Seared Broccoli with veggie burger and fried slice

for two on a night when leftovers cover some, not all.

Seared Broccoli

1 head of broccoli

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, minced

a splash of olive oil

a few pinches of salt (to taste)

Fried Slice

1 bagel (halved for two thin slices)

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

splash olive oil

1/2 tablespoon feta cheese (optional)

2 veggie burgers (I am partial to spicy black bean burgers or the like)

Cook veggie burgers in a large nonstick frying pan. Meanwhile break down broccoli into halves of florets. Once burgers are done, turn up heat and add some olive oil. Toss in broccoli and cook until one side is a rich brown. Toss broccoli around in the pan with a wooden spoon and add pepper flakes, salt, and minced garlic. Continue cooking broccoli without moving it until it browns on this second side. Toss and repeat until all the stems are bright green and florets are the color of bread crusts. Remove broccoli from pan and add more olive oil. Toss in the rosemary and thyme before dropping in the bagel slices. Fry until golden on each side. Serve fried slice topped with burger and feta on top and broccoli on the side.

Vegetarian Chili with meat substitute

Thanksgiving is getting so close and even though I've planned out the entire menu, developing recipes and shopping lists still evades me. I hope to get that done this weekend. Instead of working on that today, I developed a new chili recipe.

I love vegetarian chili. Even when I ate meat, I always found vegetarian chili to be better than meat chili. I don't know why, but it's almost universally good which you can't say about many foods (sans chicken strips which I can't eat anymore, damn it!)

This recipe is different from my other chili recipe because it isn't based on expanding a canned chili and has a meat substitute in it.

I recently tried Boca Meatless Ground Crumbles. They were fabulous. They were everything I'd ever wanted ground meat to be. I've always liked the idea of ground meat, but not the flavor or texture. Vegetarian crumbles fit the role of ground meat much better than meat does.

Ingredients

1 package vegetarian crumbles (Boca and Morningstar both make nice versions) or however much is equivalent to 1 pound ground meat

1 can of petite diced tomatoes (a can with chilis and lime juice can be very nice)

1 can black beans (or pinto beans or kidney beans) well rinsed

1 clove garlic

1 t cumin approx.

1 tablespoon tomato paste

about 1 cup water approx.

1 vegetable bullion cube (can substitute 1 cup vegetable broth for water and bullion, if desired)

red pepper flakes to taste

1 t dried oregano

1 T margarine

1 T flour

In a cast iron skillet, cook the veggie crumbles according to package directions. Remove them from the pan and start a roux. Over medium heat, melt the butter. Wisk in the flour and cook until blond. Wisk in the liquid from the tomatoes until the mix is smooth, then add the bullion, tomato paste, spices, and water. Stir in the tomatoes, black beans, and veggie crumbles. Serve with cornbread, rice, or crackers.

Thanksgiving is Coming Soon.....

For my newly vegetarian family, I had to come up with a Thanksgiving menu that would feel special and leave no one wanting. I deconstructed our favorite Thanksgiving dishes and created a new menu that would compliment a vegetarian protein rather than being centered around turkey.

Baked potatoes became latkes with applesauce. Sweet potatoes are still roasted but are served in thick slices drizzled with sage butter. Carrots roasted in the pan drippings are roasted in butter and cinnamon until they caramelize. As a main dish, I will serve roasted red onions with vegetarian sausage (store-bought because thanksgiving is already hard enough) with onion gravy. I'm also planning on serving a vegetarian approximation of my family's favorite stuffing, cranberry sauce, and our favorite pies.

I have several meat-eaters attending our thanksgiving and after conferring with them and my family, we decided that serving salmon would be a good compromise. It's a special protein, but isn't a huge piece of meat to have in the house. Another option would be a turkey breast or thigh, but I didn't want to handle poultry after giving it up.

Before lunch, I'll be serving soy egg nog, cashews, chex mix (despite the fish in the worcestshire sauce, we just couldn't give this up), an apple tart, a little relish plate, and some cheese. The relish plate will include kalamata olives, peperoncini peppers, pickled cucumbers, and sliced fresh cucumbers.

My family loves having potpie with thanksgiving leftovers, so the day after, I'll make a vegetable potpie. Potatoes, peas, carrots, and corn will be tossed with gravy and baked in a flaky pie crust. I'll use the vegetarian version of my Easy Peasy Chicken (or Vegetable) Potpie. I'll leave out the chicken, substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock, and add corn. This pie is nice hot or cold as leftovers.

I'll be working over the next couple of weeks to keep developing these recipes and doing small practice batches. I'll post them, when I've perfected them.

Broccoli Fettucini

Lately I've been flavoring olive oil to make the most of my calories. If I'm going to put it on something, I might as well enjoy it.

