My kids love tortilla soup. I love not wasting food. This soup is our solution to the problem of 10,000 partially used packages of corn tortillas that regularly wind up in the back of our fridge.

Yesterday I pulled a turkey breast carcass from the freezer and popped it in the slow cooker with a couple of handfuls of pinto beans, covered with water, added some bay leaves and let it cook on low for 4-5 hours. When the beans were almost tender I removed the bones and picked off the last bits of meat for the soup. You could also skip this whole process and just start with broth, any variety and canned beans if you want. You can leave the beans out too if you don’t groove on the frijoles.

Then I sauteed up some carrots, onion and green pepper in a bit of olive oil. Once soft I added some cumin and chili powder to the pan. Heating the dried spices helps the flavor come alive. Then I added a ladleful of stock to the pan and swirled it around to help dislodge all of the yumminess and added it to the broth in the slow cooker. Tasted it and added some salt (if using pre-made broth, you won’t likely need to add any more salt).

Here’s where the magic happens: I tore up a bunch of forgotten corn tortillas and put them in my blender, added some of the stock to cover along with a crushed clove of garlic and let it sit there for a while to soften. Then I whizzed it all together and added it to the soup. This helps thicken the soup and give it an awesome, corny flavor and depth. Served it with avocado, chopped red onion, clilantro, cotija cheese, corn chips and hot sauce (of course!) on the side. Easy to make vegetarian or vegan, just leave that meaty stuff out and use vegetable stock.

Erase from your mind all of the images you have of cloyingly sweet, frothy, fruit flavoured daquiris and hear me out on this one.

A REAL daquiri is beyond simple. And incredibly delicious. Dangerously so in my experience, but I’m the first to admit that I can’t drink the way I used to in my younger years. Oy vey.

A real daquiri is sophisticated and classy. Never served in a foot long plastic souvenir glass and/or from a smoothie machine.

A real daquiri is white rum, simple syrup and lime juice (plus lime zest if you are like me and can’t have it limey enough) shaken with ice and served straight up. Roughly 2:1 on the rum to lime juice ratio. Titrate simple syrup to your taste, but I like mine tart, so i didn’t put in much at all. That’s it. No fuss, no muss, just a refreshing and enjoyable preventative for scurvy. See? Its medicinal.

I was first introduced to dry fried green beans several years ago by my dear friend SBG who is a vegetarian (but I love her anyway. JK – I actually eat vegetarian much of the time, I just like to poke fun at her non-existent flaws). I immediately fell in love. With the beans, not SBG, although she is pretty awesome…

A slightly tatty bunch of green beans in my fridge quickly losing their youthful splendor inspired me to attempt a recreation of the dish. Taking my own liberties though, of course. I googled several recipes and then cobbled together my own thing. Here’s what I did:

Washed and trimmed ends and yucky spots from a bunch of fresh-ish green beans. I don’t see how this dish would work with frozen or, shudder, canned, but I guess you could try it. Dried them off and cut them into ~2-inch-long pieces. Heated some light oil in a wok, but a sautee pan would work too. I’m even tempted to try broiling these in the oven, but then I guess the name would be false advertising as they would no longer be technically “fried”. But anyway, then I cooked the beans in the oil over high heat until they started to look crispy and brown in spots. That’s flavor baby! Then I added in some chopped garlic, ginger, green onions and a spoonful of sambal olek (chili sauce, great condiment, get it). Stirred that around for a couple of minutes until everything smelled amazing and then finished it off with some soy sauce and a dash of mirin (sweet cooking wine; I don’t usually stock this condiment, the bottle was bought on accident when I was trying to get some rice vinegar, but I have come to like it. Great way to add a touch of sweetness to a dish to balance flavours). Not too much on the liquids, you don’t want mushy beans, just a little sauce to coat everything. Done!

My sweetie and I gobbled this up straight from the serving bowl as an appetizer before our tofu and vegetable fried rice. As we snacked, we dreamed of other veg we could cook with this same technique – broccoli, asparagus, snow peas, who knows what else! Plenty of opportunity for improvisation.

I’ve always been sort of intrigued by the concepts of Ayurveda. Loosely speaking, in my own words, it is the idea that a healthy body is one that is in balance. One part of ensuring that balance or restoring that balance if/when it is lost, is through feeding it the proper food. That just sounds…right.

It is easy to get into ruts and mindlessly feed myself without paying much attention to how that food makes me feel.  I do stuff like keep eating all the cheese because it just tastes so darn gooooood! But when I stop to think about it, cheese (in large, soul satisfying quantities) doesn’t really make me feel very good. Dang it!

So anyway, back to kitchari (kit-chur-ee): I was reading up on this Ayurveda concept and one of the main dishes is called kitchari which is a stew that comes in different varieties. At its heart, it is a combination of grains and legumes (often mung beans and basmati rice) cooked in broth or water with tons of lovely spices. It’s supposed to be easy to digest, cleansing and rebalancing. Sounded good, so I made it. And then I made some more. And then I introduced it to my husband and now we are eating it almost every day. It is nourishing satisfaction in a big warm bowl. I don’t mean to get all mystical on you, but it really does make me feel good when I eat it! And the house smells amazing.

