Food goodness

 Not often I say this, but this recipe really is better with meat (fake or real!) in it. Saute a package of chicken sausage (the best), ground whatever, or Impossible ground whatever with a big shake of oregano and/or Italian seasoning. (I wait until the end for salt & pepper.) Saute in your IP with some olive oil until mostly cooked through. Chop any combination of peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and whatever in your fridge, plus a large onion and a few cloves of garlic. Add this to the saute and cook another few minutes. Turn off the heat and add 2 28-oz cans of crushed tomatoes, plus any fresh ones you have left over and want to use, and a pinch of sugar. Cook on low for 6-8 hours at least. Come home, add s&p, and serve over pasta with Parm. - You can also do this same thing in the IP -- after the sauteeing, set it on manual for 3-5 min. Wait at least 20-30 minutes before releasing the pressure, though, so you don't splatter your whole kitchen with hot spaghetti sauce.

This apparently comes from Gwyneth Paltrow, by way of the Wednesday Chef ... it has all my favorite ingredients in it and sounds totally delicious, so I wanted to save it. Makes 1 1/2 cups 2/3 cup sheep's milk yogurt ¼ cup cilantro 2 scallions, roughly chopped ¼ cup lime juice (2-3 limes) ½ jalapeno, roughly chopped, or a drizzle of hot sauce ½ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt 1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. The dressing can be kept in a jar in the fridge for up to a week. Can use it on a salad consisting of chopped romaine, avocado, tomatoes, canned black beans, corn (fresh if you've got it, and canned if you don't), more scallions and more cilantro.

Green condiment of delight. Like hari chutney or Afghani chatney or most any herb pesto, chimichurri makes many foods taste like a very special treat. It's great on a steak (traditional in South American cuisine) and I like it on fish, potatoes, sandwiches, mixed into hummus, etc. I make a batch, use a portion of it right away and freeze the rest into cubes and add it to various soups and stews or even guac. Say it: "chimichurri." Nice. Now go make it. 1 bunch cilantro (about a C) - mostly just the leaves but you'll blend it, so don't be too perfect about it 1 bunch parsley (about a C) - ditto 1 clove garlic, minced 2 T olive oil 1-2 chiles/jalepenos (seeds removed) 1 t salt 2 T lime juice a little water to get the blender going Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Pulse to blend everything into a smooth, gorgeous, Elphaba-green sauce.

YUM. I never would have put this combination together if I hadn't been perusing this cookbook , trying to figure out more things to do with quinoa. The original recipe calls for pancetta, which I left out but which would probably be delicious. It also wanted you to cook the fennel and I have no idea why, because it adds nice crunchiness when it's raw. And there was also some nonsense about putting a lemon in the fennel water that seemed entirely unnecessary. (All that said, I really like this cookbook and am using it more than any other these days, and you can get it on Amazon right now for one (1) cent. Just one penny! Plus shipping, but still! You should buy it.) Also, I just bought some red quinoa at TJ's, and I think it tasted the same but looked prettier than regular quinoa. Vinaigrette: 3 T frozen orange juice concentrate 2 T red wine vinegar 1 T balsamic vinegar 3 T olive oil 1+ T spicy mustard salt and pepper to taste Salad: 3+ c cooked quinoa 1 ...

From: Gina's Skinny Recipes I served this with the Salsa Verde Chicken and it was quite delicious.  Would also be good with fish or grilled chicken.  Maybe pork, too? 1 mango, peeled and diced 1 avocado, peeled and diced 1 plum tomato, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 jalepeño, seeded and diced 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tbsp fresh lime juice 1/4 cup chopped red onion 1 tbsp olive oil salt and fresh pepper to taste Combine all the ingredients and let it marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving

Duh, right? Cranberries, sugar, water, cook, done. But this year, I tried a slight variation on Pioneer Woman's cranberry sauce , and I liked it better than my usual. A little more tart and a little more cranberry-y, because the water is replaced with juice. 2 14-oz bags of cranberries 2 cup cranberry juice 1 cup real maple syrup 1 cup white sugar 1/4 cup orange juice (she says lemon juice or any citrus zest would also work) Wash the cranberries and put them into a large-is saucepan. Throw in all the other ingredients, stir them together, and turn on high until it comes to a boil. After a minute or two, turn the heat down to medium and wait for it to reduce. PW says this should happen in 10 minutes; it took me more like 20 or 25. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and pour immediately into a bowl or jar. Let cool before covering and refrigerating until whenever you want to eat it.

Wow, is this thing on?  I hope everyone is still out there making tasty things in your kitchens, even if there haven't been any new recipes posted here in a long time. I whipped up this Green Goddess dressing tonight with my immersion blender tonight.  If you have a jar or tall container, you could use this method.  Otherwise, pull out your food processor.  I think you could thin this out with some additional water to use as a creamy salad dressing, but I plan to use it as a condiment with roasted vegetables.  It might also be good on top of grilled fish or chicken, perhaps.   Warning - it does have a bite from the raw garlic scapes (similar to the bite of regular garlic).  If you want to mellow that out, you could sautee the scapes first.  From: A Teaspoon of Spice 3/4 cup Greek non fat yogurt 1 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley (I used some Green Goddess dried spice mix from Penzey's) 2 garlic scapes, roughly chopped (or 1 gar...

Alright, I'm gonna let you in on a secret. It's not so much a secret as something that I did that will royally irritate several family members. Last week when we went to get a few things my Nana wanted us to have from her house, I took her two recipe boxes. I figure no one else would really cook from them, and that if she were still lucid and making rational decisions, she'd have told me to take them. So, I have them, and when my Dad and I went through them, we found recipes from my great grandmothers, among the bunch. I'm super excited to work my way through these recipes. I started this weekend by making Hollandaise sauce. You can read the story of Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise on my blog , but here's the recipe, for archiving purposes. 4 egg yolks (save those whites, because you can use them to make angel food cake) 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 2 sticks butter 1/4 tsp. salt Cut each stick of butter into pieces. Beat egg yolks in top of double boiler until smooth with wood...

Adapted from the Neelys I made a batch of this to use next weekend when I will be making pulled pork for 24 people at a family reunion. I wanted to make a double batch but didn't have enough ingredients on hand at home tonight. If I make another batch later in the week, I might try reducing the apple cider vinegar just a bit to see if I like it better that way. It's definitely good this way, but it is vinegar-y. I cut back on the sugar from the original recipe, as recommended in many of the comments, so that may have contributed to the strong vinegar tang, too. I may continue to play around with this recipe, but it's a good starting place. You could also throw this in the crockpot for a few hours instead of simmering on your stovetop. Ingredients 2 cups ketchup 1 cup water 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 5 tablespoons light brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper 1 tablespoon dehydrated onion 1/2 tablespoon ground mustard 1 tablespoon lemon...

What do you do when you pick 11 pounds of blueberries in half an hour? Cook something that will make them take up less space. I'm planning to eat this on yogurt for the rest of my life. Adapted from a Seattle Times recipe , mostly to increase the quantity and try to make it reduce faster. 6 cups fresh blueberries 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Combine the ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and cook over medium heat until the blueberry skins have popped and the mixture is thickened, about 20 minutes. Let cool and refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes two large jelly jars (about 3 cups?) of sauce.