I am well aware that Easter was a few weeks ago. I am also aware that I never posted the pictures of Easter dinner. I meant to – several times – but somehow I never got to posting. So here it is …

A while back I decided I wanted Shepard’s Pie. I’ve never made a real Shepard’s Pie, and this may not count either. I did go with ground beef instead of a vegetarian version or lamb. We were having guests, including Dad, for Easter, so I wanted more traditional. Lamb is hard to find and I do, generally, have a hard time eating lamb since they fall under the cute category of animals. Cows are cute too, but not in the same way as sheep. So it was a compromise, but it worked. 

I started with the basic carrot and onion mix. To that I added the ground beef and let it all cook. Once the meat and onions were cooked through, I added peas, tomato paste, beef broth, soy sauce (as a substitute for Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies, which I can’t have) and spices. I let this cook for a while and made the mashed potatoes to go on top. I did use really good English Cheddar for the top.   

It looked great. It tasted fine. Everyone else thought it was really good, but I wanted more tomato taste. I wanted more depth to the dish and this just wasn’t what I was looking for. It was fine, but that really is all I can say about it.

Now dessert on the other hand …. Dessert. 

 I went with cheesecake for dessert because it had been a long time since I made one and I really wanted cheesecake. I went with Dulche de leche cheesecake because it gave me an excuse to try and make my own Dulche de leche sauce. Did you know it is terribally easy to make? I didn’t. Can of condensed milk, salt and an oven. That really is it. The cheesecake was a combination of several recipes, but I thought it came out really well. 

 But crust, caramel cheesecake with Dulche de leche glaze on top. 

Hopefully I won’t get so far behind on the updates. Happy Spring! 

I’ve been bad about posting lately and this is a recipe I’ve said I’m going to post a few times (in my head) but kept forgetting, or was too tired or any number of things that came up. Val gave me her Jerusalem cookbook and this was one of the first recipes I tried from it. I added the egg noodlges to make it more of a dinner, and I have to say, it will be a make again.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Red Onion with Tahini and Za’atar

• 1 butternut squash cut into wedges
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• olive oil
• 3 tablespoons tahihi paste
• 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoonswater 
• 1 clove garlic, chopped/crushed
• 1 tablespoon za’atar
• parsley, chopped for garnish
• salt and pepper to taste
• pine nuts, pecans or walnuts as desired
• Noodles (egg noodles work well here) if desired

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Preheat the oven to 475 (or in your oven is like mine and runs hot, 450)

Place the squash on a sheet pan and mix with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on pan and roast for about 20 minutes. 

Coat the onion with a little oil and add it to the pan with the squash, turn the squash here. Roast both for an additional 10-15 minutes.

While the squash and onion are roasting, mix tahini, lemon juice, garlic and water. Combine to make a thin, honey consistency, sauce.

Make a bed with the noodles, top with squash and onion; sprinkle nuts if using then add the tahini sauce. Sprinkle on za’atar and parsley. Serve hot or warm.

Erin, it really was the prefect dish.

*Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

I debated posting this. Seriously debated. Not because I wasn’t incredibly happy with the results, but because of how I came across this recipe. At the risk of being mocked for being a left leaning bleeding heart liberal, here it is.



Normally I scour my cookbooks, make my recipe lists and then go shopping. This week, I went to the farmer’s market without a plan. I decided to look at the vegetables and figure out what to make from there. Since I was home today (Bob gave me his plague) I had lots of time to peruse recipes (not much I could do so I read a lot of recipes). I had picked up corn, chard and onion and was intrigued by a recipe from the NY Times. Yes, this is a vegetarian taco recipe from the NY Times cooking section. If you leave out the cheese, it’s a vegan taco recipe from the NY Times. Yes, I read the NY Times. I read the cooking section. I like to read recipes.



I started with my bunch of rainbow chard and two ears of corn. Removing the kernels from the cob is actually easier than it seems – detstemmed the chard and removed the corn kernels before the water boiled. And cut up the garlic and onion. Can’t forget the garlic and onion. 



I blanched the chard in boiling water for a minute then transferred it to an ice water bath. While this cooled, I heated oil in a pan and added the onions. While the onions cooked I made the salsa, but I’ll get to that. Add firm and garlic to the onions and cook for a few minutes. 



While this cooked, I drained, squeezed and chopped the chard. Once the corn and onion was cooked, I added the chard and seasoned everything with salt and pepper. A minute or two later, it is all done. 



Salsa. I wanted to use a Rick Bayless cooked salsa recipe, but I didn’t have the chills. So … One plum tomato, a chunk of red onion, a bit of red jalapeño (no seeds) and some cilantro leaves. Todd everything with salt and a squeeze of lime juice and let marinade in the fridge until everything is done. 



The original recipe calls for corn tortillas, but honestly, I prefer the flour ones. I know they are not as good for you, but I just really don’t like the texture of corn tortillas. 

So … tortillas (warmed in a 260 oven), chard mix, salsa and feta cheese. Dinner. 



Bob liked these way better than my quinoa experiment yesterday and I have to admit, I did too. It was colorful, flavorful, had great texture and was filling. So yes, the NY Times Cooking section had a great recipe. A vegetarian taco recipe. You may mock, but you should try these. 

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been exhausted lately. I fell asleep on the couch at 8 one night and don’t remember much except Bob waking me up to go to bed around ten. The other days I haven’t stayed up much later and this is before the time change happened. 



But this is about food. We are still going with our Hello Fresh boxes – it makes thinking about dinner easier for a good portion of the week. (Did skip this week, so I will hopefully have an experiment or two to post.) I generally don’t include the box dinners, but this one I had to. It was that good and I am putting it in the rotation. 

I use to hate sweet potatoes. Or at least I thought I did. Even for me, the candy, cookie and cake loving me, they were too sweet and had a weird …. something. Turns out it isn’t the potato I dislike, it’s the toppings they are generally cooked with. Sweet potatoes are sweet. They don’t need more sweet in the form of brown sugar, maple syrup or marshmallows. 

The recipe: (makes 2 servings)

• 2 sweet potatoes 
• 1/4 cup hummus
• 1can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander 
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Handful grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2 oz arugula
• Few parsley leaves, chopped
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut sweet potato lengthwise. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on baking sheet (leave room for chickpeas) and roast for about 30-35 minutes. 

Toss the chick peas in a teaspoon olive oil, cumin, coriander and paprika. When the potatoes have been cooking for ten minutes, add the chickpeas.  Spread to a single layer. Cook for 20-25 minutes, tossing once during cooking.

Mix hummus, lemon juice and a little salt and pepper. Add about 1 teaspoon water and mix to a thin-ish consistency. 

Once the potatoes are cooked, scoop out the insides and mash with a fork. Add a touch of salt and pepper if desired. Scoop into the middle of a plate and ring with arugula and tomatoes. Top with chickpeas and the hummus dressing. I started with the dressing just in the potato, but ended up using it as a dressing on the arugula too. Top with parsley. 



I wasn’t sure if this would fill me up, but it did. There is a lot going on and between the potato and the chickpeas it is pretty filling. And the lemon- hummus dressing may be my new favorite. It may replace the cilantro tahini sauce.