In honor of the Lunar New Year, here are three recipes from my Chinese grandmother, copied word for word.

Drink your chickweed? Absolutely. It tastes like wheatgrass and blends well in juices and smoothies.

Inspired by the mayo-based salads of my midwest youth, this recipe takes a classic broccoli salad and replaces broccoli florets with collard greens.

Miner’s lettuce and hardy kiwi work well together in this tart winter salad, especially when paired with fatty salmon.

This is more of a hearty grain bowl than a true risotto, but the Italian inspiration still shines through.

The sweet, caramel-y delicata squash is the star of this dish, but the nasturtium flower petals really make this a showstopper.

If you haven’t tried fresh carrot greens, you can use them like you would parsley.

A light, yet hearty bowl of veggies and grains

A cold horseradish sauce, speckled with briny capers. It’s a punch to the sinuses, and delicious.

This is my favorite herb preservation technique, since 1) herbs and oil are natural pairings, and 2) it’s easy.

This technique is for when you want to preserve the flavor but don’t care about appearances.

This dish sits right between sweet and savory, with the onions adding more sweetness than the apples, surprisingly. Is it dessert or a meal? Who cares!

I’m learning that the best way to create an original recipe is to walk around and see what is ripe at the same time.

Lighter than a red chili, in both color and flavor, let’s consider it a soup for transitioning seasons.

They’re delicious raw, but you can add some salt, garlic, olive oil, and basil if you want.

Even though it’s 90° right now, this recipe still works, as it highlights four ingredients that come straight from the garden.

Perhaps lemon verbena is the secret ingredient?

The resulting oil is like a jewel that can’t help but capture and hold on to sunlight. The essence of summer.

Purple is not the easiest color to use in the kitchen, but with our bumper crop of purple basil, I wanted to see what I could make.