#82 jap style noodles with eggplant/miso/edamame

1/2 package linguine (or any noodle)
1.5 tbsp miso paste
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1.5 tbsp mirin
oil (to cook eggplant)
1 medium eggplant (diced)
3 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 inch of fresh ginger (minced)
1/2 cup frozen edamame
1 green onion (diced)
tbsp sesame seeds

Cook eggplant in oil until brown and soft. Add garlic and ginger to cooked eggplant, saute until fragrant, add 1 cup of boiling water and mix in miso, soy sauce and mirin. Add edamame and simmer ~10 mins. Meanwhile, cook noodles in a separate pot, when done drain noodles and mix with eggplant mixture. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds.

Recommend adding more soy sauce to serve.

Recipe adapted from One Pot recipe book.

#81 peanut butter pie

1/2 cup peanut butter
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 cup powder sugar
8 oz container whipped cream
1 oreo pie crust

Combine with a hand mixer the peanut butter, cream cheese, milk and sugar until mixture is uniform. Fold whipped cream in by hand and pour into crust. Let set overnight in fridge before serving.

Thanks to my Boss for this recipe.

#80 chocolate chocolate chip cookies

1.25 cups flour
2 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 pound chocolate (~60% cocoa)
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs

Melt butter and 60% cocoa chocolate in microwave, stir to combine and mix in eggs. Stir in all of the dry ingredients and then add the chocolate chips. Cool in fridge ~15 mins, form into balls and bake at 350 ~9 mins.

Recipe from Epicurious

#79 octopus stew

1 lb baby octopus
olive oil
1/4 onion (diced)
2 garlic cloves (diced)
1 bay leaf
1 cup wine
1 shot rum
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 eggplant (diced)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tsp sugar
handful chopped fresh parsely

Soak octopus in lemon water ~30 mins prior to cooking (can skip this step), heat oil and saute onion ~5 mins, add garlic and saute until fragrant. Lower heat to med-low, add eggplant and octopus, mix to coat with oil/onion. Add bay leaf, wine, rum, tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon and 1 tsp sugar, mix well and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until octopus are tender ~30-40 mins. Taste broth and add sugar if needed.

Serve with crusty bread to mop up all the delicious broth!

Adapted from One Pot cookbook and various internet recipes

#78 cherry, mango, pear salad with cardamon marinade

1/4 cup cherries (frozen, defrosted)
1 mango (diced)
1-2 pears (diced)
4 tsp sugar
zest of 1 orange
1/8 tsp cardamon

Mash together sugar and zest until well mixed, add cardamon. Toss with fruit and let sit at least 30 mins.

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

#77 cream of mushroom soup

3 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 pounds mushrooms, any variety, diced
1/3 cup rum
6 cups chicken stock
1 package firm tofu (from refridge. section, in water), blend contents of package in blender (as heavy cream substitute, or, use 1.5 cups heavy cream)

Melt butter, add onion and cook until soft, ~5 mins, add garlic and cook until fragrant, ~1 min, add cayenne and mushrooms cook ~15-20 mins until mushrooms give off juice. Add rum and cook ~5 mins, add chicken stock and simmer 15 mins. Puree soup (transfer to blender in batches), return pureed soup to pot and stir in tofu (or heavy cream).

Adapted from Ciao Italia

#76 quinoa and green bean salad

1 cup quinoa
1/2 pound green beans
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
sea salt/pepper to taste
juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime

Cook quinoa (2:1 ratio, just like rice), meanwhile cook green beans 2-3 mins, drain. Mix cooked quinoa with beans, seeds, lemon/lime juice and season with salt/pepper. Serve as a side dish and/or add chicken for a main dish.

#75 scallops over pureed edamame

2 large scallops per person
~1-2 cups shelled edamame
1 garlic clove
1 lime
salt/pepper and olive oil
quinoa (or any other grain as a side dish)

Heat edamame in microwave until warm. Place in food processor and process with juice from 1/2 lime, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add enough olive oil to make it puree easily. Set aside. Salt/pepper scallops and cook 3-4 mins per side, until golden brown on top/bottom and middle is whitish in color. Serve scallops over edamame and quinoa and serve with lime wedges.

Inspired by Martha Stewart Living

#74 japanese green curry over rice

1/2 package of golden curry (sold in 3.5 oz packages)
1/4 onion (diced)
3 potatoes (diced)
~1-2 cups leftover chicken (shredded/diced)
1 large garlic clove
olive oil

Heat olive oil, add onion and cook until softened. Add garlic, cook another minute, add potatoes and then cover with just enough water to cover potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are soft ~15 mins. Add chicken, when it returns to a simmer turn off heat, add curry and stir until curry is dissolved. Serve with rice.

Recipe courtesy of Tomoko

#73 orange muffins with dried cranberries

1 large orange (peeled, reserve zest)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Blend orange in blender, pour into mixing bowl and add egg, sugar, butter and oil. Mix. Add flour and baking powder/soda. Mix well, add cranberries, bake 350 ~20 mins

Adapted from recipezaar.com

#72 bread machine white rolls

See post #54, omit italian seasoning, olives and tomatoes

#71 sesame noodles with chicken

2 garlic cloves
2 inches fresh ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp siracha sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 pasta (i had linguini on hand)
leftover chicken

Add the first set of ingredients to a blender (garlic through peanut butter), blend until smooth. Cook pasta, drain, add sauce and simmer a few minutes to thicken, stir in chicken.

