Weekly Recap 1/27/08

Better late than never???

Sunday

*Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Mascarpone (new)
*roasted asparagus with olive, salt and pepper

Monday
*Curried Red Lentils with Caramelized Onions (new)
*spinach and arugula salad

Tuesday
leftovers!

Wednesday
*Southwestern Cheese Soup (new)
*Salad

Thursday
leftovers again!

Friday
*Paninis on ciabatta with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers,
pesto, spinach and arugula
*sliced pear

Saturday
pizza takeout

Easy Vegeterian Recipes and Fun Cooking!

I started this blog quite a while back. I can trace back the first post here. I blogged many recipes so far, gained me a few pounds from eating all those stuff that blogged. Most of the recipes were found to be interesting by quite a number of visitors. I do have a list of the recipes that I blogged on the side bar, but I will make it more easier by posting some of the good recipes blogged so far. Feel free to browse them, cook them and share how it come out if you happen to cook them :)Let us start with some of the Vegetarian Recipes:

Paneer Mattar Masala curry

This was a simple paneer recipe that can never go wrong. Nothing fancy, just a good Paneer Curry. But the real winner in this recipe is How I prepared the paneer or cottage cheese from scratch. yes, you can quite easily make paneer at home.

Simple Palak Paneer

This is another Paneer recipe. A real easy palak paneer. Again, nothing fancy, and it doesn't really look like the palak paneer you get at restaurants. I have simplified this so that anyone one can cook it in less than half an hour. Enjoy!I also have some kick ass Halwa Recipes. Halwa is an Indian Sweet dish, that can be had as a dessert, or breakfast, or even a snack. Indians do love sweet snacks.

Gajjar ka Halwa

This is an easy way of making Gajjar ka Halwa. Gajjas or Carrot is grated and cooked in Milk and butter, with dried fruits to add that special thing.

Beet ka Halwa

Quite similar to the carrot halwa, but with Beet and this also taste just awesome.

White Peas Cooked with baking soda

Ootti ver 2.0

I actually blogged the above recipe twice. It is a Manipuri delicacy called "Ootti". A real wonning recipe that tastes awesome with rice or Khichdi, and even Puri.

Rice Kheer

This is something like Rice Porridge, again an Indian Sweet dish that is had as dessert or even breakfast. Rice cooked in milk and flavored with raisins and what not.

Peanut Palak Saag

This is a simple spinach or palak recipe. A unique combination of spinach and peanuts. I am sure you haven't had this before. Try it and tell me if you liked it.

Gobi Pakoda

This is a simple recipe of Cauliflower Fritters, cauliflower dipped in a spicy batter of gram flour and deep fried. Great as a beer snack or just something to snack on on a rainy afternoon.Similar fritters that I blogged:

Veg Pakoda

Potato Fritters

Excuse the prawn recipe in between the veg recipes. I blogged the recipe for both vegeterians and non vegeterians. Same batter, different dips!

Pakoda Kadhi

And curry made out of the fritters.

Gobi Manchurian

This is a faux Chinese recipe that is very popular in India. This is a vegeterian chicken manchurian, only with cauliflowers in place of the Chicken.

Chole Masala

Chole masala cooked in a very simple way. the recipe is very easy to follow. Don't write it down, just remember the steps and try it. Chole is type of chick peas white in color and bigger than the usual chick pea.

Mashed Potato

Who said Indians don't eat mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are very popular in the eastern part of Indian, and is a very popular cuisine. Here is an easy recipe of the Indian mashed potato.

Easy Daal Recipes

Eating daals or boiled grams with every meal, daal can become quite a bore. But spice it up, and it is an awesome dish. Check out my daal recipes.

French Beans cooked with Coconuts

If you have been to Bangalore, you must have come across the French beans side dish that is cooked with grated coconut. Truth be told, that is the only way I like my beans, other the steamed beans served with steaks.

Sarson Da Saag

Now, what is this? Well, as a food blog, that mostly cooks Indian Recipes, passing over Sarsong ka saag would have been a sacrilege. Well, this is the famous Sarsong ka saag. I have simplified the recipe without diluting the flavour. You could call it stir fried mustard greens.

Aloo Karela

Bitter Gourd or karela as the name suggests is bitter, Kaput! Slow fry it with some onions and potatoes, and it becomes a very elegant bitter sweet side dish that is extremely healthy, trust me.

Loki Masala

I don't quite like the usual curry of loki or water gourd, but I have a simple recipe that I sometimes cook and I don't actually mind.

Veg Korma

A list of vegeterian recipes will be incomplete with the Vegetable Korma recipe eh! This is a mixed Vegeterian curry.

Coconutty Cabbage

This is a fry cooked cabbage recipe flavored with grated coconut. Quite light on the stomach!

Cabbage and peas

A quickie side dish you can cook in 10 minutes from peas and cabbage

Aloo Gobi

I love aloo gobi subzee, the dish made by slow cooking potatoes and cauliflower in vegetable oil. Try adding some chick peas, and you get a distinctly different Aloo Gobi.

Gobi Curry

One more cauliflower recipe!

Aloo Jeera

The ubiquitous Aloo Jeera, or potatoes fried with cumin seed. This is a real quickie dish that I can whip up in 10 minutes.Below is a list of Khichdi Recipes that I blogged:

Green Moong Khichdi

Many people tried and loved this actually!

Simple Khichdi recipe with ghee

Simple Khichdis that I cooked when I was sick.

Low fat, low spice!

Rajma Masala

Rajma Chawal is the favorite of most Indians, a comfort food, a food that many Indians living away from home misses the most. Chawal is easy, but you can also easily make a great Rajma Dish. Now don't put too much onions please. Half an onion fried till golden brown for a pound of Rajma.

Stuffed Capsicum

Have you not tried my stuffed capsicum yet? You will love it!

Capsicum Zhunka

Another capsicum recipe I learnt when in Mumbai. Great Maharashtrian recipe.Veg Biryani A simple and quick vegeterian Biryani!

Dum Aloo

A quick and simple Dum Aloo recipe.

