There is a joy in a simple to make, less than an hour start-to-finish delicious meal. There is something even better about such a meal that is also colorful and tasty.

I was searching for something easy to make, that didn’t require a lot of heavy pots or constant stirring and came across a really interesting recipe from Cookie and Kate. I loved the idea of this, but wanted to make sure it would be filling enough as a main dish, especially since I needed to use less pepper as Bob is not a fan of them and I only had one sweet potato on hand. So with this as my starting point, I experimented a bit and came up with quite a tasty dish. And Bob even said he did not mind the peppers. Bonus points for me.

Recipe:

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 bell pepper
• 1/2 block tofu
• 1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice
• nut butter of choice – about 1/2 cup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• hot water to thin – about 3 tablespoons
• oil for coating and frying
• ground cumin
• 2 scallions
• cilantro leaves
• peanuts (dry roasted, unsalted)
• salt

Cook rice according to package directions. Should be about 1 cup water to 1/2 cup rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Take of heat and let sit, covered, for about ten minutes.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut sweet potato into 1/3 – 1/2 inch half moons or cubes. Chop peppers into large chunks, about 3/4 – 1 inch pieces. Coat in oil and spread on baking sheet, keeping separate. Sprinkle all with salt, and sprinkle some cumin on the sweet potato. Roast for about 25 minutes – the potato and peppers should be soft but not burned. If your oven is anything like mine, stir half way through to prevent burning the bottoms of the potatoes before they are cooked.

Press tofu to remove as much water as possible and cut into chunks. For crispy tofu, coat in corn starch, for less crispy tofu, leave uncoated. Heat about 1 tablespoon oil in pan over medium high heat and add tofu. Let cook about 4 minutes before flipping. If the bottoms are not browned, let cook another 1-2 minutes. Cook second side until slightly browned, about 3-5 minutes.

To make the sauce, add nut butter (I used a combination of almond and peanut as I didn’t have enough of either) to a bowl. Add soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, ginger, rice wine vinegar and honey. Mix well and add water, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until creamy and sauce is thinning enough to pour. It should be similar to a dressing consistency, but not a vinaigrette.

Chop scallions, cilantro and peanuts.

Layer rice on a plate, then top with potatoes and pepper then tofu. Spoon dressing, about three tablespoons, over top and garnish with scallions, cilantro and peanuts. Serve hot.

There is something very comforting about a smashed chickpea sandwich. I’m not sure exactly what, but it is a little like a tunafish or chicken salad sandwich from childhood, but with less icky mayo. It is pretty amazing that this little sandwich can be so satisfying that even a meat lover lover like Bob is perfectly happy to eat one for lunch.

I’ve made variations of this over the years, generally with a tahini based dressing and sometimes with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette, but I think this version is my favorite. I used the Caesar-ish dressing from the salad (since it is now a staple in our house) and combined it with my favorite version of the sandwich and it was pretty perfect. It is also stupidly simple to make, cheap and portable.

In the picture above I used cabbage in place of the spinach since I was out of spinach. kale, any type of leaf lettuce or other green would work just as well. The bread is also totally personal preference. I like the wrap style just for the ease of transport – nothing squishing out into my lunch bag.

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (about 1 15 oz can), rinsed
• 1/4 cup vegan caesar salad dressing (from food.com)
• 1/2 carrot, grated
• pinch of grated cheese – pecorino, cheddar, etc.
• spinach leaves – about five per sandwich
• flatbread, wraps or pita

In a small bowl dump the chickpeas and lightly mash with a fork. Add in most of the dressing and carrot and mix/mash. You want some chunks of chickpea for texture. Make sure the carrots are mixed through. Add more dressing if needed – you want the creamy taste to come through but not so much that it overpowers.

Layer spinach leaves across the bread and then spread chickpea-carrot mixture on top, leaving about a 1/2 inch on the ends of the bread. (The order does not actually matter – the chickpeas can go first and the spinach last.) Roll the wrap fairly tight – you want a nice spiral without everything oozing out.  If using regular bread or a pita, fill as you would with any other mixture.

That’s it. Simplest lunch ever.

About a month ago I did something to my shoulder and it is still bothering me. I can’t use it without hurting it more and the doctor said no lifting, stretching, pulling, pushing, or straining it. That was a month ago and I’m still in the same place with it, so there is no dough rolling, no kneading, not extended mixing or anything that will place excess strain on my shoulder. This makes getting creative in the kitchen just a little difficult, but I did manage to come up with one idea.

I love cottage pie. (From my understanding Cottage Pie is Shepherd’s pie, but with beef instead of lamb.) I love it, but I really don’t want to eat meat these days, so I need an alternative. I’ve been searching for good ground beef substitutes and we have quinoa for taco meat and tempeh for pulled pork, but I still needed something for dishes that I cook with sauces. Something that can stand up to the sauce and not get soggy. Enter farro.

