The leading authority on basketball cupcakes and Basil-Lime martinis…
Recipe here.
Yum. Loved these. A definite make-again. I acknowledge that the way my family (especially my daughter and I) feels about lentils may not be the norm, but we love them and can’t get enough. They are delicious (especially the French du Puy variety) and peppery and filling and wholesome and healthy and hearty. This is a fantastic recipe to incorporate them.
Recipe here.
I served ours over rice, with crispy kale, rather than with bread, as was suggested in the recipe.
This was fantastic and made the house smell amazing as it was cooking. I made it with 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs, because I had 4 whole legs on hand that I just cut in half. Yummy.
Recipe here.
This was quite yummy, kind of like a hybrid between our favorite Brussels sprouts and Eggs Benedict. The only thing is that it wasn’t quite as tasty as either one is. And, as my 14-year son so accurately pointed out, “Don’t take this the wrong way, Mom, but, even though this tastes really good, it kinda looks like barf.” Can’t really argue with that. And the way that I made it looked exactly like the picture accompanying the recipe, so I can’t really claim cook error for the unattractive nature of the dish. It was tasty, though. Enjoyed it once, probably won’t make it again.
Yum Yum Yum.
This is a concoction inspired by a salad that I had once at the Nordstrom Cafe.
Basically, just layer slow-roasted tomatoes (I made huge batches of these and keep them in ziploc bags in the freezer – they thaw in seconds and are great in salads, pastas, on bruschetta, etc.), sauteed zucchini, and gigante beans (I won’t tell if you substitute canned cannellini beans) on a bed of baby arugula. Top with slivers of fresh basil and a little balsamic vinaigrette, if you’d like. Shaved Parmesan (use a potato peeler) or leftover slices of steak would also be fantastic. Serve with sliced, warm ciabatta bread. Mmmm…wish I had some of this right now.
Vegetarian without the steak, vegan without the cheese (as shown). Gluten-free without the bread, or with GF bread.
Recipe here.
These have been a post-Thanksgiving tradition in our house for the past couple of years. Quite simple, since the sauce starts with canned enchilada sauce, but then is doctored up to make it taste fresh and yummy.
Creamy Curried Butternut Squash Soup
*squash can be roasted ahead of time, peeled and then refrigerated, until needed
* immersion blender or food processor is necessary for this recipe
one very large butternut squash (about 3 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup finely chopped white onion
1 tsp. finely minced garlic (2 to 3 small cloves or 1 very large one)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I usually use vermouth)
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus a little more for roasting the squash
6 ounces Yukon Gold potato (three smallish or one very large one)
1 32-ounce box of vegetable broth
1 1/2 to 2 tsp curry powder
1 13.5 ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk
kosher salt and white pepper to taste
fresh cilantro, optional
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds from each half with a large spoon. Brush all of the cut surfaces very lightly with olive oil. Place the squash halves (cut side up) on a large baking sheet and cook for about 90 minutes.
While the squash is cooking, peel the potato/es and cut them into 2-inch pieces. Next, put them in a small saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them, then sprinkle in about 1 tsp. kosher salt. Bring them to a boil over high heat and cook until they are fork tender. Drain them and set aside, reserving the cooking water.
When squash is done, let it cool enough to handle and gently remove the skin by pulling it off. Also cut off any burned or hardened edges. Some light browning is OK and gives good flavor, so you can leave that, but you just want to remove anything really crunchy or blackened. Set the squash aside.
In a large stockpot (or French/Dutch oven), heat the remaining olive oil until it starts to just barely shimmer. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until they are softened and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to saute for one more minute, stirring constantly. Carefully (it may sputter) pour in the wine or vermouth, stirring the deglaze the pan.
Add the cooked squash and potato and stir to coat the veggie pieces with the wine/onion mixture. Stir in 3 cups of the veggie broth and the can of coconut milk. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of the curry powder. Puree the soup with an immersion blender*, starting at the lowest setting and working up to the medium setting, making sure to puree any lumps. Taste the soup and add more curry powder, if necessary, and/or more vegetable stock, if necessary, to reach the desired consistency. If you need even more liquid to reach the right consistency, add the reserved potato cooking water. Taste the soup again and add kosher salt and white pepper to taste.
* If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can puree the soup, in batches, in a food processor, blender or food mill and then return it to the pot for final seasoning.
Garnish with finely chopped fresh cilantro, if desired.
This is a REALLY delicious soup, but is VERY filling and this recipe makes a LOT. I haven’t tried to freeze it yet, but I’d bet it would freeze nicely. If you have a little leftover New Year’s ham, you could sprinkle some diced ham over the top of the soup to make any carnivores at your house happy. Or maybe a little leftover roasted or grilled chicken, but it’s not necessary. It’s plenty tasty on its own.
Nota bene: I used 1 tsp. of Penzey’s sweet curry powder and 1 tsp. Penzey’s hot curry powder in our version of this soup and it was perfect for us. Not too spicy, but plenty flavorful. Since curry preference is pretty subjective, feel free to add more or less to suit your own taste…just start out with a little, ’cause you can always add more, but can’t remove it, once it’s in.
Recipe here.
An easy and decent chili recipe.
Does that sound like damning by faint praise? Yeah, probably so. I still like my chili recipe better and will probably just stick with that in the future.
Recipe here.
Very quick, easy and tasty. I used halved grape tomatoes, instead of the chopped, ’cause we like those. Loved the subtle mint and cinnamon flavors.
Recipe here.
These were tasty and surprisingly easy. There was a lot of chopping onions and shredding sweet potatoes and washing chard, but once the filling was made (which can easily be done a day ahead,) the turnovers came together very quickly. I made the “big batch” as was specified in the recipe, so that I could prepare some for the freezer, but the pre-made pie crust that I bought had lard in it (oops!), which Vegetarian Girl eschewed, so I made some with butter pie crust for her (recipe here.)
Pizza pancakes recipe here. I left the pepperoni out and made a few “veggie” pancakes for Vegetarian Girl first, and then added the chopped pepperoni, for the rest of us.
Lima beans recipe here.
I’ve been making some weird things with pancakes lately, and this recipe is definitely weird, but it was quick and easy and very tasty. We all really liked them.
The lima beans were even better. They were outstanding. I would NEVER have guessed that frozen lima beans would be so good, but they were fantastic and buttery. I used a larger bag than the recipe called for and didn’t add the final tablespoonful of olive oil that the recipe called for, and I believe it was an improvement. They would have been WAY too oily if prepared exactly according to the recipe.