#prep ahead

Pink Rice Salad with Carrot Miso Dressing

If you’re not already preparing your meals in advance, start today. Eating out everyday is expensive and can be unhealthy, with too large of portions, too much sugar and salt, and not enough whole grains. With a little bit of prep work, you can have a delicious, healthy, and filling lunch ready to go! Try this Pink Rice Salad with Carrot Miso Dressing for your lunch this week. What is pink rice?…

As I sit here in my home office, with my feet up on the window sill, drinking coffee and watching the birds come to the feeders I put out, I am reminded of how much I love making the whole Thanksgiving dinner, from soup to nuts and back again!   I am also…

Pumpkin Coconut Curry

1 ½ lbs pumpkin, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 large onion, sliced

6 button mushrooms, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

½ lb green beans, stems removed and cut in half

2-4 red chilies, sliced in half

5 cloves garlic, minced

300 ml coconut milk

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp curry powder

1 inch ginger, grated

1 tbsp butter

½ tsp salt

quinoa or rice,  as accompaniment

Mix the chilies, garlic, ginger and spices in a bowl.  Add coconut milk gradually and stir.

Place butter in a large frying pan and turn heat on medium high.  Once the butter is melted and bubbling, add onions and sauté until soft.  This will only take a few minutes.

Add pumpkin, mushrooms, and red pepper and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add green beans.  Now add the coconut mixture and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until pumpkin is tender, but not mushy or overcooked.  Add about ½ tsp salt and taste for adjustments.

*If the pan is getting too dry, you may add water (start with ¼ cup).

When the pumpkin is cooked and the sauce is thick, take off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes.  This will allow the dish to cool down and the sauce to thicken.

Serve over rice or quinoa.

**You can serve it with  roasted peanuts or cashews if you are looking to add some protein.  Add raisins for sweetness and coolness, if desired.

These are soft inside and crispy on the outside, rolled in cinnamon sugar.  I rolled mine in a mixture of cinnamon and cardamon.  

Makes about forty five 3-inch cookies

Ingredients

​

​3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and mix.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated.  Take care not to over mix or the cookies will be tough.  Take out the paddle and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and position oven racks in the upper and bottom thirds of the oven.  Mix the 2 tbsp of sugar with the cinnamon on a plate or in a bowl.  Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar.  Space cookies 2 inches apart on a greased or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies puff up.  

*Have fun and try different spices besides cinnamon, like nutmeg or cardamon.  I did mine with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp cardamon.  It was better than Grandma's.  Sorry  Grandma.

I've tried every kind of quiche/pie/tart dough you can think of.  I've done them with butter, oil, crisco, and vinegar.  I've tried different mixing techniques.  This is by far the best and it is also the easiest.  Thank you, Pierre Herme.  

makes 15- 4” tarts or 3 -10” tarts

364 g butter, softened

95 ml milk, room temperature

1 large yolk, at room temperature

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

420 g AP flour

in a mixer:

Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed until creamy.  Add the milk, yolk, sugar, and salt and beat until the mixture is roughly blended. (At this point, the mixture will look curdled, but that’s okay)  With the mixer still on low, add the flour in three or four additions (add it steadily- there’s no need to wait for the flour be incorporated thoroughly after each addition)  and mix just until the ingredients come together to form a soft, moist dough that doesn’t clean the sides of the bowl completely but does hold together.  Don’t overdo it.

to shape and chill

No matter the method you used to make the dough, gather it into a ball and divide it into three or four, more if making mini tarts.  Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each with plastic.  Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours or for up to 2 days before rolling and baking.

to roll

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick, lifting the flour often and making certain that the work surface and the dough are amply floured at all times.    Roll the dough up and around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring.  Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring or tart mold.  Cut off excess dough.  Be careful not stretch the dough; those parts will cook faster and shrink in the oven.  Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork (unless the tart will be filled with a runny custard or other loose filling) and chill it for a t least 30 minutes in the refrigerator or freezer.  

to bake

I've tried every kind of quiche/pie/tart dough you can think of.  I've done them with butter, oil, crisco, and vinegar.  I've tried different mixing techniques.  This is by far the best and it is also the easiest.  Thank you, Pierre Herme.  

makes 15- 4” tarts or 3 -10” tarts

364 g butter, softened

95 ml milk, room temperature

1 large yolk, at room temperature

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

420 g AP flour

in a mixer:

Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed until creamy.  Add the milk, yolk, sugar, and salt and beat until the mixture is roughly blended. (At this point, the mixture will look curdled, but that’s okay)  With the mixer still on low, add the flour in three or four additions (add it steadily- there’s no need to wait for the flour be incorporated thoroughly after each addition)  and mix just until the ingredients come together to form a soft, moist dough that doesn’t clean the sides of the bowl completely but does hold together.  Don’t overdo it.

to shape and chill

No matter the method you used to make the dough, gather it into a ball and divide it into three or four, more if making mini tarts.  Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each with plastic.  Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours or for up to 2 days before rolling and baking.

to roll

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick, lifting the flour often and making certain that the work surface and the dough are amply floured at all times.    Roll the dough up and around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring.  Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring or tart mold.  Cut off excess dough.  Be careful not stretch the dough; those parts will cook faster and shrink in the oven.  Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork (unless the tart will be filled with a runny custard or other loose filling) and chill it for a t least 30 minutes in the refrigerator or freezer.  

to bake

Ingredients:

Half a bag of frozen green beans. Apparently it's okay even if they're freezer burnt.

3 frozen flounder fillets, thawed. 

Ground almonds.

Salt.

Pepper.

Butter.

Preparation:

Dump the green beans in a square baking dish. Lay the fish on top of it.

Sprinkle ground almonds all over the fish and season with salt and pepper.

Put some dots of butter on the fish.

Cover with foil.

Cooking: