We’re teaming up with food and garden bloggers to host Spring Fling 2011, a season-long garden party. In coming weeks, we’ll feature favorite garden-to-table recipes and tips to help you enjoy the bounty, whether you’re harvesting your own goodies or buying them fresh from the market. Recently, we dove into the world of asparagus — today, we’re exploring rhubarb.
Rhubarb is a large reddish, celery-like stalk with large green leaves. Even though rhubarb is commonly paired with strawberries to create tarts, cobblers and pies, this lengthy root is a vegetable. It tends to be tart, needing the addition of ample sweeteners like sugar and additional fruits.
Here’s how to incorporate rhubarb in your Mother’s Day menu »
Creamy risotto is mixed with Bibb lettuce, Parmesan cheese and fresh lemon juice and can be served as a light main or hearty side — perfect for Mother’s Day. Tangy Italian cheese and asparagus top this Italian classic for an extra burst of flavor.
Get the recipe: Risotto With Asparagus
Browse more of Food Network’s Mother’s Day recipes.
Easter is right around the corner and while everyone’s busy preparing for the main course, whether it be ham or lamb, don’t forget to end your holiday meal with a sweet.
Food Network has rounded up Easter desserts for everyone at the dinner table:
Easter cupcakes: 11 adorable holiday cupcakes with one vanilla cupcake batter.
Just Desserts Buffet: Soothe your Easter sweet tooth with a buffet featuring Giada’s classic Easter pie and Paula’s family recipe for carrot cake.
Get the recipes to five more favorites »
The best parts of a Peep are the little eyes and nose. No, for real. They’re tiny dots of chocolate and everyone knows that chocolate and marshmallow is one of the more amazing comfort food combinations (right up there with peanut butter and jelly). The problem is that there’s not enough chocolate on the bunny or chicks face to really satisfy. The good people at Just Born recognize the wonder of marshmallow Peeps + chocolate and came out with chocolate-covered Peeps a few years ago. They’re more expensive than the original though, and the chocolate coating is sort of chemical-y tasting. So it’s best to do-it-yourself. Homemade chocolate fondue is super-easy to make (tip: you can even make it in the microwave), and assorted Peeps and fruit and whatever else you like to dip look quite festive on a platter. Make it for Easter, or after Easter with all the leftover candy.
Get Paula Deen’s easy chocolate fondue recipe »
Tired of missing out on Easter morning festivities like egg hunts because you’re preparing breakfast? It’s time to join in on the fun thanks to Paula Deen’s French toast casserole, which can be prepped the day before and baked off the morning of. Finish it off with her decadent praline topping, made with butter, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.
Get the recipe: Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup
Browse Food Network’s Easter menu, complete with recipes for all-day eating!
Put all of that Easter candy to good use by making dessert a family affair. After dinner, set up a cupcake toppings bar and offer your guests a choice of sweets like jelly beans, chocolate covered cookies and fruit that will complement Melissa d’Arabian’s white chocolate frosting.
Get the recipe: Easter Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting
Browse Food Network’s Easter menu, complete with recipes for all-day eating!
- Chocolatey, Nutty Goodness - Image Courtesy Food Network Magazine
Nut-allergics, beware. Today is National Pecan Day. Though often featured in sweet pies and holiday sides, pecans are also popular in savory main dishes and, when eaten raw, are a perfectly healthy afternoon snack. So today, celebrate their natural goodness by cooking up these pecan-filled recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Start your day off the nutty way with Kelsey Nixon’s French Toast with Maple Pecan Syrup from food2.com. Sweet brioche bread is dunked in an egg, cinnamon and vanilla mixture before being cooked in a sizzling skillet and topped with a silky syrup of maple and pecans.
For lunch, toss together food.com’s Strawberry Spinach Pecan Salad — light and refreshing, this salad is a vegetarian’s dream. For an extra punch of protein, add sliced grilled chicken or tofu.
Cookingchanneltv.com’s show-stopping recipe for Pecan Crusted Double-Cut Pork Chops is a cinch to make and elegant enough to serve to company. Add a side of Emeril Lagasse’s Roasted Vegetable Pecan Relish for a hearty dinner that will leave you and your guests satisfied for hours.