Palak Daal

And this is another daal recipe. Toor daal with spinach!

Hearty Sausage and Lentil Soup

Hearty indeed. This soup in flavorful, chock-full of all sorts of goodies and it's delicious. Any soup that gets my family to eat spinach without complaint gets a big old gold star in my book.

Hearty Sausage and Lentil Soup

This recipe was recommended by a member of the CLBB on the October Soup thread. It sounded like the perfect way to sneak some lentils and spinach past the wary and the skeptical - namely anybody in this family who is not me. At first glance the list of ingredients looks a bit long, but it really does go together pretty quickly, especially considering that everything you need for a complete meal is included in this soup: carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms, lentils, tomatoes, sausage. Truly a meal in one; just add some fresh fruit, some fresh bread and you're set.

This soup went over very well. Chopping the spinach was definitely key - the smaller the pieces, the smaller the objections. With so many different ingredients, this soup was a feast for the mouth (so many tastes and textures) and the eyes (lots of color). A great, hearty soup for a wintry day.

Wild Rice with Pecans & Dried Blueberries

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Oh peaches, my heart broke into a zillion itsy bitsy bits of bits of shards of bits yesterday, as my darling camera took it's swan song picture, whimpered, whirled and - alas - ceased to work.

It's death, well, it was a truly sad moment. Let's all take a micro-second of head-bowing silence in its memory, shall we? Just a micro-second though. The true trials of the world deserve our real head bowing.

Much like my fancy-pants cell phone that was unceremoniously murdered last week by a fast approaching hardwood floor - the cameras passing was a bit of a bother. And just like in the instance of the phone, I learned that in this disposable age, digital camera repair doesn’t actually exist. Can you believe? And to add insult to injury, the darned thing is barely recyclable. Oy. (And for my readers who speak the Queen's English, that isn't a salutatory "oy," that's a lamenting "oy.")

But enough of my whinging (and for my Non-British readers, that’s a synonym for whining – I’m just here to help.) on with the show…which may be on temporary halt until I figure out this situation, do some research and figure out the best route to take. Wish me luck.

This concoction was thrown together last week, in an effort to cast a bit of summery fun into the rain-soaked Los Angeles I inhabit of late. And it’s mission was indeed accomplished.

Try it my peaches, and taste the joy.

½ cup olive oil
¼ cup blueberry or raspberry vinegar
2 T. port wine jelly (omit if you don’t have)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 cup cooked wild rice
3 cups cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons flax seed
¼ cup green onion
¼ cup dried blueberries and/or cranberries
1 cup pecan halves as garnish

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, jelly, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste.

Toss ¾ of the dressing with the wild rice, brown rice, onion and dried berries. Let the dressing absorb for 15 minutes or until ready to serve. When ready to serve, re-toss with the remaining dressing, garnish with pecans and serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.


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The good folks at Lipton Tea want you to get outdoors~

North American Blueberry growers ship more than 100 metric tons of fresh blueberries each year to Iceland, and more than 500 metric tons to Japan. - Foodreference.com

People who eat two or more servings of red meat a day are much more likely to develop conditions leading to heart disease and diabetes, University of Minnesota researchers have found. The study in a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute also found that diet soda consumption was linked to these elevated risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, echoing the findings of a study published in July. - Daily Mail.Co.UK

Stuffed Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower

Still getting caught up on recipes around here. I'm going to sneak this one in really quickly before I head off to bed.

We had these two dishes for dinner the other night. Both were delicious, but I served them with a whole grain rice mixture and it made for a rather bland-looking, but very tasty meal.

Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Madeira Sauce

This is another stuffed chicken breast recipe from Cooking Light. This recipes calls for creminie or button mushrooms, but I chose to use shiitake - hands down they are my favorite mushroom. I accidentally purchased far more than I needed for stuffing the chicken breasts, so I used put them in the sauce which I doubled since we are usually of the opinion that you can never have too much sauce.

This dish was very good, but I'm a little frustrated with the process. Technically, stuffed chicken breasts are really pretty easy, but I'm struggling a bit with the stuffing process; I often end up slicing through in the wrong spot, and even without the holes, the stuffing tends to ooze and leak out the sides during the cooking process. I noticed the other day that the stuffed chicken breasts that Wegmans sells are slit at the top, stuffed, and then baked - this would help eliminate a lot of the oozing problems and is something I will consider doing the next time.

Roasted Cauliflower

We've tried roasted cauliflower before with Indian spices, but I wanted to try a pure and simple version. There's not a whole lot to say about the cauliflower recipe - cauliflower, olive oil, salt and pepper - except that my son turned up his nose, took a bite, and then proceeded to beg some off of my plate. Now honestly I really didn't want to share because I was really enjoying it myself, but when your child asks for more vegetables, you DO NOT refuse him/her! Next time, I'll roast 2 heads - one just wasn't enough. I love simplicity!

Time for bed................

Pear and Almond Tart

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I have a cold.

Um. Yea. That's all I got.

And I don't want to share.

But I will share this recipe.

Try it, and taste the joy.


1 batch of your favorite pate sucre recipe, enough for a 10 inch fluted tart pan
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons frangelico or limoncello
1/2 cup whole almonds, rough chop
5 pears, peeled, quartered and cored
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350.

Roll out the pate sucre and line a 10 inch fluted (removable bottom) tart pan with it. Line the inside with foil, add some beans or pie weights, then bake for 10 minutes. Remove when slightly golden. Let cool.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the slivered almonds, sugar and alcohol. Process until it is crumbly - almost a paste.

Add the lemon rind and flour and pulse to combine.
Add the eggs one at a time to combine.

Spread this into the cooled tart pan. Top with the pears, in a fan-like shape. Top that with the rough chopped almonds.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Serves eight to ten.

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Delegate Page Elmore, of Maryland wants to add the 10-layer Smith Island cake from the Eastern Shore to the list of state symbols, as the state's official dessert.

Happy Birthday MOAOM

In 1893 a unique popcorn, peanuts and molasses confection that was the forerunner to Cracker Jack caramel coated popcorn and peanuts was introduced by F.W. Rueckheim and Brother, at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago's first World's Fair.

