Twice-baked goat cheese souffle

This is the same ingredients as the once-baked souffles, but with a slightly different method of cooking them. You can make them in advance, but preferably the same day you're going to eat them. Even though they fall after the first baking, they puff up and are gorgeous and delicious after the second baking.

First, heat the oven to 375º. Butter 4 (0r more) 1-cup ramekins, and coat them with bread crumbs. I used panko bread crumbs for some, and parmesan cheese for others. They all turned out fine. You will have extra batter, which can be put into a larger dish.

Put a kettle of water on to boil. You'll need it later to cook the souffles in a water bath.

Prepare the souffle batter. Slowly heat 1 1/2 cups milk with 2 onion slices, 1 thyme sprig, 1 bay leaf, 1 crushed garlic clove, and 1/2 t. salt. Turn off the heat when it nears boiling and let it steep. Separate 4 eggs, with egg whites in one bowl and yolks in a different bowl. Add the whites from 2 more eggs to your egg white bowl and discard the extra 2 yolks.

Melt 3 T. butter in a saucepan, stir in 3 T. flour and cook over low heat for 1 minute. Pour the heated milk into the saucepan through a strainer and whisk. Cook over low heat for a couple more minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir a little of the milk mixture into the 4 egg yolks. Whisk them and add them back into the sauce, whisking as you go. It will thicken right away. Stir in 5 ounces crumbled goat cheese. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

Whip the egg whites until they're nearly stiff. Fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared dishes, filling them nearly to the top. Put them in a baking pan and pour boiling water into the pan to come at least halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake them about 25 minutes until they are puffed and golden. Remove them from the oven and let them sit in the water bath for 10 minutes, then lift them out of the water. They will sink.

Remove them from the ramekins, and place them face up or face down in individual buttered gratin dishes or in a larger shallow dish to await their second baking. Refrigerate until you're ready to bake them again.

About 25 minutes before you want to eat, take the souffles out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature while the oven heats up. Heat the oven to 350º. Spoon a little heavy cream onto each one and let it run down the sides. Cover the top with grated parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes until the souffles have puffed up and browned on top. Lift them with a flexible spatula onto waiting, warmed plates.

Beet and Tomato Ragout with Twice Baked Souffles

I made this ragout for Christmas dinner, and I loved it. I think everyone else liked it, too. The beets were a little too firm in texture, but the flavor was excellent. Both the beets and the souffles can be prepared in advance, and then reheated when you're ready to eat. This made it easy to have dinner ready when everyone had arrived, eaten some appetizers, and relaxed a little. The twice-baked goat cheese souffles are delicious and easy. If you have leftover souffles, you can rewarm them in the oven by pouring a little cream over the top of them and baking them for 20 minutes. This causes them to puff up again and be really beautiful and tasty.

The recipe recommended serving this with baby bok choy, but I made leeks in mustard vinaigrette instead. I also made brussels sprouts, which my family enjoyed immensely. With all the yummy butter and garlic, it's hard to go wrong.

I wasn't sure how big a large beet would be, so I used 6 medium beets instead of 4 large beets.

Let's get started

First, make the souffles through their first baking. Here's the full recipe for twice-baked goat cheese souffles.

Then, prepare the vegetables for the ragout. Finely dice 1 medium red onion. Peel and cut 4 large beets into irregular 1/2 inch dice. Dice one cup fresh tomatoes with their juices, or you can use 1 can of diced tomatoes, preferably organic. Since it was winter when I made this, I used the canned tomatoes. The recipe said to use 1 cup of canned tomatoes, but I used the whole 14 oz. can. Chop 2 T. tarragon, and 1 small garlic clove.

Melt 1 T. butter in a medium saute pan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until it starts to color, about 7-10 minutes. Stir in 1 T. tomato paste, 1 T. brown sugar, the chopped garlic clove, a pinch of the tarragon, and 1 cup water. Simmer about 20 minutes until the onions are soft and the liquid is reduced. Add the beets and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook another 25-30 minutes, adding more water as needed so there is a little sauce at the end. Add 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar and 1 T. tarragon. (The rest of the tarragon will be used for garnish at the end.)

Twenty five minutes before you eat, heat the oven for the second baking of the souffles. (See recipe link above.) Reheat the beets. Serve the beets on each plate along with some of the sauce, placing a souffle on top of the beets. Garnish with the remaining tarragon.

Serve with a green vegetable such as bok choy with butter and tarragon, brussels sprouts with butter and garlic, or steamed leeks with mustard vinaigrette.

Cost to prepare

4 large beets - $3.60

1 medium red onion - $.80

2 T. chopped tarragon - $1.00

1 T. tomato paste - $.25

1 T. brown sugar - negligible

1 small garlic clove - negligible

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes - $1.00 or 1 cup fresh tomatoes - $1.00

salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar - negligible

TOTAL cost of beet dish alone - $6.65 for 4 or more servings. There were 5 of us for dinner and we had leftovers, but we also had appetizers and several other dishes for dinner.

TOTAL cost of souffles - $9.80 for 8-10 individual souffles.

When beets are in season from the farm, I will try making this with brown and wild rice instead of the souffles. This is a lovely and tasty dish for company.

Fragrant Red Lentils with broccoli romanesco

This dish is indeed fragrant, thanks to the coconut milk and spices, but it is also highly flavorful. It contains ginger, jalapeno chiles, turmeric (a spice from the ginger family), cilantro, and a smidgen of cayenne, making it pleasantly spicy which works nicely with the rice. It tastes a little bit Indian. It also contains broccoli romanesco (aka Roman cau

liflower) which is a gorgeous vegetable with its beautiful fractal pattern, high in fiber, and very delicious.

This is one of those fabulous one-dish meals that looks beautiful on the plate, fills you up, is comforting and exotic at the same time, and is very good for you. It is high in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. The dish is served with a mound of basmati rice in the middle, surrounded by the lentils, with broccoli romanesco tucked in to the lentils, little dollops of yogurt, and cilantro garnish. It only takes about 40 minutes to prepare. The only down side of this dish is that it took 5 (count them, 5!) pans to prepare - one for the rice, one for steaming the veggies, one for the lentil mixture, one for spicing up the veggies, and a little one for a finishing touch of mustard seeds browned in butter.

Have you ever seen a red lentil? Before they are cooked, they are a bright orangish-pinkish color, so it surprised me a bit when this dish turned out yellow. The color of the lentils mellows with cooking, and the turmeric colors the dish. Since the broccoli romanesco is already pale green to begin with, and then it pales a bit more when it is steamed, there wasn't quite enough color contrast between the lentils and the vegetables, but it was still beautiful. More importantly, it was delicious.

Let's get started

First, start some basmati rice. Rinse one cup of rice in several changes of water. Put it in 2 cups water with a little salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, cover, and cook for 16 minutes. Turn off heat and fluff with a fork.