I’ve made a bunch of different varieties, it lends itself very well to improv, probably another reason why I love it so much! Here’s the description of my basic method: I use my Crock-Pot for this, but an ordinary pot would work. I don’t know about those new-fangled Insta-Pots, I don’t have one, but it is probably possible in that thing too. Put in a handful of split mung beans (I know these sound kinda gross, but they are delicious little devils that look like lentils and come in different colors) and a handful of basamati rice (I use brown because that’s what I have in my larder). Next comes all of the delicious spices. You need to cook them a bit in oil or ghee til aromatic. Most of the time I use some combination of cumin, cardamom, cayenne (careful!), black pepper and chopped garlic. I’ve also tried cinnamon, allspice, dill and fennel – all of them work and experimenting with new combinations is fun. You can warm the spices in the oil in a pan or I actually do it in a glass measuring cup in my microwave. You just have to be careful not to burn them. Then add these to the beans and rice and cover with a couple of inches of broth. Cook until everything is soft and thick soupy. You can thin it out with more broth or water along the way if it is too thick. Near the end of the cooking process I add chopped fresh ginger and a squeeze of lemon. I serve mine with hot sauce and chopped red onion. Fresh cilantro might be nice too.

I had a craving for el cheapo style tacos last night. You know the ones – crunchy yellow tortilla shells,  spiced ground meat mix, grated yellow cheese, diced white onion, shredded lettuce and maybe some chopped tomatoes on top if you’re feeling fancy. With “taco sauce” of course! No, not salsa, not guacamole and don’t even think about sour cream. Just your basic trashy taco, nothing complicated. I love tacos in general, fancy types too, but sometimes nothing satisfies like the kind I grew up eating way back when. Nostalgia eating I guess.

The meat mix is really the only moving part here that requires any real “cooking”. The other stuff just needs cleaning and prepping. You can use any type of ground meat or meat-like item here, or even beans. Beef, chicken, turkey, veggie meat crumbles or chopped up burger patties, tofu, lentils all would work. I used some TVP I had in the pantry. For those not in the know, TVP (Texturized Vegetable Protein – sounds like a lab experiment and conjures images of soylent green wafers for me, but I digress) is a dried, crumbly substance made from soybeans. When you add water, it fluffs up and behaves like ground meat. It is highly processed though, so I personally don’t eat it a lot. But when making Trashy Tacos and avoiding real meat, it is just the ticket!

I dislike prepackaged spice mixes, so I make my own. Oh come on, its not that hard! I keep a well-stocked spice cabinet though and that makes it easy. And fun. So back to the meat – in a skillet I browned up some onion in oil and then added cumin, chili powder, garlic pepper, allspice (optional but awesome), a pinch of oregano and celery seed (also optional, but yum). Toasted the spices for a little and then added the dry TVP right to the pan and got it all coated in the oily spices. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste (I get it in the tube so is easy to use small amounts here and there), some V8 juice and water. Let it all simmer to get the flavors melding.  In the meantime, I prepped the cold stuff and toasted the shells.

Proper assembly in my book: Warm shell (don’t skimp on warming it up), meat, cheese, onion, lettuce and then taco sauce. Have a fork handy to scoop up all of the inevitable but delicious taco detritus. My kids mock me (about this and many other things), but this is a great meal to put to use all of the leftover Taco Bell sauce packets you have stored in a baggie in the pantry. What? You don’t have one of those?? Well you should start, because it is ridiculous when you order one taco and they give you 10 sauce packets, but that shit is gold and should not be left to waste! Also perfect to have a condiment baggie when travelling to combat the perfect storm of bland while far away from your well-stocked home fridge condiment selection. What? You don’t have one of those either?? Tsk…

I hate wasting food. My kids and husband mock me mercilessly, but I just know I can put those leftovers to use! I also love re-using plastic containers before recycling and these are perfect storage vehicles for various food remnants. Hence, the running joke in our house about the multiple cottage cheese containers in our fridge, none of which actually contain cottage cheese.

Despite my family’s ridicule,  I have become something of a self-made expert on creating new dishes from previous meals. I recently had a marathon session from a single meal that ultimately produced 3 new dishes. I think this was a good run and maybe even a record for me.

I started out making a delightful chicken piccata meal with cauliflower-potato mash and roasted vegetables for my husband and I. It is one of his favorites and I always make lots of the sauce because it is so good! Bright and tart with lots of lemon and briny capers.

The next morning I made myself a breakfast quesadilla by spreading some of the leftover potato/cauliflower mash on a brown rice tortilla (GF) topped with some of the sliced chicken, a dollop of piccata sauce, shredded sharp cheddar and sliced green onions. So good! Savory breakfast lovers rejoice! Dinner the next night involved chopping the leftover roasted veg and stewing it with cooked green lentils, brown basmati rice, onion, cumin, chili powder, garlic, a splash of Worcestershire sauce and V8 to make a vegan sloppy joe. My husband surprised himself and loved it; he’s always a wee bit suspicious of vegan food. Last meal of the series was a breakfast hash made from frying up the rest of the roasted veg, a chopped-up half of baked potato form a different original meal and some onions and peppers. Topped all of that with a fried egg and a drizzle of the dregs of the piccata sauce. Divine!

