Earlier that day,  I had pulled out three 4-ounce sirloin steaks from the freezer to defrost by the time I got in from work, but I didn’t have anything else  readily available to make for our guests on such short notice. I didn’t have any onions, broccoli  or peppers,  which would have been great to make a wok version of stir-fried steak over rice.  I had two choices. I could either order pizza,  which wasn’t in the budget.

I needed to somehow make a miracle and work with what I had.

So, I looked in the refrigerator to find what else was in there.  I had plenty of  baby spinach, a few leftover potatoes,  a spring mix salad, grape tomatoes, a few scallions, two ears of corn on the cob and plenty of salad dressings. I also found some fresh pizza dough, which was also left over from the day before.

Bingo ! We’d have a huge dinner in one salad.

I cubed and sauteed the potatoes in olive oil, put the steaks under the broiler and tossed everything into one huge salad.

I rolled out the pizza dough, glazed it with olive oil, garlic powder and basil, and sliced it into bread sticks. Then, I glazed the sticks with spaghetti sauce, liberally sprinkled fresh grated Parmesan cheese and baked them to couple with the salad.

The entire spur-of- the moment dinner took less than 20 minutes. Best yet, everyone was delighted.

Related posts:

1. Salad – morning, noon and night
2. Holiday turkey leftovers
3. Small plates for holiday parties

So, she offered her brand of peasant food, derived from her Portuguese background. I was skeptical at first, but one bite of her modern-day version of peasant food and I was sold. It was both satisfying and nourishing.

It was a simple dish of canned red beans with eggs poached right in them. It sounded weird at first, but once I tasted this simple food, I was completely satisfied.

Red Beans with Poached Eggs

Ingredients

Two cans of red kidney beans

Four eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Two sprigs of fresh parsley

Two slices of whole-grain bread, toasted right before serving

Directions

In a medium-sized dutch oven, heat cans of beans on a high flame until bubbling, careful to stir so they don’t stick.

With a wooden spoon, create four small wells in the beans. Crack an egg in each well, salt and pepper to taste.

Lower heat and cover tightly. After 12 minutes, check to see how cooked the eggs are.

Serve over your favorite buttered toast, garnished with sprigs of parsley.

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3. Food martinis – a holiday treat

Soups are also great because you can get so many healthy nutrients into one bowl. Nourishing food that our grandmothers taught us sticks to our ribs and always make us feel better - no matter what the ailment.

My best soups are the ones that I make up as I go along, which is basically how I usually cook anyway, except for baking. That’s not my best thing because it’s more scientific and has less room for error.

I like to cook from the heart, and even if I do make a mistake with the soup, it’s usually correctable. I’m such a huge soup fan for a myriad of reasons. For one, soups work on any budget. They can be blended for babies and old folks, and they’re portable in the right containers. Soups are also good after a few days and some can even be frozen.

A snowy day is perfect for a hearty been soup
like this one,  captured by  Sierravalleygirl.

I do just a little planning and map out a basic sketch of  flavors for my soup, and then I just add things as I go along. Often, I just look to see what’s left over in the refrigerator and blend a soup from there. More often than not, I cook  meals with a soup in mind. But tonight, I didn’t  have leftovers, not even  pot-liquor, which I usually keep stored in the freezer to add flavor and extra  nutrients. 

Everyone in my house has been sniffling and seems to have the winter blues so I wanted to make a happy soup – one that’s sunshine-rich in vitamins, particularly A and C. This soup is best cooked in a crock pot on low heat all day because split  peas have a tendency to scorch unless you stir them constantly. But my crock pot seems to have gone missing, so today’s soup is being made on top of the stove, which means constant stirring with a wooden spoon.

I started with yellow lentils and vine-ripe tomatoes as a base, and added vegetables tossed with garlic, olive  oil and cilantro, and let it simmer for a few hours (stirring constantly).

Yellow Split Pea/Tomatoes with vegetables

Ingredients

3 cups yellow lentils, soaked for 3 hours and thoroughly rinsed

1/2  gallon spring or filtered water

12 vine-ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded  and quartered

1/4 cup fresh cilantro finely, chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1 head of garlic, coarsely chopped (however, more is better if you can tolerate it)

3 large red onions,  finely diced

2 red peppers, diced

3 yellow peppers, roasted and cut into wedges

3 zucchini, diced in one-inch pieces

2 yellow squash, diced in one-inch pieces

5 sweet potatoes, skinned and cut into wedges

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Tamari  sauce to taste

a dash of cayenne pepper if you’re brave enough

1/2 cup virgin olive oil

1 very large jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 cup of vegetable broth

Directions

Rinse tomatoes and submerge in boiling water until skin lifts. Set aside to cool.