Finely chop 1 small onion, 1 T. fresh ginger, 1 large jalapeno pepper (remove seeds and veins), and 1/3 cup cilantro. Separate 1/3 of the ginger and 1/3 of the cilantro set aside for later. Also choose some pretty cilantro sprigs to use as garnish. Rinse 2 cups of red lentils. Have turmeric, cayenne, a bay leaf, mustard seeds, and 1 can coconut milk standing by.

Melt 2 T. butter in a 3 qt. saucepan. Add the onion, 2/3 of the ginger (the larger pile), and the jalapeno, and saute for 2 minutes. Add the lentils, 1 t. turmeric, 1/8 t. cayenne, 3 cups water, 1 bay leaf, and 1 t. salt to the pan. Stir. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Stir in the can of coconut milk and simmer for a few more minutes. Taste for salt and remove from heat. Stir in 2/3 of the cilantro (about 1/4 cup).

While the lentils are cooking, cut one head of broccoli romanesco into bite sized pieces. Steam until tender but still firm when poked with a knife. Melt 2 t. butter and add the remaining ginger, 1/2 t. turmeric, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne. Cook over low heat for a minute, then add the broccoli romanesco and 1/3 cup of the cooking water. Raise the heat, add the rest of the cilantro and season with salt. Swirl everything around the pan and cook until the water has evaporated.

To finish, melt 2 t. butter in a small skillet over high heat. Add 1 t. mustard seed and cook about one minute. Stir this into the lentils.

Warm up the lentils if they have gotten cold. To serve, pack the rice into ramekins and turn them upside down on each plate. Spoon lentils around them. Add a few dollops of yogurt, the broccoli romanesco, and the cilantro garnish. Remove the ramekins, leaving the rice intact. If you want to serve this all in one dish and let people serve themselves, pack the rice into a small bowl instead of ramekins, and arrange as above in a large pasta bowl or platter.

Things I'd Do Differently Next Time

I might try serving this in one big dish, depending on how many people are eating. I might also try broccoli for its dark green color in contrast to the yellow of the lentil dish. I would buy my coconut milk at an Asian market instead of the supermarket, where it is about half the cost.

We are freezing the leftovers for later. I'm curious to see how they turn out when thawed.

Cost to prepare

3+ T. butter - $.30

1 small onion - $.40

1 T. ginger - $.20

1 large jalapeno - $.50

2 c. split red lentils - $2.00

spices - negligible

1 can coconut milk - $2.00

1/3 c. cilantro - $.25

1 head broccoli romanesco - $2.00 (I'm guessing - mine came from the farm)

If you can't find broccoli romanesco, you can use cauliflower or broccoli. The dark green of the broccoli would look nice.

1/4 c. yogurt - $.25

TOTAL - About $8.00 for 4 people

"Oh Wow" brussels sprouts

That's my name for them. They are unbelievably delicious and they only took a few minutes.

Tonight was leftover night at my house, but as I was going through my box of veggies from the farm, I saw a bunch of brussels sprouts on the stalk. There was a recipe in the box, too, that sounded pretty easy, so I decided to cook some up to go with our leftovers. They were unbelievable! You definitely should try them.

Here's what you do

Rinse a half pound of brussels sprouts and cut them in half lengthwise. I only used 5 large sprouts which was probably about 1/4 pound. That gave us 10 halves total, though in the end we would have eaten more. Slice 2 garlic cloves and have 2 T. pine nuts standing by.

Melt 2 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil together over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until the garlic is pale golden. Lift the garlic out with a slotted spoon and put them in a small bowl. Put the sprouts in the melted butter, cut side down. Sprinkle with salt and pine nuts. Cook over low heat without turning until sprouts are golden on the bottom (10-15 minutes).

Transfer the sprouts to a platter, cut sides up. Add 1/2 T . butter to the pan. Return the garlic to the pan and let the pine nuts and the garlic brown more evenly. Pour the butter, garlic, and pine nuts over the sprouts and add a few grinds of pepper. Delectable.

Mushroom and Tofu Saute with Rice Noodles

I made this for my family on Thanksgiving weekend. The asian flavors were a welcome break from the usual Thanksgiving fare that everyone had the day before. I loved it and everyone else seemed to enjoy it, too. This would make an excellent weeknight meal. I used very skinny rice noodles because that was all I could find. I think it would be better with wider rice noodles, or maybe even soba or udon noodles. This was fairly simple to prepare and it only took about half an hour.

Let's get started

• Cook the rice noodles in boiling, salted water according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, and set aside.
• Cut one block of firm tofu into bite sized cubes. Simmer in boiling water for 2 minutes. Lift cubes out of the water and set them in a colander to drain.
• In a small bowl, combine 2 t. tamari or mushroom soy sauce, 3 T. naturally brewed soy sauce, and 2 T. brown sugar.
• Chop together 2 cloves garlic, 3 T. fresh tarragon, 1/2 t. salt, and freshly ground pepper. (I know 3 T. sounds like a lot of tarragon, but it blends beautifully into the dish. Don't be shy about using the full 3 T. of tarragon. This is almost a full bunch if you buy it at the supermarket.)
• Clean and trim 1 pound mushrooms, including some shiitakes, if possible. Cut into quarters or thick slices.
• Finely dice one large shallot (about 1/2 cup total)
• Heat a little peanut oil (or vegetable oil) in a skillet. Add the garlic mixture and stir fry for 20 seconds or so, then add the mushrooms and shallot. Saute over high heat until the juices have been released and then reabsorbed and the mushrooms have started to brown, (7 - 10 minutes).
• While that is cooking, finely slice 4 green onions and set aside.
• Add the tofu, followed by the soy mixture and the cooked noodles.
• Mix gently, taste for salt, transfer to a platter and serve garnished with green onions.

Things I'd do differently next time: Use wider rice noodles, or experiment with other types of noodles. This would also be good over rice.

Cost to prepare

3/4 pound mushrooms (white and cremini mix) - $3.75

1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms - $2.50

3 T. chopped tarragon - $1.50

3 T. chopped garlic (2-3 cloves) - $.30

1 carton firm tofu - $1.50

soy sauces - $1.00 (?)

1 large shallot - $.75

4 scallions - $.25

6 ounces dried rice noodles - $1.00

TOTAL - $12.55 for 4 people

Suggested wine - a spicy, dry Gewurztraminer

Baked brie - very easy and super yummy

Baked brie is always an impressive appetizer. This one is very easy and absolutely scrumptious. It only takes about 5 minutes to assemble, and 20 minutes to cook.