In general, soups/stews, quesadillas, pasta, hash, frittatas/scrambles are all great vehicles for using up leftover food. I treat it as a challenge or a game to breathe new life into old morsels. Its fun for me, tired food gets a new lease on life and my family tolerates/teases me about it. Everybody wins.

Lima beans?! Yes, stay with me…I’ve never met a bean I didn’t like, but I am aware that lima beans are polarizing and often reviled by those with a more discerning palate. I gotta say though, this dish I cobbled together last night was really good!

I wanted to make hummus for the kids, but didn’t have garbanzos in my pantry and was too lazy to look further in my alternate stash. So I went with the dusty bag of dried lima beans. Cooked them for several hours in the crock-pot with a bay leaf.

When the beans were done, I realized I’d have way too much for hummus (I wrote that one up too) so started researching other recipe ideas. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s not a lot of love for lima beans in internet recipe land! But persistence paid off when I came across a Cypriot (as in from Cyprus) dish involving lemon and garlic, sold!

In a sauté pan I sweated some white onion in olive oil. Once soft, I added lots of garlic for a quick minute then the prepared limas and some of their cooking liquid. Simmered everything until fragrant, then bumped the heat up and added some chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Cooked until all was warm and creamy dreamy stew. Finished with parsley and chives snipped from the yard.

We ate them served over some basmati rice with hot sauce (of course). Incredibly nourishing and satisfying, like most beans and rice dishes are. The next morning I had them smeared on a piece of good quality, crusty sourdough toast with a sprinkle of tangy feta, dash of hot sauce and some red onions pickled in red wine vinegar and grenadine ala Bobby Flay. Heavenly savory breakfast.

Lemon lima beans, who’d have thought you’d be so darn tasty?

We eat a lot of hummus in this house so I started making my own. I like experimenting, so no bean, spice or condiment is off limits when I’m in a hummus making mood. The lowly Lima bean is no exception. My poor family are my guinea pigs.

I like to use dried beans for a variety of reasons. They are cheap. Bags of beans don’t take up a lot of space in my pantry. I don’t have to open or recycle cans. I can control what goes into them while cooking. I also like the way the house smells while they cook in my slow cooker. Starting with dry does require planning ahead, but I find it easy to start the beans in the morning while I make breakfast. Just pop them in the slow cooker, cover with water and maybe throw in some bay leaves, rosemary or smashed garlic cloves. Easy. I never pre-soak. Because A) I’m lazy and B) I don’t believe that really makes a difference. At least not enough to warrant that much extra time and effort.

Yesterday all I had at hand was a package of dried lima beans. Yes lima beans.

But they were fantastic! I cooked them in the slow cooker with rosemary from the yard. I just throw the whole branch in there and then the leaves fall off during cooking. I do recommend removing the woody stem before consuming though. That was sarcasm, I know you knew that.

My mini Ninja food processor is my go-to tool for easy hummus making. It is powerful, compact for easy storage and cleans up easily by hand or in the dishwasher. That’s a win. The cooked limas were really creamy and soft after cooking, not that mealy texture you get from the frozen variety. Limas went into the Ninja along with some spicy chili oil poured off from a jar of Mama Lil’s peppers and some brine from dill pickles plus salt. Blended and done. It was super! I think it will be especially yummy as a sandwich spread, but it may not survive long enough to try that since it is pretty delicious eaten with crackers! If you’re open to more lima bean love, check out this lemon garlic lima bean stew I made.

I had a weird idea, tried it out and it worked! Yay! No more yucky wok to clean. No more prying stray grains of rice and veg remnants off of my stove. No cooking oil facial. Why? Because a sheet pan in the oven works for making fried rice!

Fried rice is one of my favorite vehicles for basically whatever is left in the fridge. Leftover meats, veg, grains. Yep, I’ve even made fried “rice” with leftover couscous! It makes a great meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner and travels well. A pile of this rice in my lunch container makes the work day better. Or at least tolerable; let’s be realistic.

Cut vegetables of choice into smallish bits (fresh, frozen or even leftovers) and toss with oil and soy sauce in a bowl. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast in a hot oven until soft and/or crunchy in spots (I like burnt edges personally). Spread leftover rice (or another dry-ish grain) on top of roasted veggies and roast again until rice is getting crunchy in places. Remove from oven and toss the lot together, adding more soy sauce (and/or Worcestershire – trust me, try it!) to taste. You can scramble up an egg or chop up some leftover meat to mix in too. I cooked up some sausage because it is what I had and it sounded good. And it was good! A little sesame oil and some chopped green onions to finish would also be fun, but unnecessary if you don’t have them or are just lazy.

