Tapioca Pudding

One of my favorite desserts growing up was tapioca pudding. You don’t see it that much anymore. Kids get pre-made puddings from the grocery store.

My parents don’t make it that often as it requires too much (for them) careful stirring while the tapioca cooks. And you won’t find tapioca on any low-carb diets as it is pure starch, from the same plant as cassava.

Yet tapioca pudding is one of those comfort foods that conjures up happy childhood memories. It’s actually really easy to make.

Tapioca Pudding Recipe

Look at the instructions on the package of tapioca that you buy. Some small pearl tapioca requires overnight soaking in water. If your package has that requirement, reduce the milk in the recipe to 2 1/2 cups from 3 cups.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup small pearl tapioca (you can usually find it in the baking section of the grocery store, do not use instant tapioca)
• 3 cups whole milk (or skim milk with cream added)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

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Make Your Own Juice Popsicles

Is there nothing better than an ice-cold popsicle on a sweltering summer day? No need to wait for the icecream man’s truck to make a pass through your neighborhood. It is easy to make your own popsicles. Do you make popsicles at home? How do you make your favorites?

I bought the rocket molds for these popsicles years ago. Similar molds are available through Amazon.com by Tovolo. The Tovolo molds come with a snap-in base to hold them upright in the freezer. The molds easily come off of the popsicle after you run them under warm water for a few seconds. The handle doubles as a “drip pan” to catch the juice as it melts. A potential problem is that the molds may stand too high for some people’s freezer compartments. But the upside is that you can easily remove one popsicle at a time.

There are other molds available on the market, some with built-in reusable plastic sticks, some using wooden sticks. An ebay or Google search for “popsicle mold” will turn up many options. In addition to the popsicle molds by Tovolo I found similar sets of popsicle molds for sale.

Make Your Own Juice Popsicles

What juices to put in the mold? My favorite is lemonade. If you use ready made juice or lemonade, you might want to boil it down first, reducing the juice by about a half, and add a little corn syrup. If you are using frozen concentrated juice, add half as much water as you would normally. The biggest problem with homemade juice popsicles is that they turn out too icy. A higher sugar to water ratio will help reduce the iciness, as will a little bit of corn syrup.

Ingredients

• 3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you want them, and if you are using Meyer lemons, use less sugar)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 cup of lemon juice (about 4 large lemons)

Read More: Make Your Own Juice Popsicles

Eggs Nested in Sautéed Chard and Mushrooms

This is my lazy girl’s lunch. Lazy, because even when I’ve eaten every last pickle in the fridge, I can usually find a few fresh eggs, a couple mushrooms, and half an onion there. Lazy, because when I can’t be bothered to go to the store, I have to look for what I can scrounge in the garden, and the only things thriving in my garden bed at the moment (early March) are parsley and chard. And who wants to eat a big plate of sautéed parsley?

Beautiful, happy, survived-with-winter, about-to-be-eaten Swiss chard

Now that I think about it, this dish could also be considered a lazy girl’s dish because it’s really easy to make, and only uses one pan, preferably one with a stick-free coating (meaning that it takes less than a minute to clean up.)

But the real reason I love this dish? Because it tastes so good. Fresh Swiss chard is probably the most delightful leafy green you can eat. Tender, not bitter, almost sweet in fact, and I’m convinced it’s got built-in seasoning. You just don’t need to add much salt to chard. Top it with a runny egg and the egg yolk creates a luscious dipping sauce for the chard. The mushrooms are just there for fun. I love mushrooms with eggs, and shiitakes pack a lot of flavor, so you only need a couple.

Eat your greens!

Eggs Nested in Sautéed Chard and Mushrooms Recipe

Shiitakes are highly flavorful mushrooms, and will really make this dish special if you use them, though you can use just about any mushroom. You can also skip the fresh mushrooms and sprinkle the eggs with truffle salt.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 pound of fresh chard
• 2-3 large shiitake mushrooms, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 eggs

Read More: Eggs Nested in Sautéed Chard and Mushrooms

Homemade Pizza

What to do when your 8-year old nephew comes to visit? Make pizza, of course! Well, not of course, actually. I didn’t think of it until we exhausted Sorry, Monopoly, and gin rummy. But it did turn out to be a brilliant idea as dad had just received a baking stone for Christmas, and my nephew Austin loves pizza.

