latkes reprise

Hanukkah's almost over, but before we move to Christmas food here are a couple variations on the potato latke for those of you who would like to shake it up. The sweet potato version I "invented" a few years ago and make year round. The parsnip was recommended to me by my Aunt Susan. This was my first time making them so I'm sure they will go though some different incarnations in the future. Already I am thinking they could use a little fresh dill next time. If you have any ideas (or Sue if you are reading this and would like to clarify your recipe) please leave a comment.

Follow the same proportions as the regular latke recipe except

- for Sweet Potato Latkes replace regular potatoes with sweet and add one large handful of fresh chopped cilantro and a pinch of cumin.

-for Parsnip Latkes replace potatoes with 2 large parsnips

Also I heard a lot about baked latkes this year. I'm not trying to discourage attempts at healthy eating, but isn't oil the whole point of the Hanukkah dish? It's not like we only had enough potatoes for one night of latkes and they magically lasted for 8...know what I'm saying?

potato latkes

A search for 'latke recipe' online results in an infinite number of different options, all of which claim to be the only way to make real pancakes. Do you shred the potatoes or mash them? Do you use flour, matzo meal, or bread crumbs to stick them together? What is the onion to potato ratio? I decided to consult the expert, my Grandmother.


The problem with getting the recipe for a traditional dish from someone who can make it on auto-pilot, is that its impossible for them to tell you any kind of measurements. Our chat was a little like what you would expect if you asked a bird how to fly. Grate "some" potatoes. Add onion, but not too much onion. Add flour but not too much flour. Eventually she turned to the Settlement Cookbook for measurement reference, which helped clarify things a lot. As for technique, here are some rules to latke by...

1. Grating the potatoes is the only way to go if you want them crispy (and who doesn't?)
2. Drain as much water as possible from the potatoes and onions
3. Remember you can always add more onion, but you can't take any out
4. Do not fuss/potchki with the latkes while cooking. Flip them once, that's it.

ingredients:

2 baking potatoes peeled and grated
1/2 medium onion grated
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
pinch baking powder
salt and pepper to taste

Grate potatoes and onion either by hand or with a food processor, depending on your kitchen tools/laziness

Using a colander, follow rule 2 above. I've always skipped this step before and it's a big reason why my latkes fell apart in the frying process. I promise, it's important.

In large mixing bowl combine drained potatoes and onion with other ingredients. Use your hands to shape into pancakes. These portions made 8 medium sized latkes (about the circumference of a clementine).

Fry in vegetable oil until golden. Follow rule number 4. I know how tempting it is to keep checking the pancakes every two seconds, but keep your spatula away from the pan! You're only going to crumble your pancakes.

Drain on a paper towel covered plate before serving to absorb some of the oil.

Eat with sour cream, applesauce, or both.

Oh and let me know if you tried the recipe and liked it. All fan mail will be forwarded to Grandma Frieda. Happy Hanukkah!

lunch box: thai red curry

contents:
thai red curry
brown rice
ginger roasted carrots
pineapple

I'm disappointed with how this picture turned out. The curry looked so beautiful the night I made it, but after sitting overnight it turned into a reddish grey mush. It tastes just as good, but aesthetically I could wish for a better lunch box. Oh well. At least I've discovered that it's quite easy to make food that I've up to now been considering a splurge take-out treat. I've been a little afraid of Thai recipes after a debacle a year or so ago trying to make green papaya salad that turned out smelling (according to James) "like tuna fish can water". Yeah, that was gross. Oh but speaking of fish, make sure to read the label on your curry paste, since some can contain fish.

ingredients:

1 14oz can coconut milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbs thai red curry paste
two handfuls of unsalted peanuts (1 cup?)
10-15 fresh basil leaves
1 large potato cubed (precooked in the microwave)
1 red pepper chopped
3 small blocks of firm tofu cubed
large handful of string beans
1 small onion

In large frying pan cook onion in a few tbs of olive oil on medium heat until clear.

Drain as much water as possible from the tofu before cubing and adding to pan. I buy the kind my produce place sells in little cartons, which is much thinner and smaller in size then the store bought tubs. If you're using one of those, I'd say maybe a 1/2 a tub would do. Keep stirring tofu while it cooks to keep from sticking.

Add red pepper and string beans. Cook for a few minutes until pepper begins to soften and string beans turn a brighter green.

Push veggies to one side of your pan. If you have a sloped kitchen like me, make sure to move it uphill. Pour coconut milk and 1/2 cup of water on the other half of your pan. Stir curry paste into coconut milk letting it dissolve fully before mixing sauce into the veggies. Bring to low boil.

Add peanuts, (precooked) potatoes, and fresh basil. Serve over rice.

----------------

ingredients:

6 carrots
2 large tbs of finely chopped fresh ginger
olive oil (in retrospect, sesame oil would have been great)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Toss chopped carrots, ginger, and dash of olive oil in large mixing bowl

Cover a baking tray with tin foil and spread out carrots in single layer

Bake for about 20 minutes. Turn carrots at least a couple times to keep from burning.

lunch box: thanksgiving leftovers

Despite the lack of comments (hint! hint!), it turns out I do in fact have some readers, since I've been getting regular complaints the past few weeks about my lack of postings. Sorry everyone. I'll let you know exactly what is to blame...



O Thanksgiving Leftovers! Triumph after awkward family politics! What you lack in beauty and freshness you make up for with taste.

