East Meets West Tostada

Dear Turkey,

It's lunchtime.  If you're me, you want something Mexican, or at least with beans in it. But maybe you want something Asian, too, for a change. Something light with a tangy and sweet sauce.

This tostada doesn't even have rice on it, thereby allowing you to have ice cream cake for dessert. The shredded veggies are a fun contrast to the beans, and they make everything cook quickly. I wasn't sure if the smoky chipotle and cumin flavors would blend with the rice vinegar, or it would just taste like a mishmash, but it was awesome.

Beautiful Pink Summer Pasta

Dear Turkey,

It's lunchtime. You just went running. You want something satisfying and seasonal, you know, like in a magazine. But you don't have a lot of fresh veggies in your fridge.

Enter beautiful pink summer pasta: the sweet caramelized red onion and the salty olives make you feel like you're eating more calories than you are. And you can go shopping in your herb garden (optional).

Zucchini Bruschetta

Dear Turkey,

Hummus and pesto in one recipe? And you grill the hummus? I was skeptical, even though I do love hummus and pesto, and grilling. But I was intrigued by a bruschetta where zucchini stands in for the bread, since I do love recipes where zucchini pretends to be a carb.

Well, these things are good. They're easy to make (or you could be hardcore and make all of the toppings from scratch), you can grill them or broil them, and they're good leftover. And when you get that first magical taste of hummus+pesto you will be like, ah, I get it now.

Cheesy Corn Muffins

Dear Turkey,

The other day I just wanted some corn muffins. With a ton of cheese in the middle. I could eat them for breakfast, or dip them in some chili or salad dressing for lunch or dinner. But I didn't want to cut the sugar out of the recipe either, so they would be kind of like a cheese danish.

These corn muffins are so deliciously awesome, I am ashamed. They don't taste healthy like these muffins. And if you have people in your family who don't like cheesy cornbread, you can leave the cheese out of half, thereby making the other half twice as cheesy.

Ciabatta

Dear Turkey,

Ciabatta bread is the kind of thing that impresses people. I even impress myself when I make it. It's really easy, but I can understand why they charge $4 for it at the store -- it's that good.

You can start making ciabatta the day before, two days before if you're an overachiever, or just a few hours before you want to eat it. It helps if you have a stand mixer, but it's not required. So, if you have some people you need to impress, or even just yourself, go for it.