Start by cutting the top rind off a small brie wheel (15-20 oz.). Using a spoon or a knife, cut a hole in the brie wheel, leaving about an inch on all sides and a half inch on the bottom. Set the removed cheese aside. Place the brie wheel in a baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup apricot jam, 1/2 cup honey, and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Pour half the mixture into the hole in the brie wheel. Replace the brie you removed earlier over the top of the filling. Pour the rest of the filling on top of the brie and top with 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans.

Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake a few more minutes to brown the pecans. Serve with bread and apple slices. SOOO good.

Extension granted

Dear followers,

Rather than making myself crazy at the end of the year, I applied for an extension of time to finish the "Vegetarian Suppers" cookbook project. I sited extraordinary circumstances in my life this year, along with my commitment to cooking in season, and the committee has granted me a 6 month extension. There are about 30 recipes I have cooked, but didn't get my blog post up. Some of them I will need to make again, since I have forgotten the details of the process or how they turned out. I also get distracted by making recipes that are not in the Vegetarian Suppers cookbook, and posting them on the site.

I welcome all you new readers and followers who will join me for the last leg of this journey. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Lois

Onion and Rosemary Tart

I served this dish at a potluck where it received rave reviews. I think its success is due in part to the use of sweet onions. This dish is quite easy, except for the hassle of making the pastry. I skipped a few steps and it turned out great. I'll tell you how I did it, and how it was supposed to be done.

I'm not exactly clear what makes something a tart rather than a quiche, but I think it may be the use of a tart pan which is shallow and has scalloped edges, such as the one shown in the picture. My tart pan has a removable bottom, so you can remove the sides of the pan and serve the tart with just the crust showing, which is much prettier than including the pan in your presentation.

To make a tart shell according to the recipe you have to make the dough, let it chill in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes, roll it out and put it in the tart pan, freeze it for half an hour or more, pre-bake it, take it out of the oven and fill it with your filling, and then bake. If you started early in the day or made your shell ahead of time, that would be fine. I didn't have time for all that so I let it chill for about 5 minutes, didn't bother freezing it, and pre-baked it while preparing the filling. It turned out great and saved some time. You could also use a store-bought pie crust and save a lot of time, but increase your cost for the dish. The homemade crust uses half all-purpose flour, and half whole-wheat pastry flour, which makes it better for you than a store-bought crust. Even if you use store-bought, I think you would still need to pre-bake it so that it doesn't get soggy when you add the wet ingredients.

It may sound a little strange to make a quiche-like filling out of just onions and rosemary, but it is absolutely delicious and very simple.

To get started

• Prepare the tart shell: In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, and 3/4 t. salt. Pulse just to combine. Add 5 T. cold butter, cut into small pieces. Pulse until the mixture resembles course meal. Add 3 T. sour cream. Pulse again. Add 1 T. ice water and pulse again. The mixture should be moist and crumbly. Turn the mixture out onto a board, gather it into a ball, then flatten it into a disk. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

• While the dough is chilling, melt 2 teaspoons butter in a dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat. Quarter 4 small or 3 medium onions, and then slice them thinly crosswise. Add the onions to the butter, add a pinch of salt, stir and cover. Cook the onions until soft and pale golden, about half an hour, stirring occasionally.

• Mince 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 425º

• Flour a work surface. Roll out the dough into a 10 inch circle. Drape it over your rolling pin and settle it into the tart pan. (No need to grease the pan.) Using your fingers, shape the dough on the sides of the pan and try to make it uniformly about 1/4 inch thick. Remove any excess dough. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes. When you take the pre-baked shell out of the oven, lower the heat to 350º.
• When the onions are soft, add the rosemary and several grinds of fresh pepper. Taste the onions, and add salt as needed. I also raised the heat a little and cooked the onions for an extra 5 or 10 minutes to cook off some of the liquid.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1 cup fromage blanc. (This is a non-fat french cheese. It was ridiculously expensive at my store, so I used creme fraiche instead which was absolutely delicious.) Add a little salt and pepper.
• Pour the onions into the egg-cheese mixture. Combine and put in the prepared tart shell.
• Bake at 350º for 30 minutes.

I had some leftover onion filling mixture, so I put it in buttered ramekins and baked it along with the tart.

Cost to prepare tart shell

1/2 cup all purpose flour - $.40

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour - $.50

5 T. butter - .40

3 T. sour cream - $.20

TOTAL - $1.50 (maybe less)

Cost to prepare filling

3 medium sweet onions - $1.50

fresh rosemary - free from your garden (steal some from a neighbor if you don't have any)

2 eggs - $.50

1 cup fromage blanc or creme fraiche - $4.00 (more for fromage blanc)

salt and pepper - negligible

TOTAL - $6.00

Total cost for dish - $6.85, Serves 6

A light, crisp Sauvignon Blanc would go nicely with this dish.

Easiest way to cook a pumpkin

I'm about to make Thai Pumpkin Soup, so I cooked a pumpkin that I grew in my garden. I accidentally figured out the easiest way ever to cook a pumpkin. Just put the whole pumpkin in the oven at 350º for an hour or more. I put mine in whole, intending to take it out after half an hour or so to cut it when it was softer and more pliable. I forgot about it. An hour and a half later, I took it out, cut it in half (oh so easily), scooped out the seeds and stringy bits and discarded them, scooped up the cooked pumpkin flesh and put it in a container to await its addition to soup and baked goods.

Brussels Sprout and Mushroom Ragout with herb dumplings

Ok. How's this for an impulse buy? I was at the supermarket yesterday, and I saw these beautiful, bright green brussels sprouts, and I just had to have some. I knew I had a recipe to do that featured them, but I had no idea what else was in it. I have never cooked a brussels sprout in my life, but for reasons unknown, I had to have them.

Well as it turned out, I had everything else for the recipe in the house - sort of. We just got some gourmet "royal trumpet" mushrooms in our CSA box, so I figured those could stand in for the mushrooms called for in the recipe. I was supposed to have 3/4 pound of mushrooms for the recipe, and I only had 4 ounces of the gourmet mushrooms, so I went to my pantry and pulled out a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms. I covered them with hot water, let them soak for 15 minutes, and then drained off the mushroomy broth to use in the recipe.

For those of you who haven't made friends with brussels sprouts in your adult life - now is the time. They are delicate and delicious when not boiled into a mushy mess. This dish is warm, earthy, and satisfying. I used sweet onions which made the broth pleasantly sweet and went well with the tarragon. It took me about 40 minutes to make, but would be closer to an hour if you make the stock.

This recipe begins by asking you to make mushroom stock - which is delicious and well worth the extra time, but I happened to have some on hand from the last time I made it. Yay! (You can find the instructions for the mushroom stock here.)

This was also my first time making dumplings, which are much easier than I imagined. This meal did feature a lot of dirty dishes, but it was well worth it. There are several steps, so I'll do this more like a regular recipe.

