On our way home from a Thanksgiving family reunion in Phoenix, Arne and I stopped in Flagstaff for lunch at a place called Pita Jungle. It’s an Arizona chain (with one location in California). It sounded like a pleasingly healthy, vegetable-focused option – just what we were in the mood for. As soon as we…
Slow-Braised Green Beans with Tomato
We’ve been done a disservice by the cult of al dente vegetables. While there’s no doubt that many vegetables are at their best very lightly cooked – all types of peas spring to mind – the idea that every veggie is at its best steamed for 30 seconds is as misguided as the thought that…
Baby Lettuce Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
When I was a kid, “salad” meant one thing to me: iceberg lettuce drenched in fluorescent orange Kraft Creamy French Dressing. Catalina, a red French and my mother’s favorite, would do in a pinch, or maybe Italian. But I was devoted to the slightly chemical tang of my orange dressing. In restaurants, before choosing between…
Tofu and Vegetables in Peanut-Miso Velvet
I’m rescuing this recipe from the archives. A few nights ago I looked it up and cooked it for dinner, and I was surprised and dismayed to see that I had made some big errors. The kind of errors that make readers really annoyed with you. Most notably, I had failed to explain where to…
Tomatoes Rockefeller (Baked Tomatoes Stuffed with Spinach and Cheese)
I have a problem. The most beautiful, prolific tomato plant in my garden – a Russian hybrid called “Japanese Black Trifele” – is finally ripening its branches full of tomatoes. What’s the problem, you ask? The beautifully pear-shaped fruit don’t taste great. They’re a little watery, a little bland. Not terrible, certainly better than supermarket…
Kenyan Kidney Beans in Coconut Milk (Maharagwe)
It’s amazing how often I try something new and delicious because I’m too lazy to go to the store. That was the case last Vegetarian Week, when… Wait, I haven’t told you about Vegetarian Weeks. Let me do that real quick. I decided last December that, starting in 2012, I would cook and eat vegetarian…
Creamy Chicken Soup with Black and Green Olives
I spend a lot of time trying out and creating new recipes. People who find out I’m a cook and food blogger often ask me, “What’s your favorite thing to cook?” I hate this question, because I rarely make things over and over, and can never think of an answer. (For some reason people…
Holiday Gingerbread with Raisins and Pears
I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long! My computer totally flaked out on me. And now that I’m back (with a brand-new computer!), I feel like I’m kind of cheating. Because this recipe is simply a variation on my beloved Elsie’s Gingerbread, which I posted back in February 2010. But I came up with this variant…
Light, Moist, Golden Cornbread
This cornbread came as a total surprise. Last Friday was deliciously cold and rainy. (Though folks in town for the Balloon Fiesta probably did not find it so delicious. Ask anyone in Albuquerque – the rainiest week of the year is invariably Balloon Fiesta week!) The weather had me craving that old favorite, chili and…
Elsie’s Gingerbread
This is the first gingerbread I ever made, and still the best I’ve had. It’s rich and spicy and soft and moist, with the unusual touch of a bit of streusel on top (which takes no extra effort, as it’s just a bit of the dry ingredients before the wet are added). Gingerbread is one…