Why is it that so much great food comes out of Louisiana? Case in point, this “dirty” rice. It’s a Cajun classic, and so good that the first time you eat it you’ll wonder where it’s been all your life. It’s basically a rice pilaf that is called “dirty” because it’s cooked with minced chicken livers or gizzards, which infuse it with crispy, tasty browned bits. If you aren’t a liver lover, don’t worry, the rice doesn’t taste like liver, the addition just deepens the overall flavor of the rice, and the bits are so small you can’t really distinguish them.

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These simple recipes will keep your body hydrated and refreshed during summer’s hottest stretch.
Iced Watermelon Drink
Watermelon, which is 94% water and packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals, is the ideal ingredient for this delicious summer drink. This recipe is kid-friendly but also has an adults-only option (ie, gin).
Homemade Fresh Fruit Popsicles
These easy-to-make popsicles are made [...]

I’m pretty sure the last thing anyone needs is another oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. I mean, the sense I get is that most people have their OMG favorite recipe, and tend to stick with it. Except, perhaps, for those times when you’re lured away by an off-beat recipe incorporating something like corn flakes, or, I don’t know - toffee. But those are just flings, right?

Anyhow, I wasn’t planning on posting this recipe, I was just playing around with a bag of Massa Whole Wheat Flour, and the last of the oats in my refrigerator. This was the result. I’m posting the recipe not because they’re the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever of all time. They’re good, but…I’m posting the recipe, because they make amazing ice cream sandwich cookies. And it’s prime ice cream sandwich season.

Cook these cookies long enough, then let them cool, and you’ll have thin, snappy, super-oaty cookies. They’ll be structured enough to embrace a smear of your favorite vanilla, or coffee, or mint chip ice cream.

For those of you on the hunt for some savory, summertime inspiration, I think I have something you’ll like coming up next. In the meantime, the Double Broccoli Quinoa, Harissa Spaghettini, Maple Grilled Tempeh, or these Kabobs, are all worth revisiting.

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You know the cool thing about tarragon? You only have to plant it once. (Assuming you don’t pull it up thinking it’s a weed when it surprises you by coming up the second year. Yes, that would be me.) I planted a young tarragon plant in a corner of our garden several years ago, and although it dies back every winter, each spring it reemerges even more robust than the year before. Tarragon is a lovely herb to pair with chicken or fish, and is terrific in omelettes. It also tastes great with hard boiled eggs, either deviled or in an egg salad such as this one. My nephew Austin took one bite of this the other day and wide-eyed exclaimed “Wow, what is in this?!” as he gobbled it up. The tarragon, along with similarly flavored fennel, adds an unexpected punch to an otherwise rather basic egg salad.

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