1. Make the mushroom stock. See above.

2. While that is cooking, put on a pot of water to boil for the brussels sprouts. Rinse the brussels sprouts and cut them in half or quarters. (I cut them in half, but then they were too big to eat in one bite in the finished ragout. I think quarters is better unless your sprouts are quite small.) Set them aside to be ready when the water boils.

3. Heat 1 T. olive oil in a skillet and slice up 2 onions. I highly recommend sweet onions for this dish. Saute the onions over medium heat until nicely colored - 12 to 15 minutes.

4. While the onions saute, chop 5 T. parsley and 2 T. tarragon. Separate the herbs into 2 piles: 3 T. parsley and 1 T. tarragon will go in with the onions; the rest will go into the dumplings.

5. Mince 1 clove garlic, and the mushrooms. Use 3/4 pound white, crimini, shiitake, or a mixture. (Or whatever you have on hand.)

6. When the onions are nicely colored, stir in the herbs, garlic, and mushrooms.

7. Squeeze half a lemon over the onion and mushroom mixture. Turn up the heat and saute until the mushrooms are browned in places (5-7 minutes.) Then lower the heat to low.

8. When the water boils, add salt. Cook the brussels sprouts for 5 minutes, or until they are tender when you poke them with a fork. Drain.

9. Add the brussels sprouts and the mushroom broth to the pan with the onions and mushrooms. (I used about 2 cups of broth, but it could handle a little more than that.) Taste for seasoning.

10. Turn off the heat while you make the dumplings.

11. To make the dumplings, combine the following dry ingredients, and then stir in the wet ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup milk warmed with 3 T. butter or oil
• 1 egg
• the tarragon/parsley mixture you set aside earlier

12. Return the ragout to low heat, and drop spoonfuls of batter into the warm liquid. Cover (or tent with foil if you need more room), and cook on low for 10 minutes or so. Don't add any more than 12 dumplings or it will get too bready and messy. I only used 8. You'll have leftover batter which you can fry up later.

I learned that the dumplings don't need to be down in the liquid. They can sit on top and they'll still cook if you leave the cover on.

Serve in low, flat bowls if you've got them, including 2-3 dumplings per bowl. I just used regular soup bowls, but it would be really pretty though to see all the different ingredients.

The tarragon, mushrooms, sweet onions, and brussels sprouts are really wonderful together. This would go great with some kind of winter squash as a side dish.

Things I'd do differently next time: Try the dish with more mushrooms, of the recommended variety. I'll definitely continue using the sweet onions if I have them around.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 pound brussels sprouts - $2.00

3/4 pound mushrooms - $2.25

2 medium to large onions - $1.00

5 T. parsley, and 2 T. tarragon - $1.00

1/2 lemon - $.25

garlic, olive oil - negligible

Mushroom stock - $1.50 or so

The dumplings

1 cup flour - $.25

3/4 cup milk - $.20 (?)

parsley and tarragon (inc. above)

1 egg - $.25

salt, baking powder - negligible

TOTAL - $8.75 for 4 people

Scrambled Eggs in a Tortilla

Here's a super fast and easy supper! This is one of those things to fix on a night when your refrigerator looks a little bare. I love having eggs for supper, but as vegetarians, we have to be careful about how many eggs we eat in a week. This is still a quick hit of protein and ready in about 5 minutes - if you have sauces already made.

The recipe recommends serving this with salsa cruda with avacados (pico de gallo with chopped avocado added) and with Salsa Ranchera. I didn't have home made versions of these on hand, so I just used some salsa and green sauce I had in my refrigerator. I've made both home made sauces and they are delicious, so if you've got time to make them, they are both wonderful.

Basically, you just scramble 6 - 8 eggs in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of water to make them fluffy. Melt 3 T. butter in a wide pan. When foaming, add the eggs and let them cook to your liking. Toward the end add a handful of feta cheese and some cilantro. (You could also use goat cheese or jack cheese.) While the eggs are cooking, warm 4 flour tortillas in a pan and wrap them in a towel to keep them warm.

Divide the eggs among the tortillas, wrap them up like a breakfast burrito, and serve. If you make ranchero sauce, you can smother it over the outside of the tortilla and top with more cheese.

I served this with hash browns (grate half a yukon gold potato per person into hot oil, season, and let it brown without moving it. When brown, flip the whole thing over and cook the other side. Cover with a lid to steam the potatoes.) I started this before starting the eggs and they were all done at the same time. I put some of the potatoes in the tortilla with my eggs and sauce.

Things I'd do differently next time: The quantities above serve 4 people. I used 3 eggs, which we divided between 3 smallish tortillas. I think next time, I'd make 4 eggs for the 2 of us and stuff our tortillas a little fuller.

Approximate cost to prepare:

6 eggs - $1.50

handful of feta - $.50

handful of cilantro - $.25

4 tortillas - $1.50

3 T. butter - negligible

Salsas - depends

TOTAL - $3.75 + sauce

Countdown to the end of the year (and this project)

Hi there foodie fans!

As most of you know, the goal of this project was to cook my way all the way through Deborah Madison's wonderful cookbook, Vegetarian Suppers, in one year's time. I began this project on January 1st and I'm still hoping to finish by December 31st.

This has been a year of change and challenge. We bought a house in the spring, we celebrated two big birthdays in the summer (my daughter turned 25 and my husband turned 60), my mother passed away, and then last week my sister-in-law passed away. I have been away from home for a variety of reasons. I have found cooking to be a great comfort and inspiration to me this year, but I haven't found it as easy to do the blogging.

Here's where I stand -

42 recipes from the cookbook cooked AND blogged about

30 recipes from the cookbook cooked, awaiting blogging

43 recipes to go, plus some sauces

Ok. That's daunting. There are only 9 weeks left in the year. That's almost 5 recipes a week, starting tomorrow! The good news is that several of them go together. I was waiting for eggplant to be in season, and then I kind of missed it in September and October. I'll have to get cracking on those. I missed a few other ingredients like heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes (both of which were in my garden but got ripe while I was away. Bummer.) Amazingly, I've done very few of the recipes from the "Supper Sandwiches" section, and they are pretty quick and easy. Maybe I'll make some for lunch.

Many recipes I have cooked more than once, such as Cabbage & Leek Gratin with Mustard Cream, Black Beans with Yellow Rice, Wine Braised Lentils, Grilled Halloumi Cheese, and Labor Day Spaghetti. Several more I would like to come back to. I have also made all kinds of things that aren't in this cookbook, some of which I blogged about. It has been a delicious year so far. I hope that as I catch up on my blogging and concentrate on lots of new recipes over the next few weeks, you will get inspired to try new things in your kitchen.

Buon appetito.

Baked Butternut Squash Risotto

It has been a wild couple of months for me. I spent most of the month of September in Arizona with my sister-in-law and her partner. Although I have been cooking a lot, I haven't been blogging so now it is time to catch up. There were several summer dishes I made while I was in Arizona and at home in California, and I will add them in as I have time. For now, I have switched to fall type suppers.