If you line the sheet pan with foil, clean-up will be a snap. This is lazy cooking 101 and there is no shame in that!

Ok, so I’m a word nerd who loves alliteration, don’t judge! Farro is a chewy grain that kinda looks like barley (another beloved grain). Healthy AF, but don’t hold that against it, it really is fabulous. And satisfying.  I haven’t cooked with it a lot, but plan to start. Especially after this salad I made last weekend. I know, you’re thinking “salad, big deal; I don’t get excited about salad, salad is punishment; salad is penance I do for other poor diet choices” -or maybe that’s just what I say to MYSELF!

I had a dear friend coming over for dinner, a friend who is very much open to my kitchen experiments with new flavors and ingredients. Planning a menu for guests is one of my favorite daydreaming topics. I sometimes begin with a theme, like maybe “Fall” or “Hawaiian luau”, one time it was even spam. Don’t ask. Next step, I mentally (sometimes physically) review what is in the larder, with special attention to what needs to be used now or lost to rot. This time, I had a slightly tatty bunch of kale, some previously roasted and gently pickled beets, a hunk of blue cheese calling out for attention. It pleases me to no end if I can avoid an extra trip to the grocery store and just use what I have.

So then I looked through cookbooks and googled different combinations of these ingredients for ideas. I briefly considered some sort of savory tart (knowing I had a slab of puff pastry stashed somewhere in the freezer), that could be good. Kale is yummy in soup, maybe a bean and kale soup with beet and blue cheese salad on the side? Could be tasty on a cold winter day. I know kale salad is a thing, so maybe go in that direction, but it is winter so must be hardy…that’s when I saw a recipe combining kale and farro. Wait! I have an unopened and unloved box of farro in my pantry! No time like the present to use it up. Their version used pomegranate arils and hazelnuts, but I had neither, so I went with my beets and some of the half bag of roasted pepitas I had way in the back instead. Here’s my version:

Kale salad with beets, farro and ginger vinaigrette. Cook the farro in a pot of salted water until tender, this took about 30 minutes for me. It plumps up pretty big, so I only used about ½ cup dry. Drained that and let it cool. Made the dressing in my mini blender with a chunk of fresh ginger chopped up, apple cider vinegar, grapeseed oil (I wanted a neutral flavoured oil), salt, pepper and a little bit of honey. Maple syrup or sugar would also work for a hint of sweetness. Chopped up the kale, minus the stems, and massaged it in a bowl with part of the dressing. Then added the farro, the beets, peppers, the pepitas and blue cheese to the bowl and mixed it all together with most of the dressing (I kept some aside to add later, if needed). Let it all marinate in the fridge for a few hours and it came out delicious and everything became a delightful shade of pink! The rest of the menu? Acorn squash soup with seedy bread croutons; Puff pastry tartlets with ricotta, apple sausage, caramelized onions and Mama Lil’s peppers; Banana cocoa n’ice cream sandwiches with Effie’s cocoa biscuits. And, no trip to the grocery required!

Or maybe you do win friends with THIS salad! It was one of my usual wingin’ it dinners, this time with an Autumn theme. I was feeling Fall and these things I had in my kitchen filled the salad bill way beyond expectations. But this one was admittedly kind of special. My kids even like it. And talked about it the next day! Please note, that’s a major achievement with teenagers so allow me a moment to bask.

Plus, it’s pretty.

And, OMG, accidentally healthy! Bonus!

I started with a bed of mixed greens, because that’s what I had, but any lettuce would do. I liked the dark green background though. Then some red onions sliced thin, yellow bell peppers, pomegranate arils (aka seeds), toasted pepitas and my homemade (world not-famous) croutons. The dressing is where a lot of the magic happened. Into my adorable mini-blender went some chopped up apple (I can’t remember what kind, probably a Fuji or maybe it was a Granny), apple cider vinegar, a little sugar (honey or whatever other sweetener would work here too), tiny bit of dried tarragon from my garden (it’s easy to overdo that flavour, but other herbs could be used), avocado oil (I wanted a light oil with little flavor of its own), salt and pepper. Blended til smooth and it was great tossed with everything else.

I’ve never met an onion I don’t like. Seriously. Even from a young age I was all about onions. I can remember when I was in elementary school and making myself toasted cheese sandwiches on white bread, Tillamook mild cheddar with green onions on top. For breakfast, of course! Now that I’m all grown up, I still can’t get enough onions. I’ve been known to eat a slab of sharp cheese (think Cougar Gold, one of my favorites) on top of a slice of onion. Fuck crackers!

I spent a few months in Belize at one point in my life and was delighted to find pickled onions everywhere!  One particular dish from my time there that I still make to this day is called garnaches. Its basically a smashed bean tostada, but with pickled onions plus or minus carrots and cabbage on top, sometimes a bit of crumbled white cheese and lots of Marie Sharp’s hot sauce (at least in my world). The flavors and textures combine perfectly.

Now I keep a jar of pickled onions in my fridge to liven up so many things. Garnaches, mexican tortas, sandwiches, grilled cheese. Even beans on toast!  Anything that may benefit from a pickled onion snap. The possibilities for onion lovers is endless.