In a few tablespoons of olive oil, I saute 1 t red pepper flakes for a few seconds before adding 1 t dried crushed rosemary and then one large clove pressed garlic. At the very end I add 1 t dried basil.

I've been adding this to vegetables, tofu, and that sort of thing, but I wanted to make a pasta, so I came up with this Broccoli Fettucini (with no alfredo sauce what so ever). The flavored oil, parma, and sausage are rich enough that this replaces traditional fettucini alfredo quite nicely.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon flavored olio (from above recipe)

1 package refrigerated fettucini

1 large head of broccoli (fresh please, not the mushy frozen stuff)

1 vegetarian sausage patty per person (I suggest Morningstar, but use your favorite)

a little parmesan cheese. get the good stuff.

Cook the sausage and pasta according to package directions and the olio according to my directions (for this recipe, if you don't have the pepper flakes, pepper works instead). Once the basil is added to the oil, put it 2 T of the pasta cooking water. This will disperse the seasonings more evenly through the pasta. Cut up the broccoli into small florets and cook it in the sausage pan with a lid on until it turns bright green. Also chop up the cooked sausage. It should be about the same size as the florets. Toss the pasta with olio first, then add the parma, and, finally, top with the broccoli and sausage.

Granola: a Multipurpose Whole Grain

I like to serve granola with yogurt and a variety of sliced fruits for a light dinner or with milk for breakfast. I used to buy it boxed, but all the brands I looked into were high in fat and refined sugars. I haven't tried the Kashi granolas yet, but even brands that advertise being healthy often contain things that I don't want to intake into my body or feed to my family. So I make my own most Saturday mornings. It technically keeps all week, but I find myself making more because it's a popular meal or snack in my house. For my recipe, I include the sorts of nuts, fruits, and spices that my family likes, but you can change it up as much as you like.



Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

On a greased cookie sheet with raised edges, toast 4 cups of rolled oats in the oven. They don't change color much, but they get fragrant and turn a little tan. When they are fragrant, add a 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 1/2 cup chopped cashews. Continue toasting for about five minutes. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom and a nice grating of nutmeg to the oat/nut mixture. Stir it in well before adding 1/2 a cup of brown rice syrup (or honey). Mix the syrup in until all the oats are slightly sticky and the sweetener is evenly distributed. Cook for ten minutes. Stir the oats and cook for ten more minutes. The granola will not feel granola like when you remove it from the oven. The oats will be more crunchy than if they hadn't been cooked, but the rice syrup will harden as it cools. It's important for in to cool on the pan in order to get nice clusters. When you remove it from the oven, you may wish to stir in 1 cup chopped dried fruit (I like pears, apricots, and cranberries). Do this before the granola hardens or just stir it into the clusters later.When removing the granola from the pan if you've got a "fish scrapper" (the sort that's no good for fish, but wonderful for everything else) this worked wonders getting the granola off in clusters. otherwise a spatula or even a metal spoon works ok.

Changing Habits, part 2

Whole wheat pasta. What ominous sounding words those are! From the name to the odd color glimpsed on the shelf of the store, there are so many things influencing customers against this mild, tender, easy to eat whole grain. It cooks two minutes longer than ordinary pasta and doesn't go well with white sauces, but we shouldn't be eating white sauces anyway. One of my friends begged me to try it and I did, buying it grudgingly, sure that it would be uneatable. I over-cooked it. I haven't over-cooked pasta since I learned to cook. Aldente has always been that important to me. But I was convinced that it would be tough and grainy feeling. I was so wrong. I tossed it in a tomato pepper sauce and topped it with basil and could hardly tell the difference. I was even more surprised when the kids ate it up! Underneath that red sauce, the slight difference in color wasn't a big deal. I was absolutely shocked. This is really worth a try. Whole wheat pasta comes in all shapes and sizes now in most supermarkets, so try it in all the different ways that you cook other pastas. Always pair it with bold flavors and it will never let you down. It's great in Asian style pasta salads with soy sauce and steamed vegetables or pasta casseroles with tomato sauces work or spaghetti and tofu meatballs.

Changing Habits, part 1

With three lactose-sensitive kids, my family drinks a lot of 100% fruit juice. Not just orange juice at breakfast, but also throughout the day and at lunch and dinner. When Julia got her first cavity, it was a big shock and I realized how awful this habit was. So we started drinking juice only at meals and then moved to only at one meal per day. Now it's cut almost entirely from our diets. At first, we didn't know what to drink, but the answer was fairly obvious. Soy milk has become a larger part of our diets and is a favorite at breakfast and with snacks. This has a lot of protein, calcium and vitamins, but also contains calories and fat. Our brand has 110 calories and 3.5 grams of fat per cup, so I like to limit it at about three cups a day (breakfast, 10 o'clock, and 3 o'clock) which certainly isn't enough hydration for a whole day. Some of us like hot tea sans honey or sugar which is another good option. The best innovation, however, in this process was when we began chilling water in those old juice pitchers with lime, lemon, or even orange slices. The fruit-infused water is much less sugary than juice, doesn't have the calories of milk, and is very satisfying on a hot summer day. It's been a convenient way to change our lifestyle and be sure of staying hydrated all summer long.