Mmmm....Mascarpone.

Mascrapone. That's how I keep typing this! Doesn't sound so appetizing, does it? MasCARpone, MasCARpone, MasCARpone.........I think I've got it now.

Anyway, this was a new food item for us this past week. I've heard of mascarpone (masCARpone, masCARpone) and have heard some say you can sub cream cheese in its place, but I am very glad that we were able to try the real thing. While its texture is similar to cream cheese, macarpone has a very rich, buttery flavor and feel - much more decadent than cream cheese.

Fettucine with Macarpone and Sage-Walnut Brown Butter

The first dish we tried was a recipe from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. It is a simple pasta dish with mascarpone, walnuts, sage and browned butter. Oh my goodness is this good. The recipe calls for tossing the pasta with the browned butter, sage and walnuts and then topping it off with a dollop of the macarpone/Parmesan mixture. Biting into larger amounts of marcarpone didn't appeal to me; I wanted it to be distributed evenly throughout, so I just mixed it in with everything else. This worked quite well and I was satisfied with my alteration. One note: As terrific as this was the first day, it did not reheat well the next day; it just didn't have much flavor. That's a shame - I love leftover pasta!

Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Macarpone

I was all set to make this pasta dish again to use up the leftover mascarpone - until I came across a this recipe from Cooking Light: Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Mascarpone. This sounded like a marriage made in heaven and it was. Delicious! And simple too. The beef broth and reserved liquid from the dried porcini mushrooms make a lovely, flavorful broth for stirring into the risotto. I had one moment of panic after starting the prep for this recipe - I only had a 1/2 cup of arborio rice left! Rather than abandoning efforts to make this recipe, I simply made up the difference with barley and it worked beautifully. Whew! If you would like to make this more nutritious by using all barley, I think it would turn out very well.

My only other change - in my efforts to use up the rest of the mascarpone, I went over the 1/4 cup called for in this recipe - it ended up somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup. The only bad thing about this recipe? No leftovers (we served it as the main dish). One last note - this risotto dish stayed nice and fluid as we were eating it - it didn't get gummy as risottos often do as they cool down.

So, we tried a new food this week and ended up with 2 excellent recipes. The Jack Bishop dish is quite rich and will have to be a once in a while recipe, but I noticed that Cooking Light had another risotto recipe with macarpone and leeks.........going to have to give that one a try too!

Weekly Recap 1/20/08

Sunday
Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Madeira Sauce (new)
Roasted Cauliflower (new)
whole grain rice
Marcy's Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies (new)

Monday
Fettucine with Mascarpone and Sage-Walnut Brown Butter (new)
mixed veggie salad

Tuesday
from the freezer: Creamy Tomato Soup
(this soup reheated very nicely)
grilled cheese on whole wheat
sliced pear

Wednesday
Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers with Black Bean Salsa (new)

Thursday
Sandwiches from Wegmans

Friday
Taco Salad
(Romaine lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, black beans, avocado
crushed tortilla chips, 95% lean hamburger with taco seasoning and Cool Chipotle-Lime Dressing)

Saturday
Quesdillas made from taco salad leftovers
sliced apple

Featured Recipe:

Creamy Tomato Soup

Salmon recipe from Rachael Ray

One of these days I need to have a marathon blogging session to try to catch up on all the recipes we're making, but one quick post will have to do for tonight....

We tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago - it's from the 365: No Repeats cookbook. It's a very colorful dish and pretty easy to throw together. Although Rachael's recipes usually take me longer than the supposed 30 minutes, they do tend to be complete meals, evening things out in the end.

Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon with Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad

This salmon recipe was good, but not spectacular. The flavors on the salmon itself - lime, honey and chili powder - didn't do much for me, but then I tend to like very strong flavors on salmon. It wasn't bad by any means, it just didn't stand out. I did, however, very much enjoy the black bean salad. I'm not sure the spinach really belongs, but it melded nicely, added color and nutrition - all pluses in my book. And it certainly was healthful and summery - as much as I love wintry comfort food, it's nice to have a bit of summer in January.

Like I said, short and sweet. That's the only way I'm going to get it all done!

Weekly Recap 1/13/08

This week in our kitchen:

Sunday
Work gave us a free turkey for Christmas, so we had a little mini-Thanksgiving...
*Turkey
*mashed potatoes
*stuffing
*green beans with roasted shallots and balsamic

Monday
*Hamburgers, bun, cheese
*sweet potatoes with olive oil, garlic and chipotle
*sliced pear

Tuesday
Leftovers!

Wednesday
*Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder
*whole grain sourdough bread

Thursday
*Baked Ravioli
(Wegmans ravioli baked in homemade marinara with fresh spinach, topped with
romano cheese)
*cucumber and tomato salad

Friday
*Turkey Jambalaya (see below)
*sliced apple

Saturday
*Hearty Sausage and Lentil Soup (new)
*roasted garlic bread from Wegmans



Featured Recipe: Turkey Jambalaya

This one is a family favorite. It's easy to throw together and is a great way to use up leftover turkey (which we had from our meal on Sunday). It may not be a totally authentic or traditional jambalaya - for one, it's missing the celery that's part of the holy trinity of Cajun cooking - but it's darned tasty for relatively little effort.

Yet another Chocolate Chip Cookie.....

I've said it before, but really, you can't ever try too many chocolate chip cookie recipes. This one caught my attention because the person who posted it on the CLBB said the cookies didn't spread as much as Toll House cookies do. I love Toll House, but they do indeed have a tendency to spread a bit too much at times.

Marcy's Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies

As promised, and as you can see, they did not spread out thin as many buttery cookies can do but I could tell when I pulled them out of the oven and transferred them to the cooling rack that they were going to be a bit cakey. They are a bit chewy around the edges, but the middles are soft and cake-like; I tend to prefer a very chewy cookie, more like Toll House.

