Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Collards and Rice

This flavorful tofu dish was a nice update to my regular tofu-vegetable-rice stir fry. The combination of the sugary glaze with a lot of lime juice and bitterness from the collard greens was really delicious.

The technique of "dry frying" the tofu (pressing out all the water and letting it sizzle away on a frying pan) makes the tofu much firmer. I think I will do this with tofu from now on.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

This simple black bean and rice recipe comes together in the time it takes to cook the rice (20 minutes). Tastes even better the next day. Add cilantro and chopped radishes for extra flavor and garnish or keep it simple for a quick fix dinner.

Pizza Patate

In my short stint as a baker at Sullivan St. Bakery, I couldn't get enough of this potato pizza. I've been craving it long enough that I finally (somewhat resentfully) caved in and bought Jim Lahey's cookbook. Let's face it, he can cook. I wasn't able to get it as crispy as he does on the top, most likely because I couldn't wait the hours of soaking time to eat it, but I'd suggest following his instructions for soaking the potatoes and try to remove as much water as you can from them in order to get crispy potato topping.

Claude Monet's Vegetable Soup (with matzo balls)

My grandma Judy brings this vegetable soup to Passover each year as a vegetarian option for the soup course. She says it is Monet's own recipe, taken from the cooking journals he kept at Giverny. I'm imagining that Monet was inspired to grow his own vegetables in the beautiful gardens at Giverny for this classical but inventive soup.

The soup bursts with an addictive sort of salty-sweet flavor that pairs so nicely with a matzo ball (which, of course, was added to this recipe post-Monet). I think the shredded sweet potato really does the trick.

To shred the vegetables, use a box grater or the shredding blade on a food processor.

Lemony Lentil Soup

Here is a recipe for a staple lentil soup that is clean and simple, courtesy of my friend Eleonore.  This and the Split Pea Soup posted recently are her two regular soup choices and both are great recipes.  Both are simple, inexpensive, light, vegan, easy on the stomach, and freeze well.  In this recipe, the fresh lemon juice brings out the flavor of the lentils really nicely and makes it so not very much salt is required to get great flavor. 

Split Pea Soup

This is a friend's split pea soup recipe.  She eats very, very healthily but says that this is a recipe that even "regular people" like.  She encouraged me to taste it, and now it is one of my favorite soups.  I admit it doesn't sound or look as good as it tastes, but it really is an excellent soup.  It is healthy, tasty, easy to make, inexpensive, and it freezes well.

I've always made this soup with green split peas, but our grocery store was out of them so I made it with yellow split peas this time.  It tastes exactly the same, but it does change the look.  Feel free to use either kind.

Rigatoni with Butternut Squash

This rigatoni has everything that I love about pasta with cheese sauce.  The thick and creamy sauce fills the pasta and bursts out when you bite into it.  It is inexpensive, comforting, and is ready quickly.  But unlike macaroni and cheese, it can be made completely dairy free and since the sauce is made mostly from pureed squash instead of cheese, it is a much more balanced, healthy meal.  I topped mine with some parmesan cheese and used 2% milk to thin the sauce, but the cheese is not needed and any kind of milk would work (soy, almond, lactaid, rice, etc.)  The sweet and salty in this dish is so comforting, and the fresh chopped basil adds some great dimension to the flavor.  PJ didn't believe me that there was no cheese in it!  Add some grilled chicken to this dish for an even heartier meal.

Pasta with Cauliflower and Spinach

Here's a quick and easy pasta dish that you probably could have thought of yourself, but you didn't.  That's my favorite kind of weeknight dinner recipe - something that you can practically perfect on the first try and that you know you'll like, but that you didn't have to think of on your own.  It's inexpensive and only takes 30 minutes or so to prepare.

This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner.  It's a small book full of quick and simple recipes that you probably could have improvised on your own.  I'm a Bittman fan so I was excited when I found this book on the Give-Away Table in our lobby!  Apparently you can also buy it for five dollars on amazon.com.