Ginger Lime Marinated Tofu

This is tofu for people who don't like tofu and tofu heaven for those who do. It's better than takeout or that marinated tofu in stores. You've just got to try it!

Whisk together
juice and zest of two limes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice syrup (or honey)

Add in
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch of ginger root, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
2 scallions, minced

Slice 1 block Extra Firm Tofu into 1/2 inch thick slices. In a wide dish with sides (such as a casserole dish) spread out the tofu and pour marinade over it. Let marinate in fridge for thirty minutes, then turn tofu over and allow to marinate additional thirty minutes. Preheat a nonstick frying pan with a little oil and garlic. Drain tofu and accompanying aromatics, then stir fry. In a sauce pan reduce marinade to pour over steamed rice (brown works) or noodles (whole wheat linguine is excellent). This makes an excellent lunch in my five meal a day plan. It's high in protein and (with the rice or pasta) fiber which means long lasting energy through the day.

Shasta's Mother's Day Scones (a belated, but worthwhile recipe for brunch or tea or any time that you want scones)

note: this recipe is very loosely based on Mark Bittman's Cream Scones, however,these are considerably lighter and more flavorful. My son changed over half of the ingredients, swapping in other flavors and textures and produced a very satisfying, rich scone with half the fat. He did not feel comfortable, though, calling it all his, so I have added this disclaimer to credit Mark with the flour, baking powder, and butter.

Feta Figs Scones with Herbs de Provence

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit


Whisk together

• 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder

In a food processor blend

• whisked dry ingredients
• 5 tablespoons butter

In a mixing bowl, add 5 dried figs, chopped, to dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat

• two eggs
• 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

Combine the wet and dry ingredients in the dry ingredients bowl using as few strokes as possible so as not to toughen the flour.

On a greased cookie sheet, place large spoonfuls of the batter and bake for seven minutes. After this time, flip scones and bake two more minutes.

These are lovely drizzled with honey to go with a cup of tea or served with an egg for brunch.

A Kitchen Experiment Gone Right

With all the free time that summer offers for my kids, it's the ideal opportunity to get them involved in culinary happenings. This summer we're experimenting with a radical shift in our eating habits. We are moving from three fairly heavy meals a day to five small, snack-like meals every day. I'd heard that this was a healthier way to eat, but I had no idea that it would be so satisfying. It feels like I get to eat more when in reality, I'm eating less and eating more healthily.

My old meal plans were light on breakfast, heavier at lunch (like a sandwich and fruit and baked chips with quite a bit of fruit juice, not bad, but not good either), and a very filling meal at dinner (like spaghetti with tofu-balls and garlic bread). Now I've lightened that heaviest meal and shifted it to lunch-time. That way we can keep our old favorite meals, but still lighten up. This will be harder to maintain during the school year, but if it continues to be the shining success it has been so far, we'll try to continue with it.

Breakfast has changed to have large servings of fruit with the cereal (cheerios or shredded wheat 'n bran or other whole grain cereals) and soymilk (enriched reduced-fat with vanilla is a favorite with my kids).

After that, at about ten in the morning, we drink a soymilk and frozen-fruit smoothie or eat sliced raw vegetables and pieces of cheese. If we have cheese, we choose sharper varieties despite the higher fat content because a smaller amount is more satisfying than a blander variety. This keeps the quantity of lactose down.

Lunch has become the dinner meal of the day. Vegetarian tacos, pasta dishes, and other hot foods occupy the table at this time. If a meal contains meat or meat substitutes, this is it. However, there are no second helpings at this meal, unlike a traditional dinner. This helps to maintain a lightness.

The three o'clock meal varies in lightness. It can be a bowl of lite popcorn and a glass of soymilk, but it can also be half an open-faced peanut-butter sandwich with said glass of milk. Another advantage to this plan is that one necessarily drinks more soymilk and, to be honest, the kids could use the calcium.

Dinner is my favorite meal of this plan. We eat raw vegetables and toast points or pita wedges with a dip. Hummus, soybean spread, and mild Thai peanut sauce are some family favorites of ours. Celery, baby carrots, and sweet bell peppers are some favorite raw vegetables. Asparagus, zucchini, broccoli, or even potatoes are great cooked ones. Any vegetable can be cut to make it dip-able. Medallion shapes of carrots or zucchini stand up well and sticks are great from peppers or celery. Sometimes for a treat I make granola and serve it with sliced up fruits and yogurt for dipping. Leftovers from this are great the next day for breakfast.