Other reviewers claimed this recipe did not turn out cakey for them, however, and at least one poster speculated that perhaps my leaving out the chopped chocolate was to blame. The recipe called for 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of chopped chocolate - I tend to like more cookie than chocolate, so I stuck with just the two cups of chocolate chips. So, it's possible that the adding more chocolate, especially smaller pieces that would have melted into the dough - might have lead to a chewier end product. I also used an off-brand of salted butter (all that could be found in a rush trip to the local convenience store), so that may also have been to blame.

In any case, these were very good cookies -buttery and delicious-tasting - and I certainly didn't have any problem eating 4 of them yesterday, cake-like or not.

Carrot-Ginger Slaw

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Here in Los Angeles, we are experiencing the "dead of winter."

Ironically, that translates to picture perfect weather all around.

Which is why, the Ombudsman and I went over to the beach yesterday for Bloody Mary's and a bit of splashing around.

There wasn't a tourist for miles...the air was clean (as clean as it can be I suspect), and the gulls are out of town. The waves were big and the light was bright. It was just wonderful. Just, wonderful.

Ah, LA, how I love you so.

Winter at its finest.

And now for a recipe. A slight variation on my previously posted, Moroccan Carrot Salad, this may look similar and has a bit of spice too, but it's an all-together different experience.

Bright and sunshiny, crunchy and divine.

Try it my peaches, and taste the joy.

6 carrots, peeled
1 cup chopped parsley
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground Szechuan peppercorns
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated - use a Microplane for this!
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Sesame seeds and more parsley for garnish

Using the large holes on your box grater (or the shredder disc on a food processor), shred the peeled carrots.

Toss that with the parsley.

In another bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, Szechuan pepper, ginger (and the juice!), mayo and sesame oil. Taste and adjust to your taste. (And add salt.)

Stir that into the carrots, let rest for a few moments, garnish then enjoy!

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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has developed a coding system that explains where a meal was caught. That code often appears on fresh and frozen fish sold in the United States and Europe, but deciphering it requires specialized knowledge (FAO Zone 34 is Ghana, for example). - NY Times

Looking for flavored salts created in Los Angeles? Salt + Artistry = Saltistry

Baby carrots are full-grown carrots cut into 2-inch sections, pumped through water-filled pipes into whirling cement-mixer-size peelers and whittled down. Miniature carrots are the brainchild of Mike Yurosek of Newhall, Calif. Baby carrots come from one place: Bakersfield, Calif. The state produces almost three-quarters of U.S. carrots. - USA Today

Skillet Pasta

This recipe is another skillet dish from The Best 30-Minute Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I really love that they concentrate no only on dishes that are easy to prepare, but also on meals that are easy to clean up. Who cares if it only takes you 30 minutes to prepare if it takes you another 30 minutes to clean up? Main dishes that are prepared entirely in one dish certainly help to keep the overall time spent in the kitchen way down.

This dish is creamy and cheesy and delicious, but obviously rather high in fat and calories compared to what we normally cook here. Still, you can enjoy a dish like this as part of a healthful lifestyle if you keep the portion sizes down and pair it with a low-fat side dish like a nice tossed salad. This recipe claims 4 servings, but it made closer to 6 smallish servings for us - and a small serving is all you need as it is quite rich.

Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi

The major change I made to this recipe was to cut back the water by 3/4 cup. It was actually an accident - I discovered the mistake in time to correct it, but I decided that it looked like there was plenty of liquid already. Sure enough, there ended up being plenty of sauce - any more liquid and I think it would have been too runny. The blend of cheeses is quite nice - the g
Gorgonzola adds a nice sharpness and tang without overpowering the other cheeses.

This isn't something I would make all the time, but a rich, cheesy dish like this sure hits the spot once in a while.

5 Things… (meme)

I was tagged for this meme by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla

Here are the questions and my answers….
What were you cooking/baking 10 years ago?
On my own? Nothing. But I was helping my grandfather to bake cakes for Christmas, Easter & other occasions. That’s how my adventure with cooking/baking begins in a first place.

What were you cooking/baking one year ago?
What was on the top of my list? Iced buns (I think it’s called a Swiss Iced Finger). It looks like this:

I was also baking/cooking traditional polish Poppy Seed Cake & yeast-cake, Monkey bread and great casserole with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots & sunflower seeds under béchamel. There were more, but those above were my best.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Cini Minis;
2. Bacon prunes;
3. Chicken, rise and pineapple salad;
4. cashew with raisins
5. And most of crunchy snacks

Five recipes you know by heart:
Grilled porkneck or spare ribs
Prunes in bacon
Poppy seed cake
Summer apple pie
Polish white borscht

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:
1. large kitchen with traditional bread stove
2. more expensive ingredients, like sea food
3. sushi at least once a week
4. really expensive (best quality) kitchen appliances like food-processor
5. my very own wine-cellar (full of course)

Five foods you would love to cook/bake:
1. crème brûlée
2. Obelix’s style, whole wild boar
3. few medieval (and older) traditional dishes
4. to brew my own beer
5. Mazurek Kajmakowy - basically it's a shortcake with fudge on top and looks like this
or this:

or however you want :} Generaly its traditional Easter cake, but ornamentation depends mostly on your ability and imagination.

Five foods you cannot/will not eat:
1. milk – I have allergy
2. raw meat
3. anything cooked/baked with eyes
4. tomato soup
5. sweet meat (like made with raisins)

Five favorite culinary toys:
1. meat rolling-pin (yup, that’s right – newest polish invention. It looks like normal rolling-pin, but has spikes like meat hammer/tenderizer). It may spin, or you can tide up this screw
2. silicon baking mold
3. whisk
4. silicon brush
5. special pannikin with flour sieve on the bottom

Five dishes on your "last meal" menu:
1. Sushi
2. Grilled porkneck or spare ribs

3. Some sea food

4.Botle of Porto

5. Polish doughnuts (I fry them myself with self made rose petals preserve). Should look like this:

Five happy food memories:

1. baking with my grandfather.

2. Many moments, when I baked/cooked for my friends

3. cooking for 120 people on boy scout camp in a middle of tank range (challenging, but also very happy moment)

4. visiting with my friends the Capio D’oro - best restaurant on Mazury (polish Land of Thousand Lakes)

5. dinner on kayak in a middle of a lake or on the river bank.

