Strawberry Mango Salsa With Thai Flavors

With two ripe mangoes, some Thai basil (or regular basil) a squeeze of fresh lime, a chili pepper for heat, a few strawberries for sweet, a red pepper for crunch, you can whip up this salsa.  It's a tropical and refreshing alongside a piece of locally caught and grilled bluefish. It's good on chicken or with tortilla chips too.

Vegetable Soup with Barley & Basil

A simple vegetable soup is what I cooked today. It's what I needed. It's the kind of austere and nourishing soup I imagine monks making with their fresh garden vegetables. They'd eat it at supper time with warm bread. 

Mediterranean Toasted Quinoa Salad

This is a chopped salad that hits all the right flavors and textures: crunchy, creamy, toasty, tangy and bright . Lemony salads are wonderful year round. I particularly love them in winter, when most of us long for something lively, fresh and green. While tomatoes are tasteless in winter, red bell peppers, lemons and cucumbers are usually fine. Herbs seem to always be available on my supermarket shelves too.