When four people get sick, one person needs a Nano.

Image via Wikipedia

At least that's what I told myself when I was on my 22nd load of laundry MUSIC-FREE during the height of the puking. Concerned readers, you can stop emailing wails of concern. We are alive and well. Gastroenteritis laid us low over Christmas, heck, Christmas laid us low over Christmas, so low in fact that I had to buy a new Nano to snap out of it. And a new coffee table and console table. And Wii. And weekend in Pittsburgh. And soon we'll all be in Manhattan.

There might have been a new pair of running shoes and a new cookbook or four, two new bookshelves, a trip to Ikea, and perhaps I'm contemplating major appliance purchases.

My new Nano has made me so fulsomely food productive! My old iPod died about six months ago. Streaming Pandora is awesome, but it's not like girating in the kitchen, singing at the top of my lungs while chopping onions to old friends from my musical past. This is an excellent development because instead of lollygagging around all day on vacation trying to decide what to make for dinner then taking everybody out I'm back to running at full steam with work, kids in school, workaholic husband, vacations to plan, and new furniture to arrange.

Why just this weekend alone, thanks in no small part to a snow day on Friday with the kids, I had time to dance and whip out three pans of this:

The best lasagna. Ever. (via the Pioneer Woman)

It might not the best, because my palate demands bechamel in the best lasagna, but it's darn good, holds up well in the freezer, and my kids suck it down, which means for us, for now, it's the damn best. And we're having it for dinner the night we get back from Manhattan. Don't be too jealous. You can do it too. It's easy. BTW, I never boil noodles. I just do the no-boil variety. They are beautiful.

I also have a big pot of this braising right now, via The Barefoot Contessa:

Parker's Beef Stew

I mostly sorta kinda followed the directions. It smells heavenly, and really, can you go wrong with wine, bay leaf, salt, onions, garlic, and BEEF? I think not. We'll be having that with potatoes this week and frozen leftovers next week with fresh potatoes or noodles. Whatever I have around.

This is what we're having for dinner tonight, and the leftovers will sustain me no doubt for lunch a few days this week, along with coffee, Diet Coke, pretzels, and chocolate:

Jamie Oliver's Very Fantastic Fish Pie via Slashfood

I jitterbugged around the kitchen listening to my British favorites while I threw together Jamie's very British fish pie. I didn't use cream, but cooked down a little extra half & half. I also didn't use the juice of a whole lemon. A tablespoon was plenty, thanks. If I put spinach in a fish pie it's a slam dunk the kids won't get the food near enough to their mouths to even spit it out in disgust, so I stuck with peas. Always safe there.

We'll be rounding out a week a food with a simple pasta dish, some sausages and beans, and a stir fried rice with lovely Asian pork from Donna Hay.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this. I read this post this week from my neighbor (okay, two hours north), Michael Ruhlman:

America: Too Stupid to Took.

I've been thinking hard about what he wrote while I was killing drones on Star Wars: The Complete Saga, or pounding mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers. I feel a little guilty, 'cause certainly I should have been roasting a chicken whilst I Wii-ed my heart out. I'm not sure America is told it's too stupid to cook; I certainly feel like I'm told that I'm busy to cook as I wander around my grocery store aisles with coupons for boxed au gratin potatoes and cake mixes shooting out at me and my cart as I try desperately to find unbleached white flour before I weaken and reach for the canned butterscotch pudding. And Oreos. Anyway, interesting mildly pithy post (my favorite combination) worth a read whilst you wait for your chicken to finish roasting.

Gotta go check my fish pie and stir my stew.

Coming up, one of my best menus for entertaining, pulled together for Christmas Eve this year.

Feel free, dear readers, as you always do, to email me ideas for family friendly places to chow in Manhattan, keeping a four year old squarely in the forefront of one's recommending mind.

Love--Iced

Scarpetta's Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Basil Oil

This sounds fabulous, and well worth a trip to Steamy Kitchen where you can get the recipe from the fabulous Jaden. You'll save the trip to NYC and the $24 per plate at Scarpetta's. You can make it for your entire family, with a salad, and a decent bottle of wine for $24. You might be able to find 4 cute plates on clearance at Target and still come in under $24, too.