I would love to find out about some other bloggers as well so I’m tagging for this meme:

Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini
Scott of RealEpicurean
Sean of Hedonia
Simon of Plate of the Day

Spiced Lentils with Spinach

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India.

I've never been.

Have you?

I was supposed to go once, but at the time things just didn't work out. (And thank goodness for that. My father took my brother instead and they bonded and went hiking. For weeks. Shudder. Wow is that ever not my idea of a party.)

Actually, my father goes all the time it seems. World traveler type and all. The Ombudsman went for a few months after college. My sweet aunts even went last year, and took such pretty pictures too. And my darling cousin (I only have three cousins all told, by the way. We are a small family. Close knit and tres international.) e is there as I type. But not as a tourist...he went because he needed to talk to a man about a girl.

See, he asked that girl to marry him, and needed to check in with her father.

And guess what that means peaches? It means I'm going to India! For a wedding! Yea for me.

I am beyond psyched. Oh baby oh baby oh baby. I'm thinking I will wear an orange sari, with my hair down and sort of wavy, and loads of bangles and gold eyeshadow. Am I allowed to wear a sari? Gosh, I hope so. I've always wanted to!

Okay, so, outfit aside, I am extremely over the moon happy for TM and VN and cannot wait to touch down and start eating. Talk about my kinda food. Ooh-eee.

In the mean time, (the wedding isn't until late summer or early fall...they are consulting with an astrologer for an exact date...) I made this the other night...it's warm and hearty and filling and divine.

Try it my peaches, and taste the joy.

1 1/2 cups dried brown lentils
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup fresh cilantro
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp ground coriander
6 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tbsp salt
6 cups fresh spinach leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup small shapes of dried pasta (I used orzo)
Plain yogurt for garnish (optional)

Put the lentils in a bowl, cover with cold water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.

While they are soaking, put the garlic, cilantro leaves and stems in a food processor and process to a paste.


Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cilantro paste and gently fry until it is browned all over. Stir in the ground coriander. Add the stock to the pan. Drain the soaked lentils and add them to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender.


Season the broth and add the spinach and pasta. Bring back to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for a further 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls to serve.

Garnish with optional yogurt

Makes 8 - 1o hearty servings



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This isn't actually an Indian recipe...it's a variation on a Lebanese Rishta (lentils with pasta).

Coriander is mentioned as an aphrodisiac in The Tales of the Arabian Nights.

"Every good wine is someone's passion, which makes each bottle a work of art." - WSJ.com

Weekly Recap 1/6/08

This is what went on in my kitchen last week:

Sunday
*Polenta with Sausage Ragu
(made up on the fly - based on this recipe)
*tomato-cucumber salad

Monday
Our traditional New Year's Eve Appetizer Night!
*Sausage Stuffed French Bread (new)
*Pancette Crisps with Goat Cheese and Pear (new)
*Sea Scallops with Minted Pea Puree on Potato Chips (new)
*Crispy Cheese Rounds (t&t)
*Mushroom Crescents (t&t)

Tuesday
*Red Lentil and Basmati Rice Croquettes with Romaine-Mango Salad and Cucumber Raita (new)
*salad

Wednesday
Leftovers - time to clean out that fridge!

Thursday
*Wegmans cheese pierogies
*Wegmans tomato soup
*sliced pear

Friday
*Pasta Quatro Fromaggio (new)
*salad

Saturday
*Lime-and-Honey-Glazed Salmon with Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad (new)
*jasmine rice

Sunday
Work gave us a free turkey for Christmas, so we had a little mini-Thanksgiving...
*Turkey
*mashed potatoes
*stuffing
*green beans with roasted shallots and balsamic

Potato Soup with Fire Roasted Vegetables

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I suppose, that somewhere in my mind, people visit this site for the recipes, and not for my witty banter.

It's a supposition that calms me. Since I kinda-sorta dig my recipes (fancy that!) and am pretty sure my girly life is hardly fodder for an interesting read. (Debatable, sure, but still my contention.) A redundant read, yes, but compelling...not so much.

I am toying (as I write) with the idea of writing a template post and just changing the adjectives with each passing post, to fill this space, without having to drive you to utter and complete boredom.

It would go something like this:

Hi (Peaches, Darlings, My Dears, Cats and Kittens)!

Today I (headed out, ventured, traipsed, found my self at, was abducted and taken) to (a party, bbq, a sailing excursion, random event, the farmers market, on vacation, and/or got lost in the dreaded Valley) with (The Ombudsman, The Rock Goddess, The Hostess, The Pastry Chef, Charlie, my abductor, a Steve McQueen impersonator...)

On the way there, I (got lost, got inspired, was trapped in a paparazzi-induced traffic jam, detoured through the dreaded Valley) and was (uncharacteristically late, perpetually early, caught in the rain, dazzled by the amazing weather, distracted by a fleeting glimpse of an Olsen twin).

When I arrived, I was (surrounded by striking writers, overdressed for the occasion, under-dressed for the weather, ladened with food, giddy with delight, balancing three platters, four platters, six platters and a pitcher of pre-mixed cocktails) but still managed to find my way in and (got tipsy too quickly, ate myself silly, bowled over by the winter theme - replete with snow - in this heat, un-impressed with the star turn out, blase about the star turn out, bemused by the star turn out, pleased in general, ready to get the party started)

We all (ate, drank, debauched, were demure, giggled, chatted, enjoyed, reveled, huddled for warmth under the heat lamps, melted into chaise lounges) and (lazed the day away, partied the night away, stood on deck - mesmerized by the sea, drowned in a pool of cliches). Overall it was a (rockin' good time, delightful soiree, mind-bending experience, beyond words, chic and fab, too wanton to print, utterly fantabulous.) and I (wish you were there, wish I could remember more details, wish I had enlisted a driver, wish I could figure out my on-board navigation system and hadn't ended up in the Valley, wish you all a day as fun, wish I had taken the weather in to account when I threw on that sheer sheath.)

