Grilled Asparagus

This grilled asparagus recipe is my favorite spring and summer side dish. Simply seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, it's fresh and delicious.

Grilled asparagus is the best spring and summer side dish! It’s tender, juicy, and lightly charred, and it cooks in minutes on the grill. Seasoned simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, it pairs perfectly with almost any meal. Below, you’ll find my easy method for cooking asparagus on the grill, along with my favorite ways to serve it. Even if you’re an asparagus skeptic, I hope you’ll try this recipe. My husband Jack used to claim he hated asparagus, but once he tried it grilled, he became a convert. Who knows? You might…

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Strawberry Spinach Salad

This strawberry spinach salad is filled with pecans, feta, and a tangy poppy seed dressing. Perfect for spring or summer, it's simple and fresh.

This strawberry spinach salad is perfect for spring and early summer. It starts with a base of fresh spinach—one of the first vegetables to appear at my farmers market each spring—and is topped off with juicy strawberries, crisp red onion, toasty pecans, and salty feta cheese. My sweet and tangy poppy seed dressing ties it all together. I think it’s fair to say that this combination is pretty classic (doesn’t Panera have a strawberry poppyseed salad on its menu?), but I still wanted to share this recipe because it’s so simple and fresh, with a wonderful pop of sweetness and color…

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Roasted Asparagus

This oven roasted asparagus recipe is an easy, delicious spring side dish. The spears are tender, juicy, and flavorful. Ready in 15 minutes!

spring / side dishes

This roasted asparagus recipe is my favorite spring side dish. I love how the spears become tender, juicy, and lightly browned in the oven, with frizzled, crispy tips. I think they’re delicious straight off the baking sheet (I’ve been known to eat half a pan while putting the finishing touches on dinner…), but they’re even more flavorful with seasonings like Parmesan cheese, garlic, fresh herbs, or a squeeze of lemon juice. Another reason to love roasted asparagus? It’s so easy to make. It only bakes for about 15 minutes, meaning that you can throw it together on a weeknight or…

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Creamed Spinach

This creamed spinach recipe features tender spinach in a rich, creamy sauce. It's one of my family's favorite side dishes for holiday meals!

fall / side dishes

This creamed spinach recipe is the most luxurious way to eat your greens. Inspired by Jack’s mom’s famous creamed spinach (a staple at Thanksgiving, Easter, and other family gatherings), it’s ultra-creamy, rich, and cheesy. If you ask me, it’s just as good as any steakhouse creamed spinach…if not better. While many creamed spinach recipes call for frozen spinach, this one uses fresh. I love the silky texture of the whole, just-wilted leaves in the cream sauce. I think it makes this classic side dish feel a bit brighter and fresher. Make it for a holiday or a simple weeknight dinner.…

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How to Make Grits

Learn how to make grits with this easy recipe! We love this rich, creamy Southern dish topped with eggs, fresh veggies, or a simple pat of butter.

We’ve been on a grits kick in our house lately. Jack grew up in the South, so he has a serious soft spot for this rich, creamy corn porridge (especially when it’s loaded up with butter and cream). Through years of enjoying grits together, I’ve become a huge fan too. I shared a grits recipe in my second cookbook, but I only recently realized that I’d never posted one here. That changes now! Below, you’ll find our simple method for how to make grits, plus tips for cooking them and serving suggestions. I hope you enjoy! Ingredients You’ll Need Here’s…

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Easy Homemade Biscuits

This biscuit recipe is easy to make with 6 simple ingredients. It yields the BEST homemade biscuits—they're flaky, buttery, and delicious!

Did you know that homemade biscuits are easy to make? Well, they are! If the thought of making flaky, buttery biscuits from scratch feels impossible or intimidating to you, I hope you’ll try this easy biscuit recipe. It calls for 6 basic ingredients and comes together in about 30 minutes—no special equipment required! Jack and I both grew up eating canned biscuits (think Pillsbury). The first time we made homemade biscuits, we couldn’t believe what we’d been missing. They are simply so much better. With this biscuit recipe, they have crisp, golden brown edges and moist, tender middles. Serve them alongside…

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How to Cook Rice on the Stove

Learn how to cook perfect rice on the stove! This easy method yields fluffy white rice every time. Find my best recipe tips and serving ideas below!

cooking basics

Learn how to cook rice perfectly every time! Below, I’m sharing my go-to method for how to cook white rice on the stove. It’s easy to make in under 30 minutes, and it always yields tender, fluffy rice. Sooo many people think that it’s impossible to cook perfect rice on the stove. I’m on a mission to change that! While there are some common pitfalls to cooking rice, this foolproof white rice recipe is easy to master. And once you have it in your back pocket, you can quickly whip it up to serve with curries, stir fries, and more. You…

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Easy Fried Rice

Got leftover rice? This easy fried rice recipe is the best way to use it up! I mix it with veggies and eggs in this delicious Chinese-inspired dish.

I make this easy fried rice recipe whenever I have leftover rice in the fridge. If you ask me, this Chinese inspired-dish is the best way to use it up. When the dried-out rice is cooked in a hot skillet, it takes on a delicious lightly crispy texture. Mixed with veggies, scrambled eggs, and seasonings like soy sauce and sesame oil, the humble rice becomes an incredibly flavorful side dish or quick meal. I’m sharing my basic vegetable fried rice recipe at the bottom of this post, but don’t feel like you have to follow it to the letter. One…

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Homemade Flour Tortillas

These homemade flour tortillas are soft and delicious—so much better than store-bought! The recipe is easy to make with 5 simple ingredients.

These homemade flour tortillas are soft, pliable, and delicious. They’re like an entirely different food from store-bought tortillas—they’re chewier, more rustic, and far more flavorful. Try one while it’s warm from the stove. You won’t believe how good it is! I started making homemade flour tortillas years ago, back when I first moved to Austin, Texas. I imagined that it would be a major cooking project that would require special ingredients and hours in the kitchen. But to my surprise, it turned out to be incredibly simple. So simple, in fact, that I’ve made flour tortillas many, many times since. I’m sharing…

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Air Fryer Sweet Potato

Learn how to cook a perfect air fryer sweet potato with crisp skin and fluffy insides! This easy recipe is quicker than baking sweet potatoes in the oven.

By popular request: air fryer sweet potatoes! I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how to cook a sweet potato in the air fryer, so today, I’m finally sharing my go-to air fryer sweet potato recipe. It’s super simple. I use the same method that I do in my baked sweet potato recipe: Poke holes in the sweet potatoes Cook them (with no foil!) until puffed and fork-tender I won’t say that one is better than the other—oven or air fryer. Both yield perfect baked sweet potatoes with lightly crisp, puffy skins and soft, flavorful insides. But if you’re only…

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Roasted Fennel

These roasted fennel wedges are tender, sweet, and deeply caramelized. Garnished with lemon zest and/or Parmesan, they're a delicious side dish.

This roasted fennel recipe is one of my all-time favorite side dishes. I adore roasted broccoli, roasted cauliflower, and roasted carrots, but I might love roasted fennel most of all. Raw fennel has a distinct anise flavor and crunchy texture. Roasted fennel, on the other hand, is beautifully tender, almost silky. As it caramelizes in the oven, its licorice flavor transforms into something sweeter, nuttier, and richer. There’s nothing else quite like it. If you’ve never tried roasted fennel, I hope you will soon. Serve it as a side dish with any weeknight dinner, or dress it up with garnishes like lemon…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.