Tonight I made a recipe from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine. It was a gorgeous fall risotto featuring butternut squash. It was fairly fast and easy, though I did get inspired to make my own vegetable stock earlier in the day. It was the best stock I have ever made, and fairly difficult to replicate, but I will tell you how I did it. I cut up an onion, about 8 stalks of celery, half a bag of baby carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, and 3 mushrooms. I sauteed them in some olive oil over high heat. I then added the trimmings (peels, ends, and seeds) from the butternut squash I was going to use for dinner. I added in some dried basil that was sitting in a basket near the stove, some seasoned pepper (Montreal Steak seasoning I think it was called) and let that brown a bit. I then dumped in about 3 quarts of water, and brought that to a boil. Since I didn't have any tomato paste, I was trying to think of what might make the stock taste a little richer. I looked in the refrigerator and decided to add in the leftover mushroom gravy from a couple nights ago. I added about 2 teaspoons of butter, just for good measure. I then let it simmer for about an hour. I tasted and added salt and pepper, and WOW. It was the best veggie stock I've ever made.

The RISOTTO:

I couldn't decide what kind of pan to use for the risotto, since I knew it was going to go on the stove top and then into the oven. The recipe called for a medium dutch oven, which I didn't have. I decided on a very large dutch oven which would be way too big. I'm glad I did because it turned out to be a fairly large dish and then I wasn't trying to cram everything in.

Since I had already peeled my butternut squash for the stock, I cut that into cubes and set it aside. I also washed 1 bunch of spinach and set that aside to add in later. The recipe called for kale, but I couldn't find kale in southern Arizona, so I settled on spinach as a replacement. The spinach worked fine, but I think kale would have a nice texture in this dish.

Also, before you begin cooking, preheat the oven to 400º. The stovetop cooking only takes about 15 minutes.

To make the risotto, I diced a small onion fairly fine, (you could also use a couple of shallots), and started sauteing that over high heat while I mined 2 garlic cloves. I added them along with a tablespoon of fresh thyme, and then cut up the butternut squash and set it aside. When the onions were soft and the garlic and thyme very fragrant, I added in 1 1/2 cups arborio rice. I let that cook about 3 minutes (until translucent) and then put in 1/2 cup white wine. I let that absorb into the rice (about 2 minutes). I then seasoned with salt and pepper, and added 4 cups veggie stock and the butternut squash. I brought that to a boil and then stirred in the washed spinach.

Then I put everything in the oven for 20 minutes. All the rice was tender and the liquid had been absorbed. The dish had these beautiful fall colors and flavors. It needed a little more salt and some parmesan cheese, but was a very rewarding, comforting, simple dish for a weeknight. And now I have LOTS more stock to get into some other dishes. I think I'll freeze some of it.

This dish was much easier than regular risotto and just as tasty. It would be good for a potluck because it would reheat fairly easily. The flavors in this are very mellow rather than big and bold. It doesn't have a real creamy sauce like some risotto, but you could stir in some freshly grated parmesan and a little hot water (or broth) at the end to make a creamy sauce for it.

Things I'd do differently next time:

I'd try using kale instead of spinach.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 bunch spinach - $1.50

1 butternut squash (2-3 lbs) - $1.75

1 1/2 c. arborio rice - $.50

1/2 c. white wine - .50

4 cups stock - $3.25 (less if you make your own)

1 small onion - $.25

2 cloves garlic - $.15

1 T. fresh thyme (1 t. dried), olive oil, salt & pepper, a little parmesan for grating - negligible

TOTAL - $7.95 for 6- 8 servings. (Three of us ate it for supper, some having seconds, and we didn't even eat half of it.)

We had a fabulous little impromptu salad of finely shredded napa cabbage and finely diced red pepper dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. Yum.

The secret to good coleslaw

I recently watched an episode of Good Eats by Alton Brown and he talked about how to make good slaw. He claims that the secret is salting your cabbage and letting it sit for a few hours before making your slaw. This draws the moisture out and keeps your coleslaw dressing from getting watery and disgusting. Amazingly, the cabbage stays crunchy. It also allows the slaw to sit in the refrigerator for days and stay crunchy and delicious.

I decided to try it out. I adapted one of his recipes and came up with the following slaw that I really love. Using the whole head of napa cabbage gives a variety of colors, from the dark green of the outer leaves to a pale yellow in the center of the head. The carrot adds beautiful color as well.

Napa Cabbage Slaw

1 large head napa cabbage, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated (or more if you like)

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 T. pickle juice (I used the juice from my zucchini relish)

2 t. dry mustard

2 T. chopped chives

• Generously salt the cabbage and put it in a colander to drain for at least 3 hours (or over night.) Rinse well with cold water.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mayo, yogurt, pickle juice, dry mustard and chives.
• In a larger bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots and half of the dressing. Taste to see if this is enough dressing. Keep adding dressing until you like it. Save the extra dressing for adding the next day. Over time, the salad soaks up some of the dressing, so it's nice to have more on hand to add as needed.

Zucchini Relish

I got this recipe from Cooks.com, but instead of canning it, I just made some as a refrigerator pickle, i.e., I cooked it, put it in a glass jar, and stuck it in the fridge. It is really delicious and we have been using it in place of sweet relish on hamburgers and hot dogs. It made one quart, which will probably last for quite a while.

I changed the recipe just a little. Instead of using green and red bell peppers, I used these very small sweet red peppers I've been getting from my CSA box. They have a little bit of a nutty flavor and they are just wonderful in everything.

If I make this again, I think I will try cooking it a little longer to see if the sauce will thicken more.

ZUCCHINI RELISH

2 cups chopped zucchini (about 3 medium) 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium) 1/2 cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 small) 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 small) 2 tablespoons salt 1 3/4 cups sugar 2 teaspoons celery seed 1 teaspoon mustard seed 1 cup cider vinegar Combine zucchini, onion, green and red peppers; sprinkle with salt; cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Add vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Makes about 4 half-pints.

A new cocktail - It needs a name

I've recently been making a new cocktail that my husband and I love. I need your help coming up with a name for it.

1 part creme de cassis (black current liqueur)

1 part St. Germain liqueur (elderflower liqueur)

2 parts gin

3-4 parts sparkling water

Serve over ice.

The sparkling water makes it light and refreshing, but the liqueurs make it sweet and floral. The juniper berry in the gin adds to the floral character.

I await your contributions to naming this concoction. If I choose your name for it, I'll make you one.

Zucchini Bread or How many things can you put zucchini in?

My garden keeps producing these giant zucchini that I just can't keep up with. I recently weighed one and it was 9 and a half pounds. I used the new grater attachment on my KitchenAid stand mixer and grated it into a little over 10 cups! There are 4 more like that waiting for me. Oh dear. And I only planted ONE zucchini plant.