To make your own easy pickled onions, cut up some onions (red onions turn a pretty color, but white or yellow work fine too). Put them in a jar and add a brine. I mixed apple cider vinegar and warm water to dissolve some honey for my last batch, but you could experiment with different vinegars and sweeteners if you like. Just none of that fake sugar shit. That stuff’ll kill ya. Adding some herbs might be fun too – I think some fresh tarragon might be nice. Or maybe go the non-sweet route and leave out the sugar product, then add dill or even garlic. Bobby Flay is all about the red wine vinegar and grenadine combo and the color IS fabulous. Tuck the onions snugly into the jar of your brine creation, put the lid on and let them marinate in the fridge for a bit. Mine were tasty even after a day and I’m still snacking on them 2 weeks later with no signs of impending spoilage or symptoms of botulism. Having a jar in the fridge ready to go is so satisfying for my onion loving heart.

I made the weirdest hummus today! But wait til you hear how I ate it, that’s even more bizarre.

So I make homemade hummus pretty frequently and always (loosely) follow the basic recipe – garbanzos, tahini, lemon, olive oil, salt, take some liberties with other add-ins and flavourings. But that’s the basics and its so good. Today however, I got a wild hair and just ran with it.

Cooked up some dried garbanzos (or chickpeas, if you will) in my slow cooker. With a slow cooker (AKA CrockPot), this is really easy; you can even put them on before you go to bed and they will be done in the morning then store them in the fridge for a couple of days until you get around to using them. You can skip this step and use canned, but I just find it kind of satisfying to make my own. Plus, they are way less salty. Back to hummus, garbanzos and a bit of their liquid went in the nutri bullet (or whatever inferior blender you have) then I added cumin (not so weird), some salt and a splash of pickle juice plus the habanero and jalapeno peppers from a jar of Aidan’s Atomic Pickles, level 3. I get it that these parts are usually what gets thrown out after all of the delicious pickles are eaten, but it seemed too good to throw out! Sometimes I use the leftover pickle brine a few times by adding carrotts or other good pickling veg, but I digress from my hummus story. Blended all of that up until it was just right with a little olive oil added to achieve texture perfection. So how did it turn out, my pickled pepper hummus? Fucking awesome!

Best part though? Eating it the next morning spread on jalapeño cheddar sourdough toast with pickled red onions and sprinkled with savory granola for crunch. Yesirreee!

Forgot to take a photo with the crunchy granola topping on the toast…you’ll have to imagine it there.

Buying granola in the store is such a scam. It is super cheap and easy to make it at home. Plus, then you don’t have to tolerate having any nasty bits in there that you don’t want (I’m looking at you raisins).

This recipe was born from a mis-buy of a large, you could even call it jumbo canister of old fashioned oats. You know, the one with that scary, smarmy looking pilgrim guy with the bad haircut on the label. Turns out, my little darlings are partial to steel cut oats for their savory breakfast oatmeal, so I was stuck with this gigantic silo of old fashioned oats.

Nobody likes oatmeal cookies, at least not in our house, so that was out. I don’t like oatmeal at all as a rule, so I was not willing to take one for the team on this score. I guess we could have given it away, but I don’t like to give up so I turned to the Google gods for inspiration. Eureka! Granola! My sweetie likes it mixed with yogurt and fruit and they sell that shit for like 10 bucks for a tiny little bag in the grocery store. I was all over this plan like white on rice.

In a big bowl measure out about 3 cups of old fashioned oats and mix in about 1 teaspoon of salt (trust, this is needed, don’t leave it out). Measure out around ½ cup of coconut oil and melt it in a pan or in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Stir into the oil  something else sweet that you like (I’ve used honey, agave, brown sugar even date butter). The sweetness part is to your own taste, anywhere from a couple of tablespoons to, I don’t know, maybe a cup? I stick to the less sweet end of the spectrum so you are on your own here. Also, you can add other flavorings to the oil and sweet mixture. I like vanilla and almond extracts, but other ones would be good too (maple maybe, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc). Put that oily stuff aside and find some other goodies to throw into the oats. I love pepitas in this as well as pecans. Any nuts would be good. Add some dried fruit if you like, I used dates and that rocked, but have tried dried cranberries too. I like coconut flakes in mine, but you don’t have to use it. I know how divisive coconut can be! Then add the oil mixture to the oat stuff and stir it all round until everything is coated. Turn it out into a ½ sheet pan size rimmed baking sheet lined with something (parchment, silicone mat). Pack it down with the back of a spoon, or your hands. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so until it is all toasted and yummy, stirring and packing back down once during the baking process. Let it cool on the counter then cover and don’t touch it until the next day. Then you should wake up to some awesome granola chunks.

