Such a quick and simple recipe, this dip for raw vegetables, just a few often-on-hand pantry ingredients and a few minutes to stir together It's a " veggie evangelist's " secret weapon! ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a special collection of easy summer recipes published every summer since 2009. Watch for new "summer easy" recipes all summer long! With a free e-mail subscription , you'll never miss a one! Sneaking In a Serving of Vegetables Call me sneaky but come summer, an hour or so before supper, out comes a plate of fresh veggies – who can spell crudités? who can pronounce CROO-dee-tay? But the real secret weapon, the super-secret one, is the creamy vegetable dip alongside. Within minutes, hungry folk start to snack, a stick of carrot here, a slice of red pepper there. Without ever “serving” a vegetable, I’ve managed to sneak in one of the day’s vegetable servings.

One of my favorite simple suppers, one that's light and easy and healthy too. It's quick enough for a weeknight supper but also special enough for company. Weight Watchers, you'll love this simple fish, just a few points for something that tastes rich and satisfying. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ BEST RECIPES! Fish with Herb Butter Made the List! Best Recipes of 2004 Lightening Up? Feeling heavy and slow from food-centered gatherings with friends and family over the long weekend? Overeat at breakfast or lunch? FISH with HERB BUTTER just might be the cure. Quick to prepare and serve, there’s barely time to toss a salad! It's extra easy for someone who already has herbs on hand. Sooo ... hey, have you planted a few herbs yet? Keeping two or three favorites herbs in pots will keep you in herbs all summer long, all for the price of a few plants. See my post about growing herbs at home, Never Buy Fresh Herbs Again . Culinary Tools for One or

Experienced bakers know that the best bananas for baking — you know, for banana muffins, banana bread, even banana cake — are very ripe bananas. But how dark, how ripe, should we let bananas go? In a happy accident, I've discovered what I call "black bananas". They streeeettttch the ripening time by many weeks and draw out even more of that luscious banana flavor that banana lovers crave. Bakers, prepare to exercise great, great patience before baking with bananas. When Is a Ripe Banana Ripe Enough for Baking? left/top ~ A "green banana" is an "unripe" banana. It may be tinged with green but is often yellow. A green banana makes for unremarkable banana-baking. center ~ It's tempting to start baking with a banana once it starts to develop some brown spots. But patience, patience, that banana's not ready yet! right/bottom ~ A banana must be really ripe — nearly all brown and even, if you want, well into "black" — to yiel