I told him if he helped me make it and didn’t make too many faces I would put him on my website and he would be famous. That seemed to get his attention. He thought the dough was “slimy and gross” but he loved picking his own toppings, and the finished product was “awesome”.

The following method I patched together from recipes in both Joy of Cooking and Cook’s Illustrated’s The Best Recipe. I made two batches of dough, four pizzas in all, with varied toppings.

Next time I’ll be a bit more patient with stretching out the dough so I can get it even thinner. Look to the end of this post for some excellent links about pizza from other food bloggers.

Homemade Pizza Recipe

Pizza dough is a yeasted dough which requires active dry yeast. Make sure the check the expiration date on the yeast package.
You can use all purpose flour instead of the bread flour that is called for in the recipe, but bread flour is higher in gluten than all-purpose flour and will make a crispier crust for your pizza.

Ingredients

Pizza Dough: Makes enough dough for two 10-12 inch pizzas

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Pizza Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Cornmeal (to help slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

• Tomato sauce (smooth, or puréed)
• Mozzarella cheese, grated
• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• Italian sausage, cooked ahead and crumbled
• Chopped fresh basil
• Pesto
• Pepperoni, thinly sliced
• Onions, thinly sliced
• Ham, thinly sliced

Special equipment needed

• A pizza stone, highly recommended if you want crispy pizza crust
• A pizza peel or a flat baking sheet
• A pizza wheel for cutting the pizza, not required, but easier to deal with than a knife

Read More: Homemade Pizza

Rice Pilaf

Trying to get a recipe out of my mother is like pulling teeth.

Mom doesn’t follow recipes. After 50 years of cooking for her family she doesn’t need to.

She cooks instinctively, pulling ingredients from what we have on hand, making substitutions or additions as she sees fit. Taste testing here and there for a little more of this or that.

To get a recipe out of her I have to watch her make something, take copious notes, and ask a lot of questions.


For each seemingly innocuous question, there can be a dissertation’s worth of answers. “Well, Adele Davis did it this one way, Diane Kennedy did it this other way, and I do it this way because (fill in the blank… my pot is too big, I’m using an electric range, we don’t have any fresh cilantro.. etc. etc.)”

My mother is never one to give someone the time when a thorough explanation of how the watch works and how they made clocks in China 2000 years ago will do.

(Mom is a treasure trove of knowledge and I will never catch up to her, even if I cook every day for the next 40 years.)

Here is how my mother makes her rice pilaf. It isn’t a precise recipe because much depends on the type of rice and the type and amount of stock you have.

But then again, rice pilaf is one of those foundation dishes that you can dress up in many different ways.

Rice Pilaf Recipe

To save time, my mother heats the stock separately, at the same time that the rice is browning. This way the stock doesn't take as long to come to a boil when you go to cook the rice. But, you don't have to do it that way. You can easily add cold stock to the rice to cook it, it will just take longer to come to a simmer.

Ingredients

• 2 cups white rice (preferably long grain)
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil (or chicken fat)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion - green onion (scallions) or yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• Up to 4 cups of stock (amount depends on the type of rice you are using), either chicken stock or vegetable stock for vegetarian option, or a mix of water and stock*
• 2 teaspoons of salt or seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

*For gluten-free version, use gluten-free stock.

Read More: Rice Pilaf

How to Make Pickled Red Onions

I keep on making things that when I think about it, would be enhanced with some pickled red onions. Bean soup, liverwurst, salmon, and especially hot dogs and hamburgers would all be terrific with some pickled onions on the side.

All you really need to make pickled red onions is some sliced red onion, vinegar and sugar. There’s lots of leeway with the spices and herbs used.

For this batch I used cinnamon, cloves, star anise, bay leaf and red pepper flakes. You could easily thrown in some ginger, swap out the chile flakes for some cumin, or allspice for the cloves.

How to Make Pickled Red Onions

Ingredients

• 1 lb red onions (about 2 med or 1 large), thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar

Spices

• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• Dash red pepper flakes

More spices (optional): Fresh ginger slices, allspice berries, oregano, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds

Read More: How to Make Pickled Red Onions

Sautéed Petrale Sole in Herb Butter Sauce

Raised Catholic, I grew up eating fish every Friday (not just during Lent as the custom goes these days). Often it was just a simple tuna macaroni salad, but we kids were exposed to a variety of fish and seafood on a regular basis.