On this meal plan, not only do I never over eat on this plan, but I'm also never hungry. It allows all of us to snack healthily and sensibly throughout the day. I've read that one should only eat until one is 75% full, that in a few minutes after the meal is over one will feel full. I've always had trouble trying to eat this way, but with these smaller meals, it's easy. I've never enjoyed my food so much and cooking has never been easier. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting recipes that have succeeded in my family with this plan, but I must say that even if your kids don't eat hummus reducing serving sizes and placing a few plant-based snacks throughout the day will improve your kid's lives and yours, too. I hope you try this with me. I know you'll love it if you do.

Lightening up a Favorite Snack

Shasta and I came up with this one together after school one day. He wanted Totino's pizza rolls and I didn't want him eating that junk, so we came up with a compromise. I let him add some dairy, but I made it flavorful cheeses like ricotta, parmesan, and provolone. We had the cheeses left over from having made pizza earlier in the week. There was also some sauce leftover to dip the pizza bites into which worked out very well.

Ingredients

four tablespoons of an Italian shredded cheeses mix (such as parmesan and provolone)

four teaspoons of ricotta cheese (opptional)

two teaspoons of herbs provencal (if you don't have them, add dried oregano and thyme)

two teaspoons of dried rosemary

one english muffin (sliced in half like a bagel, which would also work if you don't keep english muffins in your freezer like I do)

a pinch of ground fennel seeds (a bit of sausagey flavor)

enough tomato sauce to dip wedges of muffin in

a drop or two of rooster hot sauce (Sriracha)

Toast the muffin halves under the broiler. When they are a bit crisp, spread the ricotta on the toasts and sprinkle on the herbs provencal and rosemary. Sprinkle on the cheeses and replace under the broiler. Meanwhile, stir the ground fennel seeds into the tomato sauce. When the cheese has browned spots and is thoroughly melted, cut into wedges and serve with the sauce.

Jalapeno-Maple Turkey Bacon with Waffles and Raspberry Compote

For the past month, we have all been sick. Each of my kids got the flu. One right after another. Then I got sick, too. It's been a month now since we had a real brunch and I wanted to do something special. Somehow, ordinary turkey bacon and waffles with artificial syrup just weren't enough. 

While I was sick, I'd been watching Barefoot Contessa reruns and had admired her maple flavored bacon. I had also read a recipe in a magazine for chile maple syrup. I mentally combined them to make this spectacular mildly spicy, smoky turkey bacon. The rest of the brunch just fell right into place.

Jalapeno-Maple Turkey Bacon

Ingredients

1/2 seeded jalapeno pepper (finely minced or frozen and grated)

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

6 strips of turkey bacon

On an ungreased cookie sheet (with a lip to it), spread out the turkey bacon so that it doesn't overlap. Stir the syrup and jalepeno together in a small bowl, then brush the turkey bacon with the syrup mixture. Broil on medium until the bacon is crisp and has absorbed the syrup and flavor. Serve alongside waffles with compote and, possibly, sunny-side-up eggs. Or scrambled if that's all the kids will eat.

Waffles from the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook.

The one my mother always uses.

Note: this recipe requires a waffle iron. It also works for pancakes if you don't have one, so just go ahead with it in a fry pan or on a griddle.

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups sweet milk with 1/8 cup vinegar or lemon juice and 5 minutes to clabber)

1/4 cup veg oil

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and buttermilk together. Add oil to the eggs. Stir into the dry ingredients. Don't stir too much. A little lumpy is ok. Use in a waffle iron according to the machine's instructions or cook in a non-stick frying pan as pancakes.

Raspberry Compote

Ingredients

less than a quarter cup sugar

1 1/2 cups raspberries (frozen works)

1/2 cup water

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring frequently. Once sugar is dissolved and fruit has begun to break up, turn heat down to simmer. Still stirring occasionally, allow the compote to cook until it is thick and syrupy or the rest of breakfast is ready.

Quick Curried Lentil Soup

I heated my can of soup for quick dinner, served over rice. It was a trial of a lentil soup. I tasted nothing on my spoon. The wasted money and time hung over me right beside the question, "What the heck am I going to feed the kids?" And here is my answer.

Ingredients

1 can lentil soup

1/2 can diced tomatoes

1 bunch spinach, torn

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

a good grating of ginger to taste

3 scallions

1 handful cilantro, torn, optional

leftover rice (just about any sort will do, but if you had naan, what bliss!)

