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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until barely tender. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Place the beans, onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a bowl.

Place the cider vinegar and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil with a fork until well combined, then pour over the beans. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Food for Thought:

Green beans are loaded with vitamins A, K, and C, manganese, potassium, fiber, folate, iron, omega-3 fatty acids, niacin, and too many more good things to name. The bottom line is, your mother was right. You should eat your green beans.

Fettuccine with Asparagus and Lemon

Fettuccine with Asparagus and Lemon

This recipe is one of my personal favorites. Using milk instead of cream and cutting down on the Parmesan cheese makes a waistline-friendly alternative to alfredo sauce. I love lemon in just about anything, and together with the asparagus it makes for a light and refreshing pasta dish. The best part is how easy it is. You can do all of the other preparation in the time it takes to cook the pasta. –M

Serves 4

12 ounces uncooked fettuccine

1 pound asparagus

1 lemon

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the fettuccine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes, or until al dente. Drain the fettuccine in a colander.

Meanwhile, break the tough ends off the asparagus, discard, and cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Place in a saucepan, add about ½ inch of water, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until barely tender. (Alternatively, if you have a microwave, place the asparagus in a microwave-safe bowl. Add a few tablespoons of water, cover with plastic wrap or wax paper, and microwave on high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until barely tender.)

Finely grate 1 tablespoon of the lemon peel. Be careful to only grate the yellow part; the white pith underneath is bitter. Squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice from the lemon.

Whisk together the egg and milk in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until very warm. Don’t let it boil, or it will curdle. Remove from the heat, add the Parmesan cheese, asparagus, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and stir until combined. Add the fettuccine and toss until completely coated. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Cooking 101:

When buying asparagus, look for firm spears with closed tips that are uniform in size, so all of the spears cook in the same amount of time. And contrary to popular belief, spears with a larger diameter are actually more tender than smaller ones.

Tabouleh

Tabouleh

Okay, I like tabouleh, but obviously not as much as the people in a town in the Metn district of Lebanon. They are listed in the Guinness World Records for making the world’s largest bowl of tabouleh. It weighed in at a hefty 1,514 kilograms. That’s 3,338 pounds of tabouleh. Where do you suppose they got a bowl that big? –M

Serves 4

2 cups water

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup bulgur

½ bunch parsley

1 cucumber

2 tomatoes

3 green onions

1 clove garlic

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

¼ cup coarsely chopped mint leaves

Bring the water and salt to a boil in a saucepan, pour in the bulgur, and cover. Remove from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the bulgur is fluffy and tender. Drain in a sieve and refrigerate until ready to use.

Coarsely chop the parsley. Peel the cucumber and cut into ½-inch cubes. Cut the tomatoes in half, scrape the seeds out of the tomato with a small tool or your finger, and cut into ½-inch pieces. Trim the green onions, discarding the ends, and cut the white and about 1 inch of the green part into thin slices.

Peel and finely chop the garlic or pass it through a garlic press, place it in a small bowl with the