Thank goodness! We still eat fish almost every Friday (old habits die hard) and are always looking for new ideas to cook with the fresh fish we find at the market.

Here is a recipe for petrale sole (a Pacific flounder) that is served with a quick sauce made with shallots, white wine, and butter. You could use this sauce over any mild fish fillet.

Do you have a preferred way of preparing sole fillets? Or other Lenten dishes? If so, please let us know about it in the comments.

Sautéed Petrale Sole in Herb Butter Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds fresh petrale sole fillets
• Salt, to taste
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp minced shallots
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 Tbsp, cut into 4 pieces, cold, unsalted butter
• Fresh thyme leaves (or any fresh herb for flavor)
• Minced fresh chives
• Lemon wedges (use Meyer lemons if available)

Read More: Sautéed Petrale Sole in Herb Butter Sauce

Risi e Bisi, Italian Rice and Peas

This is a classic dish from Venice, and it has many variations. Risi e bisi simply means rice and peas, and the dish is traditionally made with the fresh new peas of spring. If fresh peas are not available, you can easily make it with frozen peas (avoid canned).

Diced prosciutto is important to this dish, although not vital; I’ve seen vegetarian versions of risi e bisi. How much to add? You could go as high as a half pound in this recipe, making the dish more of a main course. But 1/4 pound is a better proportion for a side dish. And it must be diced: Slices will not do.


Can’t find prosciutto? Use any ham. Virginia ham is an excellent substitute. Remember dry cured hams are salty, so the more you add, the saltier the dish will become.

Risi e Bisi, Italian Rice and Peas Recipe

You must use a medium-grain rice here. Ideally, you’d use a variety from Venice called Vialone Nano, but regular Arborio is just fine, and Carnaroli is good, too.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 pound diced prosciutto or other dry ham
• 1 cup Arborio or other risotto rice
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 or more cups water
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Read More: Risi e Bisi, Italian Rice and Peas

Napa Cabbage Picnic Salad

Are you looking for the perfect picnic salad to bring to a potluck?

Look no more, this is it. The napa cabbage picnic salad has been a favorite of my friends and neighbors for years. It’s one of the most requested potluck salads I’ve ever made.

My neighbor Pat first introduced it to me, followed by my friend Chigiy. The original recipe comes from Sunset magazine (July 2004) and serves a crowd.

We’ve scaled the recipe back for a regular family and friends meal, but you can easily scale it up for a large picnic.


Napa cabbage, while not as sturdy as regular cabbage, is much more resilient than lettuce, so it lends itself well to picnic salads that have to sit around for a while.

This salad has Chinese napa cabbage, radishes, snow peas, toasted slivered almonds, and a sweet sesame ginger mayo dressing.

Much of it can be made ahead, and then assembled when you are ready to serve. Enjoy!

Napa Cabbage Picnic Salad Recipe

The dressing recipe makes a little more than you will likely need. So, use about 1/2 of it to start, and add more to taste when you dress the salad.
This salad recipes scales easily for a potluck or picnic.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 4 cups (1/2 lb) coarsely shredded napa cabbage
• 6 ounces snow peas, sliced into half-inch slices on the diagonal
• 2/3 cup thinly sliced radishes
• 2/3 cup thinly sliced green onions (including greens)
• 2/3 cup lightly packed chopped cilantro

Dressing ingredients

• 1 Tbsp plus 1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar (seasoned or unseasoned)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 clove peeled and minced garlic (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Read More: Napa Cabbage Picnic Salad

Coconut Curry Mussels

When Garrett McCord told me he had the best mussels recipe in the world I was skeptical, that is until I tried it. Yikes this is good! ~Elise

When I need a good party food or want to impress some friends I usually turn to mussels cooked in coconut milk and curry. It’s affordable, easy to prepare, and has a definite wow factor.

These mussels take on the flavors of the broth which is spiked with lemongrass, pungent red chilies, and kaffir lime leaves leaving them with a distinct Thai flavor.


The mussels themselves infuse the broth with a light salty brine that cuts through the richness of the coconut milk. This recipe will feed four people happily or make an excellent appetizer for a group.
Serve with beer and crusty bread.

Coconut Curry Mussels Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of mussels, cleaned and debearded
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 thai chili, finely chopped (can substitute good pinch of chili flakes)
• 3 teaspoons of ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of curry powder
• 1/2 cup of chicken broth
• 1 can of coconut milk (13.5 fl. oz.)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, chopped into four pieces and smashed
• 3 kaffir lime leaves* (optional)
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime wedges

*Kaffir lime leaf: a key ingredient in Vietnamese, Thai, and Hmong cuisine; can be found in Asian Markets, though many markets now carry them in the produce aisles with other fresh herbs. The taste is very distinct and can't be substituted. However, you can make this dish without the leaves and the mussels will still taste great.

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Turkey Chili (with Leftover Turkey)

Is there anything better than a hot bowl of chili on a cold day? Here’s a favorite recipe from the archives that I recently remade, in preparation for the turkey leftovers we expect to have after Thanksgiving. With kidney beans, tomato, bell pepper, garlic and loads of spices, this chili terrific with shredded turkey meat (especially the dark meat!)

You could also easily make it with cooked shredded chicken if no turkey leftovers are available. Serve it loaded high with shredded cheese and diced onions, and better still, cornbread.
Note that this turkey chili recipe makes a large pot of chili! Perfect for a gathering. Use leftovers as an easy sauce with pasta or filling for enchiladas.

Turkey Chili (with Leftover Turkey) Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• 2 Tbsp chili powder (or up to 4 Tbsp if you like it spicier)
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 3 15-ounce cans crushed tomatoes (fire roasted if you can get it)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup of turkey stock or chicken stock
• Two 15 oz cans kidney beans, drained
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp sea salt, plus more if desired to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 to 4 cups of shredded, cooked turkey meat
• 1 to 3 teaspoons sugar (optional)

• Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green or red onion, sour cream for optional garnish.

Read More: Turkey Chili (with Leftover Turkey)

Green Gumbo

Green gumbo, or gumbo z’herbes, is a Lenten tradition in Louisiana. Ironically, it is not always vegetarian, as this hearty stew is often served on Holy Thursday to fortify the faithful for the Good Friday fast.

Our version includes a ham hock and smoked andouille sausages, but you can leave them out to make a vegetarian gumbo.

The tradition for gumbo z’herbes is to include many different kinds of greens in the gumbo—and to always include an odd number. Why? Apparently for every different green you add, you will find a new friend in the coming year.

Why and odd number? Not really sure, although I bet it has to do with old West African or French folklore. Gumbo zav, which is how its pronounced in Louisiana, appears to be related to the French potage aux herbes, or the West Indian callaloo, which in turn has its origins in West African cooking.

Which greens? Any you’d like. I used collards, turnip greens, lacinato kale, curly kale and dandelion greens. Other good options would be chard, spinach, parsley, mustard greens, arugula, the tops of radishes or carrots… you get the idea.


A word on the roux: Try to use peanut oil if you can find it, as it lends a particularly excellent Cajun flavor to the gumbo. Lard, while not vegetarian, would be my second choice. But regular vegetable oil will work, too.

The recipe below includes a Cajun spice blend that makes more than you need for this gumbo. You can save it for later, or serve it at the table with the file powder.

If you’ve never heard of file (fee-lay) powder, it is the dried, ground leaves of sassafras. It adds a sweet flavor to the gumbo and will thicken it a bit, too. Only add the file at the end of cooking, though, or it will turn into nasty, goopy strings.

Green Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut oil, lard or other vegetable oil
• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning (see below)
• 1 ham hock (optional)
• 10 cups water
• 3 pounds assorted greens (i.e. kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, chard, parsley, dandelion greens, beet greens), chopped (about 14 cups)
• Salt
• 1 pound smoked andouille sausage (optional)
• File powder to taste (optional)

Cajun Spice Blend

• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika

Read More: Green Gumbo

Guinness Bread with Molasses

Please welcome Hank Shaw who shares his favorite Guinness bread recipe. ~Elise

This is just about the easiest sweet bread I know; it takes precious little thought to make, tastes wonderful with sweet butter or cinnamon sugar, and, as an added bonus, this bread keeps for several days. Why I have no idea.

A few pointers on making this beer bread: The Guinness must be cold, the self-rising flour must be relatively fresh (like men, its rising power diminishes with age), and the loaf pan needs to be well-greased. If your self-rising flour is more than 6 months old, add a tablespoon of baking powder.

Can you sub in other beers and sweeteners? Sure. For a lighter beer bread, try using Harp and light brown sugar—it’ll still be Irish. I initially learned this recipe using Budweiser and white sugar, so your possibilities are endless. One caveat: Do not use hoppy beers such as a Pale Ale, as the bitterness will taste odd to you, unless, of course, you are into serious bitterness.

Guinness Bread with Molasses Recipe

This is fantastic eaten fresh, and nearly as good the next day toasted with some more butter. Do not use stale beer for this recipe, you want the carbonation.

Ingredients

• 3 cups self-rising flour*
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• A pinch of salt (roughly 1/8 teaspoon)
• 12 ounces of Guinness extra stout
• Butter for greasing the pan and painting the top, about 3 tablespoons

* If you don't have self-rising flour, you can substitute using a ratio of 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, plus 1/8 teaspoon of salt, for every cup of self-rising flour. Have made both ways though and got better results from the self-rising flour.

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7 Layer Bean Dip

Refried beans should be served warm.

There, I’ve said it. I don’t usually put my foot down about food preferences, but cold refried beans are about as appealing as a cold hamburger. This is why I make 7-layer dip starting with a layer of hot refried beans.

Shredded cheese is added directly to the top of the beans so it melts from the heat of the beans. Then the layers of tomato, avocado, olives, and chilies, onions (mostly room temp) are added.

The only cold part of the dip is the topping of sour cream (or crema Mexicana). Served this way and the taste delightfully mimics tostadas or homemade nachos, but in an easy-to-serve dip form.

By the way, depending on what you have on hand, your 7-layer dip may have 8 or 9 layers, or 6. The basics are refried beans, grated cheese, avocados (or guacamole), chilies (or salsa), sour cream, and olives. Improvise with more or fewer toppings to your own taste.

7 Layer Bean Dip Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups of refried beans, either from one 15-ounce can or homemade
• 1 teaspoon (or more) of bacon fat (or 1 strip of bacon, cooked and minced) optional
• 1 teaspoon of chipotle powder, Tabasco chipotle sauce, or adobo sauce, more to taste (or plain chili powder to taste)
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green Anaheim chiles (canned) OR a Tbsp of chopped pickled jalapenos (more to taste)
• 1 avocado, peeled and chopped
• 1 hot house tomato, cut in half horizontally, seeds and juice gently squeezed out and discarded, chopped
• 1/3 cup of sour cream, or if you can get it Crema Mexicana (Mexican sour cream)
• 1/2 small can of sliced ripe black olives

Read More: 7 Layer Bean Dip

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

There are many ways to make delicious scalloped potatoes. For this version, I consulted several books—Kitchen Sense, two James Beards, and the Joy of Cooking. Basically you layer thinly sliced potatoes with any number of extras—cheese, onions, parsley—add milk or cream, and bake. The potatoes absorb the liquid as they cook, the cheese melts, the top gets browned.

One tip: use a shallow casserole dish. The one I used here ended up stacking the potatoes a little too high and I had to add a half hour or so to the cooking time. What you don’t want is crispy browned on top and not-cooked-enough potatoes inside. If you need a faster cooking time, Joy of Cooking recommends parboiling the potatoes first for a few minutes.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes Recipe

You'll need 2 slices of cooked bacon for this recipe, so start the bacon cooking and then prep the other ingredients.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 lbs (about 4 medium sized) Russet potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/8-inch thick
• 1 large yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives (optional)
• 2 thick slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
• 2 1/2 cups grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of half-and-half (half milk, half cream)
• Salt and pepper

Read More: Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

If you grow zucchini in your garden, and you’re the kind of wonderful person who brings your neighbors a share of your bounty, and such bounty includes foot-long several pound zucchinis, might I suggest that you include a recipe to accompany such a welcome gift? I’m not kidding!

Seriously, we have such a wonderful neighbor, Pat, who not only brings over freshly picked, glorious produce, but tried and true recipes as well.

The following stuffed zucchini recipe is adapted from one that Pat brought us last week, along with a 2-pound zucchini, and we loved it.