I didn't actually cook a thing in this lunch box, so if you want recipes I'll have to refer you to my parents. One of the many things I like about Thanksgiving food, is that everyone has their own system for eating it. My sister, even though she eats turkey, thinks of mashed potatoes as the main course. Each year she piles an even larger mountain on her plate, like a one person Iron Man contest for potato intake. James lives for the "Thanksgiving Sandwich" which is turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy on a roll. I have never attempted a vegetarian version of this. Maybe next year. I'm not sure if I have a Thanksgiving system, but I can tell you that it's entirely possible to overeat on Thanksgiving if you don't eat turkey.

contents:

mashed potatoes
cornbread stuffing with mushrooms and fennel
steamed zucchini and broccoli
sweet potatoes

lunch box: spanakopita

contents:

spanakopita
baked chick peas
olives

This was my first time making anything with filo dough and it was definitely a learning experience. Despite the very simple instructions on the box, I didn't believe that it actually had to defrost for a full 2 hours before you could unroll it. Well as it turns out, the defrost time is not a suggestion. If you try to unwrap the dough too soon the thin layers will break apart and crumble. In the end I was able to cobble together a workable (and tasty) crust, but the finished pan didn't look as pretty as it could have. Also I clearly need a pastry brush, because trying to brush on olive oil with a paper towel/my hands is way more complicated then necessary.

Interesting fact: gmail spell check does not recognize the word spanakopita. It recommends replacing it with spanking, Spanglish, Spaniard, or spandrels.

ingredients:

3 leeks
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 boxes of frozen spinach
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
frozen filo dough (cough fully defrosted cough)

Cut off very bottom and top dark leaves of leeks. Chop and rise well. The inside of leeks are like some kind of sand and dirt sponge.

In a large frying pan cook garlic and leeks in olive oil until leeks are soft. Mix in defrosted and drained spinach.

Turn off heat and let cool. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Beat eggs in large mixing bowl. Mix in cooled spinach mixture, feta, salt, pepper, dill, and mint.

Brush bottom and sides of 9 X 13 in baking pan with olive oil. Now if I had done this correctly, I would have been able to lay down the filo dough 1 sheet at a time to fit the pan until half of the filo dough was used up. You will hopefully learn from my mistake and be more patient.

Spread spinach mixture evenly over dough.

Cover with remaining filo dough. Brush with more olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until top crush turns a deep golden brown.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This chickpea recipie was first recommended to me as an idea for party snacks. It seemed like a good compliment to my spanakopita and a way to add some extra protein to my lunch.

In a large mixing bowl toss two cans of chickpeas (drained of course) with olive oil, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, and paprika. Bake on a covered baking sheet for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

baking party 2: the return of baking party

John hosted another wonderful baking party this past weekend. I'm going to go ahead and start calling this a Bake Club, since we are all committed to keeping this up on a regular basis. There were some more savory items this time around. John made lasagna and Gigi tried this interesting muffin recipe I found online with some very delicious substitutions. Instead of photographing each batch individually, I just have one plate for you with examples. I'm pretty sure you won't have any trouble figuring out which is which.

Me: Chocolate Earl Grey Cookies. I've been a little obsessed with the Chocolate + Earl Grey flavor combination after I had an ice cream version a couple years ago. Since then I've been settling for occasionally putting half a hot coco mix in with my tea (which is really not that bad), so I was pretty excited to find this recipe online.

----------------------------

Gigi: Savory Muffins. I know the idea of a savory muffin sounds weird, but they really are delicious. You're just going to have to trust me. Gigi substituted broccoli and sharp cheddar for the green beans and parmesan in the original recipe. They would be the perfect accompaniment to soup or as part of a brunch.

-------------------------

Christopher: Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake. Christopher can't remember the name of the book this recipe came from. Considering the taste, it may have been handed to him directly by roman gods. At the risk of angering them, I'll post it out for you here.

(Makes two 9” round cakes)

3 large navel oranges
3 large eggs
2 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups olive oil
1 ½ cups milk
2 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350

Grate the zest from the oranges and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add the eggs and whisk well. Whisk in 1 cup of the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture lightens, about 1 minute. Whisk in the oil followed by the milk.

In another bowl, stir together the remaining 1 ½ cups of sugar with the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the dry mixture into the egg mixture in three separate additions, whisking smooth after each addition.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 prepared pans (Two 9 inch round pans, 2 inches deep, well oiled, and the bottoms lined with parchment paper cut to fit.)

Bake the cakes until they are well risen, deep golden, and firm in the center when pressed with a fingertip, 50 to 55 minutes.

Cool the cakes on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold, turn right side up again, and cool completely on racks.

*You'll also see on the plate some very simple and tasty tea cookies Christopher's friend Sarah made. If I can get the recipe from here, I'll post it for you later in the comments.



John: Spinach Lasagna. This is a combination of John's mother's recipe and one he found online. I was very skeptical of these no boil noodles, but they totally worked. It's magic!

Ingredients

1lb of "no boil" lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (try artichoke hearts, squash, or zucchini if you aren't a mushroom fan)
1 cup chopped onion (same as one medium onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (same as 2 or 3 cloves)
Two 10 oz. chopped frozen spinach packages (Just pop them in the microwave and drain them before mixing them in)
3 cups ricotta cheese (part skim if you prefer)
2/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (part skim if you prefer)
3 cups tomato pasta sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

If you do not have the "no boil" lasagna noodles bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook mushrooms, onions, and garlic in olive oil until onions are tender. Drain excess liquid and cool.

Microwave spinach for 12 minutes. Drain, then squeeze out excess liquid.

Combine ricotta cheese, Romano cheese, spinach, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, and egg in a bowl. Add cooled mushroom mixture. Mix well.

Lay 5 lasagna noodles in bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread one third of the cheese/spinach mixture over noodles. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese on top. Spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce over cheese. Repeat layering 2 times.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

moroccan butternut squash and carrot stew

Is it me, or has the world jumped into an even earlier then usual Christmas frenzy this year? I hate to be a Grinch, I want to listen to my Peanuts Christmas record as much as the next (half Jewish) person, but I would like to remind everyone that it is still technically fall. Soon enough it actually will be December, and we will have nothing but cold miserable winter for months and months. In the meantime let's take a moment to recognize that we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, and focus on some fall food to celebrate the actual season we are in.