Simple Sides - Vegetables

I made the following list of instructions for simple vegetable sides for my husband because he's been cooking a little lately.  I absolutely love eating home-made food that I didn't cook myself so I wanted to make it easy for him to do it often!

The list is of my staple vegetable side dishes that I use if I'm making a simple chicken, fish, or all veggie meal.  Most of them just require great produce, some olive oil and salt, and and a little practice to know exactly when the vegetables are cooked just right.  They are all very quick and easy to make.  In my opinion, there's no reason to potchky with things that are already so good on their own.

Roasted Red Peppers with Cumin

This delicious and colorful salad is great served warm or at room temperature.  Put it out with warm pita and serve as an appetizer, or use it as a topping on toasted baguette slices and serve with a bowl of white bean soup.

If you have a gas range, try roasting the peppers over the open flame instead of broiling them in the oven.  It will save you the time of preheating your oven, and you can more easily tend to them by turning them often with a pair of tongs.  Just be sure to keep a close eye on them and watch out for sparks!

Carrot Spice Muffins

This is the re-mix of Lena's Favorite Blueberry Muffins that I posted last month.  The "spice" comes from a combination of cinnamon, all-spice, and ground cloves.  They are extra moist from mashed bananas, which could be substituted for apple sauce.  Optional additions include raisins, pecans, or walnuts.

We've become kind of dependent on having individually wrapped muffins in the freezer, so I have lots of opportunities to experiment with different types of muffins!  I made three dozen of these so hopefully that will last at least a few weeks.

Spiced Lentil Soup

Here is an easy soup to make, although it does take some time to simmer.  For me it was insanely inexpensive because I already had all of the ingredients in my kitchen except for the canned tomatoes.  So for about $4 we had one tasty dinner for two with gluten-free walnut bread, and I'll have enough for lunch every day this week, too.

It is not necessary to puree the soup if you find you like it better chunky, but I think pureeing it adds some elegance and makes it looks nicer, too.  The spices are really what make this soup, so I really recommend buying any you don't have already and not trying to omit any of them.  Don't skip the lime juice either!  It significantly brightens all the flavors in the dish.

Happy Valentine's Day! Recipe: Stir-Fried Red Cabbage and Winter Squash

PJ's stomach is still not completely healed so I'm trying to get creative to make stir-fried vegetables as exciting as I can.  This combination of red cabbage and bright orange butternut squash is so visually pleasing and really tasty, too.  Next time we have it I'm going to make it with chicken though since I make a similar cold red cabbage and chicken salad that is really good, and PJ still isn't crazy about tofu.  I found this recipe when I was going through the archives of the recipe section in the New York Times.  I realized that the same recipe was actually published twice under different names in 2008 and 2010.  I figure that if this is the recipe they republish when they are out of other good things to write about that it has to be pretty good!

Baking and banking on a SNOW DAY!! With a recipe for All-Bran Strawberry-Banana Muffins

It's a SNOW DAY!!  PJ and I are both off from work so I have the whole day to do a little banking and baking.  First, to the bank where we deposited almost $100 in coins that have building up over the years!

How do you all handle your extra change?  Not to be pretentious, but I don't personally have an extra change problem.  Whenever I buy something I pay in cash and try to give exact change, and it seems to work out pretty well for me.  PJ, however, doesn't have a devoted space in his wallet for change so first it piles up in his pockets, then it begins to spill out piece by piece onto the floor, and finally it is gathered up and thrown into an electric change machine that I bought him a few years ago.  The change machine puts it into the paper rolls and then we bring it to the bank, which probably only happens once every year or two.  I guess it's working out okay, but I'm curious to know if anyone else has a better system?

Dress-Me-Up-Or-Down Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

I walk through Union Square daily now to get to work which means many impulse stops into Whole Foods.  Last week I stopped in for a snack of a deliciously creamy squash soup that was thickened just by pureeing its vegetables and contained no butter or heavy cream.  It really hit the spot for me, but after paying nearly $4.00 for about a cup of their soup I vowed to save some money for the coming week by making a batch of my own.