Before closing the book on this nutty national holiday, try foodnetwork.com’s recipe for a Chocolate-Toffee Pecan Tart. With a buttery chocolate crust and bourbon-pecan filling, this super simple dessert is as decadent as it sounds.
Check out these other recipes for pecan-packed dishes from foodnetwork.com:
Sugar and Spice Pecans
Gussie’s Fried Chicken with Pecan-Honey Glaze
Caramel Pecan Sundaes
Pecan Sandies
- Make easy Shrimp and Chicken Etouffee for dinner tonight.
Just because it’s Tuesday doesn’t mean there isn’t time to celebrate Mardi Gras. Cook up a sweet or spicy Big Easy-inspired dish tonight for a taste of New Orleans at home. With a little bit of chopping and simmering, you could mix up a hearty, traditional Shrimp and Chicken Etouffee served with rice. For super quick fixes, try Rachael’s 30-Minute Jambalaya or the Neelys’ easy Dirty Rice with Smoked Sausage.
- Pancakes (along with donuts and other fatty foods) are traditional Mardi Gras fare. It's a good night to make breakfast for dinner.
Or, indulge in another quick and easy traditional Mardi Gras food: Pancakes! Serve one of the Neelys’ dueling pancake recipes for dinner, or browse 50 pancake ideas from Food Network Magazine. Prefer the classics? Go for Buttermilk Pancakes topped with maple syrup and butter.
More Mardi Gras Feasting Ideas:
What are you serving for Fat Tuesday?
- Bake Ina's Outrageous Brownies for the ultimate share-able sweet.
Sure, lots of brownie mixes are good, especially when dolled up with special touches. (Paula, Giada and the Neelys all have short-cut, dressed-up mix recipes.) So why bother baking from-scratch, homemade brownies – measuring, melting and mixing with precision? Your brownies will be different. . . in a good way. Just browse recipes and start making choices: cakey or fudgy, bittersweet or semi-sweet, melted bars or cocoa powder, nuts or no nuts, chips or no chips? In a crowd of boxed brownie taste-memories, yours will stand out from the crowd. So get baking!
- No need to halve a brownie recipe -- leftovers travel well and are always appreciated.
Our Top Brownie Recipes:
Ina’s Outrageous Brownies (pictured above)
Alton’s Cocoa Brownies
Smore Brownies
Ina’s Peanut Swirl Brownies
Ellie’s Slimmed-Down Brownies
Nigella’s Triple Chocolate Brownies
Bobby’s Peanut Butter Caramel Swirled Brownies
Short-Cut Brownies:
Paula’s Toffee Brownies
Chocolate Brownie Crunch
Giada’s Espresso Brownies
What’s your favorite brownie recipe?
- Eat a bowl of Chinese noodles for good luck in the new year.
Celebrations for Chinese New Year begin February 3 and continue for 15 days. That gives you plenty of time to cook up lucky Chinese foods at home, from noodles to egg rolls.
Top 5 to Try:
Dan-Dan Noodles: Noodles symbolize longevity, so eat a bowl-full in the new year (but don’t cut them up, which would be bad luck!).
Chinese Dumpling Soup: Dumplings are shaped like ancient blocks of gold or silver, so eat them for prosperity in the year ahead.
- Warm up with this easy Chinese Dumpling Soup, a symbol of wealth to come.
Sunny’s Asian Lettuce Wraps: The Cantonese word for lettuce means “raising fortune,” making lettuce wraps the perfect lucky New Year’s food.
Guy’s Off the Hook Egg Rolls: Crispy, fried egg rolls look like bars of gold, so crunch away for wealth.
- Guy's Chicken Avocado Egg Rolls fry up to look like bars of gold.
Steamed Fish With Ginger: The Mandarin word for fish sounds similar to the word for “abundance.” Serve it up for good fortune in the new year.
- Serve Steamed Fish with Ginger for prosperity.
Find more top foods for Chinese New Year from Food Network. Then check out top picks from Steamy Kitchen’s Jaden Hair writing for Cooking Channel’s Devour.
What are you going to cook up to celebrate the year of the rabbit?