Looking around for butternut squash recipes, I'd say about 90% of the results were for soup or risotto, which was not what I was in the mood for. I found this one on Epicurious and made a few changes to accommodate dinner party portions and the contents of my spice shelf (I didn't have saffron or turmeric). The altered recipie made about 5 medium sized servings. For a larger group or more famished eaters, I would double it.

Ingredients:

Stew--
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsps Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup water
1 small can diced tomatoes (drained)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
large butternut squash (I think mine was about 2 lbs) peeled and cubed
5 chopped carrots

Quinoa--
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 tbs olive oil
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups water
salt, pepper, chopped fresh mint and cilantro to taste

In a large stew pot, fry onion and garlic on medium to low heat until clear

Add spices. Be careful to keep stirring so you don't burn them/have a sticky mess at the bottom of your pan.

Add water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring liquids to boil.

Mix in squash and carrots

Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until vegetables are soft. You will need to stir it a few times to make sure the veggies get cooked evenly.

In separate pot fry onion, garlic, and carrot portions for quinoa until slightly brown. Stir in quinoa and let cook for another minute.

Add water. When water starts to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Once quinoa has absorbed all the water, stir in your cilantro and mint. Add salt or pepper to taste. I think I under-spiced since the stew was so flavorful

Serve with a little extra mint and cilantro sprinkled on top.

lunch box: wheel primavera

I had a lot of leftover ingredients from my soup, so i decided to make a sort of pasta primavera for lunch this week. I know that this isn't the most sophisticated looking meal. The only thing holding it back from a full on elementary school lunch box impersonation is a small carton of chocolate milk. To the haters I say-- did you not get a sudden craving for celery sticks with peanut butter? That's what I thought.

contents:
wheel primavera
peanut butter celery sticks
grapes

For the pasta I fried 3 cloves of chopped garlic, a large leek, one zucchini, two medium tomatoes, 2 roasted red peppers (from a jar), and the remainder of my cannolini beans from the soup in a large frying pan. Then I tossed the veggies in with pasta and added olive oil, parmesan, pepper, dried basil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar

minestrone soup

James got a cold this week, which called for some made to order soup. I used to dislike celery in soup and always replaced it with zucchini, but I think I'm starting to come around to it as a flavor. There is something really nice about a simple ingredient comfort food soup. Especially in this weather. We had enough for about two nights of leftovers, but I did need to add some extra stock later in the week. You can see on the side we also had corn muffins (with butter and maple syrup).

ingredients:

1 small onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 celery sticks chopped
1 potato cubed
1 can stewed tomatoes with juice
3/4 cup cannellini beans
1 cup mini wheels
3 cups veggie stock (I prefer bouillon cubes to pre-made stock)
fresh dill and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot fry chopped onion and garlic in olive oil until clear.

Add carrot, celery, and potato. Keep stirring to avoid burning the veggies

You will probably want to chop the stewed tomatoes a bit before you add them into the soup. The brand I buy always seems to have very large slices. Pour in your tomato juice first and then you can easily get the tomatoes out with a fork. I know that seems like it would be the obvious thing to do, but I've spent lots of time fishing around trying to find the last tomato at the bottom of the sauce.

Stir in cannolini and dill. Add veggie stock. Cover and reduce heat to low.

Once your potatoes are almost cooked through, add pasta and boil again for 8 minutes (or whatever is recommended for your pasta).

Taste your soup and see if it wants more spices. I don't add any extra salt since the bouillon cubes I buy are salty enough, but pepper and more dill can be nice (especially for a cold).

Serve with grated Parmesan.

basil pesto

Making fresh pesto is one of the quickest post-work dinners I've found. I almost always use walnuts instead of the traditional pine nuts to save on money (who do pine nuts think they are anyway?). I've also had some good experiments with almonds, or an almond walnut combo. Most recipes will call for 2 cloves of garlic, but I like to use at least 3 depending on the size. Garlic is great for you, delicious, and I say anyone who won't kiss you with garlic breath is not worth kissing at all.

ingredients:

1 bunch of basil (about 2 cups of leaves)
3 cloves garlic chopped
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

Remove leaves and rinse well. Depending on the freshness of your produce store they can have lots of dirt/sand on them.

I pre-chop my garlic even though its all going in the food processor, just to make sure.

Blend ingredients in food processor. I prefer to leave a little walnut texture and not have totally smooth pesto, but that's up to you of course.

Serve on pasta, sandwiches, dressing for veggies...

lunch box: egg fried tofu and carrot rice

contents:

egg fried tofu
carrot rice
red cabbage and apple slaw
cucumber kimchi (bought pre-made)


My lunch only looked exactly like this for one day last week, because I discovered the pre-made kimchi had fish oil in the seasoning. After 18 years how do my taste buds know what fish even tastes like? Who knows, but I took a bite and knew instantly that something in there tasted alien to all the foods I eat. I stopped eating it right away (I always follow possible meat-in-food leads seriously because I get really sick if I do accidentally eat something) and sure enough when I asked the lady at the produce place where I bought it, she told me they use fish oil in the brine. So-- no more pre-made cucumber kimchi for me (or at least not from there and without asking ingredients first). I've been trying to talk James into eating it since it's basically a spicier version of pickles, but so far I'm not winning the argument.

The rest of lunch was successfully delicious and lasted me well through the week. This was sort of a "clean out the refrigerator" lunch since I had some leftover carrots, red cabbage, and a bag of apples from my visit home to NJ.

-----------------------

The egg batter for the tofu was 1 egg plus 2 tbs flour whisked together. Make sure to drain the tofu before you batter and fry it since the water makes it crumble.

--------------------------------------

The rice I made by adding 1 shredded carrot in the last few minutes of cooking my brown rice then recovering the pot to let it soften. For seasoning I mixed in some sesame seeds, sesame oil, and a little curry powder.