Add split peas to boiling spring water, and after 15 minutes, turn heat to low and cover.

In a wok, saute garlic and onions on high heat, then turn to low and cook three minutes until golden brown.

Add all of the remaining ingredients to the wok, starting with the fresh herbs and stir constantly until blended.

Add vegetable broth and  cover on low for 1/2 hour.

Skin tomatoes and remove seeds, then quarter and add to pea soup along with spaghetti sauce.

Add vegetables and fresh herbs from wok to pea soup.

Add the rest of the vegetables and cook on very low heat for  3  hours.

Take 1/4 of the soup, blend it and return it to the pot.

Turn off heat and allow soup to rest for 15 minutes before serving with your choice of bread.

Related posts:

1. Good and hearty vegetable soup
2. A soup to heal colds
3. Yellow split pea soup

We’ re at the bottom of the turkey, which, of course, means it’s time for me to make soup. But before we got there, I served several days of different fare from the original dinner.

The day-after, most of us are way too tired to cook, and with plenty of turkey left on the bone, sandwiches are in order. The turkey is still fresh and if  it was cooked correctly, it’s also very tender. One of our favorite turkey sandwiches uses almost the entire meal, and it’s simple. Just set the food out, and let everyone make their own.

Cranberry sauce, salad and stuffing are included in our whopper turkey sandwich that’s so thick you can barely get your mouth around it.

Whopper Turkey Sandwich

Directions

Slice a very good bakery bread the way you like it.

Slather bread with honey mustard, salad dressing or mayonnaise.

Neatly layer stuffing, cranberry sauce and sliced turkey.

Wrap it foil and warm it in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove it from oven, add salad, and slice and eat.

Or omit the salad, and add arugula or a heartier green, and grill the sandwich as a panini.

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1. Leftovers for lunch
2. Food martinis – a holiday treat
3. Small plates for holiday parties

Today, one of my four daughters, Rashidah, turns 17 -  almost a grown woman and way taller than me. I can hardly believe how fast time flies. Seems like it was just a moment go that she was tugging at my knees and now here she is ordering up her birthday menu.

One of our family traditions is to celebrate each child’s birthday with a feast at a small gathering of their closest friends. Rashidah, who plans to be a chef, especially loves food.  But this year, typical of so many teens, she prefers celebrating the day out with her buddies rather than at home with us. As usual, she also wants her cake and eat it, too, and also requested her special family dinner tomorrow.  This really works out better for me because as usual, I’m jammed up for time preparing for the holidays. Every year, because I’m always so overextended and Rashidah always thinks she gets  jipped, I’ll make sure I do it up tomorrow.

She planned the menu and here are her teen-typical choices:

Rashidah’s  Way

Chips and salsa

Cheese, crackers and fruit platter

Bar-B-Que turkey meatballs – mini heroes

Wingettes

Pan-fried mac ‘n cheese, regular and vegan

Curried couscous with yellow raisins

Grilled teriyaki salmon with chutney and mushrooms

Pot of greens with carmelized onions and Yukon garlic potatoes

Salad with arugula, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, beets and minced red onions

Assorted cupcakes (chocolate-iced, vegan chocolate flourless, carrot, red velvet, cheesecake)

Cider and ginger ale

Spring water

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A friend of mine, Zach Harris, asked me to help cook a Thanksgiving feast for a shelter that houses battered women and their children who are hiding from their abusers. It was a wonderful way to extend my passion for cooking to those who find themselves in dire circumstances.

I have to admit that I was scared to death because I found myself among professional chefs and wanted my dish to stand up. Zach asked me to make jambalaya, but my budget of $120 wouldn’t allow for a good one for 30 people. The shrimp alone would have cost that much. Plus with all of the other heavy dishes he was offering, I knew the young children would prefer to have something simple.

The menu was phenomenal, and although it included several dishes that were made from pork (which I never eat), there were also several vegetarian dishes that were delicious, such as Swiss chard tossed with garlic and olive oil, and stuffed pasta smothered in a homemade tomato sauce with garlic, eggplant and zucchini.

After hearing his menu of fried turkey, wild rice, three types of pork, ribs, a ribeye roast, chicken and rolls, I opted to make something that I knew all children love: Mac ‘n Cheese. And this time I didn’t stress my love for healthy Mac ‘n Cheese, either. I made it the good old-fashioned way with twisty pasta, light cream, a white sauce and three different cheeses. In other words, a true “cholesterol festival” that I only allow myself to eat every once in a blue moon.

Here’s my recipe, passed to me by my mother.

Old Fashioned Mac ‘n Cheese

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 boxes of twisty pasta

1 cup whole milk

1 cup light cream

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (grated)

1 cup Monterey Jack

½ cup Parmesan Cheese

¼ cup butter

3 tbsp flour

1 gallon water

Salt, pepper to taste

½ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp parsley flakes

¼ cup fresh parsley

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Paprika

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bring water to a rolling boil and cook pasta for 7 minutes, drain and set aside.

Melt butter slowly in a saucepan and whisk in flour until there’s a smooth paste.

Slowly add milk and stir with a wooden spoon until sauce is smooth.

Lower heat and continue stirring, careful not to scorch the milk.

Add half of the cheeses until they are melted.

Add seasonings, except for paprika, and thoroughly mix together.

Coat a casserole dish with butter and pour in the mixture.

Fold in remaining cheeses, leaving enough to coat the top.

Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove cover and sprinkle with remaining cheese and paprika. Bake until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

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Had anyone told me when I was a child that soup would become one of my favorite meals, I would have laughed them to the moon. Growing up, childhood soups were limited to cans of Campbell’s, and the variety of flavors was very limited in our house. That’s because my mother made most of our daily meals fresh and from scratch, so there was no need to open a can of anything very often. 

But every once and awhile, she’d add soup along with our lunchtime sandwiches, either Cream of Tomato, Chicken Noodle or Cream of Shrimp. 

Today, while on a budget that is way more meager than my mom’s, I’ve incorporated soup into my meals as a mainstay instead of an addition. The big difference is that my soups are made from scratch and usually take me hours to prepare. The upside is that more often than not, my soups are hearty enough to be considered a meal. Very often, I freeze them for later. 

For me, the key is to make the soups as fresh as possible. 

Fatimah’s  Garden Vegetable Soup 

One huge soup pot 

3 large zucchinis, quartered and sliced 

3 large yellow squash, quartered and sliced 

1 large red onion, finely chopped 

2 yellow peppers, diced 

1 red pepper, diced 

1/2 pound string beans, halved 

5 sweet potatoes, quartered and cut into wedges 

3 large Yukon gold potatoes, cubed 

2 jars large jars of vegetarian spaghetti sauce 

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced 

3 lbs vine-ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced 

1/4 cup light olive oil 

1 head fresh garlic, finely diced 

1/4 cup of fresh parsley, finely diced 

1/8 cup fresh cilantro, finely diced 

2 cups pot liquor or vegetable broth 

1 small bag of baby carrots 

Directions 

Heat light olive oil on medium heat and saute onions, peppers, garlic until soft. 

Add mushrooms and then the rest of the vegetables, adding the tomatoes and then the fresh herbs last. 

Cover and simmer on low heat, while stirring now and then, until the vegetables cook down (about 1 1/2 hours). 

Add vegetable broth and continue simmering on low heat until all of the vegetables are soft. 

Turn off heat and allow pot to rest for 15 minutes. 

Serve with cornbread, muffins or garlic bread. 

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I ordered a chicken dish – as usual – and chose bulgur wheat with mushrooms as a side dish. I had not eaten bulgur wheat before, so I decided to be adventurous. I eat plenty of wheat products – wheat bread, wheat rice and other whole grains.

The dish was delicious and I knew instantly that I’d make it at home. First, though, I wanted to learn more about bulgur. I found that it was a staple in many Middle Eastern countries. That it was made from whole-wheat kernels and cracked wheat kernels. That you can make your own or buy it.

I obviously bought mine.  

The next week I found bulk bulgur wheat at a Whole Foods store near me, bought some crimini mushrooms, found a recipe on the web and went at it. My dish wasn’t as good as the restaurant’s but it wasn’t bad.

It had a brown rice look and flavor, but didn’t have a heavy wheaty taste. I love mushrooms, so they added that extra flair. I’ve tried bulgur wheat several times since then, the second time with shitaki mushrooms and it was delicious.

Isn’t it great to feel good about eating delicious healthy food?

Here’s the recipe I used from chow.com:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots (I used yellow onions)
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms, small diced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I used Mrs. Dash and Spike spices because I’ve cut back on salt)
• 1 cup medium-grind bulgur
• 1/4 cup peeled, small-diced carrots

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When it shimmers, add shallots and cook until just beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, season with salt  and freshly ground black pepper, and cook until moisture released is almost evaporated, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Increase heat to medium high. Add wine and cook until almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil. Stir in salt and bulgur and cover.

3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in carrots and simmer until fork tender, about 5 minutes more. Turn off heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

 - Sherry Howard

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Then with herbs from my potted herb garden – which included fresh basil and oregano – plus the last of my home-grown tomatoes, I used the rest to make vegetable soup later in the week.

I work for an organization called Resources for Human Development as development manager for Philadelphia’s first homeless newspaper called One Step Away. Every week, Equal Dollars brings  in a haul of locally grown, mostly organic produce from area farms - some of which are in Lancaster County, which is a hub for outside Philadelphia for organic farming.

Deneene, who like me is a foodie and who also caters, established Equal Dollars a few years ago, and provides fresh produce and other items to employees of the organization. Every week, we get an opportunity to buy fresh vegetables with Equal Dollars currency, a kind of bartering system.

* * * * *

Many people think that it’s impossible to make collards taste good without using animal flesh. Some folks have turned to turkey butts or turkey wings for flavoring because they don’t eat pork. I certainly don’t partake in any parts of the pig and haven’t since I was 18. But that’s another blog. I’ve written in the past about making vegetarian collards. The best part about them is the “pot liquor,” which is the broth created by boiling the greens, seasonings and herbs  in spring water.

Pot liquor is the basis for any great vegetable soup and it can be frozen. My pot liquor can be used as it is or combined with beans and an assortment of vegetables in a crock pot. (Photo here by QuintanaRoo is of her navy bean soup.)

The next time you make any type of fresh vegetables, save the pot liquor. I guarantee you it will flavor your soups and stews so well that you’ll never consider throwing it away again.

Related posts:

1. A soup to heal colds
2. Good and hearty vegetable soup
3. Sunshine soup for winter

Best of all in my house is the fact that I get my kitchen back.

My children, like so many teens, seem to think that money and food grow on trees. No matter how much food shopping I do, there never seems to be enough food because – no matter what I say – they eat up everything in sight. So now that they’re back in school,  there will be no all-day snacking like they did this summer. Since I’m now working full time, that means cooking and planning meals ahead of time so I don’t have to start from scratch after a long day’s work.

These days, I prefer making simple one-pot dinners that I only need to pop into the oven when I get in.

Recently, I fell in love with the concept of stuffed chicken breasts. They aren’t new, but they’re new to me and they are the best. Best yet, you can slice them up and take them for lunch the next day. They’re also a great way to sneak in vegetables for those picky eaters.

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and asparagus  (Feeds

Pre-heat oven to 450.

Ingredients

4 whole chicken breast halved and pounded completely flat

32 tiny baby asparagus, ends cut off and blanched for one minute

1 cup of baby spinach, rinsed and drained

½ cup goat cheese, softened

½ cup finely diced black pitted olives

1 cup roasted yellow and peppers, thinly sliced and then halved

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup light virgin olive oil

Pam cooking spray

Directions

Spray a baking sheet with Pam.

Rinse and pat chicken breast dry and lay flat on pan.

Spread thin coating of goat cheese on each breast.

Line each breast with 4 asparagus and a handful of spinach.

Roll breast tightly and coat with bread crumbs, with the seam face down on the pan

Drizzle each breast with olive oil and brown at 450 degrees for 10 minutes until browned,  then reduce heat to 325 and bake until meat is white (about 10 minutes).

Let the meat rest before slicing each breast in half.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (chipolte’, sweet and sour, teriyaki, salsa).

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