Pour the soup and tomatoes into a pot (sightly larger than the one you usually use for canned soup) over medium heat. Squeeze in garlic. Grate in ginger. Tear spinach and chop scallions. Add to pot. Stir in garam masala. add rice. Let simmer until the whole soup is hot. stir in cilantro and serve.

note: Improving canned soups to make decent meals is not a science. Try adding corn, sauted mushrooms, and garlic to canned clam chowder for a boost in flavor. Pressed or minced garlic is a great addition to most soups and frozen veg make quick additions. This recipe isn't about strict guidelines. These are just ingredients already in my fridge, also known as leftovers.

When Kiddies Cry for Pizza

Friday, the traditional pizza night in families everywhere. Until you talk to individuals. When the kids came home Friday afternoon, my son raised the question of why we don't have a weekly pizza night in the hope of us ordering pizza that night. I refused, but by this time all four of us were craving pizza. I didn't want to spend any more money on that week of shopping, let alone ordering pizza, and I certainly didn't want the calories. So I took the basic flavors of pizza and created this sandwich. It's not pizza, it's better. My littlest picked out some of the veg, but it was all very well hidden inside and went over with the family pretty well.

Roasted Veg Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients

4 heaping spoonfuls of roasted tomato pieces (or use whole, canned tomatoes chopped up finely without any of the liquid from the can)

1 onion (minced and sauteed)

2 cloves garlic (finely sliced and sauteed)

8 roasted bell pepper strips (see separate recipe)

8 slices of bread

pre-shredded low fat mozzarella cheese

1 lemon

a dash of oregano

1/2 jalapeno pepper

a bunch or two of herbage (optional)

olive oil

Run your knife through the prepared veg (tomatoes, onion, garlic, and bell peppers). The trick to hiding them is how finely they are chopped. It should be like a thick, chunky sauce. Squeeze the juice of your lemon into the bowl and add the oregano. Stir to combine. Cut the jalapeno in halve (not stem-wise, but through the middle of the pepper) and grate it on a micro plane for very fine bits of jalapeno until you have about a teaspoon.  Run your knife through your fresh herbs, if you're using them. Stir this and the jalapeno into the marinating veg.

In a hot, non-stick pan, pour in a little olive oil. Press the first slice of bread in and sprinkle a little cheese on the top. Spread some marinated veg corner to corner to fill the whole sandwich. sprinkle on a little more cheese and top with another piece of bread. Press down on the sandwich while it cooks. When the bottom slice of bread is browned to your liking, flip the sandwich (you may wish to use a plate to help, sliding it out of the pan and flipping it back in). Add a little more oil around the bread. Continue pressing on the sandwich until it's browned. After this fist sandwich, repeat this paragraph on following ones unless you have a larger pan than I and can cook two or three at a time. Keep the sandwiches warm in the oven as you go and serve them with a salad or some fruit. 

Eating Alone

In my house eating alone means eating with one or two other people. The concept of eating absolutely alone is mind boggling, but wonderful. I began to read a book called Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler which is about how different people feel about eating alone and what they eat by themselves. All these writers put together little tiny chapters about their experiences and the food that they love. 

Of course, it's impossible to get through a full essay before something happens to get you away from the book. I imagine that it would be perfect to read while at a restaurant alone. I dream of congee, an Asian rice porridge with spicy, sour, smoky, salty toppings. Plenty of broccoli, peanuts, chilies, and garlic over the top of the creamy, delicious base. That's what I would eat alone! The book took me into that world for a few minutes. My whole being relaxed and the stress of the last few years melted away. I strongly recommend it.

My congee with all it's delightfully not child-friendly toppings (at least I don't know any kids who like pickled or spicy veg on top of rice porridge) takes several hours of simmering to make. As if it needed to be a further dream, less of a possible reality. So when I actually eat alone (without friends or children or any family members or other people at all, just me) I make chili. I start with a can of vegetarian chili, probably hormel unless I chanced to splurge on organic at the health food store, and I don't buy it with extra veg because I'll add my own. It can be served over left over corn bread or rice or with saltine crackers or however you like your chili. Eat it exactly how you prefer yours. Use the recipe as a template, not a law. This is all about personal preference without worrying about others, so take it where ever your taste buds tell you to. Enjoy alone and savor.

Chili Alone

Ingredients

1 can vegetarian chili (we'll be adding extra veg, so buy regular to your heat specification, favorite brand, etc. don't stint yourself, do it well)

one handful of frozen bell pepper and onion slices (or chop your own, but be aware that you only have so much time to yourself)

1 cup of corn (frozen or canned whatever's convenient)

LOTS of garlic (sliced or left in whole cloves)

1 large jalepeno (or more to taste, minced)

a dash of oregano

a spoonful of tomato paste (add some sauce or diced tomatoes or whatever you have on hand, but not too much)

In a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, cook the peppers and onions with the minced jalepeno and the thick garlic slices. Be careful that the garlic is softening without coloring. When the veg is thawed, break up the pepper and onion strips a bit in the pan (careful of the non stick coating) and add the corn. When that is warm, add the chili, oregano, and tomato paste. Stir well to combine.

