Don't use expensive balsamic vinegar for this one. Since you're cooking it down, the nuances that make the pricey kind worth it will cook away, so there's really no point.

The really beautiful thing about this recipe (besides how inexpensive it is, how few ingredients it requires and how breathtakingly gorgeous it looks when you plate it with a little kale salad and some fresh strawberries) is how impressed people are by it when you put it in front of them. You get to use fancy words like "reduction" and "macerated" when you describe how you made it, leaving your dining companion to ooh and ahh and think sexy thoughts about you (unless, of course, you don't want them to, in which case they'll just think about how smart and competent you are). 

A few pointers: Firstly, this is a great way to use up strawberries that are a day or two away from being too mushy to eat. Just slice 'em up and let them cook down into sweet, syrupy deliciousness. And speaking of which, if you want to skip adding the sugar when you make the sauce, that's just fine. The sauce will be a little bit more tart, but the sweetness from the balsamic and the strawberries will still keep it in the right ballpark. 

Secondly, don't use expensive balsamic vinegar for this one. Since you're cooking it down, the nuances that make the pricey kind worth it will cook away, so there's really no point.

Finally, if you want use chicken breasts instead of thighs, go right ahead. Personally, I prefer the deeper flavor, higher level of juiciness and lower price of the leg-thigh cut.

There are a lot of great reasons to make fresh pasta. Firstly, it's really cheap, and can be made from ingredients you most likely have on hand (flour, eggs and salt--that's it). Secondly, it's much easier than you think; it doesn't even require a pasta maker or any other fancy equipment.

Sure, pasta makers can be fun to use and yield a more uniform product, but I actually tend to prefer the charm of hand-rolled and hand-cut pasta. It looks rustic and beautiful, and the slight unevenness helps each noodle cling to more sauce, which means each bite is more flavorful. But there's another reason I made fresh pasta this afternoon.

In case you live under a rock, last week, Guido Barilla, President of Barilla Pasta was quoted in an interview as saying, "I would never do (a commercial) with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role." He then went on to say that if gays "like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like it then they will not eat it and they will eat another brand."

Um, no, Guido. They don't like your advertising. And neither do I. Not only were your remarks incredibly homophobic, it was a wildly stupid move to alienate your gay customers and their friends and allies. Do not underestimate the purchasing power of the LGBT community and the people who love them. 

Dear readers, I urge you to get fresh with your pasta.

Toss it with fresh pesto and ripe cherry tomatoes.

Riff on soba noodles with sesame oil, soy sauce, carrots, scallions and sesame seeds. 

Even skip Step 11 in the instructions, and use the pasta strips to make fresh lasagna.

Make this pasta for the people you love. Because love is love is love, no matter what color, creed, race or gender.

But if you must buy a mass-produced dried pasta, may I suggest DeCecco.

Avocados are packed with healthy fats and antioxidants. Their rich, luscious texture and creamy mouth feel help to satisfy you and keep you feeling fuller longer (so you are better able to resist that cronut craving after lunch), and they go with just about everything. Still, it's somehow not really socially acceptable to eat a whole bowlful of guacamole. Not acceptable, that is, until now. Because I found loophole.

If you coarsely chop your avocado and gently toss it with tomatoes, onions, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil, then what you've made is a salad, not guacamole. Except, it's a salad that tastes just like guacamole. And it's totally acceptable to eat a whole bowl of it. Like I said, it's a salad. 

How can I turn down tomatoes when they look at me like this? Don't refrigerate them! It ruins their flavor.

This salad is a wonderful barbecue side dish or a base for grilled chicken, shrimp or steak. Sometimes I even gild the lily and top it with Greek yogurt.

Completely unnecessary, but so, so delicious. The salad is also great spooned into in a corn tortilla with scrambled eggs (for a quick breakfast taco), served in place of guacamole and/or salsa with enchiladas, burritos and tacos, or just with tortilla chips.

Make it soon, while summer tomatoes are still available.

I really hated the idea of Elana having to chew on gluten-free kale salad while the rest of us gorged ourselves on what is basically the most satisfying meal on the planet.

I originally created these for my friend Elana, when she and her husband Saul came over for an impromptu dumpling party last weekend. I had planned to make a huge batch of a kosher (turkey) version of Chinese Pork Dumplings, and I really hated the idea of Elana having to chew on gluten-free kale salad while the rest of us gorged ourselves on what is basically the most satisfying meal on the planet.

I also knew that messing around with xanthan gum was not the answer. A rice noodle seemed like the obvious choice. Plenty of dim sum restaurants serve rice noodle-wrapped dumplings, and I make Vietnamese Spring Rolls all the time. So I picked up some extra-large rice paper wrappers. 

The wrappers for my dumplings needed to be sturdy enough to hold the filling, so the trick seemed to be thickening up the wrapper. As it turns out, this was easily achieved by stacking one wet wrapper on top of another. The superthin noodles fuse to each other, resulting in dumpling wrapper of the perfect thickness.

A quick pan-fry on one side and a very light steam in the same pan (too much steaming will cause the wrapper to fall apart) yielded a succulent dumpling in a silky wrapper with a pleasantly crisp bottom and just enough chew. 

I served them with a half-and-half mixture of gluten-free tamari and rice vinegar, with hot sauce for the daring. They'd also be great in soup or over a bed of lightly-dressed greens. 

I like to top it with tons of fresh cilantro, fresh minced garlic and sometimes mint and basil.

I kind of have a lot going on these days.

Between prepping for a fast-approaching cookbook release, spending my days at my awesome full-time job and the completely zany, absolutey crazy, I-can-hardly-believe-my-life-these-days news that the sitcom pilot I developed called Young and Hungry freaking got the green light from ABC Family on Friday, I have been doing a lot of running around, not unlike a popular poultry variety with its head cut off. 

And you know what I don't have time for right now? This cold.

It's a nasty one and there's really only one way to fight it: pho. Preferably one that doesn't take very long to make, and doubles as a great opportunity to clean out my vegetable bin.

I like to top it with tons of fresh cilantro, fresh minced garlic and sometimes mint and basil. A few slurpfuls of this one, and you'll be feeling like a whole new girl. Or, at least, a slightly healthier one.