Farro also works fairly well for tacos, and I decided to try it for a shepherd’s pie. I figured I just needed something for bulk, something that is not lentil or mushroom (as I can’t stand th texture of either) based. So …

I spent some time to caramelize some onion fairly well. I wanted the deep, sweet flavor that they bring as the base of the sauce. I also used some carrot and peas for added vegetables and went old-school for the mashed potatoes with cream and butter. The results were good – very good. But not perfect. If I make this again (and there will be a next time as the flavors were spot on) I am going to try mixing in more spices to the farro itself to make it more meat like and upping the sauce on this. The potatoes are staying but I may need more filling for a better filling-potato ratio.

Basic Filling Recipe (to be altered):

• 1 1/4 cup cooked farro
• 1 sweet onion, sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup carrot, chopped
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 1 pat butter (for onions)
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan over medium high heat with butter in it. When butter has melted and pan is hot, add onions and cook, stirring, until they begin to soften. Reduce heat to medium-low or low and continue cooking, stirring to prevent burning, until onions are caramelized, about 45-60 minutes.

When onions are almost caramelized, add garlic and carrot and continue cooking. Add flour and cook, stirring for about two minutes. Do not let the flour burn! Add tomato paste and cook about thirty seconds. Add salt and pepper, stir and then add vegetable stock. Mix well and cook over medium heat, about 2 minutes and the sauce begins to thicken. Add farro and mix together well. Remove from heat. Stir in peas.

At this point I transferred the mixture to a pie plate and topped with mashed potatoes. I baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, just to make sure everything was warmed through. I think there needs to be more sauce with this, and 3/4 cup stock may be a better fit. Bob suggested adding beer to the sauce, a dark beer, and I may try deglazing the pan with beer then adding stock next time, but we will have to see. I really liked the flavor of this dish, it just needed more oomph in the farro and more sauce overall.

French fries may be the ultimate comfort food. There is something absolutely wonderful about the salty, crunchy treat that just makes you happy. Try being in a bad mood when eating fresh, good, french fries. Go ahead – it is next to impossible.

But … yes, I know fried foods are bad for you. Fried foods are full of empty calories and all kinds of still we should not ingest. I don’t care. There is a place for french fries in every life and if there isn’t, there should be.

And they are stupidly simple to make at home. You don’t need a deep fryer (although I can see where that would come in handy) or fancy equipment – you just need patience and a desire for really good french fries.

French Fries

• 1 medium baking potato
• 1 medium sweet potato
• peanut oil (or other high temperature oil) for frying
• salt

Wash potatoes and dry. Have a bowl of water handy for submerging the potato after slicing them. Depending on the size of the potato, cut into either half or thirds. (you are going to want thin slices of potato) Turn the slice on its side and slice into matchstick slices. If needed, cut the pieces in half so they are thin. (Did I mention that thin is the key??) Let the potato slices soak while you slice both potatoes then drain and dry well. Dry really well – you do not want to add water to hot oil.

Heat oil in a frying pan. You want enough to coat the fries, so you need more than you would for cooking normally, but not so much that it will take forever to heat the pan and the oil. A lot of recipes will tell you to heat the oil to a particular temperature, but I don’t have a reliable thermometer so I go by feel. When I feel heat when holding my hand about three inches from the pan, I go for it.

Cook potato slices in the oil in batches (I needed 4 batches for the two potatoes) for 4-6 minutes, stirring once about half way through. The fries should be beginning to brown, but not burn. Remove from oil and allow to drain on a paper towel or old newspaper. If you want really crispy fries, return them to the pan for about 2 more minutes after all of the raw potatoes have been cooked. They are good without the second cooking, but they are much crisper.

Salt immediately after removing from the oil – wait until the second fry if you are doing two. Enjoy.

Since there is leftover oil, I poured the remaining oil in a small jar and saved it for another day. I strained it through a basic strainer just to get big pieces out, but you may not need to.

Every now and then when I want to try a crazy vegetarian experiment and I’m not sure how Bob will feel about it, I search for something to pair it with that I know he will love. He knows I do it, so I’m not in too much trouble when he reads this. Although in all honesty, he generally doesn’t mind my experiments, and he is always willing to keep an open mind – and give me an honest opinion.

I kind of wanted sloppy joes, but I had BBQ sauce in the fridge that I needed to use up because homemade BBQ sauce does not last forever. It lasts a darn long time, but not forever. I have also been looking for meat substitutes for a while and while quinoa and faro work great in a lot of instances, they aren’t always the right texture, or they don’t hold up to the sauce as well as I might like. Tofu is great, but in any crumbly texture recipe it doesn’t work as well and I don’t want something mushy. When I came across a recipe for sloppy joe seitan, I was all in, but then changed it to mock pulled pork (knowing full well it will taste NOTHING like pork). To pair, I decided to make beer battered onion fries and I have to admit, as good as the seitan was, the onion fries were the star of the show. I may have to make these on a fairly regular basis as they were such a hit.

