Broccoli Pizza

It's not a problem to get pizza on the table for dinner, even on a busy day.

Popcorn

Then I remembered that I could make popcorn.

Baked Polenta

It's pretty easy, but it does take a while.

Chard

Give us, this week, our beautiful chard. This is just an easy weeknight dinner, but it's so good.

Dumplings

With a little practice, and good leftovers to use as stuffing, you can make steamed dumplings on a weekday breakfast. They reheat in a microwave really well.

Lentilghetti

Butter is the core of this dish, but you could use EVOO, if you prefer.

Bagel

More magic with your no-knead refrigerator dough - I give you the bagel!

But I'll save mine to bring to work.

Stir Fry

Not just for week nights, you can make a great stir fry on a busy weekend night, too.

Pack a Lunch

Leftovers make great lunches to bring to work, but once in a while you want something fresh and special. Well I do.

Today it's cheese on a whole wheat english muffin, with corn chips.

Eat a Pita

It won't make you falafel.

I had always though of pita as a rugged bread, built to wrangle messy stuffing.

Homemade pita is a delicate wrap, even when half whole wheat flour. It's a joy to watch it magically puff up. As much fun to make as it is to eat.

This one is stuffed with falafel salad.

St. Patrick's Day

What to eat if you don't want meat? Tonight, cabbage two ways and roasted potatoes. And there's beer. Oh yes, there's beer.

OK, I added beets. But you get the point, I started with those base ingredients and went from there.

When you roast beet slices with potatoes, the beet juice caramelizes on the potato skins and, oh my good. You can serve with sour cream or yogurt, or one of those mixed with sriracha, but it's not really necessary.

In this case, just to get done more quickly, I started the beets cooking on the stove while the oven was warming up. So the whole shebang was done in an hour.

I had slaw in the fridge. Not kimchi or sauerkraut, vinegar slaw that keeps really well.

The red cabbage slaw with red peppers and vinegar is warm.

Yogurt

There's been a lot of talk about yogurt lately. How it's good for a woman's digestion and general well-being. How does it know it's been eaten by a woman?

And it's really good for the upstate NY economy. So, rather than help my neighbors, I decided to start making my own. Oh, I buy one cup, now and then, if I forget to make a new batch before the last is all gone. But mostly I keep up. It's so easy.

Start with organic milk. Rinse your pot with cold water to help with cleanup of scorched milk. Measure enough for your container. I use a clean peanut butter jar. Pour milk into a pot and, on medium heat, slowly warm until it's steaming and just forms a skin.

While that's going on, it should just be a few minutes, think about how you're gong to keep the milk warm for a few hours, about 100 degrees. There are lots of options. I warm the oven for a couple of minutes, then leave the light on. It does a great job.

Transfer pot to cold water bath for just a couple of minutes, until the bottom of the pot cools. Put some live yogurt into the container with a pit of warm milk. Not too hot, or you'll kill the bacteria. Stir to mix, add the rest of the milk, secure a top and place in your warm place for at least a few hours.

If I make it in the morning, it's ready by dinner time. If I start it at night, it's good in the morning.

It'll look a bit runny until you refrigerate for a few hours. The first batch from store-bought is usually just runny. You can strain to thicken.



Now I hear that's it's even easier to make paneer. I'm looking forward to it.

White on Rice

The rice takes about 12 mins to cook and another five to steam. The broccoli takes about seven minutes to be perfect, so toss it into the rice pot about half way through cooking and you get a great side dish in one pot.

Sushi

This veggie sushi was pretty straight forward, and made a nice appetizer. With carrot, cucumber, avocado and sesame seeds.

Club Sandwich

This triple decker started with a whole wheat bun, and featured sauerkraut and a spicy chickpea panelle center. A nice Saturday lunch treat.