(recipe adapted and inspired by the new still cookin’ mama at Smitten Kitchen)

1 pound green apples, maybe 2 how much do you love apples?

2 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp butter (melted)

1.5 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup roasted salted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup butter

3 tbsp honey

Preparation:

roughly chop the apples, you’re welcome to peel them but I like the peel.

Place in your lightly greased baking container.

Add the 1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp brown sugar and lemon and the melted butter. Toss the apples, this is not a suggestive statement.

In another bowl mix the rest of your dry ingredients (oatmeal, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, brown sugar)

Melt your butter and honey together. Add that to the dry mix.

Stir your crispy topping together, making sure all your ingredients are incorporated.

Top your apple mixture with your crispy topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minnutes or until the apples are smushy and the top is crunchy.

Now look, I recently came into some marvelous family recipes for Mexican food. To make up for my long absence I suppose I could post one or two of these a week for the next month. Would that take the edge off?

Angel Hair Pasta (get it? get it? Ha!)

Roasted Tomatoes (I made my own, oh simmer down, I’ll post the how to later), roughly chopped

Roasted garlic, roughly chopped

Feta Cheese, crumbled

Olive Oil

Fresh basil, chopped finely

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to box. Drain.

Toss all ingredients together in bowl.

Roll your eyes at blog readers who tell you: “Make something more difficult! Somehting with more than two steps”

People I have a two year old and a picky husband, difficult is a special occasion.

But these are really good pickles.

English Cucumbers, sliced or cubed or whatever you like

2 cups white vinegar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup dill

3-4 tbsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. fresh crushed black pepper

2 tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. sugar

Preparation:

Dump everything in a container that you can shut tightly (I used leftover tupperware),  shake it up (if you have a kid this is where they come in)

Put the whole mess in the fridge to chill for a couple days. Et Voila! Pickles!

These are still good if you want a little sour snappiness at your dinner the same night you make them. Toss the cucumbers and vinegar-y juice with feta and tomatos for a little side greek salad thingy.

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup ricotta

3 tbsp. sugar

1.5 tsp. vanilla (after mixing everything together I realized I was out of vanilla. The recipe would be even more fabulous with the vanilla, however it’s pretty awesome without it.)

1-2 tsp lemon zest (I know, it’s a pain in the ass to zest a lemon. You want it in there. You really do.)

1/4 tsp. salt

Cinnamon Sugar

a whole mess of veggie oil for frying

Preparation:

Pour like 3 to 4 cups of veggie oil in a pot for heating for deep frying. Turn on your heat and keep an eye on things.

Mix your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, sugar, salt – in one bowl. Mix your wet ingredients – eggs, ricotta, vanilla lemon zest – in another.

Combine your ingredients.  The best way to get a smooth outcome is to add 1/2 your dry ingredients to your wet and stir stir stir, when that’s ocmbined, add the rest of your dry ingredients and stir that in. I don’t know why this makes it easier, it just does.

Look at your oil, does it have little bubbles in it? if you drop a little tiny bit of dough in the oil does it float and sizzle? Then your oil is ready. You could put a deep fat thermometer in there and see if it’s 370 degrees or more, but who owns one of those? And if you do own one of those why the hell are you reading MY blog?

Drop your dough in small scoops (I used my tablespoon) into the oil. Use a slotted spoon to flip them after they’ve browned on one side.

Put them on a plate with a paper towel on it so they can drain a little bit. Sprinkle them liberally with some cinnamon sugar. Dig in.

And eat them all when you make them because I ate some of the leftovers this morning and they DO NOT reheat well. No indeed.

1 sausage (now if you’re lucky you might have some Chapel Hill sausage from Brenham, TX in your freezer…if you’re me you have Hillshire Farms. sigh),

* * *to make this bad boy all veggie use the MorningStar Italian Sausage (my Italian ex-husband used to say it’s just as good as the real thing) – slice the sausage

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 stalks celery, sliced

4 smallish red potatoes, cut into smallish cubes

2 ears of corn, off the cob

1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 green, diced

1/4 cup onion, roughly chopped

Olive Oil

Cajun seasoning   OR   salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, and a little bit of bay leaf to taste.