--------------------------------------

The red cabbage is actually equally good hot or cold. I had maybe 3/4 of a head of red cabbage leftover, but most recipes call for a full head. Cook the chopped cabbage with a little olive oil in a thick sauce pot. Once the Cabbage softens and starts to turn that amazing bright purple color, add 1 shredded apple, 2 tbs water, then cover and simmer for a half hour. Once its cooked you can add brown sugar and vinegar to taste. Apple cider vinegar would have been ideal, but I didn't have any at home so I had to use white wine vinegar.

baking party

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to a Baking Party at John's house. What is a Baking Party you ask? It's kind of like a clothes swap, except with baked goods. Everyone picks out a recipe and brings the ingredients they need to the host house. Then you take turns baking and divide up the spoils. Genius! It was the perfect way to spend one of our coldest fall afternoons yet, and at the end of the day I had a full tin of cookies, muffins, and bars to take home.

Here are all the things we made. I will add links to the recipes, since typing them up here would be a little tedious.



Me: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
These turned out tasty, but I think the recipie called for way too much chocolate chip and pecan. It made the cookies too crumbly, and more importantly I want to taste the oatmeal in an oatmeal cookie. Next time I would half the portions for both.



John: Fruit and Nut Bars
It's like you get to eat all the toppings and fillings for other baked goods in one treat. Be warned, the fact that this uses almost no batter means they are pretty delicate. The trick is to eat them extra fast.



Christopher: Pumpkin Muffins
When you see yogurt and bran in the same recipie you can fool yourself into thinking these are actually good for you. I definitely ate one of these for breakfast this week, despite the fact that it's basically a cupcake in disguise.



Gigi: Pumpkin Cookies
These cookies were probably my favorite of the day. If I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I would.

And in case you were worried that all we did was eat sugar for a full afternoon (Mom and Dad-- I know you read this blog), John also made this delicious lentil soup:



Since he did not have garam marsala or cardamom at home he substituted curry in equal amounts and also added a touch of cinnamon and half a tablespoon of seasoned salt. He also suspects that he may have messed up the tsp and tb measurement and added too much cayenne. Accidental or not, I thought the spiciness was perfect.

mac and cheese

I have to come clean about something-- this is actually a photo of reheated mac and cheese. I got so excited about eating the night I made it, that I completely forgot to take a picture. I'm surprised that hasn't happened more often.

This recipe uses half of the proportions of the one I found online. If you make the full recipe you end up with one of those extra large 8x16 pans. The half version makes a smaller 8x8 pan, which is still enough for dinner and leftovers.

ingredients:

1/2 box of pasta (I like whole wheat rotini or penne)
4 tbs butter or futter
1/8 cup flour
2 cups milk
I tsp spicy mustard
cayenne, salt, pepper, to taste
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook your pasta. I wont insult you with pasta boiling directions.

In a heavy saucepan melt butter or futter on low heat

Add flour and whisk. Let this cook for about 5 minutes to get out the floury taste. Congratulations, you just made a roux!. Now it's time to make up some roux puns. Your freebie is, 'I roux the day I ever bought mac and cheese in a box'.

Ok fine, moving on...

Start adding your milk in small sections (about a 1/2 cup or less). Keep whisking to avoid letting the milk burn. Your milk will start to thicken up and turn into more of a cream sauce. Each time it thickens you can add another portion of milk. Continue this until all the milk is added.

Season your cream sauce with mustard and spices, tasting as you go. The recipie I use says 'mustard seeds', which I never remember to buy and keep using spicy mustard every time. I don't see any intensive to change over now.

Add your cooked pasta to the cream sauce pot if there's room (or use a large bowl). Mix in chedder and parmesian.

Pour mac and cheese into casserole dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and a few more slabs of butter or futter (yes, more butter).

Bake until breadcrumbs get brown and the sauce is bubbling.

lunch box: quiche

contents:

fennel mushroom quiche
sweet potato home fries
white rabbit salad


Quiche is one of my stand by meals for when I don't feel like cooking and/or when I have annoyingly small amounts of veggies leftover from other dishes I need to use. I buy frozen crusts, which make the whole thing that much easier. The basic formula is 2 eggs + 3/4 cup milk and then whatever veggies, cheese, and spices you want to add. This time I cooked some chopped fennel and mushrooms stove top first before adding it to the eggs. Some other favorite quiche combos are: sweet potato chili pepper cheddar, broccoli swiss, and tomato spinach parmesan. Just be careful you're not adding in lots of water or juice from the veggies into your egg mixture. Bake your quiche at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through. Let the quiche cool for a few minutes before you start cutting slices.


------------------------------------------------

There are a lot of recipes for White Rabbit Salad online, and each one is a little different. My final salad included:

2 cups cottage cheese
2 mackintosh apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp honey
juice from 1/2 a lemon

I think this is is going to be my new favorite snack, at least for as long as apple season lasts.


--------------------------------------------------

Because I was trying to time it with quiche I pre-baked the sweet potatoes in the microwave first, then peeled and chopped them. If you have more time you can start with the raw potatoes and let them cook fully in the oven. Toss potatoes with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, paprika, and one chopped onion. Cover a cooking sheet in tin foil and lay out potatoes in a single layer. Bake until crispy.

gingerbread cookies

As a rule I try to stay clear of baking because I always seem to mess it up, and failing at baking is the worst since you can never salvage it like something stove top. But this blog feels like a push to try some harder recipes -- and also, I just finished reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle and if you've ever read it you will understand why it was imperative that I start cooking gingersnaps on a Tuesday after work. I'm not really sure what the difference is between gingerbread and gingersnaps. The recipe I followed from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food said 'gingersnaps,' but they turned out very fluffy and cake-like even in cookie form.

So I'll give you a brief walk through of my baking "process" (if you can call it that), and you'll see why I try to avoid it at all costs.

