The Game Plan

It's almost time for the James Beard Awards, that magical time of year when all the people whose jobs you want get together to decide who did their awesome job most awesomely. We like the Beard Awards — we'll be live-tweeting and Instagramming from the event. And in the meantime, we're proud to have a few recipes from nominated cookbooks on Food Republic. The deconstructed carbonara is just insane. 

Eat your dark leafy greens, they say! Well we say eat them frequently and at high volume provided you're not just choking down dry leaves. At least hide them in a smoothie or something. Or take a peek at our 7 favorite recipes starring spinach and discover that a soft baked egg, enchilada sauce or blue cheese can liven up this very healthy food and take the cliché right out of it.

This is the perfect time of year to re-familarize yourself with light, easy pasta dishes. The last thing you want to do when the weather heats up is bake a giant lasagna or heavy casserole of macaroni and cheese (or be near the oven at all, really). So grab some fresh farmers market vegetables, some nice Parmigiano-Reggiano and the best extra-virgin olive oil you can find and give these light, healthy pasta recipes a spin.