Scarpetta's Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Garlic Basil Oil, recipe and picture via Steamy Kitchen

Jacques Pepin

When I was young I had a teddie bear named "Jacques" after Jacques Pepin. Love him. Love his cookbooks. Love his autobiography. Love his scrappy attitude. Try to emulate the cheery workman-like execution of his craft. Came upon this in the Washington Post with delight today:

For Pepin, Impromtu Comes Easy

I vow to try every single recipe, only I might use butternut squash rather than acorn because those ridges on the acorn squash scare me.

Flanken-Style Shortribs with Mushrooms
Baked apples
Sweet and Sour Glazed Squash
Slaw with Mustard Garlic Dressing
Sauteed Cabbage and Kielbasa
Crisp Pear Tart
Crispy Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Sauce

POM Wonderful Chicken Salad

I have it on good authority--two good food authorities, who just happen to be married--that this salad isn't just POM wonderful, it's plain wonderful. The recipe came to me via a request from Dr. Aveda Soccer Mom, who saw one of the two original food authorities eating it. This will be on my short list.

PS If you click on the recipe, it should open up in a larger window.

Question from reader. What do brining and enchiladas have in common?

I had a question today from a reader. A good question.

"If you brine a turkey, won't the drippings be too salty for your gravy?"

Yes, they will be, sadly, especially if you wet brine the bird, which, by the way, is to die for with Williams Sonoma turkey brine spice blend. Failing that, don't go to the trouble. Dry salt it in your fridge for a few days ahead of time.

But back to the gravy. Here's the solution. This weekend, pick up a big roaster or two small fryers at the grocery story. Roast them with a little sage, garlic, onion, and lemon. Save the drippings, deglaze the pan, and if you are so inclined, make your gravy now and freeze it. Otherwise throw the drippings, including deglazed loveliness, into the freezer.

Use the leftover chicken for anything, but consider using it for this from Pioneer Woman:

White chicken enchiladas (you just don't have to go to the trouble of poaching the chicken)

THEN, when you're all done with the chicken meat and have only those carcasses (which takes me back to the end of anatomy class) left, throw them into a slow cooker, cover with water, salt generously, add onion, celery, carrot, parsley stems or whatever else you have around, and let it cook for a few hours. Strain that and you have homemade stock, drippings for gravy, chicken enchiladas for at least two meals, chicken salad, and anything else you want to do with chicken, and you don't need to steamed your hairdo away over a hot pan of gravy on Thanksgiving.

Pork Meatballs with Yogurt Sauce

Really, any meatballs with any sauce, and these have not one but two sauces.

I'm a sucker for a meatball. Somebody took the time to lovingly mix and form tiny little balls with their hands for little old me? Yes, please, with seconds.

Akhtar Nawab's Pork Meatballs with Yogurt Dressing via The Wednesday Chef

Drats. I have six slices of leftover bacon. What to do?

I know! Combine it with butternut squash and pasta. Not sure how I stumbled on this recipe, as it's buried fairly deep in a post about something totally unrelated to food, but whatever. Can't wait to try it.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta picture and post via the Daily Struggles of the Domestic Un-Goddess

Leftover Paella, Green Bean Casserole, Yakitori, and a Barn

Leftover paella is tasty. I would know because I just nibbled some, standing at the counter, reading the NYTimes food section, which I picked up at work today while I was sucking on a mint and some Sprite but didn't read at the time because I felt like death warmed over and didn't want to eat much or read about food because, in fact, I spent the first several hours on the job puking between patients. And no, I am not pregnant. A Sprite, said mints, an egg, and some toast later, I felt up to nibbling leftover delicious paella. But just a little. Me and my tummy aren't sure if we are friends yet.

Whilst nibbling paella, I was reading a recipe for homemade green bean casserole. I am not generally a green bean fan, but for this I might make an exception:

Green Bean Casserole @ the New York Times

What sounds better right now, though, is this:

Butterscotch 's Whiskey Cookie Bars

And hello, at the end of the recipe, note the picture of Jello pudding! And a little teaser:

I should add that JELL-O pudding mix is NOT in the recipe but the first picture is just a picture of my groceries. Cookie dough pictures aren’t very interesting anyways…the pudding is for another recipe though: Rum Cupcakes! I shall await with scotched-laced breath.