Adapted from epicurious

#70 green curry and shrimp soup

~5 cups chicken stock
~5 cups water
1 tbsp thai green curry paste
2 garlic cloves (crushed, whole)
1 in piece ginger (peeled)
1 tsp corriander seeds (crushed)
1 handful (stems included) fresh cilantro
------
1 cup rice
1/2 lb shrimp
1/2 lb green beans (chopped)
1 can bamboo shoots
2 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Mix the chicken stock through cilantro together and simmer ~15 mins. Then strain and return broth to the pot. Add rice, when rice is cooked add shrimp, grean beans and bamboo shoots and fish sauce, when shrimp is cooked add lime juice, cilantro and serve.

Adapted from epicurious

#69 cinnamon rolls

dough:
1 cup milk
3 tbsp water
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 1/3 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter (melted)
3 3/4 tsp cinnamon

Put the dough ingredients in the bread machine in this order: yeast, flour, sugar, salt, egg, milk, water. When dough is done, knead for a minute. Then roll out on floured surface (let rest ~10 mins if it is too springy to work with), spread with filling mixture and roll up. Use thread or floss to cut 1 inch thick slices. Let rise (see below), bake at 350 for ~25 mins.

The rolls can either (1) rise for 30 mins on the counter, (2) rise overnight in the fridge, or (3) be frozen and then removed from the freezer the night before and they will defrost/rise overnight, before baking.

#68 roast fennel and mushroom salad

1 fennel bulb (sliced)
handful mushrooms (sliced)

Roast in the oven ~400 for 20 mins until fennel is done. Serve with vinegarette dressing.

#67 crunchy roast chicken

1 whole chicken
salt/pepper
1 tsp baking powder

Add 1 tsp baking powder to a salt/pepper rub, and coat entire chicken. Let dry out in fridge 3 hrs, bake until chicken is done (turn heat up the last 25-30 mins to brown the chicken more). The baking powder makes the skin have the texture of fried chicken.

#66 mushroom risotto

3/4 cup risotto rice
1/2 onion (diced)
3-4 medium sized mushrooms (diced)
5 cups water/stock
olive oil

Heat olive oil and add onion and mushrooms, cook ~5 mins, add rice and stir to make sure rice is coated with oil. Add stock by the cupful, allow to boil off, add more stock. Stir whenever you add stock, constant stirring not required. Keep adding stock until rice is not crunchy anymore (~25-30 mins). Add salt/pepper to taste.

#65 cornbread muffins

2 cups cornbread muffin mix
1 egg
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp oil
1 1/3 cup water

Mix together and bake at 375 ~25 mins

#64 lemon pasta...with a side of snails!

1 lemon
1/2 cup pureed silken tofu (or heavy cream, i had tofu on hand from the panna cotta)
1/3 finely chopped fresh parsely
2 tbsp butter
pasta

snails (precooked and stuffed with herb butter, found in the fish dept of the grocery store)

Boil pasta, in a sauce pan combine zest and juice of lemon, tofu and butter and heat until warm. Toss with pasta and add parsely. Heat snails in 350 oven ~5-10 mins (while pasta boils) and serve.

#63 wheatberrie salad with roasted vegatables

1 broccoli bunch (chopped)
1/2 onion (diced)
1-2 cups spinach
2 tbsp vinegar/1 tbsp olive oil
green onion (diced)
1/4 cup cooked wheatberries

Toss broccoli and onion in olive oil and roast ~20 mins at 400. Wisk olive oil and vinegar together in a large serving bowl, add green onion and other vinegarette spices (italian seasoning...i can't remember what else). When broccoli and onion are done add to the bowl with dressing and toss to coat. When cool add spinach and wheatberries and toss again.

#62 beef & mushroom over wheatberries

beef, cut thin
mushrooms, diced
1 tsp homemade mustard
1 tbsp sour cream

wheatberries (it's a grain)

Wheatberries are awesome, "crunchier" than brown rice (they pop in your mouth), but take ~1 hr to cook. Boil 1 part wheatberries to 2 parts water.

When wheatberries are done, cook mushrooms and beef until beef is done, add mustard and sour cream and serve.

#61 individual apple tarts (appetizer or dessert)

1 apple
1 pear
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg
tsp sugar
pinch salt

Roll puff pastry, dice apple and pear into slices, place individually on the pastry dough and cut around each piece. Fold up the edges, brush with egg, add a pinch of sugar and cinnamon to each piece and bake ~25 mins at 350.

Inspired by "Culinaria France" (a book)

#60 dukkah

1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup nuts
1 tsp kosher salt (not table salt)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp tumeric

Throw it all in a food processor and process until finely chopped.

To serve: dip bread in olive oil and then in dukkah.

This recipe came all the way from N Zealand, where I was first introduced to dukkah.

#59 sausage and potato soup

1 large sausage link (chopped)
2 med potatoes (diced)
1/2 onion (diced)
1 large clove garlic (diced)
4 cups stock
1/2 bunch chard (diced)

Saute onion and garlic in oil ~5 mins. Add sausage, brown, add potato and stock. Simmer until potatoes are done, add chard, cook ~5 mins and serve.

Inspired by Cooks Country Mag

#58 chocolate panna cotta

Published in Martha Stewart Living, March '08 (thxs B!)

#57 fennel orange muffins

1 medium orange
1 fennel bulb (grated, ~2 cups)
1/2 cup veg oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Zest orange. Peel and blend flesh in a blender until smooth. Combine orange mush and zest with fennel, oil, eggs and sugar, mix well, add dry ingredients. Bake at 350 ~ 25 mins.