Surprise!

Spring isn't all light and vibrant. I've got a cooler full of crunchy, sweet, meaty, downright substantial veggies for you.

Take the salad: Shredded cabbage, crunchy kohlrabi, spice-roasted carrots, beet-pickled eggs, herby mustard vinaigrette.

And if you need something hot? We got you. Beef and mushroom lasagna is BACK BABIES. Ellijay shiitakes, grassfed beef from Stone Mountain Cattle, pasta from Storico Fresco, crusty, melty cheese. The stuff hunger dreams are made of.

What's that, you want hot like spicy-hot? How about some chicken chili? We've been tinkering with the chili pepper base, and y'all, it keeps getting better and better. Still toasted garlic, anchos, guajillos, chipotles, and tomatoes, now with charred onions for depth and sweetness. Swiss Chard and red potatoes, because this one time I found a Rick Bayless recipe for a taco filling that called for those things in a tomato-chili sauce, and it was better than it had any right to be.

And sweets? Got that Sesamaretti this week. Chewy, nutty-almond and nutty-sesame cookies that are so good with coffee, your caffeine habit could get as bad as mine.