The recipes here are really simple and putting it all together took no time at all. Ok, the fries did take a while since I fried them in a pan and had to do small batches, but otherwise, this was a great weeknight meal. I loved the flavor and texture and Bob actually said it was good – not pulled pork, but still really good.

• BBQ sauce:
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1-2 tablespoons adobe sauce
• 2 teaspoons mild vinegar (apple, sherry, rice)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic minced or pureed

Mix all ingredients together. Use a food processor or blender if you are including a chipotle pepper in the sauce, otherwise just mixing well will work fine. Flavors blend overnight, so if you can make this ahead of time it is better. For vegans, delete the honey and add maple syrup or agave instead.

• Beer Battered Onions
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 onion, sliced thin
• peanut oil for frying

Combine beer, flour and salt into a shallow pan. Batter should be think enough to coat the onions, but not so think that you can’t work with it. Think paste from kindergarten, maybe slightly thinner.

Slice the onions as thin or thick as you want them. Coat the onions in the batter. You may need to work in batches depending on how large your pan is.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and when a drop of batter can be dropped in a sizzles, add onions, but do not over crowd them. Cook for a few minutes until the bottoms like like they are browning, then flip and cook for a few more minutes. (I’m being vague because every batch I did had a different timing – anywhere from 2-6 minutes a side)

Remove onions from oil and allow to drain on a paper towel. If you want, salt them while hot more of a french fry/onion ring taste.

• BBQ Seitan:
• 1 package seitan
• bbq sauce from above
• onion fries from above
• bun of your choice (I used onion bread buns)

Crumble seitan in a small bowl and spoon over 4 tablespoons bbq sauce. Mix well and allow to marinate for about 10 minutes. Heat pan and when hot, add seitan plus 1/4 cup more bbq sauce. Cook until heated through on medium heat, about 7 minutes.

Top seitan onto 1/2 bun and top with a few onion fries. Use more fries as a side.

I was looking for something different to try and came across this recipe for enchiladas. I was intrigued and thought about trying them, but then got busy with a bunch of things and forgot about them. Fast forward a few week later and I came across it again on another blog and was intrigued. Apparently this recipe was so popular a number of people tried it and posted it. So … I thought I might as well give it a go.

The “no bake” part of this is a little misleading. You don’t bake the enchiladas themselves, but you do have to bake the sofrito for an hour and a half, so I consider that baking the dish. Yes, you could make that ahead of time, but a lot of things can be baked ahead.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about these while making them. They smelled pretty good, but not the really lingering smells of caramelized onions or tons of garlic that I like (yes, if you don’t like onions and garlic, you may want to skip being near my hours most nights when I make dinner). I was also a tiny bit skeptical about combining carrots and tomatoes (not sure why, but I was) so I thought this would be a dish I tried and then forgot about.

Not so much. These were incredible. The roasting of the carrots and tomato mixture deepened the flavors, heating the corn tortilla made softened the flavor just a little and allowed the other flavors to come through. The filling – oh my the filling. Bright, creamy and fresh. Top it all with a little tomatillo salsa (and, yes, I cheated and bought a jar – I was going to easy – even though I usually make my own) and you have a really delicious meal.

Bob thought these were pretty good too. We both agreed that to be even better, we needed to make them like tacos, so the next two times we ate them (yes, we had enough for three sets of meals for both of us) we put the carrot sofrito and the filling inside the corn tortilla and just topped them with a little tomatillo salsa. Super good, cheap to make and definitely different. I’ll add a “make again” to the plethora of other comments and review out there for these.

I actually had two days off in a row and after being particularly lazy the first day, I decided I wanted cinnamon rolls. I misread a recipe (or two or three) and so I had a choice of winging it or starting over. Being lazy, I decided to try to make this work and somehow, I managed to do it.

Cinnamon rolls are a particular favorite of mine. They remind me of childhood and cinnamon sugar toast. It turns out, that while cinnamon rolls are time consuming, they are not really that hard to make. I also managed to get Arthas for his morning walk while the yeast was working, and finished some school work while the dough rose. I’ll consider that multi-tasking.

*Recipe:

• Dough
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 3/4 cup of milk, plus 1/2 cup
  • 2 tsp. yeast
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 3-3 1/2 cup flour
• Filling
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a small sauce pan, heat butter and 3/4 cup milk until butter is almost totally melted. Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup cold milk to cool mixture to about 110 – 115 degrees F. (It may take a minute or two of mixing, but adding the cold milk in speeds this up quite a bit.) Add the yeast and sugar and mix. Let sit for at least ten minutes for the yeast to activate. (This is where I took Arthas for a walk, so it was closer to twenty five minutes before I went back to the mixture and it was perfectly fine.)