To serve: Crumble corn bread into a bowl and heap on the chili. Dig in. Or, scoop some leftover rice in, brown works great, before adding the chili. Also good over potatoes (baked, panfried, even boiled). Served with grilled cheese (if you can take the dairy) the chili is indulgence beyond belief. For something different, try it with whole wheat pasta in a curly shape. 

Whatever starch you serve it with should be smaller than your heaping of chili and, even more importantly, a left over. Just pop it into the microwave or the pan with your chili at the end of cooking  (unless your serving with bread which is great broiled or toasted with this). Serve in a large bowl and dig in with a large spoon for maximum enjoyment.

Tucking into Recipes

Whenever my kids get the day off from school, Maria (the youngest) and I always browse recipes, looking for something special to make. I always have a lot of cookbooks on hand, especially the sort with lots of pictures. On a whim, a few days ago, I picked up quite a few cookbooks and books about food from the library. As it turned out, yesterday when school was cancelled for bad winter weather and Maria and I were skimming my latest finds. We were all tucked in on the sofa with a heap of books between us, sharing a quilt and our favorite recipes that we came across. We almost never find things that we can make with what's on hand or that all the kids will eat. Maria and I love broccoli, but Shasta and Lily won't touch it, etc. We all love great big casserole dishes that have the veggies right inside as the kids aren't too fond of salads and anyway it's got much more interesting flavors than everything would be separate. These also make handy lunches as they are often great cold or lukewarm in a wide soup thermos. The problem come in that only about two of us eat the same veg to slip into the casserole. So I hide the garlic, onions, and peppers in very small dice in tomato sauces, but I'm not allowed to vary this combination. The rare meal where it's just me and one or two other people is wonderful in that I can pump up the veg content with some different ingredients. So there we were, reading and sharing recipes. Jamie Oliver is one of our favorites, though we never can cook his recipes as they are. His food always seems to require all those vegetables that we can't get everyone to eat. We read a lot of cookbooks about Italian food. Pasta is always comforting on a winter's day. In the end we came up with a recipe of our own. A warm, rich, comforting casserole, a perfect winter dinner, all bright and cheerful while the wind howls and the snow blows outside. The power went out just after we made it, so we set the table with candles and the casserole was warm and comforting.

Chicken and Tomato Casserole

Ingredients

2-3 chicken drumsticks (or a scant cup left over protein of some sort such as veggie sausage)

3/4 box pasta (rottini or other ridged pasta is nice, but you can just throw the remains of a couple of boxes together for this one)

a little onion (minced very finely)

2 cloves garlic pressed

1/2 a red pepper (red blends in better, also mince finely)

2 scallions, if no one will notice (mice the white and greens separately, cook the whites, and add the green on top so that you can say that it's an "herb," basil is a good lie)

1 can tomato sauce (or 1/2 a can of sauce and a can of whole tomatoes)

a light grating of parmesan (highly optional)

dried oregano

salt & pepper

a pinch of sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin to boil water for pasta. Saute chicken for about twenty minutes (unless using left overs or a different protein). Cook pasta according to directions on box. Finish the chicken in the oven in your casserole dish. Use the pan you had been cooking the chicken in to cook the onion, whites of scallions, garlic, and red bell pepper. Add the tomato sauce and simmer until it is somewhat reduced and has picked up the good bits at the bottom of the pan and incorporated the veg enough that people won't notice them too much. If using whole tomatoes, break them up with your spoon. These are softer than diced so they blend in better with the sauce. Chop up cooked chicken and toss into the sauce with oregano, salt and pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Pour pasta into casserole dish and stir sauce in. Grate cheese on top if desired. Top with scallion greens, minced up finely. Stick in the oven for a bit until the sauce bubbles a bit and the cheese on top melts.

Inside-out Quesadilla (Dairy free)

I was going to make a quesadilla with leftovers from taco night, but didn't want to use cheese. So I toasted tortilla wedges and made two salsas (one spicy, one rather filling). To make this a bigger meal, add rice or serve it on a mix of your favorite salad greens. As it is, it's a wonderful light meal with plenty of veg.

Tortilla Chips

Ingredients

1 tortilla

salt

pepper

olive oil

Brush one side of the tortilla lightly with olive oil (can omit, if desired). Cut the tortilla into roughly 12 wedges. sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a glass pie plate toast under the broiler for five minutes then flip wedges and toast for three more. Cool wedges slightly before eating.

Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

1/2 jalapeno

1 roma tomato

1 tablespoon cilantro

3 scallions (dark and medium greens only)

1 clove garlic

a squeeze of lemon juice

some lemon zest

1/8 red bell pepper

Mince jalepeno, scallions, garlic, and cilantro. Dice bell pepper and tomato. Toss all cut ingredients in a small bowl. Squeeze on lemon juice and grate on lemon zest. Let marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of your food.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Ingredients

1/4 cup black beans (if canned: rinse thoroughly and drain well)

1/4 cup frozen corn kernels

3 scallions (light greens and whites)

a dash of dried oregano

In a non stick pan cook the green onions and frozen corn with the lid on (be careful to use a lid with vents on it or that fits loosely). When corn is no longer frozen, add black beans and oregano. Cook until the black beans are warm.

Serving: Put black bean salsa on the plate and top with tomato salsa. Place four or five chips around this and eat.

chop extra veg at the same time and make

Tortilla Soup: Cook black bean and corn salsa with jalapeno and bell pepper from tomato salsa. When vegetables are tender, pour in 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 cup vegetable stock. Add garlic and either 1/2 cup rice or 1/2 boiled potatoes. Simmer until warmed through. Toss in minced cilantro. Cut tortillas into thin strips rather than wedges, then follow chip recipe. serve along side the soup.

These salsas are also good on vegetarian taco pizzas. Use a little less sauce than normal if you're making your own pizza. If not, you could top a frozen pizza with the salsas.

Cheesecake: an easy, impressive dessert

Whenever I tell people that I cook, they want to know about my desserts. The difference between the verbs "bake" and "cook" is often forgotten or ignored in our society that relies so heavily on microwaves. So here is a really easy dessert that should be prepared a head of time. While it does require the oven, it isn't like baking a cake from scratch. Flour doesn't get everywhere and there is very little measuring. Even the graham cracker crust is easy if you want to try making it.

Ingredients:

2 (8oz) packages of Neufchatel cheese 

                    (aka lower fat cream cheese)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs (beaten)

1 store bought graham cracker crust 

                    (or fresh one, it's very easy, see note)

preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix room temperature cheese with yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Don't be afraid to use a motorized kitchen tool to do this. Pour into crust. Bake on 400 degrees until set (about 40 minutes). This should be thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator before eating. Try topping it with a compote such as my blueberry recipe that follows.

Blueberry Compote

This should be thicker than normal in order to fit with the cheesecake's texture. It just can't be watery or runny!

Ingredients

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

In a small saucepan, simmer blueberries, sugar, and water. Stir to dissolve sugar. Simmer until slightly thickened. Cool and serve over cheesecake (or other desserts, if serving with a non-dessert, reduce sugar at least to 1/4 cup sugar).

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter (or substitute)

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

                  (about half a box of cookies)

In a large tightly closed ziplock-type bag crush graham crackers with a rolling pin. Measure crumb amount in a measuring cup and return to bag. Melt butter in a small saucepan (or a bowl in the microwave) and add it to the ziplock. Close the bag tightly and mush until the two ingredients are combined. Press into the bottom and sides of the pie plate for your cheesecake. Pour in filling. Bake. It's just that easy.

Roasted Bell Peppers

These can pump up veg content and flavor in a few little sweet strips. I've got to credit the Improvisation Cook (a wonderful book by Sally Schneider which I strongly recommend) for the recipe because that's where I first got the recipe from. Too many other books wanted me to own a grill in order to roast peppers and I can't afford one so I felt a lot of despair till I read this recipe that uses the broiler. I changed some little bits of the recipe around but how much can you change a recipe for broiling bell peppers? This is wonderful to make ahead.

Ingredients:

red bell peppers*

olive oil

salt

pepper

Standing the peppers upright on a cutting board, cut them into quarters, trying to leave the membranes and seeds and everything inside what is left of the pepper. Cut these slices into strips and toss them with a little olive oil. Salt and pepper them a little, too. Roast on a cookie sheet skin side down under a medium broiler until fork tender. Cool and remove skin (it should come off easily). Use in sandwiches (heaven in grilled cheese, but wonderful on everything else, too), on pizzas, in pasta sauces, etc.

*red bell peppers are very much superior to green ones and less expensive than yellow ones, so they are my pepper of choice. Green and purple bell peppers are the same plant as red and yellow, only unripe, so they are less sweet.

Bread salad with Italian overtones

This salad is warm, heavy, and comforting, it suits winter wonderfully. Yet, it's ingredients are fresh in the summer. So frozen corn and canned tomatoes bring this salad into winter. This recipe provides two servings.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen corn
1 cup bell pepper and onion frozen
1 can whole canned plum tomatoes (broken up into large pieces)
1 diced courgette (zucchini)
plenty of garlic (to taste) sliced thinly
2 slices broken up cornbread or thickly sliced white bread (please not pre-sliced!)
fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or sage
extra virgin olive oil
jalapeno (very finely minced)
grated cheese (very optional)

Brush crumbled bread with extra virgin olive oil and toast under broiler. Once golden, divide the bread between the two bowls. In a pan on medium heat heat some olive oil and cook frozen bell peppers and onions with the garlic. After a few minutes, add the courgette pieces and the corn. When the veg begins to color, the tomatoes and a little of the juice from the can. At the end of cooking, add fresh herbs, roughly minced. Also add jalapeno at this point if desired. Pour the tomato mixture over the bread to serve. If desired, grate a bit of cheese over the top.