The first problem started before I even took out ingredients, when I decided to half the recipe (the original yielding 30 cookies seemed like more than James and I were up for eating, even on a good week). This resulted in some shoddy math, and having to do things like make 3/4 of a teaspoon by using the 1/2 and the 1/4. Then my mind started wandering -- "wow, it's amazing how bad I am at simple fractions. You'd think this would come up more often . . ." -- and I accidentally mixed up the teaspoons and tablespoons. I had to start over on the dry ingredients.

I did a similar thing with the butter trying to convert 3/4 of a stick and a tub of Smart Balance into the recipe's required 'stick and 3 tablespoons' , only to remember after measuring it all out that the amount needed to be halved. Oops.

After finally winning the battle against batter, I got to the step where you wrap the dough in plastic to chill. Realizing I had no plastic wrap, I was forced to cut up a large ziplock bag instead. It worked...kind of.

Three hours later, when the batter was supposed to be cooled, it turned out to still be too soft. Something I only discovered after it stuck to my countertop.

Here's the thing though: after all that I still ended up with light, fluffy cookies that weren't burnt (not even a little!) on the bottom. This is a first. Did I actually manage the right ingredient proportions in spite of myself? Was it the magic of Alice Waters? Who knows. What I can tell you is that the opening to 'Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier, is exactly the length of time it takes to bake gingersnaps. Just in case that ever comes up for you too.


ingredients (original proportions):

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 stick and 3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Combine flour, baking soda, and spices (ie: all your dry ingredients) in a mixing bowl.

In another large mixing bowl whisk butter (softened) with sugar until the mixture gets light and fluffy. The idea is to get air bubbles into the butter which will help the cookies rise in the oven.

Add egg, molasses, and vanilla to butter and sugar mixture.

Add your dry ingredients to the bowl and mix just enough that everything is combined evenly. Don't overdo the whisking or you will get rid of all those nice air bubbles you just put into the butter.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap (or apparently a large cut-up ziplock bag will work too) and chill for at least 2 hours.

When dough is ready, roll it into small balls (1 inch or so in size) and place on greased cookie sheet. Pour some more sugar (I used demerara sugar for this step) into a small plate. Wet the bottom of a glass and dip into sugar before flattening each dough ball on the pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

lunch box: kale salad with spicy lentil-quinoa snacks

contents:

kale salad
spicy lentil-quinoa snacks
lemon ginger yogurt

This kale salad is a loose recreation of one I love from a health food store in Princeton. Usually I put tempeh in it, brown rice, or both, but I left it out this time because I figured I was protein covered already with the lentil-quinoa snacks. The kale absorbs dressing like crazy (maybe because its raw?), so if you're making a big tub to use over the course of the week you may want to add extra dressing at some point.

ingredients:

kale
carrot
red cabbage
flax seed
almonds
lemon juice
olive oil
tahini

Wash kale and cut or pull apart leaves with your hands into small salad like pieces. You are definitely going to want to remove the stalks and use only the leaves for this recipe since you wont be cooking it.

In a small bowl add one or two spoonfuls of tahini and equal parts water to make a paste. Then add a splash of olive oil and mix again until the tahini starts to thin out. If I had to guess I would say maybe a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Then add lemon juice to taste. I usually use about a half a lemon, depending on it's juiciness. This will make a very thick almost mayonnaise-like dressing.

In a large bowl pour your dressing over the kale and massage into the leaves with your hands. I'm not kidding, this is actually what people call it- massaging. If you have a wisecracking boyfriend at home, they will probably take this time to make a series of jokes about your kale being stressed. Also I'm going to admit something here, which is that I time most of my cooking to music instead of a watch. I think technically you're supposed to massage the kale for about 5 minutes or so until it wilts, but a medium length song is usually fine.

Add two or three grated carrots, red cabbage chopped finely, flax seeds, and almonds. I like to chop the almonds at least into halves to get them spread through the salad better, but that may be too picky for you. This is where you would add rice or tempeh if you're using it. Mix with your hands (why not? they are already covered in tahini dressing).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found this lentil snack recipe through JustBento.com and made it for the first time this past weekend. My process definitely needs some tweaking. The recipe called for bulgar wheat, but for some reason there wasn't a grocery store or bodega near me that had it, so I had to substitute with quinoa. I'm not sure if this is where the problem came from, but I ended up having to add more water after the lentils were done to make the quinoa cook in the same pot. The end result was delicious, but I think maybe a little too soft. I'm going to try this again either cooking the quinoa separately, or after I can get my hands on some bulgar (which for the record I didn't realize was so exotic), and report back to you.

Also a note about the cupcake paper system for storing yogurt: though adorable, it's not a good idea for anything wet. By lunchtime my precious little yogurt cup looked more like the Wicked Witch of the West- post water. For Tuesday's lunch I cut a plastic cup and used just the bottom for keeping yogurt in. Much better.

ingredients:

1 cup lentils
1/2 cup quinoa
3 tsp tomato paste
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 roasted red pepper (pre-made in jar)
chopped cilantro, cumin,curry powder, red pepper flakes, lemon juice

In a medium sized pot bring lentils and 2 /12 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until lentils are soft.

Add tomato paste and quinoa to pot. Now, the recipe says you can just let this sit for a half hour and if you were using bulgar it would absorb. I, with my usual inability to cook grains or beans correctly, had no excess water in the pot at this point and needed to add an extra cup and re-simmer the quinoa to get it to cook. Like I said, I'll get back to you on this one.

In a large frying pan saute onion and garlic until onion is clear. Add chopped red pepper and saute for a few more minutes. Add your quinoa lentil mixture to the frying pan and stir in spices, cilantro, and lemon juice. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now that your mixture is cool (you did let it cool, right?) roll into small golf sized balls and and place on a greased cookie sheet. Yes I'm making a stink about this cooling thing because, you guessed it- I was impatient and burned my fingers.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the balls get a thin crust to them.

