Brussel Sprouts Sauteed in Garlic & Olive Oil by John Spottiswood

This is a simple, tasty side dish to add to your menu. I've adapted it from Marcella Hazan's recipes for other vegetables. It tastes GREAT with Brussel Sprouts. Broccoli is good too.

Pasta with Spinach, Ricotta, Ham by John Spottiswood

This is one of our family staples. It is healthy and delicious! Two of our kids say it is their favorite dish. We've adapted it from Marcella Hazan. It's easy to throw together and great the next day too.

Lemon & Garlic Green Beans by John Spottiswood

It is rare to have a side dish which everyone keeps reaching for instead of the main dish. That's especially true if its a fairly simple green vegetable side. But these green beans were truly that good. We used packaged, thin french cut green beans from Trader Joes. They are tender and tasty on their own, but I've never had them taste…

Simple Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms and Tomatoes by John Spottiswood

This is one of those simple recipes that are almost embarrassing to put on this website. But this was really tasty and healthy, and our kids devoured it. I have everything being prepared in parallel, so the whole dish takes less than 25 minutes start to finish. If you're tight on time, this is a winner!

Spaghetti with Seafood in Tomato and Herb sauce by John Spottiswood

A colleague of mine brought in some fresh oregano, marjoram, and Italian parsley from his garden, so I looked for a fresh herb pasta recipe. I changed the herbs up a bit to use what I had, substituted prawns for mussels, and ended up with a delicious pasta. As long as you get the basics of this sauce right, you can mess around with…

Pasta with Sauteed Vegetables, Olive Oil & Tomato Sauce by John Spottiswood

Simple and truly delicious. If you like tasty, fresh, and healthy food, this is likely to become a staple for you.

Tomato Marinara with Garlic and Basil by Nancy Miyasaki

This is a light and tasty sauce that the Roman's called "alla carrettiera". It's named for the drivers who came to town with fresh produce and wine from the surrounding countryside, and their sauces were improvised from the abundant ingredients available to them. We've got our own little garden, and all of the ingredients for this…

Garlic & Lemon Butter Shrimp by Nancy Miyasaki

This recipe for pan searing shrimp is one of my favorites. I adapted it from a Cooks Illustrated recipe. It is full of flavor and the shrimp will come out brown and slightly caramelized if you pan sear them as described. We tried two different recipes the same night and compared side by side. This was the consensus, but not…

Pasta with Eggplant, Tomato, and Red Chili Pepper by Nancy Miyasaki

This is a great recipe that I have adapted from the awesome Marcella Hazan. Everyone loves it (even if you don't love eggplant)! Try munching on a couple of the eggplant cubes when they are fresh out of the pan. They put french fries to shame!

Cheesy Lemon Pasta w/ Salami, Olives & Spinach by Reeni

Pasta with Cauliflower, Prosciutto, and Parmesan by Nancy Miyasaki

Our whole family enjoyed this flavorful pasta that I cooked tonight. Despite the chicken broth, this is a relatively dry pasta, but it is very flavorful. We added the crushed red peppers at the end because some of our kids can't take the heat, but I thought they added an important dimension. If your rushed for time, you can skip…

Tuscan shrimp marinara with chickpea pasta by John Spottiswood

This is a great Tuscan recipe adapted from the Flavors of Tuscan cookbook by Maxine Clark. Maxine recommends making fresh chickpea pasta. We use Barilla Plus pasta, which is made with chickpeas just like Maxine recommends. By skipping making your own pasta, this becomes a very easy and healthy dish.

Sole Piccata with Spinach by Nancy Miyasaki

This tasty piccata recipe can be made with any white fish...sole, flounder, tilapia, etc. It's simple and very fresh tasting. It goes great with my Basmati Rice with Herbs recipe...as the light lemon flavor blends very well with the pungent herbs.

Soba Noodles with Asparagus, Parmesan, Bacon & Egg by John Spottiswood

This recipe sounds strange...but if you can get over the unusual ingredients you are in for an amazing meal. Soba noodles are japanese buckwheat noodles. They are healthy and delicious. I've primarily had them japanese style, but also tried them in Northern Italy this summer and loved them. This recipe is adapted from one in Bon…

Penne Alfredo with Italian Sausage and Zucchini by Denise Sherin

I had this dish at a local diner and loved it. So I recreated it at home it's an easy tasty dish. It looks like you spent a lot of time making it and it comes together so easily. In this picture I used just zucchini but I have made it with summer squash or a mix of both, whatever I have on hand, and it's great.