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.

Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls

My mom's chicken soup with matzo balls is a recipe you'll want to hold onto.  She's served it every year at Passover and Rosh Hashanah for as long as I can remember, and the whole family looks forward to eating it.

As my mom says, it's a chore, but it'll be worth it!  And it's not difficult to make, it just takes time.  On day one, veggies and chicken are simmered for three hours.  Then the veggies and chicken are taken out, the soup is strained, and everything is left to cool.  Then comes the most fun part which is pulling the cooked chicken off the carcass.  My mom loves doing it, but when I was little I thought it was the grossest thing in the world to watch.  But now I realize that there's nothing like sitting down in front of the TV and dissecting some chicken soup chicken.  Finally, the broth is covered and left in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning the fat will have congealed and can be skimmed off the surface.  Matzo balls can be made and all can be served right away or frozen.

Ratatouille Tart

A slice of this ratatouille tart accompanied by some simply dressed greens makes a great brunch.  The combination of tomatoes, cheese, and crust are delicious (think pizza) and are sure to please a crowd.  When I made this i had extra filling which was delicious in an omelet the next day. 

Chilean Sea Bass with Mango Salsa

I was in Albany for my sister's Pre-Wedding Celebration this weekend so I didn't cook, but I thought I'd share this fish recipe that I made and photographed a while ago and never posted.

It was such a fun weekend with lots of friends and family, and I learned that many of them read this blog!  Thanks readers! 

My mom made a salmon dish with peach chutney this weekend (Yum!), which reminded me how much a love fish served with sweet condiments.  This recipe makes 3 cups of mango salsa which is great to eat leftover with chips, or make a smaller amount if you want just enough to eat with the fish.

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.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs

I used a cast iron grill pan that we got for our wedding to make these delicious kabobs and served them over quick and easy cous cous.  They would probably be even better cooked outside over a real grill, but we do what we can.  It was still fun to feel like we were grilling on a summer night.

The whole meal is very quick and simple.  We had leftovers so I brought some for lunches and then we still had enough for another dinner served with corn on the cob.

For variations, try whatever veggies you like instead of peppers, swordfish instead of chicken, and rice or quinoa instead of couscous.