The dressing is just plain yogurt with lemon juice and ginger powder.

pineapple tempeh stew

This recipe is a hybrid of African Peanut Stew from the Moosewood Cookbook, and a tempeh patty from a vegan Caribbean restaurant that has sadly gone out of business. Whenever I make this stew for someone for the first time, they invariably make a face at the ingredients list -- probably thinking, "pineapple, peanut butter, and Tabasco...seriously?" And then they gobble down the whole bowl once it's cooked. So for those of you nervous about cooking with pineapple in savory dishes, I mean this in the nicest possible way- get over it.

ingredients:

one small onion
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 red pepper
1/2 package of tempeh cut into small cubes
1 16oz can of pineapple chucks in pineapple juice (NOT syrup)
1/2 bunch kale
1/4 cup peanut butter
Tabasco to taste


Wash kale and chop or rip with your hands into small salad sized pieces. You can remove the heavy stalk if you want and use only the leaves.

In large pot saute chopped onion and garlic until onion is clear

Add tempeh cubes cooking until the outsides are slightly browned. Stir in red pepper and cook for another few minutes to let the pepper get soft.

Add whole can of pineapple chunks and juice. Bring to a low boil.

Add kale to pot and stir in well so that the hot ingredients can start to wilt down the leaves. If you've never cooked with kale before, right now you are probably thinking you've made way too much. You haven't. This is going to cook down to almost nothing in a few minutes (but this is why you need the much larger pot to begin with).

After kale has softened and turned a bright green color stir in the peanut butter and Tabasco sauce. Although I like spicier food as a rule, with this recipe I use a little less Tabasco then I normally would to keep the flavors balanced. Taste it and see what you like.

Serve over brown rice or another grain of your choice.

breakfast burrito

It is still a Breakfast Burrito if you make it for dinner? I'll leave this question to you. Breakfast Burritos (or maybe Dinner Burritos Featuring Egg) are one of those recipes that can get kind of expensive if you need to buy all the ingredients at once, especially since you only use a little bit of each. I generally wait until I have a few of them leftover from other meals. For speed I buy the Goya black bean and rice mix (be careful the other ones have pork or other meat flavoring in them) and salsa in a jar, but if you have some extra time making your own salsa or beans and rice mix is really nice.

ingredients:

tortillas
rice and beans mix
scrambled eggs (flavored with adobo seasoning)
fakin' bacon
salsa
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
sliced avocado

Cook, build, wrap, and eat. That's really all the instructions you need, right? If you're curious about burrito wrapping technique, it looks like someone set up a site just for you: http://howtowrapaburrito.com/

lunch box: hummus and "pickled" eggplant

contents:

hummus
"pickled" eggplant with feta
dipping veggies- carrot, zucchini, and radishes
whole wheat pita


This hummus recipe is based on one from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food, although I have a feeling she would not approve of my using canned chick peas. Sorry Alice! She recommends adding some of the bean cooking liquid if you want to thin out the texture, but since in my case that would have meant the juice from the can (and you know how I feel about that) I just added some extra olive oil and lemon juice to compensate.

ingredients:

1 16oz can chick peas
1/4 cup tahini
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice (one lemon)
1/4 cup olive oil
cumin and cayenne pepper to taste

Mix in food processor until smooth.

--------------------------------------------------

Phil made this eggplant last time I was over for dinner and I've been meaning to try it since. It's an easy way to make a pickled tasting side in a few minutes. That being said, the flavor does get better the longer it sits. My mid week lunch definitely tasted better then the first day I made it. Now that I know how simple this is, I have plans to try this with some other veggies soon. Next up, mushrooms!

2 cups water
1 cup red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic
1 medium eggplant
red pepper flakes and olive oil to taste

Cut eggplant into medium sized slices (about 1 1/2 inch thick)

Bring water, vinegar and garlic to boil in large pot

Add as much eggplant as can all be submerged in the liquid. Cook for around 10 or until eggplant is soft, stirring from time to time making sure the eggplant cooks evenly.

Remove eggplant with slotted spoon and put in mixing bowl to cool

Repeat until all eggplant is cooked. It took two batches for me

Once eggplant has cooled add olive oil and red pepper to taste

Elvis Pancakes

It's always a small personal tragedy when you think you've invented something amazing, and then find out later that its actually completely unoriginal. On the subway to work last week I thought I came up with the idea for Elvis Pancakes, only to discover through some googling that many many people have liked both Elvis and pancakes before me. Oh well. The most important thing is that they taste good, and let me tell you- I may never go back to regular pancakes again. For those of you not familiar with The King's (yeah that's right, I just capitalized it) culinary tastes, Elvis' favorite sandwich was peanut butter, banana, and bacon. So for my veggie version Elvis Pancakes are: peanut butter pancakes topped with caramelized bananas and a side of fakin' bacon just to stay true to form.

1-1/4 cups flour
2 tbs sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup peanut butter (I strongly recommend chunky)
3 tbs butter melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 bananas
brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk egg, butter, milk, and vanilla. Then add peanut butter making sure it gets evenly mixed throughout.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. Whisk until smooth.

Cut up bananas into large slices and place on greased baking tray. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook for about 5 minutes until the sugar melts and starts to crisp slightly.

Fry pancakes until golden. Top with caramelized bananas, butter, and maple syrup (plus fakin' if you're making it). Also I'm not going to say you HAVE to listen to Elvis, but it certainly wouldn't hurt the experience...

http://www.last.fm/music/Elvis+Presley/_/It%27s+Now+Or+Never?autostart

polenta stuffed acorn squash with mustard collard greens

This is a very simple version of stuffed acorn squash, using polenta instead of the usual rice. Since this makes it a lot sweeter, I like the slightly spicy mustard collards for contrast. This is not something I would recommend making during the week unless you don't mind waiting a bit for dinner. For some reason acorn squash always takes longer to bake then you think it does.


ingredients:

1/2 cup polenta
1 medium sized acorn squash
dried cranberries, olive oil, rosemary,salt,pepper to taste

1/2 bunch of collard greens
1 small onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 cup veggie broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut acorn squash in half and scoop out seeds and those little stringy bits on the inside.