Did I mention that my Brudda, the Pork Master, got a slow cooker? And guess what? I found a slow cooker brined pork recipe with Alton Brown's fingerprints all over it. Possibly worth a try:

Slow cooker pork chops, apples, and sweet potatoes via Cheap Healthy Good

Two from Simply Recipes recently:

Cauliflower pasta with anchovies (I'll probably be eating this alone but oh, how I love anchovies and cauliflower, united at last in this recipe)
Scambled eggs with tomatillos (Green Eggs & Ham!)

THESE are going to be here at this house this weekend. I am going to need them:

Salted brown butter crispy treats from Smitten Kitchen

(Note the cute baby picture above the recipe and know that my friend Dr. Fabuloso's new baby is 20 times cuter and I have the pictures to prove it.)

Have a bit of beef hanging around and the urge to eat Vietnamese? Try this:

Vietnamese-styled sauteed beef

Thinking ahead to that turkey you're going to have left over? Grind it and try:

Turkey Yakitori Burgers

(Shout out to Columbus Foodie for the tips.)

Roger. Over and out.

Kindle. Babies. Cookbooks.

Last summer, while I was studying for boards, I went to the beach. How else to make it bearable? I went with my dear friend, Dr. Fondant and her husband, who were pregnant. Dr. Fondant was also studying for boards. Every morning I'd drink a gallon of coffee, then head off to their condo overlooking the ocean to drink more coffee, look out the window, chat, and study. (We actually did study.)

Most evenings we had big communal happy summer meals. The kids would nibble, the adults would talk, the wine would flow (except for Dr. F), and we'd linger over dessert. Or rather, empty plates.

In the lovely house in which we stayed, there were two cookbooks. Cookbooks, I believe I've noted, are an addiction for me. I've inhaled quite a few. It takes something special now to get me interested. The two in the house were pretty nice, and had the bonus of being new, at least to me. When I wasn't studying, cooking, playing, swimming, touring, or sleeping, I browsed these cookbooks, leaning on the counter in the kitchen with a glass of wine; slouched on the sofa with coffee; leaning on an elbow at the table with a Moon Pie in my hand; or sipping an icy Diet Coke on the screened in back porch overlooking the marsh.

Fixated in my mind is a relaxing vacation--relaxing! studying for boards! miraculous--sun, sand, great food, dear friends, and the happy promise of a little baby. A bubble week of civilized epicurean romping. Besides visiting the pictures (which I still am editing) how to revisit?

I got an email this week about a Kindle and New York Times subscription for a mere $500. Tempting. I'm sorely tempted by the Kindle. I'm certain I'd have to buy a killer new bag to carry it and all my other gear in. Aha! A reason to shop.To have my library with me everywhere plus have the New York Times at my fingers . . . Wow. Five hundred dollars ain't nothin', though, and would I really, really love it?

Two other things arrived in the last week. First, the baby! Warm, snugly, handsome, sweet, and delicious. How are we swallowed whole by these small dear creatures? Second, one of the beach cookbooks, Eating Outdoors, by Lindy Wildsmith arrived in brown paper wrapper. I peeled it open and jumped into the pages, secured for a moment away from snotty, chaotic, busy, febrile, and laundry in a happy, languid, sunny, briny, shrimpy reverie. I trailed my fingers across the pages, photos, recipes and visited with my vacation, a happy little world. I sighed, closed the book, and came back to my present, bigger and fuller with a new little being to adore.

Can I do that with a Kindle?

I don't know. I leave you with the recipe for what is now almost always my first meal at the beach. It takes all of 20 minutes to make and plop on the table, perfect after you've driven for hours, unpacked groceries and kids and towels and flipflops. Add crusty bread, a bottle of wine, a salad if you have time, or fresh corn on the cob and it's a feast.

Spicy Shrimp. Yummy and fun, fun, fun.

Another crazy day in Flu-ville

Image via Wikipedia

Oh, Ethel, bar the door. Cookies and scotch aren't going to get me through this flu season. It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud. There's no flowers in March to look forward to. No cherry blossoms. There's only more flu. February. It's MONTHS away, yet it seems like it's already here.

