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Summer is here, and that means grilling season. And what summer picnic, poolside party or background barbecue would be complete without some sort of grilled vegetable?

Packed with natural sugars, veggies like zucchini, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, and onion get incredibly sweet and smokey when cooked on the grill -- and a bit of char gives them a good crunch. Our favorite: Grilled corn on the cob, a seasonal summer treat anyone can appreciate.

To help you grill up your favorites this Memorial Day weekend, here are five easy steps for grilling any type of vegetable -- even potatoes and beets!

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Come Sunday morning, what's the first thing you'll be guaranteed to stuff your face with after an exhausting Easter basket hunt? Will it be fruit-flavored jelly beans, a block of rabbit-shaped chocolate or an entire box of florescent pink Peeps?

Guess again. Before you reach for that basket of sugar the Easter Bunny left you, chances are you'll probably be cracking open a semi-cold, dye-stained hard boiled egg. Stinky and unappealing as it may seem, we all know it's coming. But it doesn't have to be this way -- especially not if your eggs are filled with something a little more appetizing.

Say, something like vanilla cake? Stefani Pollack -- editor, photographer and official taste-tester for her blog dubbed the Cupcake Project -- shares with us her method and recipe for baking cupcakes inside egg shells for an extra-special holiday treat.

"You can bake any cupcake recipe in cleaned-out egg shells, and when you are ready to eat the cake, you just crack the egg and dig in," Pollack explains. "Ah-mazing!"

See also:
- South Florida Easter Brunch and Dinner Guide

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HHI

Hippocrates executive chef Ken Blue shows us how to make vegan sushi.

Raw food is good for you. Vegan food is good for the animals. But raw vegan screams boring. Plus, let's face it: Trying to make anything appetizing that is both raw and vegan isn't easy. And it's certainly not something that's on everyone's to-do list.

But if eating healthier, more nutritious foods is a path you'd like to venture down, substituting a few SAD meals with a raw vegan dish every now and then couldn't hurt. SAD stands for "Standard American Diet," our nation's daily menu of cooked meats, dairy, and processed, high-fructose-laden foods the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine believes is responsible for more than 60 percent of deaths in the U.S.

Still, there's only one problem: You want something that's good for you and tastes good to boot. Vegetarians and vegans can extoll the virtues of veggies, wheatgrass, seeds, and bean sprouts all they like, but such a limited ingredient spread can get pretty bland and boring, pretty fast.

Enter Hippocrates executive chef Ken Blue, who has more than ten years of experience whipping up healthy -- as well as flavorful and delicious -- raw vegan dishes for the students enrolled in the West Palm Beach institute's three-week signature Life Transformation Program. Part of that role means instructing people on ways to prepare equally tasty, raw vegan eats at home.

Here, Blue shows us how to make one of his favorite raw vegan snacks, a dish almost anyone can appreciate: a vegetable nori roll.

See Also:
-- Hippocrates Health Institute Serves Raw Vegan Eats in West Palm Beach
-- Hippocrates' "Sex" Salad Recipe
-- How to Grow Your Own Sprouts

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Sunflower sprouts are an excellent source of phytosterols, which reduce cholesterol, enhance the immune system, and decrease the risk of certain cancers.

Want to incorporate healthier foods into your diet but don't have the budget to be splurging on expensive organic eats? That's OK. We feel you. Instead of buying expensive food, we suggest growing your own. Even if you weren't blessed with a green thumb and don't have an inch of outdoor space to spare, you can still grow your own nutritious, raw, living food right at home. No dirt, weeding or tilling required.

How? None of the ordinary rules apply if you're growing sprouts, according to Hippocrates Health Institute greenhouse manager and naturopathic doctor Brian Hetrich. The process feels more like prepping food than actual gardening. All you need to get started: sprout seeds, a glass Mason jar, and mesh lid.

See also:
- Hippocrates Health Institute: Raw Vegan Eats
- The Hippocrates "Sex" Salad Recipe

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All photos by Nicole Danna

Durian fruit

If you've ever walked into your local Asian grocer and gasped for air, just wait until you get up close to a durian. Also known as "stink fruit," this exotic import can have an odor so offensive it's actually banned from most public places in Southeast-Asia, including hospitals, buses, trains and hotels.

See also:
- A Fruit so Stinky, It's Illegal

Even so, Clean Plate Charlie was intrigued enough to sample some fresh, cut straight from the spiked seed pod that resembles a giant pinecone on steroids. Eating it wasn't the hard part -- finding one was.

A seasonal fruit, durian are most readily available in the summer. We found ours at New Oriental Market in West Palm Beach where they have been selling last season's fruit for the past several months. Many purveyors will freeze the late harvest, the store owner tells us, and will thaw them before putting them out for sale. If you can't find the whole fruit, don't worry. It's likely many will carry frozen durian meat out of the pod, which is guaranteed to be just as stinky.
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Instagram user Il Mio

You don't want another dried-out bird on your table this thanksgiving

Turkey. In just a few days it will be on millions of tables throughout the country.

While it is supposed to be the main attraction, it usually falls second-place to the starchy sides. In a country full of protein obsessed carnivores this seems to buck the trend of everyday meals.

Why is this? Because most of the time, it's over cooked and dry. In order for this beast of a bird to taste like anything it usually needs to be smothered in gravy.

Well, we have a solution for you: Brining. Touted by chefs as one of the best ways to ensure your bird is flavorful and moist, brining will refocus your Thanksgiving meal back to the things that really matter: meat.

See Also:
- The Veggieducken: How to Make This Vegan Thanksgiving Masterpiece (Video)
- Awesome Thanksgiving Recipe For Sweet Potatoes From the Rebel House's Michael Saperstein
- The Best Apple Pie Recipe ever: Pick 'Em Like Maine Pomologist John Bunker
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Losing your house could be a bit of a buzzkill for the holiday

It's no secret: anything fried tastes better.
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