Chickpea, Rice, and Spinach Salad

This Italian-style vegan salad makes a healthy starter or main course

Spring has arrived here in St Louis. Well, sort of. Daffodils are popping up, but we’re still having some raw days.

Which makes this the perfect time for hearty salads—the kind that use beans or other legumes. They’re protein-rich, so a generous serving makes a meatless main course. But they’re not so heavy that you couldn’t use a smaller serving as a starter, or even as a side dish.

Today’s hearty salad features chickpeas. But it’s also loaded with healthy produce: Fresh spinach, red bell pepper, and red onions. So it tastes like spring.

Kale and Cabbage Gratin

This Provençal-style charmer is a great starter, side, or main dish

We can almost hear you muttering to yourself: “Kale? And cabbage? In a gratin? Really?”

Yes, really. And this is one of the best dishes we’ve made in quite a while.

We don’t say that lightly. We tend to post only recipes that we like a lot. But even by that standard, this dish is extraordinary.

Best of all, kale and cabbage tend to be inexpensive this time of year. So you get tasty on a budget. Nice.

Easy and Tasty Roast Cabbage

Roasting sweetens cabbage, taking its flavor to a whole new level

Cabbage doesn’t get the love it deserves. Sure, we like it in coleslaw. And we pair it with corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day. But the rest of the time? Most of us just walk right past it in the supermarket produce section.

Too bad. Because when roasted, cabbage serves up terrific flavor. The taste becomes sweeter and more intense (in a good way). And roasting doesn’t overwhelm your kitchen with the cabbage odor some find offensive (you know, the kind you get when you boil cabbage to death).

Succulent, tender, delightfully flavored. Roast cabbage will be the star of your next meal. Really.

The Brainstorm Cocktail

A drink made with Irish whiskey? Perfect for St. Pat’s Day

If you’re looking for an alcoholic beverage to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you have plenty to choose from. In the US, Guinness stout and green beer are traditional favorites. Or maybe you’d prefer a shot of Irish whiskey with a beer chaser (green, of course). And there’s always Irish Coffee.

But this year, how about something different? The Brainstorm Cocktail is an Irish whiskey-fueled elixir, so it’s totally appropriate for the day. And its intriguing flavor will have people coming back for seconds.

If anybody asks how you came up with the idea for this drink, just smile modestly—and tell them it was a brainstorm.