So far I've made zucchini bread, zucchini relish, zucchini fritters, and I've snuck it into tomato sauce, soup, and stir fry. I bought canning jars and other canning supplies to try making zucchini pickles, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Here's my recipe for zucchini bread. It has gotten rave reviews. I tried to put some in the freezer for winter, but my husband found it and it is almost gone. I guess I need to make some more!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

• • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 1 T. vanilla extract
  • • 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 T. ground cinnamon
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, combine the eggs and oil. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined. On low speed, add in the dry ingredients a little at a time. Stir in the zucchini, nuts, and chocolate chips by hand.

Pour the batter into 2 loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 325º for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and remove from pan. Freezes well.

Does anyone out there have a recipe for zucchini bread that is lighter and more lemony? The cinnamon and chocolate all tastes like cold weather food. I'd love to make a more summery zucchini bread.

Garden Ragout for Midsummer with Marjoram Pesto

This yummy summer stew can be served hot, warm, or cold. It doesn't take long to make, aside from chopping the vegetables, and it is a great way to use some of summer's bounty. It only cooks for about 15 minutes, which leaves the vegetables still crunchy and fresh. The marjoram pesto is bright and flavorful and really makes this dish sing. One of the best things about it is that you can use a variety of summer produce - nearly whatever you have in your garden or can get at your local farm or farmer's market.

This recipe calls for white beans, which I had in my freezer, along with some broth I had made with leftover leeks a few weeks back. You can use canned beans, but be sure to rinse them first, and canned veggie or chicken stock (if you're not a vegetarian). If you cook your own white beans, save the bean broth to use in this recipe in place of the stock.

Here's how I did it:

Cut into small dice 1 new, fresh onion (rather than an old storage onion), 3 small zucchini or summer squash (I used the little yellow ones), 2 medium carrots, and 4 white mushrooms. Tip and tail a handful of green beans and cut them into 1-inch pieces. You can also add a couple small white turnips if you have them - which I didn't. Sliver 2 smallish garlic cloves.

While you're at it, cut up one large tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes. Have one marjoram sprig standing by.

Heat up 2 T. olive oil in a soup pot. Add the vegetables and the garlic and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, just to warm them up. Season with salt and pepper, and add 2 cups broth. Bring everything to a slow boil, pull the leaves off the marjoram sprig and add them in, and then lay a piece of parchment paper across the top to keep the veggies on top from drying out. The broth doesn't quite cover all the veggies.

Let that cook for about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, make the marjoram pesto. Deborah Madison recommends making this in a mortar and pestle. I started it that way, but then realized that my mortar was too small to make the whole thing, so I switched to a food processor. Either way, you just keep grinding stuff in.

Marjoram Pesto: Put one small slice country bread, crusts trimmed off, into a bowl and sprinkle 2 T. red wine vinegar over it. Leave it to soak. In your mortar or food processor, add 1 clove chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup marjoram leaves. (I used all the leaves from the whole bunch I bought at the store.) Then add in 3 T. rinsed capers, 1/2 cup pine nuts, and 1 cup chopped parsley. Add the vinegar-soaked bread and 1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil. Add a little pepper and taste for vinegar.

After the 10 minutes are up, stir in the white beans and a cup more broth. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are a pleasing consistency to you. Don't overcook them, though. Ladle the vegetables into soup or pasta plates and add a big spoonful of pesto to the top of each one.

We had this hot the first night, cold for lunch the next day, and room temperature a few days later. All three ways were terrific. We also had some leftover marjoram pesto which was wonderful on crackers.

We didn't bother making anything along with this, though Deborah recommends starting the meal with crostini, adding a salad, and a nice fruity white wine such as a Dolcetto from the Piedmont region of Italy, and having fruit for dessert.

I realized while I was eating that the whole dish is vegan, since there is no cheese in the pesto. While this isn't technically a soup, it is my current favorite non-creamy soup. The crunch of the vegetables and the zing of the pesto is just a fabulous combination.

Things I'd do differently next time:

I'd use the food processor to make the pesto. I might even make a double batch of it and put half in the freezer for later. It is REALLY good and I'd like to try it on pasta.

I might try making this with some other vegetables in the fall or winter.

Cost to prepare: (I'm really guessing here since most of this came from my CSA box, my garden, and my freezer)

1 new onion - $.25

3 small summer squash - $1.00

2 carrots - $.25

4 mushrooms - $.25

handful of green beans - $1.00

garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil - negligible

1 cup white beans - $.50

Broth or water - $.50

1 large tomato - $.35

TOTAL - $3.85

Marjoram pesto:

1 bunch marjoram - $1.85

a slice of bread and some vinegar - $.20

3 T. capers - $.30

1/2 c. pine nuts - $1.00

1 c. parsley - $.50

1/2 c. olive oil - $2.00

TOTAL - $5.85

GRAND TOTAL - $9.70 for 4 people or for several meals for 2 people

Tomato Sauce & the Olive Oil Hypothesis: A Short Story

When I was in Italy last year, I fell in love with the Italian people and their food. My two favorite things about Italy is that people sing anytime, anywhere, just for the joy of singing AND there's no such thing as too much olive oil.

The latter of these (the no-such-thing-as-too-much-olive-oil hypothesis) got put to the test by a mistake I made in my latest recipe. Since it is finally becoming tomato season, I decided to make a big batch of "Long Cooked Tomato Sauce," one of the recipes from the Basics section of Vegetarian Suppers. The recipe calls for 4-5 pounds fresh tomatoes. I had about 7 pounds from the CSA and from some heirlooms at my local market. This meant I needed to make a one and a half batch. The recipe starts by asking you to put the whole, unpeeled tomatoes in a large Dutch oven, pressing down on a few of them to get the juices flowing, and then covering them and cooking over medium heat for about 20 minutes until they are broken apart. Then you put them through a food mill to get rid of the skins and seeds. I did all this.

The recipe then says to rinse the pan, return it to the heat and add the olive oil. Somehow I thought I was supposed to put the tomatoes back in the pan and add the olive oil, so that's what I did. Had I read the next sentence (or actually read the recipe all the way through before beginning - which I highly recommend, by the way) I would have understood that the olive oil was for frying the onions and celery. Then you add the tomatoes back into the pot.

Now, here's where the olive oil hypothesis comes into play. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of olive oil, but since I was making a 1.5 batch, I dumped 3/4 cup of olive oil into my tomato puree. That's actually a lot of olive oil. I read the next sentence and realized that not only was I supposed to use the olive oil for sauteing the veggies, but the recipe actually said 1/4 cup of olive oil, not 1/2 cup. Now I have chopped onions and grated zucchini standing by that needs to be sauteed and I have just dumped 3 times as much olive oil into my tomatoes as the recipe actually called for. What should I do?

