Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares his quick and easy version of the Greek classic avgolemono soup, a chicken soup with lemon and egg. ~Elise

The mixture of eggs, lemon and hot broth is a classic combination in Greek cooking. And if there is a classic dish that highlights this combination, it is the chickeny avgolemono soup. Avgo-wha? Ah-vo-LEMEN-o, or at least that’s how I remember the Greeks at the local diner in New Jersey saying it. The “g” isn’t always pronounced.

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About once a week, for my entire upbringing, my mother would prepare a very simple side of pasta with a sweet, buttery tomato sauce. Usually she used elbow macaroni pasta, because usually a small bowl of tomato pasta would be served alongside tuna macaroni salad, our standard Catholic fish-on-Fridays family meal. Mom would just make extra macaroni and stir in the tomato sauce for it. She did this because my dad requested it, and he wanted it because that’s what his mother in Minnesota used to make for him. Oddly, the hot buttery tomato pasta was, and still is, a perfect taste complement to the cool, crunchy, acidic tuna salad.

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When my friend Kerissa Barron first told me about this buttery rice pilaf, I couldn’t wait to try it. Then she told me it had saffron in it. Uh oh. For some reason, saffron is a spice that sort of tastes like soap to me. Not a big fan. But, I’ll try just about anything once, and in this case, thank goodness. I couldn’t stop eating this rice. Browned in clarified butter, with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, cooked in a saffron infusion, and tossed with nuts and raisins, this rice is the bomb.

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Here’s another recipe from the archives while I’m on vacation. Enjoy! ~Elise

Spring here means strawberries and rhubarb, sweet peas and asparagus, and dreams of the summer bounty to come. Asparagus are everywhere, big, fat, and fresh. And yes, although we can get them all year round, I’m especially happy to eat them in Spring. Not only are they likely to have been grown in the same Hemisphere, and could even be local, their very abundance signals the renewal of the season and a good-bye to Winter. Here is a fresh and easy asparagus soup recipe, a perfect excuse to buy more than one bunch.

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I’m on vacation for a couple of weeks and away from our kitchen. So I will be posting a few recipes from the archives, like this lemon poppyseed muffin recipe, originally posted in 2007. Hope everyone is having a fabulous Easter! ~Elise

I love lemon poppy seed muffins. This recipe is based on the same Cook’s Illustrated master muffin recipe on which I based our blueberry and lemon ginger muffins. The balance of flour, leavening, eggs and yogurt results in a light and fluffy muffin. The important things to remember with making these muffins is to make sure your baking powder is no older than 6 months (it may not work if older), and to not over-mix the batter.

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3.94 / 5 Stars | 26 Reviews

by Crystal

“Cute cookies for the holidays made with eggnog and frosted with an eggnog frosting.”

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http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eggnog-Cookies-II-2/Detail.aspx?src=rss

4.05 / 5 Stars | 43 Reviews

by Kay

“A colorful complement of al dente vegetables – red bell pepper, artichokes, broccoli, tomato and mushrooms – are tossed with sauteed chicken, pasta and a dash of Parmesan.”

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4.17 / 5 Stars | 42 Reviews

by Karen Bush

“Lemon is the perfect food and in this chopped and marinated cucumber dish, it adds just the right touch. After everything is measured and stirred, the cucumbers are chilled, and four hours later, spooned onto waiting plates.”

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http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lemony-Cucumbers/Detail.aspx?src=rss

4.75 / 5 Stars | 154 Reviews

by DOLFIN458

“A good baby-shower punch made with ginger ale, pineapple juice and white grape juice. It looks especially good when served with an ice ring.”

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