For years I told myself I was not a baker. Then I got a KitchenAid stand mixer for a present and convinced myself to give it another go. I still don’t love the ultra technical types of baking, I’m more of a big picture gal and don’t delight in the finer details. I have found some baked goods that lend themselves to my particular brand of maverick cooking (AKA hard to fuck it up while improvising). This is one of them. Whenever I am making pasta, a big pot of soup or featuring a salad for dinner, I usually trot this one out. It is fast and pretty unfussy. Impresses the hell out of people too. Plus, fresh bread is a phenomenal olfactory and gustatory experience no one should deny themselves.

Chop up some fresh or dried herbs that sound good for focaccia. I often snip some rosemary from my yard and mix it with chopped garlic and dried thyme from my spice cabinet. Dried basil, fennel even oregano would be tasty. Put that in a glass measuring cup and add about ½ cup of olive oil. Microwave in 30 second increments on high for 3-4 cycles, stir in between. Let it sit for flavors to mingle and cool down. You could do this part in a pan too, if you are so inclined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (if using, highly recommend) with paddle attachment dissolve 2 ¼ tsps. yeast in 1 cup warm water with a dash (like ½ tsp or so) of something sweet to feed the yeast (sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup). Stir it and let it do its thing while you prep the flour mix. In a big bowl, measure out 2.5 cups of flour and mix in 1 tsp sea salt. To the yeast mix add about ½ of the oil/herb mixture (put the rest aside) and half of the flour. Mix together and let it sit for a few minutes. Then add the rest of the flour and stir/knead it in the mixer or with your hands for a minute or two. Oil up the flour bowl and turn the dough into that for rising. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for an hour. I put mine in my oven with the light on. Sometimes I turn the oven on to broil for a few seconds before loading the dough, just to take the chill away, but not too hot or the yeast will croak.

Once risen, prep a ½ sheet size rimmed pan with a tablespoon or 2 of the oil/herb mixture, greasing up the whole bottom and sides. Be generous. Pour the dough out into the prepared pan and stretch it out and pat it down to fill the space. Its gonna be really soft. Use your fingers to dimple the whole surface of the dough. Like you are playing Beethoven on the dough. Then drizzle with the rest of the oil/herb mixture and sprinkle with a bit of coarse sea salt. Let it rise uncovered on the countertop for 20-30 minutes while the oven heats up to 450 degrees.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until it is nice and golden brown. Best eaten the same day, but we rarely have any leftover to worry about anyway!

Mashed potatoes are comfort food extraordinaire. When I was growing up, we only had them on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. They were considered special, or maybe just too much work. I am fortunate enough to own a KitchenAid stand mixer, so I don’t even bat an eye about making them, even on a Tuesday.

I put “potatoes” in parentheses on purpose (OOO love that alliteration right there!) because I rarely make my mashers with potatoes solo. Some proportion of cauliflower, turnip or sweet potato is usually part of the mix with the regular old russets or golds.

It’s a very basic recipe, cubed up potatoes and whatever else boiled in salty water. Sometimes I peel them, sometimes I don’t. Depends on my mood. Cooked til tender then drained and tossed into the mixer bowl. Butter (vegan or real), milk of choice (unsweetened/unflavoured – I’ve made THAT mistake), salt and pepper, sometimes a spoonful of horseradish or greek yogurt, sour cream. Put on the whip attachment and watch the magic happen in moments.

Taste them, correct the seasonings and add other goodies that delight you. I’ve been known to add green onions, Green peas, wasabi plant stems, Oregon Coast Wasabi seasoned salt, even blue cheese chunklets when I had some left in the fridge begging for use. These potatoes are a canvas, begging you to create your very own masterpiece.

My vegetarian kids fell in love with patatas bravas after two summer trips to Barcelona. The land of many tapas, most unrecognizable to your average American kid. Even young ‘uns with a mom who loves to cook and feed them different stuff. But ahoy! In the sea of weird foods stood something approachable and vaguely familiar to them – patatas bravas. Fried potatoes with a creamy, smoky tomato sauce.

I got a wild hair last week to make some when I saw a jar of patatas bravas sauce while cruising through Cost Plus with my favorite sidekick. Yum, but $5 for a teeny jar?! I sprung for it anyway since we were soon off to the coast for a mini vacation and I was planning on spending some serious time in the kitchen cooking up some love for my loves.

They turned out great. The kids were in heaven. We had fun reminiscing about Spain and planning our next trip. But $5 a jar seemed silly to continue, so I committed myself to making my own.

Anyone who knows me, understands that I see recipes as merely a suggestion. I often read several and then cobble together my own thing. I keep a pretty well-stocked kitchen and I love condiments, but there were a couple of things I would need to buy in order to make my version of this dish so that it would still ring the same bells. Smoked Parpika – that sounds interesting and I can already think of a couple of other things I might do with that. Tomato paste – an excuse to buy one of those cute tubes, yay! I can’t stand those silly little cans. You use one or two tablespoons out of it and then what are you supposed to do with the rest?! I usually put the remainder in a baggie, stick it in the freezer and promptly forget about it along with all of the other previously canned items that met the same fate. Soon I have a collection of orphaned mystery items lurking in there until I either toss them all or make a soup out of them if I am feeling particularly thrifty and/or creative. But what’s this? Sherry vinegar?! WTF. I currently have 5 types of vinegar in my house, do I really need another one? No senor. Time to improvise!

