The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for kale pesto, tomato and fontina sandwich

Uh-oh. I'd just planted seven basil plants in my herb garden, when my husband Ted, upon tasting this sandwich, proclaimed, "I like this pesto even better than basil pesto." What's a girl to do? Make an extra batch of kale pesto and stash it in the freezer, of course. Not only is it the flavor punch in this kale pesto, tomato and fontina sandwich, but also you'll love it as a topping for pasta, a filling for lasagne, or a slather for grilled chicken or beef. You'll probably think of 1,001 uses for kale pesto once you try it.

Recipe for melon with lime, peanut and mint topping

Cantaloupe, casaba, crenshaw, canary: I adore melon, and not just the orange-fleshed ones. Squirt some fresh lime on chunks of ripe, juicy melon, and I'm in breakfast or dessert heaven. Still, I'm in a shake-it-up mood these days when it comes to old favorites in the kitchen (remember the maple cinnamon matzoh brei). So, inspired by mint coming up in my garden, I decided to try slices of melon with a lime, peanut and mint topping. You'll see fish sauce in the list of ingredients; before you turn up your nose, let me assure you the topping is not fishy. It's just pleasantly, vaguely Thai, and the balance of the tart sauce with the sweet melon will make you wish every Thai restaurant in your neighborhood had this dish on its menu.

Recipe for slow cooker lentils with chicken sausage, spinach and feta cheese

Ah, lentils. The Achilles Heel of my inner photographer. Try as I might, I could not get this dish to look even one-tenth as good as it tastes. So I ask you to close your eyes, and imagine this: creamy lentils, chicken sausage, spinach and feta cheese, the earthy-salty-tangy flavors melting together in your mouth, a piece of crusty bread and a tangy green salad on the side, a glass of nice red wine. That's the truth of this recipe, though the photographs might not inspire. In the slow cooker, the dish simmers while we work in the garden, and it tastes great -- satisfying and restorative to tired muscles --hot or at room temperature, when the temperature outside cools off in the evening, as it can do quite suddenly in the Spring.

The Pantry Alphabet: K

What is it?