Intense Strawberry Preserves
This strawberry preserve recipe is made in small batches, to reduce the amount of time the fruit is heated so it retains more of its intense fresh flavor. If you use about 25 percent underripe berries in the mix of berries (they're higher in natural pectin), you don't have to add any store-bought pectin.
Pickled Garlic Cloves
Pickled garlic? You bet! This simple pickled garlic clove recipe is made by adding whole peeled garlic cloves to a flavorful brine. Use almost any type of clear vinegar--white, red or cider vinegar. Serve as part of an antipasti spread or chop and add to pasta salad, vinaigrettes or stir-fries. Use the freshest garlic you can find to make the best pickles.
Quick Pickled Beets
For these easy pickled beets, you only need to let them marinate in the pickling mixture for about 30 minutes to get great flavor. Marinating them longer just enhances the taste. Try them in place of cucumber pickles as a condiment or as a vegetable side dish for roasted chicken or beef.
Frozen Pineapple Margaritas
These frosty pineapple margaritas taste just like restaurant-style frozen margaritas, but without all the sugar, for a skinny cocktail you can easily whip up at home.
Eggplant Gyros
Eggplant's meaty texture is a delicious vegetarian stand-in for the lamb that typically fills a gyro sandwich. The vegetable absorbs the lemony-herby-spicy marinade like a sponge, so if you have time, let it marinate for the full day.
Moroccan Chermoula
North Africa's verdant green chermoula sauce brings Mediterranean savor to summer grilled fish. My preferred fish for summer grilling is a good-sized porgy, which is a medium-fatty, firm-fleshed white fish with a mild flavor and edible skin. (The fish are called scup in Massachusetts and parts of New England; in other parts of the country, similar fish may be called sea bream, sheepshead or grunt.) But this sauce is perfect as a condiment with just about any grilled fish. You could also use it on seafood, meat or vegetables. If you prefer a more robust garlicky flavor, feel free to add more garlic to taste.
Strawberry Shrub
Shrubs (vinegar-based syrups) add sweetness and tang to cocktails and mocktails. Splash some in ice-cold seltzer to make a mocktail or make a boozy beverage with vodka (see associated recipes).
Homemade Kimchi
If you are looking to start fermenting your own vegetables, the Korean dish kimchi is a great place to start. It's easy to make, and fermentation takes just a few days. Once you have kimchi on hand, serve this healthy dish along with any meal, as an ingredient in stir-fries, stews, savory pancakes and more, or as a condiment to liven up grain bowls, tacos, sandwiches--and the list goes on!
Rose Mojito
A homemade simple syrup fragrant with delicate rose petals is an easy way to elevate cocktail hour. Find dried rose petals online, or in the bulk herb section of well-stocked supermarkets and natural-foods stores.
Beef Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
A gyro is a Greek sandwich made of thin slices of roasted meat, served on pita bread with a cucumber-yogurt sauce. In this recipe, lean ground beef is seasoned with oregano and marjoram, pressed into a loaf pan, baked and thinly sliced to fill the pita.
Frozen Strawberry Margaritas
Make your own restaurant-style frozen margaritas at home with this easy recipe. Just throw everything in the blender and whir away for this healthier cocktail that has less sugar than its store-bought and restaurant counterparts.
Chicken Gyros
Skip the takeout and make these easy, healthy gyros at home. Lean chicken breast is flavored with classic gyro seasonings and tucked into a whole-wheat pita with veggies and a cool tzatziki sauce. Look for tzatziki--Greek cucumber-yogurt sauce--near other prepared refrigerated dips like hummus and salsa.