Place acorn squash halves face up in a baking dish. Score inside of squash and sprinkle a little olive oil and salt on the inside.

Cook for about an hour or until the inside of the acorn squash gets soft. Like I said earlier, this always seems to take longer then you think. I have no idea why. It's probably the same kind of dark magic that results in restaurant checks being just slightly off from what you calculate the sum of your individual dishes to be. Also possible that I don't preheat my oven long enough.

Make 1/2 cup of polenta following directions on package ( its usually around 3:1 water to polenta ratio). I know this doesn't seem like a lot or polenta, but keep in mind you'll be mixing it with your squash.

Take out your cooked sqash and let them cool before scooping out the insides into a mixing bowl.

Combine with polenta, dried cranberries, spices, and olive oil. You can also use butter or fake butter for this instead of more oil.

Put stuffed squash back in the oven to cook a little more while you make your greens.

-------

Chop and wash 1/2 of a large bunch of collard greens.

Fry garlic and onion in olive oil until onion is clear. Then add greens stirring well so that they cook evenly.

Once the greens have cooked down a little add your 1/2 cup of veggie stock with mustard (you can combine them to one side in the pan before mixing without)

Cook for another few minutes on low heat, letting some of the water evaporate out and the greens cook down until they are less bitter.

baked eggs with sour cream biscuits

For some reason biscuits are one of the few baked goods I can't seem to mess up. Maybe because they are basically just flour and butter with no yeast or anything like that involved. The recipe bellow originally called for 3/4cup of heavy cream, but I usually substitute whole milk or this sour cream/milk mixture. To make the measuring of the sour cream and milk easier (and spare on dishes) I use a 3/4 cup measuring cup, eyeball about 2/3 of it with sour cream, and then top it off with milk.

ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 stick of butter
1 tb baking soda
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk

Take the butter out of the fridge a little while before you start baking so that it gets a chance to soften up.

Grease a cookie sheet and put it aside (you will appreciate this pre-planning when you hands are covered in dough)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Add flour and baking soda in large bowl

Mix in butter with your hands until it has been broken into tiny pieces and disbursed evenly through the flour.

Add sour cream and milk and mix well with your hands. It will feel as if you have more dough on your fingers then in the bowl. This is probably true.

Separate dough into 6 sections and roll lightly into balls. I think they taste better when they are not too tightly rolled and still have lumpy parts that can get extra crispy in the oven. Place on baking sheet.

If you have a pastry brush you can brush a little melted butter on top of each biscuit. Also there's no shame in doing a more sloppy job of this with your fingers. I think it works fine.

Cook for 20 minutes or until the tops start to get slightly brown.

----------


For the Baked Eggs you will need some ceramic ramekins or a small cup or bowl that can go in the oven. This is a real improvisation friendly dish. First add a pat of butter and a teaspoon of milk to the bottom of each ramekin. If you have any leftover greens from the night before, tomatoes, etc, you can put them into the bottom of the ramekin too. Then crack in two eggs and sprinkle the top with cheese and/or spices of your choice. In this case I made just eggs with no bottom filling and added parmesan, rosemary, basil, salt, and pepper to the top. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. If you like your eggs more on the runny side you can take them out at 15 minutes or less.

Also individual cups means that everyone can make their own choice of eggs. On the same morning as the above picture, James had this cup with cheddar and adobo seasoning

lunch box: curry stew

contents:

potato,carrot, and green bean curry
brown rice with sesame oil
radishes
strawberries




So... I bought this curry mix from a Korean grocery store on 32nd street and although I made sure to read the ingredients at least twice to make sure it didn't have any fish or meat in it, I neglected to notice that the instructions for the mix were entirely in Korean. Not my smartest hour. Luckily the internet was able to tell me it was a just add water kind of thing, but I wasn't able to get an exact translation of the packet I bought. I ended up adding 4 large spoonfuls to a bowl and then adding small amounts of water until it seemed to be the right consistency. I'm not sure if this is at all what the package intended, but it tasted delicious so I couldn't be all wrong. The mix makes a thick curry sauce, almost more like a gravy, and not spicy at all. It was perfect for a fall stew.



Radishes as a snack is something I've picked up from Leela. She soaks them in salt water for a bit to let them absorb the salt (and I suspect like with onions it takes out some of their acidity) before cutting them into smaller pieces.

black bean and corn enchiladas

This recipe is based on one featured in a pbs cooking show I caught one afternoon (unfortunately I can't remember the name), but the filling was chicken. James likes this meal so much that he carries around the list of ingredients in his wallet on the off chance that I'm in the mood to make it. How about that for a recommendation?

ingredients:

1 can black beans
1 can corn
1onion chopped small
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cups veggie stock
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 Tb butter (or "futter" aka fake butter)
corn or flour tortillas (medium sized)
1/2 block of grated chedder cheese
cumin, chili powder, chopped cilantro, and lime juice

In a large frying pan saute chopped onion until clear. Add black beans, corn, and any other veggies you might want. Personally I'm convinced that the juice canned veggies come in tastes like can, so I always drain them in the sink and rinse with water a few times. If you are one of the people that think this is crazy then obviously feel free to enjoy your metallic enchiladas, but I would still drain a little of the juice out to keep the mixture from getting too wet

Add your spices, cilantro, and lime juice to taste. I like to go heavy on the cumin, but keep in mind the sauce is going to be very spicy so you might want to keep the filling on the mild side.