Preparation:

Cook your potatoes. Smaller red potatoes are faster than your Idahodean potato – what can I say, they’re slutty like that. When they are fork tender, drain them and put them in a big bowl. A bowl that is large enough to hold all the rest of the ingredients. Add a little salt if you wish.

Glug some olive oil in a frying pan, not a whole lotta just enough to slightly coat the pan. Turn up the heat and add your veggies. Keep you heat at a low-medium setting, stir occasionally, just let them get a little tender like.

In another pan, add some olive oil. (To make it horrible for you, melt butter in the pan and fry up the sausage in that – hello high cholesterol!) Turn up the heat, keep it high-ish and add your sausage. Cook it through and then some. You want some little crispy bits on the outside. Seriously.

Pour the contents of both pans into the big bowl that has your potatoes in it. Toss. Toss again. Make sure everything gets coated with veggie juice and olive oil.

Serve. Eat only one portion because this fills a person up mighty fast. Reheat in the microwave the next day and grin because it’s yards better.

just about 2 (lets say 1 and 3/4) cups all-purpose flour, plus a little to dust with

Pinch of Salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preparation:

Sift flour and salt together into a mound on your clean counter top.

Now for the “well method”:

Using your fingers or a fork, mix the eggs until smooth and uniform, then gradually incorporate the flour. Continue mixing until a smooth paste begins to form, then push flour over paste and work until dough comes together. (If the mixture is too soft, add a little extra flour; if it is too firm, add a little water.)

Work dough until it is uniformly moist, then using the heel of your hand, knead for about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and firm. Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest in a cool, dry place for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour.

After, shape dough into long thin noodles for spaghetti, long flat sheets for lasagna. Or let your two year old “hap cuht” (help cook) and have them form the shapes they will be eating later.

My handy dandy o.g. Better Homes tells me the following about cooking fresh pasta:

“Fettucine, Spaghetti, noodles cook for 1.5 to 2 minutes, lasagna, bow ties, thicker shapes cook for 2 to 3 minutes”

I add a minute on to these times, because I am paranoid about eggs like that.

As an added bonus for my friend Rachel who has an allergic to eggs kiddo here are the ingredients for egg free pasta!

12 oz Semolina  flour
4 fl.oz warm water
pinch salt
1 T olive oil

Use “well method” exactly as if you were to make a standard pasta dough. May need a touch more or less water, depending on consistency. Cooks in 3-5 mins, just like any other pasta.

2 medium sized zucchinis

1 yellow squash

1 can “chili style” tomatoes – diced

2 ears white or yellow corn

1 green bell pepper

1 jalapeno (optional)

2 cups cojack or any mild cheddar blend cheese

1 can black beans

wild rice mix – trust me, you want this step, over plain white rice it’s just not the same

olive oil

salt and pepper

cumin

garlic powder

Preparation:

-start the rice according to directions. Wild rice is a pain in the ass to cook as it takes forever. Add the butter or olive oil (trust me).  When you put the cover on the top of the pot add a paper towel underneath to catch the steam, I don’t know why this makes it better…it does.

-slice your squashes, not to thin, not to thick. Same goes for your bell pepper. Cut the corn off the cob (you want to know how to do this don’t you? sigh. ok, I am telling you but don’t tell anyone else my secret. Take a sharp paring knife – thats the stumpy looking sharp not serrated one – place it as close to the cob as you can. Cut away from you in a sawing motion. The corn will come off in nice long strips. Don’t be afraid, you are larger than both the corn and the knife. You already knew how to do this didn’t you? I told you anyone can cook.)

-toss your veggies with the spices in some olive oil (salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder…this is all going on how you like the taste of these things. Season lightly, you can add more later)

-pour the whole mess in a frying pan and turn up the heat. Saute those puppies until tender.

