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Eating Locally

This polenta without fear is delicious. Minimal stirring is required and the addition of a little water towards the end of the cooking process is all the doctoring necessary to produce "creamy, soft, mouth-filling polenta," as described on Bitten. // alexandracooks.com

Polenta Without Fear + A Huge Thank You

Grass-fed steak with balsamic caper sauce

Grass-fed Steaks with Balsamic-Caper Sauce + Oven-Roasted Potatoes

A pan-seared burger with secret sauce, pickled onions, and tomato on homemade brioche.

Cast Iron Skillet Burgers with Roasted Green Peppers

Flavored with leeks and lemons, this pasta carbonara is especially fresh and light. With bacon and eggs on hand, dinner can be thrown together in a flash. Add asparagus and you have a one-dish dinner on your hands. The sauce tastes incredibly creamy (despite containing no cream at all) and coats the pasta so well, making every bite especially delectable. // alexandracooks.com

Orecchiette Carbonara with Asparagus — 2nd Easiest Weeknight Dinner

Alice Waters’s Baked Goat Cheese Salad

New Potatoes with Green Harissa

In Honor of Top Chef: Padma’s Salad with Rancho Gordo Beans & Bäco Flatbreads

pasta with mushrooms, parmesan, and truffle oil

Farmers’ Market Mushrooms & Melograno Nostalgia

Melon & Cucumber Salad

Bubalus Bubalis Mozzarella & Heirloom Tomatoes

Ramos House Cafe

The Best Bloody Mary, Breakfast at Ramos House

Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm

An overhead shot of a stack of homemade flour tortillas.

Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

An overhead shot of a dozen blueberry muffins on a cooling rack.

The Best Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Philadelphia Farmers’ Markets

This Portuguese corn bread, like all of the other loaves produced from recipes printed in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, is delicious. Also, this isn't the typical, sweet, cake-like creation most often associated with the word "cornbread." // alexandracooks.com

Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day: Corn Bread

In the past six years, subscriptions to CSAs in eastern Pennsylvania, southern California and northern Virginia have forever transformed how I eat and cook. I have learned to plan meals based on the vegetables I have at hand not the protein. I have learned to appreciate vegetables in their freshest state seasoned with little more than olive oil, salt and pepper. I have eaten more dark leafy greens than I ever imagined. // alexandracooks.com

Getting the Most From Your CSA + Two Favorite Potato Recipes

This roasted tomato soup has been made completely to taste. If you start with a base of slow roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic and shallots, I assure you your soup will be a success. Served with a few shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano and a piece of crusty bread, it makes a wonderful late summer meal. // alexandracooks.com

Roasted Tomato Soup Thickened with Bread (Pappa Al Pomodoro)

Crispy on the edges, creamy in the center, these little chard fritters, squeezed with lemon, make the most lovely Meatless Monday meal. But more importantly they save the fridge from utter and complete dark-leafy-green domination. And for that I couldn't be more grateful. // alexandracooks.com

Swiss Chard (Or Other Greens) Fritters + Montreal

A bowl of fresh corn polenta with blistered cherry tomatoes.

Fresh Corn Polenta with Blistered Tomatoes

Must-Try, Super-Moist Zucchini Bread

apple muffin

Apple Cider Donuts // Homemade Yogurt // Argyle Cheese Farmer // Saratoga Apple // Apple-Yogurt Muffins

A plate of fingerling potatoes.

Crispy Pan-Seared Fingerling Potatoes

Balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts.

Ina Garten’s Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

A glass bowl filled with watermelon gazpacho.

This polenta without fear is delicious. Minimal stirring is required and the addition of a little water towards the end of the cooking process is all the doctoring necessary to produce "creamy, soft, mouth-filling polenta," as described on Bitten. // alexandracooks.com

This simple pasta salad is particularly good warm, when the just-boiled shells melt the cheese, just slightly cook the tomatoes and soak up all the flavors of the olive oil and lemon juice. It can also be prepared ahead and served at room temperature — it tastes better the longer it sits in fact. // alexandracooks.com

Preserved lemons work nicely anywhere lemon and salt work nicely — so, everywhere? — and while there is something about the combination of smoked mozzarella and lemon that just can't be beat, this preserved lemon pizza is a fun combination, too: za'atar with olive oil, fresh ricotta, preserved lemon and basil. // alexandracooks.com

A collection of easy vegetarian recipes to make year-round.

More Vegetarian Recipes