-on to enhance flavor. Here, the blending of spices is what really gives this dish its power, both nutritionally and on the palate. 

Tell some people every ingredient in a dish and they’ll never try it. But if you wait until after they’ve tasted a to go into full disclosure, they’ll be pleasantly stunned at what they’ve just eaten. This gluten free meatloaf is kept moist by mushrooms—the idea of my cooking buddy Catherine McConkie—and has great umami flavor from anchovies. Just wait until they’ve tried it to tell your guests.

I asked my editor if I could get away with a two-word headnote for this: “Eat these!!” But she said, “No, Rebecca. You need to say more.” Sigh. How about “Eat these now!” That’s what my dog Lola did. We left them on the kitchen table, wrapped in layers of parchment and foil. Lola didn’t care. Her doggy delight senses shorted out her inhibition system (such as it is), and when we returned to the kitchen, she had jumped up on the table like a mountain goat and absconded with eight cookies. Fortunately, the chocolate content was low enough, and Lola big enough, that the vet said she’d be fine; she was, but there was no dinner for her that night. These are flourless, a blend of almond butter, egg, vanilla, cocoa nibs, and chocolate chips. The chocolate is guaranteed to elevate your mood. It sure elevated Lola’s!

Talk about fun rendezvous. This little devil took a while to figure out, so my recipe tester, Catherine, and I kept meeting halfway between our homes. We’d sit in Catherine’s VW bug and she’d pull out a small container of the pudding; we’d taste, figure out what needed to be tinkered with, and off we’d go on our separate ways. I wanted something that would take me back to that comforting feeling pudding gave me as a kid, yet be a little more sophisticated for an adult palate. What we ended up with was a cross between pudding, custard, and pot de crème. If that sounds a bit decadent, well, guilty as charged. Coconut milk, dark chocolate (mood enhancer!!), cinnamon, cardamom . . . yup, this one will get your motor purring.

Here’s a surprising combination. Rosemary tends to be assertive, while pears go mellow; together they make an unbeatable team. This muffin is as Mediterranean as they come. Draw a direct line from Florence to Provence, and this puppy’s flavor lands right in the middle.

You may have heard the slogan “You’ve tried the rest; now try the best.” That’s the way I feel about this tea recipe. It was developed ages ago by the fantastic folk at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, a renowned retreat for patients and caregivers, and they’ve been very kind in allowing me to share their recipe with you. When I am cooking at commonweal, I often make about six quarts a day so I’ll have some on hand for anyone who comes through the door, and still, it’s never enough. The blend of ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom is like a backrub in a cup. It turns me into absolute mush, it’s so good.

I thought I’d experienced olives every which way possible until a dinner party years ago, when I watched as Carolyn Brady, an incredible artist, popped a bunch of olives in the oven and roasted them. It seemed so exotic, and the results were incredible. The brininess was replaced by a sweet flavor heightened by the oven’s heat. In my version, I’ve surrounded the olives with garlic, fennel seeds, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and Meyer lemon. You’re not going to find anything like this at a supermarket olive bar. 

The lesson here is that a little beef goes a long way. What people crave is the taste and texture of beef, not to be overwhelmed by it, and this dish satisfies that need by turning beef into a  supporting player. The headliners here are the veggies and the dressing: think a big band combo filled with horns (that’s the lime and chili paste dressing), a rollicking rhythm section (shredded cabbage, peppery watercress, crunchy cucumber), and silkily dressed pitch-perfect backup singers (the cellophane noodles). Add meat and bring down the house!

There’s a fine line I walk as a cook. I don’t want to take people too far out of their comfort zones, yet I want to energize their taste buds with delightful takes on old favorites. So it goes here. There are about 1,000 ways to prepare sweet potatoes, and mashing them is top of the list, but a simple twist takes these taters over the top, and that’s the ginger (a notable anti-inflammatory) and the lime. Like a pair of piccolos, these two provide unexpected high notes of tartness and spice that play off the sweet potatoes’ bass heartiness. If you’re craving something sweet, this mash hits the mark; the fiber in the potatoes acts as a great insulin regulator, letting their sugars metabolize and feed the brain slowly and consistently.

Kale is quirky; with the right touch it shines like an emerald and tastes delish, but if you ignore a few key steps it can resemble Astroturf. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to get on kale’s good side. Once it’s ripped and stripped it loves a bath in olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. This spa treatment break down the kale’s fibers, making it easier to digest (the olive oil’s fat also increases the bioavailability of kale’s fat-soluble nutrients). I’ve included mint, parsley, quinoa, cumin, and coriander in the dish and added one additional surprise: red grapes. There’s something about chomping on a sweet grape that’s just joyous, and the anthocyanins that give the grape its deep color are also phenomenal antioxidants, with other studies showing they may also enhance memory.