See my rant about sherry vinegar for the backstory to this recipe.

Cube up some potatoes, skinned or not. Leftover baked potatoes work well here if and reduce the cooking time. Season them. Plain salt and pepper, some cayenne if you like them extra spicy. Spice blends work well here too; I’ve used Old Bay and a yummy one from the Saucy Minx. Fry them in oil in a pan on the stove or toss in oil and spread them out on a baking sheet to cook in the oven. I suppose an air fryer might work here too, I don’t have one so can’t test it. I usually go the oven route and use parchment paper to prevent sticking, because I’m lazy and don’t like standing over a hot, greasy pan. They should be crispy.

While the taters cook, fry up some onion and garlic in olive oil til soft. Add paprika to the onions and garlic, cook til fragrant. Add canned tomatoes, some tomato paste and vinegar (I use balsamic most of the time). Cook down until thick, takes about 10 minutes. Cool a bit. Toss into a blender, blend until smooth. Taste and correct seasoning. I like to add a couple of dashes of hot sauce because I like things spicy! Add some mayo to the sauce to make it slightly creamy. I used Veganaise because it’s awesome.

Serve taters with sauce on top or on the side for dipping (my kids are dippers). I might add a jalapeno next time, maybe some grilled/roasted peppers, even a little chipotle might work here. Any leftover sauce is tasty on burgers, baked potatoes, any roasted veg. Probably make a good all-purpose sandwich spread too. So, make a big batch!

My sweetie had a long week and requested a comforting pasta dish for dinner. We turned on the Italian Cooking Music station, poured some wine and I looked through the larder. The result was this crazy dish, which could easily be vegetarian or veganized, if you are so inclined.

I put on a big pot of pasta water with lots of salt. Chopped up and sautéed in olive oil some white onion, red bell peppers, kale and chicken sausage (leave the sausage out or use a veggie one if avoiding animals products). Sprinkled on some red pepper flake and sautéed until soft. Opened a can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained. Chopped up a few cloves of garlic. Added the beans and garlic to the pan, poured in about ½ cup of water and a small spoonful of Better Than Bouillon stock paste (I used chicken but veggie would work too). Put the lid on and let it all meld on lowish heat.

Dropped the elbow pasta into the boiling water (any smallish shape works here  but I chose elbows since it was one of the MANY partially used boxes we had on hand, SMH). Once cooked, I scooped the pasta from the pot into the pan with the other goodies. Purposely did not try to drain off all of the pasta water – that starchy liquid is what makes a creamy sauce! I added more of the pasta water to adjust the thickness and quantity of the sauce in this dish; that stuff is liquid gold!

Let it all simmer for a sec, tasted it and added a bit of sea salt,  then served with freshly grated parm and lots of black pepper. In the summer I would add some chopped basil from my garden to top it off.

My family has a thing for condiments. The more the better! We joke that some people use second fridges for beer, but we need one just for our condiments. What do you do with all those little bits left in the bottom though? 4 ideas: Sauces, salad dressings, sandwich spreads and marinades.

Dab of jam? Add some soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds, maybe a dash of chili paste – instant stir fry sauce or meat marinade.

Ketchup, horseradish and Worcestershire with a dash of siracha makes a pretty good cocktail sauce for shrimp, crab, fish and chips, fry sauce. Near empty mayo jar gets rice vinegar, celery seed, squirt of agave and salt and pepper to make coleslaw dressing. Another use for nearly empty mayo or sour cream or even Greek yogurt is to add some siracha to make a spicy sandwich spread, excellent on banh mis.

To that almost empty mustard jar, add some olive oil, diced shallots and vinegar (I’d use wine vinegar or balsamic), salt and pepper to make a basic vinaigrette. Use for dressing a salad or as a sauce for roasted vegetables or add to leftover cooked potato chunks for potato salad. One of the weirder combinations I’ve done recently was with orange marmalade. I do so love orange marmalade! I kinda did a riff on a honey mustard by adding Dijon mustard, rice vinegar, tarragon and shallot to the marmalade dregs. Mixed it right in the marmalade jar (to my husband’s bemusement), added salt and pepper and it was great! Ate it on a romaine and arugula salad with mixed sweet bell peppers that night, served over roasted asparagus the next then added the dregs of the dregs to an orzo salad for the win!

You could just eat them cold out of the container like I’ve been known to do, much to my kids’ horror, or try one of these:

Potato pancakes: Super easy lil’ yummy fritter type thing. Put cold potatoes in a bowl, mix in an egg to bind, add green onions, finely diced peppers (sweet or hot, multiple colors preferably, makes things pretty), maybe a little garlic pepper. Form into small flat patties and cook them in oil in a frying pan until crisp and brown on both sides. Serve with ketchup, aioli, apple sauce, sour cream, whatever.