Easy Peasy Chicken (or Vegetable) Potpie

This is a pie for those who do not bake. You can make your own crust, but I just don't have time. By the way, left over chicken or potatoes (preferably baked or boiled) will make this a lot  faster if you've got them.

Ingredients:

 2 store bought pie crusts

    1 egg

2 chicken breasts

2 large potatoes

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup peas

1/4 cup diced celery

1/2 an onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 can chicken stock

2 tablespoons flour

minced fresh herbs*

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Salt and pepper chicken. In a medium saute pan, cook the chicken, onions, and celery. While this is cooking, wash, peal, and dice potatoes. Boil them in water to cover until fork tender. When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan, leaving the vegetables. Add carrots and half of the chicken stock. 

In a small bowl, combine the flour and two tablespoons stock. Stir until smooth. Mix this into the stock and veg in the pan. Cook until no floury taste remains. Meanwhile, dice the chicken and put it in a large bowl with the potatoes. Stir the veg and gravy into this bowl. Add the garlic. 

Spray pie plate with cooking spray and press a pie crust into the bottom and sides of the pan. Fill this shell with the chicken mixture. Put the top crust on and roll the edges of both crusts together tightly. Beat the egg with a little water and brush on the top of the pie. Cut five slits in a star shape to vent the top of the pie. Bake on 400 degrees for twenty minutes or until golden  brown on top.

*Fresh Herbs: try rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, etc.

Note for poultry eaters: Three meals can easily be made instead of one. Extra chicken and potatoes at the same time become excellent leftovers to be eaten the next night. Boiled potatoes panfried with onions and peppers are a wonderful companion to the left over chicken breast or served with eggs for a "breakfast for dinner" meal. Or the chicken can be used in a soup with leftover potatoes, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and peas all in more chicken stock.  Please add fresh herbs to either of these dishes liberally.

For a vegetable pie entirely without meat, use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock (making your own is easy or you can use store bought) and add another vegetable such as parsnips or mushrooms to the body of the pie. Use plenty of herbs in your pie and your stock, if you make it yourself.

Vegetable stock

Ingredients

quartered onion with skin, well washed

carrot cut into thirds

celery rib cut into quarters

several garlic cloves in their skin

mushroom stems

potato peals

fresh herbs on the stem

any clean well washed veg scraps 

that complement the flavor of the dish

whole peppercorns

any whole spices to compliment the dish

Simmer all the veg bits, scraps, herbs, and spices for about an hour or until you like the flavor. this isn't something you have to baby sit, just set it on the stove and leave it be.

Cranberry Ginger nonalcoholic cocktail

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cranberry juice

1/3 cup ginger ale

a squeeze of citrus*

4 tablespoons holiday syrup

finely grated ginger to taste

Into the bottom of the glass, grate ginger very finely to taste. Pour in holiday syrup, cranberry juice, and ginger ale. Squeeze in citrus. Stir to combine. Garnish.

*oranges, clementines, and lemons are all appropriate especially if their peal was used in making the holiday syrup

Garnishes

1) candied fruit, ginger, or citrus peal from the holiday syrup

2) free floating fresh cranberries

3) dried and fresh cranberries alternating on a toothpick

4) cranberry filled ice cubes, see note

Cranberry Ice Cubes

Several hours before serving (at least four), fill an ice cube tray half full of water and add two or three cranberries to each cube. Freeze. When each cube is well frozen, top off the cube with more water. Serve when well frozen.

Holiday Syrup

All the flavors of the holidays in a little syrup that can be strained into my nonalcoholic cranberry ginger cocktail or spooned with the candied ginger and fruits onto desserts or oatmeal or even plain yogurt. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons thinly sliced ginger

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

the peal of one citrus fruit (cut into strips)

dried fruit (such as apricots, pears, cranberries, etc.)

4 cups of water

1/2 cup sugar (more to taste)

In a sauce pan over medium heat combine the ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, fruit, citrus peal, and water. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar until dissolved. After this comes to a boil, reduce to simmer. Check sugar level and adjust if needed. The syrup is done when it is slightly thickened and the flavor of the spices is fairly strong and the dried fruit is plump and moist. remove and discard cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon stick. Strain the syrup for use in nonalcoholic cocktail and store candied fruit, ginger, and peal in the refrigerator until needed.