Do unusual fruits or vegetables catch your eye in your produce section and leave you wondering what they’re like? For me, it’s been the multicolor carrots lately. Despite the fact that I’m not the biggest carrot fan in the world I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put those beautiful colors in a dish. I finally picked up a package to see if they had a recipe on the back and, sure enough, there was this simple-yet-flavorful and oh-so-pretty Chilled Dill Carrot Salad.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2010. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/chilled-dill-carrot-salad/

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As enamored as I become with apples at this time of year, I sometimes forget another favorite sweet treat in season: pears. The ones I love the best come from Harry & David, but until corporate holiday gift season rolls around I’m happy with the pears that are just starting to show up at the grocery store.

Believe it or not, this Spinach Pear Salad recipe actually comes from one of those little packages of fresh herbs – rosemary, to be specific.  Baby spinach leaves, along with rosemary and parsley, are tossed in a red wine vinaigrette and topped with fresh sliced pears, toasted pecans and crumbled blue cheese. The inclusion of the herbs is a bit unexpected (I don’t usually think of rosemary as a salad ingredient) and works really well here. It’s a healthy, fresh-tasting salad that’s quick to pull together – and did I mention it has pears?

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/spinach-pear-salad/

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Every so often food items will curiously appear in our fridge and pantry. Items that I didn’t buy. A tub of spreadable butter. Individually-wrapped American slices. A jar of Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter. Diced peaches in syrup. It’s not that I really have anything against these products, but in our almost three years of marriage my husband has come to understand that if he would like to eat such foods he will need to purchase them at the grocery store himself. And so he does.

So it was a little bit out of character for my husband when he came home the other day with sugar snap peas.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/caesar-salad-with-sugar-snap-peas/

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On a Friday night a few weeks ago, five friends and I put on some makeup (for a change), kissed our husbands and babies goodnight and went out for a relaxing and enjoyable girls night dinner. With wine! Although we’ve gotten together almost every week for the past year it was actually the first time we’d met up without the kiddies. I can’t believe we didn’t think of doing this sooner – it was so nice to finally sit down and catch up in relative peace.

When it came time to order, all six of us each ordered steak. One friend and I had the steak frites (because I find it impossible to bypass menu items that come with fries) while the rest ordered steak salads. I definitely felt a tinge of guilt over this. But not enough to change my order.

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© Cooking On the Side, 2009. | Permalink: http://cookingontheside.com/grilled-steak-tabbouleh-salad/

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