Vegetarian

This is a great mix of pretzel sticks, smoked almonds, and sesame sticks. Melting the butter and adding it to the mix helps the savory-sweet-spicy seasonings stick together. (And that little hint of cayenne will keep them awake!) Bag these up so that they can be taken to class for a power snack.

Ready for a grilled salad? This late-summer mix will end your wait. No meat, just fresh, tasty grilled vegetables over baby arugula, basil, and cherry tomatoes.

GINA Salad helps lighten the fare, and these green beans with cheese tortellini are a nice change from the traditional tossed salad. I am a big salad-eater, and there are a lot of women like me out there. Honey, we’re trying to stay as “fabulous” as we can, eating all those greens. We just have to mix it up a bit so we don’t get bored!

Rich pink dressing and lovely greens give this salad a splash of color. Remember: what the eye sees translates to greater taste and greater overall pleasure.

GINA You could easily order pizza for delivery, but why not have flat-bread instead, and cut it into little squares? You can just buy the dough from your local grocer (or your local pizzeria, if you ask nicely) and add in all the other ingredients. Ripe figs will turn your traditional pizza into an amazing party favorite. We absolutely love this dish: it’s hearty yet light, fruity, and flavorful. If you find the taste of blue cheese too strong, you can always substitute a mild goat cheese, which has a creamy tang that also goes well with the figs. We add the handfuls of fresh arugula to the flatbread while it’s still hot, to add a pop of bright peppery flavor and color.

PAT Grilled corn is good enough all by itself. Here we feature it in a light, slightly smoky salad with rice, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and kidney beans. It’s an awesome combination, but once you add in the feta cheese, “Girl, you did that!” That’s what Gina’s mom always says. We used white rice, but brown will work just as well and give it an earthy, nutty flavor.

PAT I told y’all, I can’t have steak without potatoes, and fingerling potatoes are my choice. These rich and creamy little darlings are about the size of my fingers, and they are firm enough to withstand the heat of my grill. A great tip for grilling potatoes is to boil them a bit first; this will give you faster and more even grilling. The olive oil will keep them moist and let the rosemary and garlic do their aromatic thing.

GINA Roasting the shallot gives it a deep, sweet flavor, and the lemon zest lightens the whole thing up. This butter would also be an excellent topping for fish or chicken.

PAT I refer to this dish as “sophisticated cheese toast.” Gina and I actually got the idea from a famous Memphis restaurant, though in our version we make it with baguettes, because we are going to grill these puppies, and baguettes can withstand the heat. Now, you can use any cheese you like, but on my spicy grilled cheese bread, we must have Parmesan and mozzarella.

This dressing is so easy and flavorful, with lots of tang as well as creaminess. Dress your greens just before serving, to avoid that limp and soggy salad sadness.

Everybody in the South has their own potato-salad recipe, and our version, using red potatoes and the coarse-ground, zippy Creole mustard, makes this a winner. Be sure to drain your potatoes thoroughly, because additional water will dilute the fantastic ingredients in the salad. It’s best to dress the potatoes while they’re still warm, so they can fully absorb the flavors.

There is nothing like grilled corn. Ours calls for butter spiked with lime, which gives it a citrus zing that acts as a perfect complement to smoky grilled corn. Rolling the husk back over the cob after adding the lime butter helps keep the corn from drying out. Some people prefer to soak the corn in a water bath beforehand, but this gives off steam when the corn is cooking inside the husk, and we prefer having the extra-smoky flavor instead.

This is it: the famous sweet and spicy slaw from the restaurant that people come and buy by the bucketful. Make extra; trust us, you’ll need it!

One of the essential Southern side dishes is fried onion rings, and the key to great ones is the batter. Ours calls for buttermilk, cornmeal, hot sauce, and cayenne. The buttermilk and cornmeal will create a thick golden crust, and the hot sauce and the cayenne pepper give the rings a little kick.

PAT My sweetie and her mama love their sweet potatoes. You think maybe that has something to do with why they are so sweet? Gina created this extra-special dish for the mamas in our lives, but I love to prepare these potato cakes for her on Mother’s Day and serve Miss Gina in bed, of course.

Any time you add olive oil, salt, and pepper to asparagus, you’re off to a delicious start. This dish calls for both whole eggs and egg whites, which cuts down on the calories but not on the flavor. Feta is also a low-fat, low-calorie cheese. So no excuses—a slice of this light vegetable delight will be irresistible to any mother.