Soup: Quick but delicious potato soup. Sautee until soft and fragrant some shallots or diced onion in a small amount of oil or butter, maybe add some red bell peppers for color and taste. Leeks would be awesome here, but I rarely have those laying around. Add potatoes. Thin out to soup-like consistency with combo of broth and milk. Toss in other stuff if you want or have things you need to use up. Corn, green peas, asparagus – all good here. Diced ham or bacon would be tasty if you want it meaty. Correct seasonings and warm until it is as hot as you like it.

Quesadilla: I know this one sounds weird, but trust. Small bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat, flour tortilla rubbed around the pan to get the pan and the tortilla greased up. Keep pan low-medium because you don’t want to burn the tortilla while you are still filling it with awesome stuff.  Spread mashed potatoes all over tortilla and top with other goodies (meats, veggies, cheese). The potatoes act like the “glue” to seal the quesadilla together, which in my opinion, is a way better vegan option than those weird milkless cheeses. Even though the cheese is not absolutely required to glue, doesn’t mean you can’t still add it! I’m all about gilding the lily. Cook until golden and then fold over into quesadilla shape. These work for any meal, but are especially great for breakfast stuffed with scrambled eggs or tofu, sausage, salsa, whatever else sounds good.

Three words that can strike fear into the hearts of the bravest. In my house, usually spoken by hollow-legged teenagers with fridge door open, staring blankly inside. The aforementioned perpetually hungry growing kids have outpaced the standard 3 meals per day, lately requiring 4, 5, 6…as my culinary skills struggle to keep up with demand. Plus, leftovers aren’t big sellers around here, so I’m tasked with not only volume, but variety as well. What’s a savvy, cost and waste conscious cook to do?

Recombine. Repurpose. Create!

When I peer into my fridge, I don’t just stare blankly like my kids. I see building blocks of opportunity. Leftover mashed potatoes, check! Wilty greens, ok! The heels of the bread loaf, alright! Salad dressing dregs, yes! What delicious thing can I make from this seemingly random collection of stuff?

It helps to have go-to vehicles for said random stuff. Mine include soups, pastas, quesadillas, tortas, frittatas, stir frys, burritos. It is possible to make food magic happen even with stuff that looks like it belongs on the compost heap. Trust.

SOOOO many things! These lil’ babies are repurposing gold!

Fritatta: For breakfast, brunch or even dinner mix the taters with eggs and other goodies and bake. I usually sauté some veg, like onions, peppers (sweet and/or hot), maybe some greens if I’m feeling it or just need to use some up. Sausage would be yummy too. Pop all of that into a greased glass baking dish with the leftover taters. Whisk up some eggs with a dash of milk of choice (unflavored and unsweetened, duh) and salt and pepper. Pour that over the stuff in the baking dish and mix gently. Pop it into a 375 oven and cook til done (brown on top and no longer jiggly). I like to eat this at room temp, with toast at breakfast or with wine and a salad for dinner.

Quesadilla: Small bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat, flour tortilla rubbed around the pan to get the pan and the tortilla greased up. Keep pan low-medium because you don’t want to burn the tortilla while you are still filling it with awesome stuff.  Shredded or crumbled cheese of choice (I like cotija or Monterey Jack for this, but anything that melts will work). Add to one side of tortilla leftover patatas and whatever other veg sounds good or is lurking around the fridge and needs to be used. I always do onions of some sort because I love them, peppers, pickled jalapenos, salsa, leftover corn or beans, etc. When tortilla has browned and cheese has melted, fold the just cheese side over the other and eat it. Salsa, guacamole, sour cream optional.

Burrito: Patatas bravas, beans, cheese, leftover meats or veg, salsa, avocado/guacamole, sour cream (if you’re into that, I’m not) all rolled up into a tortilla.

Taco: Fill a crunchy taco shell or folded soft corn or flour tortillas with warmed up patatas bravas. Sometimes I’ll add cooked greens or peppers, but it is good with just the potatoes too. I love diced white onion and cilantro, sharp cheese and Marie Sharp’s habanero sauce on my taco tops.

“To be nobody But yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

-e.e. cummings

That’s a very strong quote to explain why recipes are merely a suggestion, but hear me out! If cooking is a metaphor for life – why you wanna be like everybody else?? I can go to McDonald’s if I want predictable food, but where’s the fun in that?

I have a pretty cerebral day job, so cooking has become my creative outlet. I read cookbooks like some people read novels. Here’s the rub though – I dislike being constrained by rules. Guess what? I have discovered that you can still make tasty food even if you don’t exactly follow a recipe. All it requires is an interest in cooking, a willingness to improvise and a little faith in yourself.

What I have to offer you here are anti-recipe recipes that are purposely vague. And short (I’m going for post length equivalent to a Ramones song vs those miles long recipe missives on other sites). I want to encourage you to begin seeing recipes as suggestions, not rules that must be strictly followed. My intention is to inspire you to go ahead, get in the kitchen, try something new. Switch up these ingredients, use what YOU like instead; crank up the heat, use balsamic if you have no sherry vinegar, substitute basil for cilantro, whatever. I give you permission to NOT follow the recipe! Have fun and be you, in all things.