Well, I decided to see if my supposition about olive oil was correct. I got out another pan and put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in it over medium heat and sauteed the 3/4 c. onions and 3/4 c. zucchini. (I was supposed to be using celery, by the way, but it is zucchini season so zucchinis seem to be finding their way into everything I make.) I seasoned these with salt and added them in with the tomatoes, along with a couple small bay leaves, a big thyme sprig, and a big basil sprig.

I also learned from this recipe, that if you add a whole carrot to your tomato-based sauces, it does the same thing that adding a teaspoon of sugar does - it cuts the acid. The recipe called for 1 whole peeled carrot, so I used 2 small whole peeled carrots. At about 5 o'clock in the evening, I left the whole thing to cook over low heat, wondering if the sauce would be oily and disgusting.

I had people coming over for the evening and I always love to cook to make the house smell good before people come over. Another thing I learned in this whole process is that I really don't like the smell of cooking tomatoes, so I would advise doing this on a day when no one is home.

The recipe says to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened as much as you wish. I had no idea how long this meant. A couple hours maybe? I wandered by every 20 minutes or so and gave it a stir. My guests arrived at 7:00 and we went out into the back yard. At around 10 p.m., I was chatting with a friend when I looked over at the stove and realized the sauce was still cooking, 5 hours after I had left it there. I leapt from my chair, with an exclamation, and rushed over to the stove. There in the pan was about half as much sauce as I had started with, and it was a deep, luscious red color. There wasn't any oil floating on top. I gave it a stir and stuck in my (clean) spoon for a taste. It was heavenly. Maybe the best tomato sauce I have every tasted.

So the olive oil hypothesis holds up. Yes!

Here is the original list of ingredients with the cost of each as close as I can guess. I will be using this sauce to make the Eggplant Gratin recipes (three variations) from the cookbook. I'm not a big eggplant fan, but I'll let you know how it turns out. You might try making it the way Deborah Madison suggests, though I dare you to try my new recipe!

Cost to Prepare:

4-5 pounds fresh tomatoes, rinsed - $10 ($2 per pound?)

1/4 cup olive oil - $1.00

1/2 c. diced onion - $.50

1/2 c. celery - $.25

1 whole peeled carrot - $.25

1 bay leaf, 1 thyme sprig, 1 basil sprig (these all grow in my garden, so I'm guessing) - $1.00

sea salt - negligible

TOTAL - $13 for a big batch of sauce

Things I'd do differently next time: Hmmmm.... Use celery?

Baked Kalamata Olives

I've been making these wonderful olives for years. This recipe comes from another of Deborah Madison's cookbooks, "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone". I know it sounds odd to bake olives, but once they've simmered in the oven in the wine, olive oil, garlic and spices, they get plump and juicy, and the smells in your kitchen elicit sighs of happiness. I usually make these in the winter, but they're a wonderful accompaniment to any meal. I have put them in gift baskets at the holidays and served them at Thanksgiving. Every time my daughter's boyfriend comes to visit, this is what he wants me to make.

The recipe calls for Kalamata olives with the pits in. This is how I usually make them, but lately I've gotten lazy and used pitted olives. They are usually cheaper and they save you some time since you don't have to poke each one after they come out of the oven. If you're making them for the first time, I recommend that you use Kalamata's with the pits still in.

Here's what you do:

Rinse 2 cups kalamata olives and put them in a baking dish large enough for them to be in one layer. Add 1/2 cup dry red wine, 2 T. olive oil, 1 clove sliced garlic, and 1 bay leaf. Cover and bake at 375º for about 45 minutes.

While they're in the oven, chop 2 cloves of garlic and pound it in a mortar with 2 T. marjoram, 1 T. parsley, and a few grinds of pepper. When the olives come out of the oven, poke each one with the tip of a knife. Stir in the garlic-herb paste, 2 T. olive oil, and several pinches red pepper flakes.

Serve with crusty french bread. You can dip your bread in the extra juice from the olives.

Cost to prepare:

2 cups kalamata olives - $5.00

1/2 cup dry red wine - $1.00

4 T. olive oil - $1.00 (?)

3 garlic cloves - $.50

bay leaf, red pepper flakes, 2 T. marjoram, 1 T. parsley - $.75 (?)

Total - $8.25 and SO worth it

Cucumber Salad with Lemon and Dill

Since I have been getting cucumbers from both the farm and from my garden, I have been eating this salad all summer. It is simple to prepare and very addictive.

Peel as many cucumbers as you think you'll eat at one sitting. Discard the peels. Using your peeler, keep peeling long strips of cucumber into a bowl. Discard the seeds in the middle when you get to them. (Or just eat them.) Sprinkle the long strips with a little salt, squeeze a little lemon on top, and add some chopped dill. Fresh dill is best, but dried tastes great, too.

This is cheap, summery, and fresh.

Cost to prepare:

2 cucumbers - $1 (I'm guessing)

1 lemon - $.40

1 T. dill - $.20

Total $1.60

Golden Grilled or Sauteed Cheese

I had never even heard of Halloumi Cheese before, but this grilling cheese is SO delicious. It is quite expensive, though. I paid $8 for a 8 ounce package. This takes only a few minutes to make. You just slice the cheese lengthwise into pieces about 1/2 inch thick. Heat a skillet and brush with a little olive oil. Add the cheese and cook until golden. This goes well with a salad of cucumbers, lemon, and dill. It also pairs nicely with Romesco Sauce.

The recipe says you can use queso blanco, a Mexican cheese, instead of the Halloumi. I will try that sometime.

Cost to prepare - $8, serves 2

Julie-O Cocktail

This has become one of my favorite cocktails, and other people seem to love it, too. It is very floral and light, featuring lavender syrup, elderflower liqueur, and champagne. Serve it in a champagne glass with a sprig of fresh lavender.

You can make this cocktail for one by mixing the following proportions of chilled ingredients directly in a champagne glass.

1/2 oz. lavender simple syrup (recipe below)

1/2 oz. St. Germaine liqueur

1 oz. gin

3 oz. champagne

To make it for a crowd, mix the following in a pitcher and chill until ready to serve:

1 part lavender syrup

1 part St. Germaine liqueur

2 parts gin

Fill a champagne glass 1/3 full with the chilled mixture, and top up the glass with champagne.

To make the lavender syrup:

Mix 1 cup sugar, with 1 cup water and heat over medium flame until mixture is clear and sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in 1-2 teaspoons culinary lavender. (I use lavender harvested from my back yard.) Cover and let steep until mixture is completely cooled. Pour into jar with the lavender still in it and refrigerate for a day or two. Strain out lavender before using. Keeps for several weeks.