-Open your cans of beans and tomatoes. Pour the can of tomatoes into the pan first. Let the whole mess simmer for a little. Let’s say 5 or 6 minutes. (you can add your jalepeno here too)

-Add your black beans. Let simmer some more. How about another 6 minutes?

-While all this simmering is going on grate your cheese. If you’re smart, like myself, you will spend the slightly extra amount to buy the pre-shredded Mexican blend. I do this because I am lazy. Surely you realize that by now.

-Stir the veggie/bean combo. Add your cheese. If the whole mess isn’t super cheesey with 2 cups of cheese, you go right ahead and add another one.

-On your plate: first some rice, then some calabasitas/bean combo. This is even better the next day.

see John? I can throw a healthy one in there now and then…

My mom and I often trade phone calls regarding dinners for the week. She lists off some ingredients and an idea or two, I come up with an idea or two, we get off the phone with at least one meal planned! Now that’s teamwork!

I enjoy hearing what people have in their pantries and fridges and thinking up what to eat for dinner (or breakfast!) so I thought I’d put it to you, my internet audience:

give me some ingredients left languishing in your cupboards and I will come up with dinner (or breakfast!) idea for you!

It can’t fail!

I’m sure this recipe has a real name but here we just call it fruit cream.

1 – 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream (this keeps in the fridge for almost two weeks)

2 Tbsp. Sugar

splash of vanilla

mangoes or peaches or cherries or strawberry puree – any smooth juicy fruit or fruit puree.

*you need a special utensil for this recipe: A hand blender or an immersion blender. We call it a “zuzz zuzz”. Trust me on this one and buy one, it is so worth it because it makes soups creamier, beans smoother and whipped cream faster all without having to transfer ingredients into another container.

Preparation:

Chop up your fruit if it is whole,  a messy chop is fine.

Pour your cream into a container with high sides, I use a cereal bowl from Ikea generally, because I will eat this before my kid knows it exists.

add your sugar and your vanilla

Pulse the mixture slightly for a little bit to get it stirred up

add your fruit

on the highest setting, blend blend blend.

Periodically get some air in the mix by moving your blender up and down.

After a while it will begin to get thicker, keep going, you want it to be almost stiff

Once the mixture starts forming peaks you’re all set

Put it in the fridge to chill down a little, if you want to be classy put it in little martini glasses and garnish with some fresh mint.

Salmon

Paul Prudhomme’s Salmon Magic (trust me here)

Olive oil

Preparation:

Season salmon with seasoning.

Pan fry in  oil. (The secret to cooking fish through is making sure your filet is not to thick and to gradually raise the heat. This means putting the fish in a cold pan and then turning on the heat.)

1 package Chow Mein Noodles
1.5 – 2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1.5 – 2 Tsp. Fish Sauce
1/3 cup butter, softened
6 cloves garlic, finely sliced or minced it’s up to you
handful of scallions, finely minced
1/8 cup (I use an amount the size of my palm) brown sugar

Preparation:

-soak noodles in cold water for a few minutes before boiling (this step makes the difference in noodles, they turn out just firm enough with the soak)
-After a little bit (let’s say 3 or so minutes) melt the butter in a shallow pan. I do this because I want my noodles to be almost done before the aromatics get browned
-before it gets to “done” (I take this to mean before it starts to really sizzle) add the aromatics (the garlic and scallions) and give them a quick stir
-Let them cook down a bit, to tender really, then add your oyster sauce, and your brown sugar. Stir that whole mess again.
-drain your noodles, they should be a little firm, rinse with cold water
-plop your noodles in your pan, add your fish sauce and give it a little more of a stir. Toss it a bit to get it really mixed up.

Steamed broccoli and zucchini go really well with this, if you’re feeling adventurous and want some crunch I’d try steaming some bok choy (just until it gets bright green) and tossing it with a little white vinegar and sesame seed oil. Top with some toasted sesame seeds.