Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

Summer brings lots of invitations to potluck cookouts, so you'll need an arsenal of sides and desserts to share. Whether your al fresco meal is around a grill, on a sandy beach or under a shady tree, these favorite summer picnic sides and desserts will round out your meal. Made with some of the best vegetables and fruits of summer, these dishes are full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and swap unhealthy saturated fats with healthy monounsaturated ones. So say "yes" to all those invitations, whip up some of these healthy recipes and enjoy the best of the outdoors!

Recipes for summer picnic faves:

Basil-Cinnamon Peaches

Basil-Cinnamon Peaches are a delight for the eyes as well as the palate. Poaching the peach halves in their skins gives the syrup a rosy blush. For visual enjoyment, pack these colorful fruit in a clear glass jar. Make them ahead of time and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Bean & Tomato Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

Colorful Bean & Tomato Salad with Honey Vinaigrette really shines

Experience a quintessential summer pleasure: take a big bite from a slice of watermelon, let the sweet juices drip down your chin and then spit the seeds as far as you can. Redolent with tangy sweetness, watermelon is refreshing without being filling and is surprisingly good for you.

Watermelon-92 percent water, hence the name-is a good source of vitamin C and the antioxidant lycopene, when it's red (some are orange or yellow). Watermelon averages 40% more of the cancer-fighter lycopene per serving than tomatoes. Lycopene in watermelon is easily absorbed without cooking, unlike that in tomatoes, and is relatively stable when the fruit is stored and refrigerated. A 1-cup serving of watermelon also provides 10% of the daily value for vitamin A, 12% of the daily value for vitamin C, along with vitamin B6, beta carotene, thiamin and potassium-all for just 46 calories.

In season from June through October, this melon's iconic status in American culture often overshadows its

The tomatoes my neighbor brought over from her garden were not pretty. They rolled around like marbles in a small cardboard box, various sizes and colors, with little pockmarks around their stems. Yet they were intriguing: I'd never seen ones these shades of purple, red and green, so different from the store-bought symmetrical varieties that seem to pop out of molds.

"What are these called?" I asked. "I'm not exactly sure," she replied. "They're from seeds my grandfather had in the barn." When I bit into one it was sweet, slightly lemony and stunning; better than any tomato I had ever eaten. I could taste summer, sunshine and earth and could imagine her grandfather toiling over the vines. They tasted like an era and a place.

"A Taste of Place" is a running theme in our August issue, and in it we ask you to seek out and celebrate heirloom foods like those tomatoes. No one has taken this message to heart more than ecologist and ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan, whom many

EatingWell's Garden Pasta SaladSimple to make and easy to tote, pasta salad seems to have been invented for picnics, potlucks and backyard barbecues. But typical versions consist of white pasta drowning, often tastelessly, in a heavy mayonnaise dressing.

Our challenge was to lighten the calorie load and boost flavor and nutrients in a classic pasta salad while keeping its creamy appeal. We started with a recipe featuring an aioli dressing (garlic mayonnaise) and bold Mediterranean flavors.

Take a look at how much healthier we made the original recipe:

How we did it:

• Replacing regular mayonnaise with a mixture of the reduced-fat variety, low-fat yogurt and a splash of flavorful olive oil cut down the calories and saturated-fat content.
  
• We replaced regular white pasta with whole-wheat pasta to add fiber.
  
• We increased the proportion of colorful, crunchy vegetables like tomatoes, carrots and peppers and cut back on the pasta to allow for a generous serving size with

Caprese SaladCrisp and cool, salads are ideal summer fare. We've developed 7 summer salad recipes, with colors that span the rainbow, pack in loads of antioxidants, fiber-rich vegetables and flavorful ripe fruit. Lean protein, such as chicken and shrimp, transforms easy sides into satisfying main courses. And the salads all take just minutes to prepare. Couscous & Fruit Salad is ready in just 15 minutes and is delicious as a light summer side or made more substantial with leftover cooked chicken for lunch to go.

Here's the recipe:

Couscous & Fruit SaladCouscous & Fruit Salad

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups cooked whole-wheat couscous
1 cup chopped nectarine
1 cup mixed fresh berries, such as blueberries and raspberries
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds (see Tip)

Whisk oil, orange juice, vinegar,

Move over, flax and hemp. The latest super seed to sprout on store shelves is ch-ch-ch-chia, a cousin of the seeds (Salvia columbariae) you once used to grow a crop of green hair atop your clay "pet." The chia seed now sold as a nutty topping for yogurts and salads and used in cereals, energy bars, even pastas, is a different variety called Salvia hispanica. This type of chia reportedly packs more alpha-linoleic acid, an omega-3 fat, than flaxseeds, and also provides fiber, antioxidants and even some calcium and iron. A member of the mint family that is abundant in Mexico and South America, chia was highly prized by the Aztecs, who believed it provided supernatural powers. Today, it's being touted for having cardiovascular benefits, reducing blood sugar levels and perhaps even squelching hunger pangs.

Pros: In a 2007 Diabetes Care study of 20 people with type 2 diabetes, those who added about 4 tablespoons of Salba-a specific Salvia hispanica strain that's been cultivated for

One of my favorite summer pastimes is riding my bike. I'm no Tour de France racer, but I like to log more than 1,000 miles over the summer and fit in at least one 100-mile ride.

All that time on the bike (or in the winter on snowshoes, skis or running) means I have to pay more attention to what I eat to be able to have enough energy for my activity and the rest of my day. So I was really excited when EatingWell took on the topic of sports nutrition in our August 2008 issue. In "Eat to Win," author Brierley Wright interviews top Olympic athletes Dara Torres, Mary Lou Retton, Apolo Anton Ohno, Eric Vendt and more about what they eat and talks to nutritionists and researchers to uncover the keys to eating for athletic success.

Read the full article or get a jump-start on your next workout with these power-packed breakfast recipes to fuel your day:

Citrus Berry Smoothie

Citrus Berry Smoothie: This meal-in-a-glass smoothie is bursting with berries and orange juice, healthful sources of

When the Moors brought eggplant to Spain in the 12th century, Europeans believed that this "apple of madness" caused insanity, leprosy and bad breath. Why the bad rep? Guilt by association: eggplants, like tomatoes, belong to the same family of plants that includes highly toxic belladonna. That's likely why the shapely fruit (native to India and China) didn't catch on as a valuable food source in Europe until nearly 300 years after it was introduced. Today, cultures worldwide cherish the eggplant for its antioxidant-packed purple skin and satisfying meaty texture-which blends beautifully in many dishes. Don't think you like eggplant? This recipe has turned even the most ardent eggplant skeptics into believers (serve with toasted whole-wheat pita or pita chips):

Baba Ganouj

Baba Ganouj2 medium eggplants (about 1 pound each)
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini
11/4 teaspoons salt
Extra-virgin olive oil for garnish