Mezze Plates for a Mid-Summer Birthday Party

When I decided to do a dinner party for my daughter's 25th birthday, I wanted to spend time with the guests rather than in the kitchen, so I decided to do a whole meal of appetizers. This is one of the meals from "Vegetarian Suppers" and I decided to do it up big. You can scale down and just select a few if you're trying to use up leftovers and leave the oven off during the summer time, or you can dress it up and make it elegant. For the party, I opted for a combination of elegant and playful - fancy cocktails, flowers, party hats, play dough, temporary tattoos, and bubbles.

Here's the spread I provided for my guests (10 people total). Click on hyperlinks to go to the blog post for that item:

From the Garden

Cherry Tomatoes

Sliced, salted radishes

Pickled carrots

Roasted red peppers

Cucumbers with salt, lemon, and dill

Fennel slices

Green beans with herb vinaigrette

From the Pantry and the Fridge

Tamari Almonds

Humboldt Fog Blue Cheese

Bread from the local bakery

Tiny dill pickles

Make Ahead Salads & Other Recipes

Cool Rice & Cucumber Salad

Baked Kalamata Olives

Cabbage Leek Gratin with Mustard Cream

Watermelon Mint Feta Salad

Fried Halloumi Cheese

Feta & Ricotta Skillet Pie

Romesco Sauce (Went great with the bread, the feta and ricotta skillet pie, and the fried cheese - maybe other things, too)

Beverages & Dessert

Julie-O cocktail

Wine & beer

Birthday cake from a local bakery

Smores around the campfire late in the evening.

And here's the happy birthday girl!

Curried Couscous Salad (Giada deLaurentis)

This salad sounded delicious, so I decided to give it a try. Turns out, it IS really delicious! I thought it needed more dressing. After we ate dinner, I made another batch of the dressing and added it to the salad and I like it much better. The only cashews I had in my freezer were the chili lime kind from Trader Joe's and they provided a nice kick. That's a great substitution! Also, I forgot to add the cucumber (drat, since I have about 6 cucumbers in my fridge right now). It didn't have enough time to get really cold, so we'll have some tomorrow and see how we like it after the flavors have blended more.

Warning: This recipe makes enough for about 10 people. This would be perfect to take to a potluck. Very colorful, tasty, and interesting. This would also make a great Thanksgiving dish.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/curried-couscous-salad-recipe/index.html

Zucchini Skillet Cakes

I made these when the first zucchini showed up in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box. Now I have zucchini coming fast and furious from the garden, so I'm trying them again. There's zucchini bread in the oven right now. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The first time I made these it was with cute little tiny zucchini, but this time I'm using one of the giant, monster zucchini from my garden. This worked really well and is a great way to use the big zucchini. The capers and pine nuts in these give them a nice tang, and the fresh herbs provide a clean, summery aroma. You can serve these with cherry tomatoes on top, or with ranch dressing. This time I used some of the mustard cream left from another recipe, and it was a perfect match. We ended up with 3 leftover cakes, so I'm going to try freezing some. I think they'll make excellent "veggie burgers". I'll let you know.

You start by grating 4 cups zucchini (about 2 pounds). Sprinkle it with 2 teaspoons salt and set it aside in a colander to drain while you get everything else ready.

Beat 2 eggs in a large bowl. Add in 3 T. snipped chives, 1 clove garlic (minced), 1/2 cup parsley, 3 T. chopped marjoram, and the grated zest of 1 lemon. Toast 1/2 cup pine nuts and set aside to cool. Rinse 1/4 cup capers and set aside to dry a little. Rinse the zucchini that you left draining in the colander, and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Toss the zucchini with the egg mixture. Stir in 1 cup dried bread crumbs, the pine nuts, and the capers. Season with salt and pepper.

Film 2 large skillets with olive oil. When hot, fry a little dab of the mixture to see if the seasonings are right. Scoop 1/2 cup of the batter into the hot pan and fry on both sides until golden.

A rice pilaf or a quinoa dish would go well with this. Tonight we had it with Curried Couscous Salad and it was terrific.

Catching up again

I haven't blogged in over 2 months! I have been cooking a little, but this summer has been both busy and difficult for me. I'm now ready to begin catching up on the dishes I have prepared this summer. I am more than half way through the cookbook "Vegetarian Suppers" and I have also made some things from other cookbooks. I thought in the next few posts I would include some cocktails we have been enjoying this summer.

I hope you enjoy getting back into the swing of things with me. Be sure to let me know that you're out there and cooking along with me.

Variations on a Chard & Onion Torta

We are up at Lake Tahoe and I decided to make the chard and onion torta again, since I have fresh chard from the CSA box. Up here I don't have fresh basil or thyme from my garden, but I do have dried basil and thyme from my garden, so that's a close second. I also substituted parmesan for the bread crumb crust, and that is a keeper. So delicious! I just pressed a little parmesan, rather than bread crumbs, into the butter lining the pan. I also used a combination of chard and spinach.

Apparently, this is a very forgiving dish. My only advice is don't leave out the saffron. It makes this dish distinctive and oh-so-tasty.

Let me know if you try this one.

Chard and Onion Torta

This is an extremely tasty dish and not too difficult to make. It does have to bake for 30 minutes, but the prep time is about half an hour and then you can relax. The saffron in this dish really adds a lot of flavor. This is a great way to use the chard that is in season right now.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 and buttering a baking dish. Cut the crusts off 2 slices of bread and put the bread in a food processor to make bread crumbs. Press the crumbs into the buttered dish to make a crust for the torta. Set aside any extra crumbs.

Heat 2 T. butter in a skillet and add 1 large, thinly sliced onion. Crumble 2 pinches of saffrom threads over the onion. Cook until onion is very soft, about 15 minutes. Add a little water or wine to the pan to keep it from crisping, if needed.

Add 1/4 cup slivered basil leaves, 1 teaspoon thyme leaves (or 2 pinches dried thyme), and 2 big bunches of chard leaves that have been separated from the stems and cut into 1 inch pieces. Cook until the chard has wilted and is tender, about 7 minutes. While that's cooking, smash 2 garlic cloves in a mortar with a pinch of salt to make a paste. Add the garlic and some salt and pepper to taste to the onions and greens. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in any extra bread crumbs. Add 1 cup grated gruyere cheese, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, 3 lightly beaten eggs, and 1 cup milk or light cream. Stir until just combined.

Pour the filling into the prepared dish, grate a little extra parmesan over the top, and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Poke a knife in the top to make sure the eggs are set. Let rest a couple minutes before serving.

Approximate cost to prepare:

2 slices bread - $.60

1 large onion - $.40

1/4 cup slivered basil - $.50 (?)

2 bunches chard - $5.00

2 garlic cloves - $.40

1 cup gruyere - $2.00

1/4 cup parmesan - $.25

3 eggs - $1.50

1 cup milk - $.50

saffron - ??

mint, garlic, salt, oil - negligible

TOTAL - $11.00 for 4-6 people

Good potluck dish.