Lena's Favorite Blueberry All-Bran Muffins

Lena is my beet-loving sister who inspired the golden beet and trout appetizer (posted below) that I made in honor of her engagement to her loving fiance, Matthew.  Since the engagement which was only a few months ago, she has proven to be an excellent bride-to-be in my opinion.  The wedding isn't until August but she already has inspiration for all kinds of good wedding things like colors, jewelry, invitations, and shoes.  Did I mention that I am carrying the important title of Matron of Honor for this wedding?  I may not have, since I tend to be pretty modest about it, but it's true!  Lena at first suggested we go with Person of Honor as my title, which to me sounds more like an award for someone who survived as a POW or took a bullet to save her platoon.  I don't know, maybe she thought matron was unflattering for a pretty young thing like me, or maybe she didn't like the idea of my tending to her at every moment (which I plan to do, btw), but I think I pull it off nicely so MOH it is. 

Comforting Corn Chowder

Check out the new poll feature and vote on your favorite comfort food!  The current poll question is inspired by this corn chowder recipe which is such a great comforter on cold winter days like this one.  The chowder is thickened by pureeing some of its potatoes and corn so it doesn't contain any heavy cream or butter and is completely non-dairy.  If you can find organic potatoes then you can leave the skins on for extra fiber and nutrients.  PJ doesn't usually have a great food memory and often forgets a dish we've eaten by the next day, but he actually asked for me to make this one again!  So it must be pretty good. 

Warming Winter Beet Borscht with Dill

Here is another beet recipe, but this time it is a warm hearty portion of borscht. I never thought that I'd like borscht, mostly because the name is unappealing but also partly because it seems kind of simple and old-fashioned. But I had to share this recipe because it is really amazing! For the little money it costs for the ingredients, you get a huge reward of color, comfort, and taste. I make this in my pressure cooker and it only takes 6 minutes on high pressure, but if you don't own one I've included how to make it by simmering.

Trio of Healthy Heaven: Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Haricots Verts (And a bonus Moroccan Chicken recipe!)

I've been cooking dinners for a neighbor, Eleonore, for a couple of years now . If you can believe it, she has even more diet restrictions than my husband who is trying to cure an ulcer and lower his cholesterol. But she has proved to me that having a fickle diet doesn't have to mean bland food, well, not all the time anyway. This is my favorite Eleonore-inspired dish that I make frequently when I need a quick healthy meal that doesn't sacrifice portion or flavor. Once you have a bite of the warm and comforting sweet potato with the textured and nutty quinoa you will understand where I'm coming from. It's healthy heaven! And the crisp, salty haricots are just the refresher you need before you go back in for another bite of mushy goodness.

Customizable Whole Wheat Linguine with Vegetables and Herbs

This is one of the easiest and tastiest ways I know to make a quick and healthy dinner. All you need to do is make a stir-fry of whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator and then add it to whole wheat pasta. If you keep a box of pasta in your pantry then this is a great way to use up the vegetables that are left at the end of the week. I sometimes like to do the opposite, though, and I buy lots of vegetables specifically for this dish. Then for the rest of the week I not only have yummy leftover pasta to munch on but also a lovely assortment of raw vegetables to roast, steam, or saute for snacks and sides.

My husband is still about three weeks into recovery from an ulcer he developed around Christmas, so I am trying to cook very simple foods without a lot of spices, garlic, dairy, fat, citrus, tomatoes, vinegar....oy the list is too long. We've been doing a lot of veggie stir-fries over rice with fish or chicken, but putting the same stir-fry into a little bit of pasta is a great change! You'd be surprised how much wonderful flavor you get just from the herbs, veggies, and a good whole wheat pasta. This is a dish to play with - everything (except the pasta) is optional so if you don't like an ingredient or are trying to avoid certain foods feel free to look at the variations and customize the dish to your liking.