At this point you can can go ahead and turn off the pan so you can focus on the sauce. Also you don't really want scolding hot filling when you're wrapping up the enchiladas.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized pot melt the butter or futter on low heat then add flour, whisking to make sure there is no loose flour left. Let this cook for a couple minutes to get the floury taste out of it (for the record this is not like the can thing, it's universally accepted).

Add about a 1/2 cup of your veggie stock and whisk well. Once the sauce has thickened up to a more gravy like consistency add another 1/2 cup, and so on until all the broth has been used. Try to resist the temptation to add more stock until it really needs it.

Finely chop 2 medium sized chipotle peppers. Of course this is up to your own spice threshold, but don't be a show off, taste them first please. Add peppers to the sauce pot along with a spoonful of the adobo sauce in the can and whisk.

(a warning about these peppers. The spice will linger on everything and tends to stain a little, so you might want to wash your cutting board, knife, and hands right away.)

Set up a little assembly line next to the stove with your tortillas and a large baking pan. Fill your tortilla with two large serving spoon sized spoonfuls of the filling then roll up and place seam down in your baking pan. Don't overfill them or it will be impossible to roll the tortilla up neatly. Keep going with this until you are out of filling and have a nice row of sardine-like tortillas. I usually end up with around 6 or 7 enchiladas.

Pour sauce evenly over the whole pan then add your cheese. I know I said a half block above, but this will vary so just make sure all the tortillas are covered. Besides, is there such a thing as too much cheese? I thought not.

Bake at 350 until the cheese is completely melted and starts bubbling. Honestly I've never timed this part and I usually end up checking it impatiently at least 3 times. If someone wants to tell me what the actual time is I'd be curious to know.

lunch box: spinach and broccoli croquettes

contents:

spinach and broccoli croquettes
brown rice with cashews and green peas (spiced with curry, turmeric, and a little chili pepper)
cucumber carrot and dill salad (dressing is just vinegar, olive oil, and paprika)
grapes



spinach and broccoli croquettes:

Spinach croquettes were one of those house staple dishes my Dad used to make all the time. I even brought them in my bag lunches for school, although once someone did say it looked like I was "eating lawn sandwich". Being a vegetarian in the 4th grade does not get you as many cool points as you would think. Anyway! The recipe couldn't be easier to make, or cheaper, and they adapt really nicely if you throw in whatever leftover veggies you have lying around from other meals. This is the first time I've used broccoli and it turned out really well, although it made the pancakes more delicate in the frying process. It probably would have helped if I had pre-steamed the broccoli which I did not do.

Basically you want to use one egg to every box of frozen spinach (or other proportional amount of veggie you use). Then add breadcrumbs until you can form patties with your hands. One box of spinach usually makes about 4 burger sized patties. Make sure you drain the spinach after you defrost it or the excess water will make the patties too soggy. I buy the seasoned breadcrumbs, but if you're using unseasoned then you probably want to add some salt, pepper, and oregano into the mix. Fry in oil until slightly brown on both sides. This is the kind of thing you want to avoid flipping more then you need to. You will also want to let them drain on a paper towel covered plate for a bit to avoid being too greasy.

a (not quite brief) intro

Even though I don't foresee many people reading this who are not already my friends, I feel like I should introduce myself (or more specifically some things about me and food)...

First thing first, I've been a vegetarian since I was around 8. My parents are not vegetarians, although they are not huge meat eaters either. For some reason people always seem to think it's strange that I decided to stop eating meat so young. Personally I think it's strange to sit kids down in front of Charlotte's Web and then expect them to eat bacon. Talk about mixed messages. Of course my reasons for not eating meat have changed and expanded as I've gotten older. I do eat eggs and dairy, but I also try to use substitutes (like buttery spread or veganaise) for day to day cooking. I am wild about cheese though. So if you are a vegan, or a meat eater looking for a new way to cook chicken, this blog may not be for you.

Then 3 years ago I met my boyfriend James who told me pretty early on that he didn't eat vegetables. Usually when people say this to vegetarians they are trying to pick a fight, but in James' case he wasn't exaggerating at all. Meat, Cheese, Bread- these were the only food groups he acknowledged. Lettuce and tomato were even banned from meat sandwiches. So obviously this presented a challenge when we moved in together and started sharing meals on a regular basis. It's funny because I've always wanted to be a contestant on one of those cooking shows where they give you very specific rules on what you can or can't use in order to make your dish. Be careful what you wish for. To be fair, the list of acceptable vegetables has drastically expanded over time, which I think he gets some serious points for (I certainly haven't tried pork chops or something for his sake). Since I think this extensive research shouldn't go to waste, I'm going to put "james approved" tags on recipes he will eat. I can't say that it will automatically mean a veg-phobic eater in your life will eat it, but you can give it a shot.

Another thing I should mention about my cooking is that I'm not very precise. Some people look at recipe and see a series of rules that need to be followed to get the desired meal. I prefer to think of it as more of a suggestion. I do own measuring cups and spoons, but I'm not big on using them. When things say teaspoon I usually pick up an actual teaspoon...and yes I know that they are all different sizes, and yes this is why I'm terrible at baking. I am going to try my best to figure out how to convert this cooking method back into recipe form for you. It may work. It may not. But seriously- when in doubt, just taste it.

Most importantly I should say that I'm not a chef (obviously) or a stay at home anything. I work full time, so whatever I cook starts at 630 when I get home and needs to be inexpensive enough to fit within my this-city-is-too-expensive-for-me budget. I promise almost everything on here can be made quickly, cheaply, in a kitchen the size of a large car (like mine), and with minimal cooking gadgets. It's tempting when you feel like you're rushing towards the end of your day to eat junk, buy takeout, defrost whatever. I certainly do that too. But it's when I take the time to make even the simplest dish for myself, that days seem longer and less rushed. Your meals get to be a pause or even a restart button from everything else that's going on. Hopefully this will give you some ideas on how to do that for yourself.