This cold salad is perfect for the hot summer months, with crunchy apples, carrots, peppers and celery, sweet cranberries and creamy chickpeas with a delicious honey and mint dressing.

If you've got a overflow of basil in your garden and need some good recipe ideas that aren't pesto, this is for you.  These are my 3 favorite recipes using basil, plus a few other easy ideas.

A cold salad that can be made ahead of time for an easy and quick meal or side dish.  There's absolutely no cooking at all, which makes this the perfect hot-weather recipe!

The California Quinoa Salad is so refreshing, with sweet mango and red bell pepper, cilantro, golden raisins, crunchy hemp seeds and a light lime dressing.  It's a great make-ahead meal prep dish too!

A crave-worthy, super creamy and incredibly flavorful tahini sauce that uses just a handful of ingredients and is the perfect drizzle over roasted veggies, grains and greens.

These delicious homemade BBQ baked beans are the perfect summer side dish, and they take almost no time or effort at all!  With just a few simple ingredients you probably already have, you can make BBQ baked beans that are way better than the store-bought canned kind.

Creamy cheddar grits are served with tender and sweet sauteed shrimp, sliced okra, lacinato kale and sun dried tomatoes, for a truly delicious meal.  This can easily be made plant-based as well!

Tomatoes, garlic, herbs and creamy white beans are all that's in this simple yet delicious soup that's perfect for a rainy summer night.  Roasted Tomato Basil Soup is the only acceptable reason to turn on your oven this summer!  

This baked broccoli and artichoke dish is a quick and easy meal or side. Tossed in a buttery caper sauce and topped with crispy panko, fresh dill and lemon.

White flakey fish filets are simmered then roasted in a Mediterranean style sauce of freshly chopped tomatoes, spices, herbs, capers and golden raisins.  It is heavenly, and what's better than enjoying a meal from something caught locally to my home on Cape Cod!