It tastes like it is stuffed with Italian pork sausage, but the stuffing is actually lean ground turkey with garlic, herbs, and mushrooms. Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini about 12 inches long, or 3-4 medium zucchini
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper

Read More: Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

German Pork Burger

My father turned to me the other day and remarked, “I like anything made with pork.” No duh dad. With a name like Bauer, what do you expect? The man practically has sauerkraut juice running through his veins.

Here is a burger that does my daddy proud. We call it German not because they make them this way in Germany (who knows?) but because of the ingredients often found in many German dishes—caraway seeds, ground juniper berries, black pepper, sour cream, and of course, pork. Oh yes, and you top it with grainy mustard and sauerkraut. Any more German and this burger would be wearing lederhosen. This is one hellava burger, the kind that makes you close your eyes and smile while you eat it. The kind that makes you want to steal a bite from your dad’s plate when he isn’t looking and you ate yours too fast and finished before he did, but you don’t because you know better than to get between your dad and the food he loves. Enjoy.

German Pork Burger Recipe

Juniper berries are available whole in most good supermarkets, you'll need to crush them or grind them for this recipe. If you can't find juniper berries either omit them or substitute with 1/2 teaspoon of celery seeds instead. It will be a different flavor, but still good. If you don't eat pork, you can use ground beef instead.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground pork
• 1 Tbsp Kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp ground juniper berries (optional)
• 1 Tbsp caraway seeds
• 1 Tbsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• Vegetable oil
• Sauerkraut and whole grain mustard to top burgers
• Burger buns

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Swedish Meatballs

One of our most popular recipes around the holidays is this one—Swedish meatballs. They’re terrific over egg noodles for a main course, or served as individual appetizers.

My first experience of Swedish meatballs came in the form of room service at a hotel in Stockholm. I was traveling alone for business, holed up in my room in comfy clothes with books to keep me company.

I ordered the only thing on the menu that looked familiar—meatballs—that first night. They were so good I think I licked the plate clean. I stayed in and ordered the meatballs every night for the rest of the trip!

Since then I’ve been on a quest to find a Swedish meatball as good, and we’ve done it here. If you like the meatballs at IKEA, be prepared; these are a hundred times better.

Flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, these little beef-and-pork meatballs are best served with a rich meat gravy spiked with sour cream and a little lingonberry jelly. You can either serve the jelly on the side or mixed right into the sauce, which is what we’ve done here.

Do you have a family favorite recipe for Swedish meatballs? If so, please let us know about it in the comments. I’ve noticed several recipes calling for allspice, which we haven’t used in this recipe, but you could certainly use it in place of or in addition to the cardamom or nutmeg.

Swedish Meatballs Recipe

Lingonberry jelly is traditionally used with Swedish meatballs; you can substitute cranberry, red currant or raspberry jelly if you can't find lingonberry jelly.

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, grated (use the large holes of a box cheese grater)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 4-5 slices of bread, crusts removed, bread cut into pieces
• 2 eggs
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

Sauce:

• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 quart beef stock
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
• Salt
• 2 to 4 Tbsp of Lingonberry, red currant, raspberry or cranberry jelly, less or more to taste (optional)

Read More: Swedish Meatballs

Pork Stir Fry with Green Onion

Don’t you love a good stir-fry?

The following stir-fried pork recipe couldn’t be easier. All you need is lean pork, some green onions, and garlic. You marinate thin strips of pork first in a mixture of soy sauce, a little sugar, and cornstarch.

The cornstarch marinade is a useful trick to help keep the pork from drying out when it gets cooked on that high heat. The sugar is just enough to create some caramelization for added flavor.

It helps but isn’t necessary to have a well seasoned wok. Years ago I had this big wok with wooden handles, well seasoned, in spite of a housemate’s attempt one day to scour off all of the pan’s beautiful black seasoning I had worked so hard to create.

I don’t know what eventually became of that wok; these days I’m using a non-stick enamel cast iron wok. It does a great job with high heat, it’s stick-free and I don’t have to worry about it rusting.


The good thing about stir-fries is that you don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients to have a perfectly presentable dish. All you need is a pan and a cooking oil that can take high heat. Woks work well for this, as do large pans of cast iron or hard anodized aluminum.

