This light vegetable dish features toasted walnuts and fennel. Fennel gives this dish an anise or licorice flavor. It's a large white bulb with celerylike stems and green, feathery leaves. The leaves and fennel seeds add another layer of flavor to the dish. Toasting the walnuts intensifies the walnuts flavor.

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-- Any type of ...Read more

Enjoy a quick, crunchy taste of Vietnam. This fragrant stir-fry features beef and bok choy, a cousin of cabbage. My friend Binh Duong introduced me to this Vietnamese treat.

It takes a few extra minutes to prepare the ingredients, but only 7 to 8 minutes to cook. To speed cooking place the ingredients on a plate in order of use.

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A juicy barbecued chicken sandwich with a bell pepper and bean salad makes an easy summer supper. Use bought cooked chicken breast or leftover chicken for this recipe. Bottled barbecue sauce helps makes this dinner a breeze.

Canned red kidney beans and fresh green pepper are spiced with cumin and chili powder in this crunchy salad to accompany ...Read more

Spicy tomato salsa gives these light, juicy chicken burgers a hint of the Southwest. Cool coleslaw is a perfect side dish for burgers. Making fresh coleslaw that is tangy and crunchy is a breeze using shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix available in the produce department of the supermarket.

Look for ground chicken made from chicken breast meat ...Read more

Five-spice powder gives this stir-fry its intriguing taste. The flavors delicately glaze the ingredients. The spice is a pungent mixture of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed and Szechwan peppercorns. You can use it to add a different flavor to other rice or vegetable dishes.

The dish has several ingredients, but once they're assembled ...Read more

Crunchy apples, celery and walnuts mixed with turkey make a crisp, cool salad perfect for a hot summer night or anytime. The original combination of apples, celery and mayonnaise was served at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City over 100 years ago. This updated version still has the pleasing combination of textures and flavors that has ...Read more

Cajun cooking is a combination of French and Southern cuisine. This easy recipe for Cajun Shrimp uses prepared Cajun spice seasoning and beer to flavor the shrimp.

Although Cajun and Creole cooking differ in many respects, rice is an important staple in both. Red beans and rice is a basic Creole dish that completes this meal.

Serve with a ...Read more

Big, red, juicy strawberries are in season and full of flavor. For this quick dinner, I blended strawberries with soy sauce mixture to make a dressing for steak. Sesame noodles and spinach accompany the steak. The strawberries give a rich body and texture to dressing and complement the beef.

If pressed for time, omit the soy sauce, vinegar, ...Read more

Mussels in a light cream sauce brings back memories of eating on the terrace of a small restaurant in Normandy, breathing the fresh sea air and drinking a chilled glass of white wine. What a treat!

Figure about 2 pounds mussels per person. Store the mussels in the refrigerator. The commercially raised mussels available today are cleaner than ...Read more

Here's a quick summer salad. Sweet mangoes, roasted chicken and a tangy dressing provide contrasting flavors. Lush, ripe mangoes are hanging from the trees in Florida. It's the best time of year to buy mangoes throughout the United States.

Buy roasted chicken breast in the cooked meat case or deli for the salad. No cooking is needed for this ...Read more