And since (I made such a tasty dish, ate such a tasty dish, was given the recipe for such a tasty dish) I simply must share.

So try this my (peaches, loves, angels, dears) and taste the joy.


2 large baking/Idaho Potatoes
6 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 jalapeno peppers
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
1 cup corn (in LA, there is (oddly) still/already corn available at the Farmers Market, so I just went for it. )
1 large zucchini
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt

Heat a dry (cast iron) pan over medium high heat. Add the whole jalapeno peppers and let blacken. This may make your kitchen smoke, so make sure the fan is on, or a window is open. When charred, remove and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let steam that way for at least 5 minutes.

Toast the corn in the same dry skillet until slightly charred. Remove and set aside. Repeat with diced squash.

Roast the red and green bell peppers over an open flame, or under the broiler. When blackened, repeat the process you did for the jalapenos.

Dice your bell peppers and jalapenos.

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Simmer in the vegetable stock with the tomato paste, until soft, about 15 minutes. When the are soft, turn off the heat and let cool slightly then puree with an immersion blender,or in a large blender (keeping in mind not to fill the blender up more than half way, or else it will explode. Kaboom. Soup on the ceiling.) Add salt to taste, and the smoked paprika.

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Looking for somewhere to eat in the San Fernando Valley? And I do hope that my darling Valley readers, should there be any, know I'm just teasing...it's a lovely place. I'm sure.

Starbucks ousted CEO Jim Donald yesterday and said that, effective immediately, Mr. Schultz, the chairman, will take on the additional role. Mr. Schultz, 54 years old, came to the Seattle coffee company in 1982 when it had four locations and nurtured it to become the empire it is today. Serving as CEO from 1987 to 2000, he presided over the company's 1992 public offering. Starbucks now has more than 15,000 locations around the globe, products on supermarket shelves and its own record label.

Smoked paprika, hails specifically from La Vera, Spain. It is available as sweet, bittersweet, and hot. - Big Oven.com

Spicy Marinated Peppers & Tomatoes

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Well my little peaches, how are you today?

All settled in to 2008?

That's good to hear, my dears!

I am geared up for all sorts of happy changes myself. And thinking positive isn't the only plate du jour. Oh, no, I've got recipes too. Scads of them. And I think I shall share them with you. Novel, I know.

So to really kick off this bright and shiny new year, I present a salad that I just cannot get enough of.

It's just fab, and a snap to get mixed on up. And after eating it for two days, I minced it up and added it to some tuna salad, to ward off palate boredom of course...mmm, mmm, mmm.

Do try it my loves, and taste the joy.

3 large red bell peppers
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, in oil
1 large ball, mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Olive oil

Over an open flame, roast the peppers until good and charred. Remove from the flame and put into a bag or a bowl with some plastic wrap over it to capture the steam. When they have steamed for awhile, carefully remove, rinse off the charred skin, and pull off the top and out the seeds.

Slice the peppers into long strips.

Rinse off the cheese, and slice the ball in half, then slice the halves into slices.

Stir everything else together, except the oil, in a container that it just fits in. Taste and add pepper and salt as needed. Now toss with a really good amount of oil. Enough so that it pools at the bottom of your container.

Let marinate 1 day. Then serve.

Serves four.

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Are you reading celebrity gossip blog Breakfast at Tiffany's?

McDonald’s is selling more burgers than at any time since it arrived in Britain 34 years ago. Despite concerns about obesity, there were more than 88 million visits to the “Golden Arches” around the UK last month alone. The figure is up nearly 10 million on the previous year, or roughly 320,000 more each day — equivalent to the population of Cardiff. Sales in this financial year are growing at close to the fastest rate since the late 1980s. - TimesOnline.co.uk

Most buffalo mozzarella available in the United States is made from a combination of water buffalo milk and cow's milk. - VirtualItalia.com

Simplicity Deconstructed

Okay, Erika, here they are! ;-) Finally......

This recipe is actually from the Spring part of A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, but what the heck - why not bring a little spring in? This recipe consists of 3 parts, the croquettes, the raita and the salad. As a whole, the recipe looks a little complicated, but each part is actually very simple and comes together quite quickly. It just takes a little planning since the lentil-rice mixture needs to be chill for 2 hours before hitting the pan.

The lentil-rice croquettes are seasoned with ginger and curry, but any combination of Indian-inspired spices would work well here. The croquettes were very good, but I thought they could use just a little more flavor and a little bit of heat (especially as a contrast to the cool raita). The raita is a simple combination of cucumber, garlic and yogurt.

Red Lentil and Basmati Rice Croquettes with Romaine-Mango Salad and Cucumber Raita

What really surprised me though, was the romaine-mango salad. It's simple combination of lettuce, mango, lime juice, EVOO and salt. I could have eaten an entire bowl of this salad alone - there was just something about the fresh, simple flavors that really won me over and reminded me that sometimes less is more.

The only thing that I did not like about this dish is how it's constructed. You pile the salad, croquettes and raita on a pita - it looks pretty, but then what? It's difficult to eat - trying to cut through the toasted pita with a fork and knife while also trying not to turn everything into a big pile of mush. I would serve the toasted pita on the side next time - brush it with a little olive oil and season it a bit - it just didn't work as a base for me. Or - stuff it all inside the pita as one would do with falafel - that might work as well.

I feel indebted to this recipe for showing me you don't have to be afraid to simply let the flavor of fresh ingredients stand on their own and hopefully I will be able to incorporate this principle into my cooking more and more.

Good old Meat and Potatoes!

Since my family has been so tolerant of my recent run on vegetarian recipes, I decided to "reward" them with a good old comfort food meal of meat and potatoes.

I read good reviews of a pot roast recipe on the CLBB, so I gave it a try. I used my Le Creuset Dutch oven - it's not oval, but the chuck roast (2.5-3 pounds) fit in it just fine. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but I used little white creamer potatoes instead of Yukon gold.

