The leading authority on basketball cupcakes and Basil-Lime martinis…
“Recipe” here.
So, I feel guilty even calling this a “recipe,” because it is so simple, but it was delicious and was a fantastic way to use up some leftover Halloween candy. It’s a kind of make-your-own Chubby Hubby. This was quite good and would be fancy enough to serve for a casual dinner party with friends, but takes mere minutes to compose (although it must sit in the freezer for a while afterward.)
Recipe here.
I was prepared for this to be healthy and I figured that Vegetarian Girl would like it, but I have to say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was and at the fact that ALL of us liked it. It was rich without being too heavy and was VERY flavorful. I was afraid that the squash wouldn’t cook well and would stay unappetizingly crunchy, but they didn’t. I did use a bit more dough than the recipe called for, because of the package size of the dough that I bought, so I might double up accordingly on the toppings next time, but it was quite, quite good. I didn’t serve it with the arugula, but did some kale chips, instead. This will be a definite repeat. I’ll probably add a bit more thyme next time, too.
Recipe here.
This was delicious. Both spicy and sweet. Delicious with veggies to dip, but would also be fantastic with pita chips or as a spread on a veggie sandwich. I’m always looking for healthy snacks for Vegetarian Girl and this one was a hit and was surprisingly easy. I actually used pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper instead of the honey and crushed red pepper, because I just happened to have both on hand, but I’m sure it would be fine with whatever you have.
Recipe here.
OK, so there are very few recipes that would actually live up to a promise like that, but this is one of them. This was moist and light and VERY flavorful. Quite tasty. The Meyer lemons are a fun novelty, if you can find them, but this would also be fantastic if you made it with plain old regular lemons.
I have a long, narrow loaf pan that I bought from The Baker’s Catalogue that I used for this and it made lovely little dainty-sized slices. It’s ceramic, rather than the metal recommended in the recipe, but it still worked fine.
FYI – Meyer Lemons are a little darker in color and sweeter in flavor than regular lemons.
Recipe here.
Made these for Boy’s birthday breakfast. Pray for me; I officially have two teenagers in the house!
These were absolutely delicious. They are considerably sweeter than most pancakes recipes (many recipes don’t even contain any sugar,) and so, consequently needed MUCH less syrup over the top of them, but the almond flavor was outstanding and we will DEFINITELY be making these again.
Wondering what to do with the remaining mascarpone (mine came in an 8 oz container) and the remaining almond paste (ditto – 8 oz container?) You can freeze them both (chop/crumble the almond paste first) for a future batch…or you can buy some puff pastry and sliced almonds and make these. You’ll have just enough almond paste. Then, the other 4 ounces of mascarpone? Try this!
YUM! This was SUCH a delicious meal. I had planned on only making the black bean & quinoa salad and grilled chicken, but The Boy was with me at the supermarket and saw corn on the cob and requested this corn, which he loves. It sort “went with” the meal, so I acquiesced.
Black bean and quinoa salad recipe here. This recipe is delicious, but makes a ton, but it also keeps in the fridge fairly well for a day or two and makes a great lunch the next day. If you’re not a fan of leftovers and you’re not feeding a crowd, I’d recommend making a half-batch. It was quite good and pretty simple.
The corn recipe, basically, is here, but I used Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming for the seasoning this time. A universal hit, every time. Have served it for company and always have people ask for the recipe. Boy, in particular, LOVES this stuff.
The chicken is just boneless, skinless thighs sprinkled liberally with this fantastic Adobo seasoning mixture (scroll down) and then grilled. I really love this spice blend and am planning to use it more in the future. It’s great on chicken that you’re planning to put in any kind of Mexican dish (enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, etc.) Achiote/annatto can be a little bit hard to find, but try a Latin market (or the Latin aisle of a large supermarket.) If you’re in Austin, Central Market has whole annatto seeds (in their bulk section) that can be ground in your spice-dedicated grinder.
What? You don’t have one of those?!!?! $20 can fix that. You NEED one. How else can you make garam masala?
*This meal is gluten-free, if you use gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Tofu version
Chicken version
This recipe (which can be found here) was delicious and pretty easy and was also VERY easily adaptable (as outlined in the recipe) to serve both carnivores AND vegetarians. Bonus! This was my first foray into Thai curries (although we LOVE Indian ones) and we all enjoyed it a lot. I used bottled red Thai curry paste, but am going to try to make my own next time. Luckily, most of the ingredients (chiles, galangal, lemongrass, etc.) are pretty easy to find in my gourmet-friendly city and I am lucky enough to have my own Thai lime tree, so can get VERY fresh leaves easily. This will be a definite future repeat.
*This recipe is gluten free, if you use gluten free tamari soy sauce.
(see photo)
Mise en place for curry
Another recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian book.
I can’t find a link to this recipe online, but it’s basically just a vegetarian chili with kidney beans (I used borlotti, which are more pinto-ish, because I already had some soaked and cooked,) served over polenta which has a bit of butter and parmesan cheese added to it. Very yummy dish, but I do feel a little embarassed, as a Texan, to call this “Tex-Mex Chili.” I mean, really…there were no Fritos or onions or grated orange cheese over the top of it. And, HELLO??? There was NO MEAT! And there were LENTILS in it!!! It was good, but this really should be called polenta topped with bean stew or something. I will make this again (with the polenta subbing for the Fritos, it’s kind of an upscale Frito pie,) but will probably adapt my own vegetarian chili recipe to use more Tex-Mex spices and maybe add some textured vegetable protein, to at least make you FEEL like there could be meat in it. I like the combo of polenta and chili, though. Creamy and soft, mixed with warm and spicy.
This recipe is, again, from Madhur Jaffrey’s wonderful World Vegetarian book.
The recipe can be found, more or less, here, but you really should just buy the book to get the more comprehensible version.
This was really tasty. We only had a tiny bit left over for Girl’s lunch the next door. If dried mint is really hard to find (as it was for me,) feel free to use fresh spearmint (not peppermint,) but chop it finely and use less than the recipe calls for (maybe half?) I buy my dried mint (which can also be used in this salad) from Penzey’s.
Another recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian book (I’ve pretty much cooked exclusively from this book this week.)
I can’t find a link to this recipe online anywhere, but you basically crumble a block of tofu, then finely chop some carrot, scallion, shiitake mushrooms, celery, and a bit of hot green chiles (which we left out.) Saute the veggies in a little oil, then combine them with the crumbled tofu, a little soy sauce, some bread crumbs, salt, pepper, chopped cilantro and an egg. Form this mixture into patties (they’ll be fragile,) then dredge them in a little more breadcrumbs and pan-fry them. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes per side, turning them VERY carefully, or they will TOTALLY self-destruct.
Girl LOVED these and said that any other veggie burger (we’ve used a lot of the frozen pre-made ones in the past) pales by comparison. I doubt she’ll ever go back to eating those after having these. I hope that these will freeze well, so that she can occasionally pack one of these in her lunch.
If there is such a thing as gluten-free breadcrumbs (I bet there is) and you use wheat-free soy sauce, these would be gluten free.