590 half half recipes

Fruited rice salad with mandarin oranges, red grapes, golden raisins, and sliced almonds in a tangy Dijon-cider vinaigrette. A light, sweet-savory cold rice salad.

Unusual baked apple and banana casserole with buttery crumble topping that works as a warm fruit side dish or easy dessert with vanilla ice cream.

Mom's homemade apple pie pairs a flaky shortening crust with canned apple filling for a from-scratch taste in half the time. Brushed with milk and dusted with sugar, the top crust bakes up golden and crackly.

Heart cake without a special pan, made by cutting a round layer in half and setting both halves against a square layer to form a heart, then frosting it pink with strawberry frosting. A clever Valentine's trick.

Parmesan garlic soup simmers a whole half-head of garlic into a mellow, sweet broth, then thickens it silky with a tempered egg, parmesan, and olive oil liaison. Ladled over a crouton, it's rustic comfort in a bowl.

Onion polenta and gorgonzola pizza uses firm polenta as a gluten-free pizza crust topped with soft-cooked onions, thyme, and crumbled gorgonzola. Simple vegetarian comfort food.

Grilled red pepper and tomato relish with fresh basil and lemon juice. A bright, smoky topping for grilled fish, especially tuna, with no added oil.

Fresh fruit tart with banana-cream filling: a graham-honey crust, creamy banana-gelatin filling, and a crown of plums, raspberries, and blackberries under a glossy strawberry glaze. Dairy-free and naturally sweetened.

Use fresh rosemary, if possible (many supermarkets carry it). The flavor it imparts to the lamb will be far superior to that of dried. If you like, white potatoes may be substituted for the sweet potatoes, and turnips for the parsnips. You can also flavor lamb by covering it with lemon slices before roasting.

Rich chocolate drop cookies loaded with flaked coconut, chopped pecans, and chocolate chips, each topped with a pecan half. Melted unsweetened chocolate in the batter gives them a deep, fudgy flavor that tastes like a German chocolate cake in cookie form.

A big-batch Dutch oven peach cobbler built for a crowd. Canned peaches simmer in a sweet cornstarch glaze under a lattice of homemade biscuit dough strips. Campfire-ready and feeds up to 18 hungry folks.

Fizzy lemon-strawberry party punch made with frozen lemonade, orange juice concentrate, sliced strawberries, ginger ale, and sparkling water. A crowd-pleasing no-alcohol punch.

Pillowy pumpkin dumplings tossed with wilted radicchio, softened onions, and red pepper flakes. A low-fat vegetarian main dish that's on the table in under 20 minutes.

Curried chickpeas with steamed broccoli, turnips, and pearl barley tossed in curry powder, lemon juice, and fresh chives. A quick vegan bowl that comes together in minutes.

Perogy cilantro soup with frozen perogies simmered in a cilantro-tomato broth with garlic, onion, and a dash of hot sauce. A quick, creative comfort soup that turns perogies into a meal.

To highlight the onion's diversity, below are four recipes, each with a different type of onion, and a different cooking technique, (one not cooked at all).