Three Surprisingly Easy Recipes You Should Try Immediately

One of my personal goals for this year was to branch out with my cooking and try a lot of new recipes, and... well, I've done better at some times than others - cooking in the summer is terrible! - but it just so happens that I've tried THREE new-to-me recipes in the past week or so and they were all easy and delicious. So I figured I should share.

I was discussing kale salad with my friend Carrie, as you do, and she pointed me toward Melt In Your Mouth Kale Salad. Honestly, that title seemed a BIT hyperbolic for... kale. But. It is true. The big revelation here was that you put the kale IN THE FOOD PROCESSOR. I had never considered such a thing, and I sent Carrie approximately a million skeptical texts and she was very patient with me, and I just tried it... and it was great. The kale winds up very finely chopped and soaks up the dressing very well. (The only problem is that then you have to wash the food processor, which is always annoying.)

(I made a bunch of substitutions here: I used regular kale and parmesan because I live in New Hampshire and we do not have those fancy kinds at the grocery store. I used slivered almonds instead of pine nuts because I didn't have a spare $1000 sitting around. And I used dried cranberries instead of currants or raisins because ew.)

Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blog; it has never steered me wrong. And this Simple Potato Gratin was no different. I had a bunch of yellow potatoes to use, and the end of some heavy cream, and this was the perfect solution. It's easy and ridiculously delicious. I was skeptical of the recipe's claim that it would make you feel like you're eating macaroni and cheese, but IT DID, and with way less cheese.

I ate at a P.F. Chang's at an airport recently and immediately became obsessed with their Shanghai Cucumbers, which was unfortunate because the nearest restaurant is an hour away. I figured I'd Google to see if anyone had posted a copycat recipe... and discovered that the actual restaurant posted the actual recipe! It's called Gluten Free Shanghai Cucumbers but don't let that scare you. ;) I had to buy a couple ingredients for this, but it was extremely easy to throw together and tastes exactly right. And now I have enough sesame seeds to last years.