I promise you that this quick and easy preparation of sugar snap peas will become a summer favorite. Look for pods that are evenly green, firm, and free of blemishes. Observe the usual caution: do not overcook them; better to err on the side of too crunchy than too soft. This is the essence of good, healthy fast food.

This is a twist on plain old steamed broccoli, which too often is tasteless. The miso is the salt component in the miso butter. If you choose to use wasabi butter, you may need to add a pinch of sea salt to this dish.

Butternut squash is the utility infielder of vegetables; wherever you place it on the culinary diamond, it does a great job. Stuffed in ravioli, as part of a risotto, roasted with herbs--it’s far more versatile than its tubby exterior suggests. In this soup, it’s blended with coconut milk to create a sensual, buttery texture that carries a phenomenal spice blend that delights the tastes and delivers superior nutrition. The cinnamon and turmeric help regulate blood sugar, have anti-inflammatory properties, and help fight cancer, while cumin boosts immunity and energy.

If this were the 1960s, I’d call this the “ohmmmmm” elixir, as kudzu root has a way of eliciting a meditative state. Now, we’d just call it “chill,” because that’s certainly what kudzu does in this drink, thickening spiced apple juice slightly to a silky consistency. This is a variation of the tried and true recipe by my mentor, Annemarie Colbin, who was looking for ways to make puddings that didn’t require milk or eggs, and turned to kudzu. It thickens the same way as cornstarch does—by being dissolved in a cold liquid and then heated while you stir it. After a few days of eating it for breakfast, she began to realize she was feeling exceedingly mellow and sleeping really well. And you didn’t hear this from me, but this elixir makes for a heckuva hangover remedy.

Anybody who knows me knows I’ve got a potato jones that just won’t quit. Doesn’t matter the make and model, a properly prepared spud just takes me places. This version relies on a little spice razzamatazz: I throw some mustard and coriander seeds into a hot pan and play Jiffy Pop with them for about thirty seconds. It gets their oils going, and they get fully released—along with a load of anti-inflammatory ingredients—when I grind them a few seconds later. I then bake them along with some lovely fingerling potatoes coated with olive oil and sea salt, and it’s heaven on a plate. Or so say the potato critics in my crowd, and they’re not an easy bunch to please.

They say kids don’t like vegetables, but my grandson Brandon evidently didn’t get that memo. He’s eaten and loved veggies since the age of two (he’s eight now), with broccoli being his favorite. He’s not shy about it, either. Last time he was over I asked him how he wanted his broccoli. He said, “Roasted... where you lay them out on a cookie sheet.” Want a scene that’ll melt your heart? That’s watching Brandon down on all fours , peering through the glass into the oven at his broccoli baking . When they come out, I put a little Parmesan cheese on top, and Brandon’s picking them off the roasting pan.

Here’s a recipe where, if it’s leafy and green, it’ll work. I use chard and collards, but kale or spinach would be brilliant too—in fact, put it this way: if you think Popeye would eat it, it’s in. The flavor enhancers are onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest, with a yellow potato thrown in for creaminess. The whole pot gets blended, and you’ll swear you’re eating emeralds (albeit luscious ones): that’s how shimmering green this soup looks. It’s a smart, calming soup, with whichever cruciferous greens you use (kale, bok choy, watercress, collards) providing a ton of folate, which may help ward off depression.

The wonderful thing about cooking is that we can borrow from everywhere. Take bartending: one of their favorite tools is the muddler, which, as the name implies, muddles (or crushes) ingredients to release flavors that go into the drink. And so it is here, with mint being the ingredient to be muddled. Now, you and I don’t have muddlers (unless you happen to be a mixologist), but you can use a mortar and pestle or the back of a wooden spoon to break down the mint and release the essential oils that go into this mojito. Mixed with antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice, lime juice, and pellegrino (Italian for “seltzer”), it tastes anything but muddled; it’s a straight shot of joy juice to the brain.

As a kid, I remember the Ladies Who Lunch coming over to the house regularly to play canasta or mah-jongg. On these occasions, my mom showed me how you could use a fruit as a bowl for salad: she’d serve the pearled grand dames tomatoes stuffed with chicken salad, and that was the inspiration for this dish. I’ve gone for a different mode of transport—an avocado boat—and jazzed up the salad as well. No mayo here, but lime juice, cumin, coriander, jalapeño (za-zing!), olive oil, and avocado provide the diving pond for the shrimp. I think the Ladies Who Lunch would’ve approved.