Classic Beef Pot Roast

Once everything was finished cooking I had DH shred the meat while I dealt with the potatoes. Instead of eating the potatoes as is, I decided to mash them - along with a bit of light sour cream, a bit of cream cheese and a bit of butter. This was a great way to make mashed potatoes - cooking the potatoes right along with the roast allowed them to soak up a little more flavor and saved an extra cooking pot to wash later. They were delicious.

Overall, the recipe was very good, but I think we might prefer the Merlot Pot Roast. However, I'm glad we tried this recipe - I definitely will cook the potatoes like this again.

Celery Root with Capers

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In life, there are some people you wouldn't mind being stuck in an elevator with.

And as with life, there are some people that you fear being stuck in an elevator with.

I have found myself "stuck in the elevator" over the years, with some profoundly boring people, or worse...the ones who don't like food. But in a wonderful change of pace, I was recently cloistered up with someone who changed my life, changed my perspective and offered me the opportunity to take hold of my dreams. A pretty lucky thing, indeed.

And that, darlings, is how my 2007 ended. I hope yours was as good.

Viva 2008.

Now try this wintery delight my peaches, and rejoice in the prospects of your new year.

1 large celery root
3 teaspoons real mayonnaise
3 teaspoons whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon style mustard
1 teaspoon champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup capers
Salt and pepper to taste

Carefully peel the celery root. Slice into thin matchsticks.

Drain and rinse the capers and rough chop.

Toss all the ingredients together, then let rest five minutes to let the flavors meld.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve at room temperature.

Makes enough for four as a side dish.

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"Depending on your gut bacteria, that doughnut might have more calories for you — possibly as much as 30 % more — than for your neighbor.” and "the liver best detoxifies booze between 5 and 6 p.m" Facts from “Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream,” by Jennifer Ackerman

Invented in St. Joseph, Missouri and introduced in 1889; Aunt Jemima pancake flour was the first commercially sold, ready-mix food.

The 13th annual Great Fruitcake Toss is taking place in Manitou Springs, Colorado this weekend

A few good recipes that got lost along the way....

There were a few recipes we tried and really liked that I never got around to getting a photo of, but I want to share them just the same. All of these recipes made our top 20 favorite new recipes of 2007.

The first recipe, Smokey Mushroom Ragout from Cooking Light, is a vegetarian dish with a layer of polenta that is topped with a tomato, mushroom and chipotle mixture and finished with a sprinkling of queso fresco. The polenta is baked in a 9x13-inch dish in the oven which takes more time than the more traditional stovetop method, but it does free you up to tackle the mushroom layer. I really enjoyed the flavor combinations in this dish. I used a combination of cremini and shiitake mushrooms which worked just fine in place of the harder-to-find oyster mushrooms. If at all possible, do not skip the queso fresco on top; this cheese was the perfect flavor complement to the spicy mushroom mixture - not too strong, not too salty, not too mild - just right.

A while back, I tried a stuffed chicken breast recipe from Cooking Light and was very pleased to discover just how easy they are to prepare - they always look and sound fancy or complicated. Encouraged, I have been meaning to try more recipes and finally tried Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Garlic and Goat Cheese. We had plain goat cheese on hand (I buy large logs and vacuum pack them), so instead of spending money on herbed goat cheese, I simply mashed our plain goat cheese with some dried Italian Herb seasoning. The only hard part about this recipe is remembering to start far enough in advance since the garlic needs to roast for an hour. I also love the flexibility of stuffed chicken breasts - it's very easy to accommodate my son who dislikes goat cheese - he can have provolone or mozzarella instead.

Over the holidays, we tried two new salads. For Thanksgiving, I was in charge of bringing the salad. I wanted to try something new and stumbled on one over at Epicurious - Mixed Green Salad with Oranges, Dried Cranberries and Pecans - that sounded perfect for a Thanksgiving meal. Not only did oranges, cranberries and pecans pair well with the rest of the meal, it was a nice, light complement to all of the other carb-heavy foods. The salad really couldn't be simpler - just a few ingredients and very little prep work, but lots of fresh flavors. This one will definitely stay on our repeater list. Note: I did not boil the dried cranberries - I agreed with the other reviewers who said they thought the dried cranberries would add more texture as is, rather than softened.

Right after Thanksgiving, we prepared dinner for family visiting from out of town and tried another Epicurious salad - Almond-Crusted Goat Cheese Salad with Raspberry Dressing. Another Epicurious salad, another winner. The goat cheese was luscious - warm and creamy with a pleasing crunch from the almonds. The raspberry dressing was a huge hit, especially with my youngest - he was dragging out the bag of mixed greens for several days afterward, just so he could have more dressing. The goat cheese rounds are a bit time-consuming and messy to assemble, but they can be done ahead of time and kept in the fridge until you are ready to bake them. Note: I added much less olive oil then the recipe indicates - I just added oil until I thought the dressing was thin enough.

I hate posts with no pictures, but these recipes were just too good not to share.

2 More Vegetarian Recipes....

Here are two more from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen.....

My DH and kids have been liking these new recipes pretty well, but as they finish, they often say, "This would be really good with sausage." Ah well, at least they are adventurous and pretty willing to try it all. And they do like it, they just like a nice meat and potato dish better - but then again, sometimes, so do I!

Seared Tempeh Wraps with Thai-Style Peanut Sauce

These two dishes revolve around tempeh. The first is a wrap - the tempeh is marinated in a peanut sauce and then seared (though I cook it longer to get the bitter taste out) and is then paired with a simple salad tossed in the leftover peanut sauce. We liked it, but the peanut sauce is a bit gummy - I think it could use a tablespoon or two of oil to help make it more fluid. Jack Bishop doesn't tend to shy away from using oil in this cookbook, so I'm not sure why he didn't put a little in this sauce, I really think it would help. Of course I could always just use Cooking Light's Finger Lickin' Peanut Sauce instead - it's delicious. These wraps also made nice leftovers for bringing to work.