Consider this recipe a base for experimentation, though it is satisfying enough, unadorned. You could easily add some chile to the hot oil, or ginger, red bell pepper, mushrooms, or water chestnuts to the pork. Sprinkle on some fresh cilantro or toasted sesame seeds for a garnish too if you would like.
The base recipe is adapted from one in The Cultural Revolution Cookbook by Sasha Gong and Scott Seligman.

Pork Stir Fry with Green Onion Recipe

You can substitute the green onions with Chinese chives (much thicker than regular chives), if available.
If you want to spice this up a bit, add some chile pepper flakes to the hot oil with the garlic, and/or add some minced fresh ginger with the pork.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pork loin or boneless pork chops
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if cooking gluten-free)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 4 Tbsp peanut oil or other high smoke point oil (canola, rice bran, or grape seed)
• 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 8-12 scallions/green onions, sliced diagonally into 1 to 2-inch pieces, green and white parts included
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Read More: Pork Stir Fry with Green Onion

Simple Green Chile Tomato Salsa

There are two basic types of tomato-based salsas—salsa made with fresh tomatoes and salsa made with cooked tomatoes. When cooking salsa, as we do when we make enchiladas, we always use the cooked-tomato version, not the fresh. This particular salsa is popular in the north, or Sonoran part of Mexico, because of its use of Anaheim green chiles.

Starting at age seven it was my job to make salsa for our family, which I did at least once a week for ten years. This is the recipe we used, the only difference between now and the mid-60s is that now you can get some very good canned “fire-roasted” tomatoes, perfect for salsa making.

Why used canned tomatoes? If you live where we do, and in most places in the U.S., you can only get great fresh tomatoes maybe 2 months out of the year. If you do have access to good tomatoes and want to make the effort to roast them yourself, go for it! Put several tomatoes under a broiler until the skin is blistered all over, remove from the oven, let cool, remove the skin. You can do the same with the anaheim chiles.

Yet, the beauty of this recipe is that it is something a 7-year old can make in about 10 minutes – pretty useful when you are trying to get dinner on the table. And speaking of dinner, the way we usually serve our salsa? with steak and refried beans.

Simple Green Chile Tomato Salsa Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted (Muir Glen makes an excellent product.)
• 1 7-oz can green chiles, chopped*
• 1 clove of garlic, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 green onions (scallions), chopped, including the green parts (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (can supplement with fresh)
• 1/4 cup of very loosely packed fresh chopped cilantro
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

*Or one large 6 inch or two smaller anaheim chiles, roasted under a broiler or directly on a gas stove burner so that the outer skin has completely blackened. Put into a brown paper bag for a few minutes after roasting to loosen the blackened skin. Remove and discard the blackened skin. Remove the stem, seeds, and ribs. Chop.

Read More: Simple Green Chile Tomato Salsa

Spinach Frittata

Looking for the perfect egg dish for a weekend brunch or weeknight “breakfast for dinner”? Think frittata, an Italian open-faced omelette of sorts, or an eggy crustless quiche.

The trick to making a frittata is to cook it low and slow on the stovetop, and then finish it under the broiler. Eggs love low, gentle heat; more of their moisture is retained that way.

Here is an easy spinach frittata we love, with a bunch of chopped up baby spinach (you can use regular spinach too, though I find the pre-washed packages of baby spinach irresistibly convenient), Parmesan, and goat cheese. I added some chopped sun-dried tomatoes too, for a little extra “umami”, though that’s not required.

Goat cheese adds a lovely tang to the frittata. If you don’t have any on hand, you can easily use jack, cheddar, Mozzarella, or gruyere. Just add a little squeeze of lemon juice for some acidity.
Enjoy!

Spinach Frittata Recipe

If using frozen spinach, use about 4 ounces. Defrost it, and squeeze out most of the moisture with paper towels.

If using fresh spinach, clean it thoroughly first. The best way to clean out the grit is to submerge the leaves into a large bowl or basin of cold water. Swirl the spinach leaves with your hands to dislodge the dirt. Drain and repeat until the leaves are clean. Cut out and discard any thick stems.

You can use up to a pound of spinach if you want.

Ingredients

• 9 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce, 288 g)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• Sun-dried tomatoes, about 2 Tbsp chopped (optional)
• 8 oz (225 g) fresh spinach (or more), chopped (can use baby spinach)
• 2 oz (56 g) goat cheese

Read More: Spinach Frittata