Stir mixture then begin adding in flour, about 1 cup at a time. Stir in salt after first four addition. Stop adding flour when you have a soft dough, but one that you can knead. Knead for about two minutes on a lightly floured surface. Return dough to bowl, cover, and place in draft free place to rise. It should double in size and take about 45 minutes to an hour.

Butter a baking dish (I used 8×11) then roll dough out to a large rectangle. Dough should be thin, but not translucent. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon. Melt butter and brush butter onto surface of dough. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over dough. Starting from one side (long side) roll dough tightly to form long tube. Cut into apx. 12 pieces of even size. Place pieces in baking dish and brush any leftover melted butter on top. Set aside to rise for about ten minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F

Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes.

• Glaze:
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • juice of 1./2 orange, plus zest

Mix sugar and juice together until it forms a pourable glaze. Mix in zest for more flavor.

*Adapted from Minimalist Baker’s vegan cinnamon roll recipe. No, I didn’t even try to make them vegan, although I did use soy milk since that is what we have on hand.

When I use to watch Top Chef (when we had cable) risotto was the downfall of many a chef. It is considered complicated and exacting and labor intensive. A perfect risotto may be all of those things, but I find risotto one of my “go to” dishes. It is pretty straight forward, has endless options for flavors and can generally be made with things I have on hand. Case in point, asparagus risotto with sun-dried tomatoes and kale pesto.

I was feeling a bit lazy today and didn’t want to go out to grab something to eat. I wanted something filling and tasty, but I really didn’t know what. Part of me wanted quinoa tacos, but I don’t have the makings for the salsa or any taco shells, so that would have required a trip to the grocery. Instead I looked at my fridge and pantry and came up with risotto. I didn’t have any white wine opened, and I didn’t feel like opening another bottle of wine just for the risotto, so I skipped it. I used what I had and it came out pretty darn great. Bob said it was my best risotto version yet.

Here is the thing about risotto. It really isn’t hard. Yes, it takes time and you have to pay attention to it, but it isn’t the impossible dish chefs can make it out to be. It doesn’t require constant stirring, but you do need to stir some. It doesn’t have to be weighed and measured and timed exactly right, but you have to be careful not to over or under-cook the rice. It takes care, but no more than some meat dishes that can easily be over done and dried out. If you are not going for pure perfection, you can get a very tasty dish.

Recipe:

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup aboro rice
• 1 small, sweet onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 6 oz. asparagus
• 2 oz sun-dried tomatoes (about)
• 1/4 cup kale pesto (or whatever pesto you have on hand)
• 3 oz. grated pecorino cheese
• squeeze of lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for the pan (about 1 tablespoon)

Heat the broth in a small, covered pot.

Wash and chop the asparagus – pieces should be about 3/4 of an inch or so. Small dice the onion and mince the garlic. Thinly slice the sun-dried tomatoes (or just buy the pre-cut ones – I like the vacuum packed varieties). Grate the cheese.

Heat a pan of olive oil. When hot, add garlic and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about three to five minutes. Add rice and coat. Cook about two to three minutes, stirring frequently. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add about 3/4 cup of warm vegetable broth and stir. When liquid has absorbed, add a tiny bit more salt and pepper, then another 3/4 cup of broth. Allow to cook over medium or slightly lower heat. When liquid has been mostly absorbed, stir then add 1/2-3/4 cup more broth and stir again. After third addition of the broth, add asparagus and mix well.  After the fourth addition of broth, add sun-dried tomatoes. I added more salt and pepper here, but I generally go light on the salt and wanted to make sure it had enough. Keep adding broth, 1/2-3/4 cup at a time until the rice is fully cooked and you have used most, if not all of your liquid. One caution – make sure the liquid is warm and you wait until the previous liquid is absorbed before adding more.

Remove from heat and stir in pecorino cheese until it is fully combined. Add pesto and mix well. Squeeze a little lemon over the whole pan and mix again. Taste and add salt or pepper if needed.

I had kale pesto on hand since I made batches and batches of it last month, but if you want to make it yourself ….

• 1 bunch kale leaves, stems removed
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
• squeeze of lemon
• honey – 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon depending on taste
• salt
• olive oil – about 1/3 cup (I think – I never measure, so it could be more or it could be less)

Place kale, garlic, almonds, salt, and lemon in food processor. Chop, scraping the sides between rounds. When everything is chopped finely, add honey and olive oil and mix again. Add cheese at the end (I usually add the cheese in a bowl and mix that in by hand). Adjust seasoning as needed.