Curried Tempeh with Brown Rice and Peas

Next, it was a tempeh curry dish. I really liked the method of cooking the tempeh in this recipe. You boil the tempeh in a mixture of water, tamari and Indian spices. You could use any spices you like best here - again, a very adaptable recipe. The tempeh is then fried in a little canola oil for added flavor and even better texture. The tempeh is added to a mixture of rice, onions and peas. Nothing earth-shattering as far as flavors go in this recipe, just a nice mix of Indian spices and a method of cooking tempeh that really appeals to me - boiling it in the flavorful mixture really imparted great taste to the tempeh with little effort. And you could easily skip the frying and just add the tempeh as is if you are looking to reduce our fat intake - it would still be plenty flavorful enough.

Later this week, I will share a recipe we tried last night from this cookbook that was out of this world - Red Lentil and Basmati Rice Croquettes with Romaine-Mango Salad and Cucumber Raita........yum!

Spicy Szechuan Green Beans

Ingredients:
1 dish of green bean, tip trimmed
¼ pound ground beef
Minced garlic, ginger, shallot (2-3 table spoon total)
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
Chinese dried shrimp (soaked)

Seasoning:

Cooking oil
Xiao-shing wine
Dark soy sauce
Ground black pepper
Sugar
Sesame oil

Preparation:

Deep fry green beans on high heat until slightly golden colour, drain and set aside.

Add oil to wok and heat wok over high heat. Sauté garlic, ginger, shallot, jalapeno pepper and Chinese dried shrimp.

Add ground beef and sauté until brown.

Add green beans.

Add Xiao-shing wine, dark soy sauce, sugar, and ground black pepper, stir fry until mixed.

Add sesame oil to taste.

Skillet Strata

Before I share this delicious recipe, I wanted to point out that I've added a couple of things to my sidebar. I've added a search feature, so that you can search this blog and I've added a cookbook library. I know I've said that I'm not really big on cookbooks and don't have very many, but I've found that I'm using them more and more lately. I'm also adding labels to my sidebar for any cookbooks I post recipes for.

On to the recipe.....

I got 2 cookbooks for Christmas and one was Cook's Illustrated's The Best 30-Minute Recipe. I had not had a chance to hit the store since we returned from our Christmas trip, so when I flipped through it on Thursday, I was pleased to find a recipe that not only sounded yummy, but we had everything we needed on hand.

I love stratas, but you usually need to plan ahead since most require a soaking period. This recipe intrigued me because it's a strata that does not require an overnight stay in the fridge and because you start it and finish it in the skillet. So not only is it quick, it's a one dish meal - bonus!

The Cook's Illustrated recipe lists several variations to their skillet strata - it was the spinach variation that caught my eye. The recipe calls for 5 slices of quality sandwich bread - we used leftover sourdough scraps.

Digression alert! (Side story: On our way home from Virginia on Wednesday, we stopped at Panera for lunch. Panera serves a piece of sourdough baguette as a side to most of their sandwiches, salads and soups. We often don't have room to eat this yummy bread, so I told everyone to save their bits of leftovers, knowing I'd be able to use them for something - even if it was just to make breadcrumbs. Then this recipe popped up the next day. So, save those scraps of bread - you never know what you might be able to do with them.) End of digression.

Skillet Strata with Spinach and Smoked Mozzarella

The other changes I made were to substitute skim milk for whole, sub scallions for onion, cut down on the butter, and to use smoked mozzarella instead of smoked Gouda. No problem. That's the beauty of recipes like these - you can use whatever breads, cheeses, vegetables or meats you have on hand. The cookbook also recommends several variations, leaving out the spinach and using 1 small onion, chopped: sub 1 cup of cheddar for the mozzarella; 4 slices of bacon, omit thyme, use pepperjack cheese and 2 scallions; 8 ounces of sausage and 1 cup Gruyere.

The results were quick and tasty. It's so nice to know that we can have strata on a last minute impulse.

Vegetarian Recipes to Share....

DH decided that it was high time that our local library got their copy of A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen back, so he bought me my very own copy. As we joked, this purchase is something that he'll enjoy as much as I do because he gets to eat the results.

The biggest wow to come out of this cookbook so far for me, was the Creamy Tomato Soup (which really has no cream at all). All of the other recipes have been very good, but that one was truly stellar. Although I will say that the photography will not reflect the yummy tastes in some of these photos. I miss the summer when there is plenty of natural light - that and some foods, like tempeh, just don't tend to photograph all that well. But anyway......

It's been fun having lots of time to blog - even if I didn't get much of anything else done - but tomorrow it's back to work, so I'm going to knock off a couple recipes at a time here. The first two I'll share are Mexican-flavor inspired dishes.

The first recipe - Black Bean Chilaquiles - is one of those dishes where the photo doesn't translate so well. Chilaquiles are a Mexican dish where corn tortilla chips are simmered in a spicy sauce (chile, bean, etc.) and then topped with cheese. The resulting dish is flavorful and yummy, but it's sort of a mish-mosh and therefore not very easy to photograph.

Black Bean Chilaquiles
(It's hard to see through all of the cheese, sour cream and avocado,
but the black beans and tortillas are under there somewhere!)

In this version, you make your own corn tortilla chips by cutting corn tortillas into triangles, coating them with oil and baking them in the oven. As the tortillas bake, you start on the black bean sauce, adding the crisp tortillas in at the end to form a thick mixture. The black bean and tortilla mixure is topped with queso fresco, a sour cream-lime sauce and diced avocado.

We liked this dish quite well and it certainly has a lot of room for tinkering - you could use different sauces, veggies or meats and have a slightly different version every time. I kept everything in the skillet instead of transferring it to a platter (no need to dirty another dish when it's just us) and one other thing I'd do differently is to stick the skillet under the broiler briefly to melt the cheese before adding the sour cream and avocados.

Garlicky Mushroom Quesadillas with Tomatillo-Chile Salsa

Continuing on the Mexican theme, we also tried a recipe for mushroom quesadillas. These quesadillas pair garlicky cremini mushrooms with Monterey Jack cheese inside flour tortillas that are topped off with a tomatillo-chile salsa. A very simple dish that goes together quite quickly and reminds you that you don't need to get very fussy to produce yummy food.

Tune in tomorrow for tempeh...........