It's like a NEW DISEASE was discovered. "Flu? Flu? I HAVE THE FLU?????" No, wild dogs aren't going to consume your head. You are not being consumed by flames. For 99% of you, it's just the flu. You are going to feel like poop for days and then you will feel better. And next year you can say, "Dr. Latte, you were right. I should get a flu shot." I was once naive, too. But then I had the flu. In medical school. On call. On OB call. Did anybody send me home as I spewed evil juices all over pregnant ladies? Ah, medical education. Nothing like it.

Despite my recent permanent resident alien status in Flu-ville, I chanced upon a few decent recipes and food interludes. Here's one. For those nights when you think, Hmmm...Should I get Chinese take-out or just eat more potato chips at the counter, how about eating potato chips at the counter while you make your own Chinese? SKINNY Chinese?

From Slashfood, "Takeout Vegetable Fried Rice"

Not feeling like Chinese? How about Indian? Pakoras? From a blog in my very own Central Ohio backyard--Hungry Wolf--a most enchanting trip down Pakora Lane. Not a recipe. An Indian snack vignette:

Taste & Create, Pakoras

A bit of Central Ohio navel-gazing, but delicious, Navel-of-Venus gazing, also from Hungry Wolf, a locavore dinner with a most intriguing cast of characters. Now, blogging is Class A, 100% navel-gazing. For moi, the food blog, is a notebook I browse like a cookbook. What should I make? What sounds yummy? What is interesting but probably too much work? I put it on the blog. If I like whatever it is, if it survives my own kitchen test, I put it into a real-life notebook. Well, a file. I have a lot of recipe files.

But what is cool about navel gazing for me, anyway, is all this local stuff! Who knew there was a winery in Johnstown? I do now. That plus a whole lot more. It's so intriguing, it's so virtual, but I'll be converting my new virtual knowledge to calories soon at a wine or cheese shop, farmer's market, or bakery nearby:

Locavore Dinner at The Winery at Otter Creek.

Went out for sushi this weekend with some dear friends. Had my favorite, spicy tuna. Could it be that the magic is in:

Spicy Sriracha Mayonnaise?

Well, golly, I might have to find out and become quite addicted.

Meanwhile, back in Central Ohio, I mull over the Slow Food movement. Ha! I have a 20 minute Speed Racer food movement every evening in my slap-dashery to get food on the table for us all. There's nothing I love more than cooking for a day with nothing else to do, whipping up a some braised protein and a perfectly chopped vegetable fraggonarde (I made that up) while tippling a sipple of thistle but it just doesn't happen in my life, which is mostly neatly divided into 20 minute chunks. 2o minutes to get coffee and breakfast ready, check calendar; 20 minutes to get kids ready; 20 minutes to get me ready; 20 minutes to get to work; 20 minutes per appointment for nine hours; 20 minutes to get home; 2o minutes to make dinner, blah blah blah. Where does the all day braise fit into that exactly? I'm not sure, but I'm going to take, ah, 20 minutes and read about it in my own town:

Slow Food Columbus

And I'm going to check that website monthly (must add to-do item to reqall) so that I never miss another fabulous event. Unless I'm busy crazily cutting everything in my house into chunks 1/20th of original size.

When slow food fails to slowly ooze deliciously from my own two hands, though, I will enjoy it prepared by others. How about breakfast? Nick, at Breakfast with Nick conveniently published his favorite breakfast items, many (most?) practically in my back yard:

My Ideal Breakfast

And that, friends, is it for tonight. I have to go attend to my colleague, Dr. House. He needs my help. Some poor soul, sick with a dread fake disease, about to be examined and tested in an excruciatingly ridiculous but hilarious quest for diagnosis. Sure, most of the cases would be figured out in 5 seconds in a decent lab, and sure, the rest of the cases would never happen, but oh, the preposterous fun.

Later!

Art thou in Central Ohio?

If thou art, consider any of the restaurants in Hungry Wolf's post:

Ethnic Columbus.

I had no idea I was within spitting distance of a Columbian tamale. How I love the internet.

Coconut Chicken

I'm on an Apartment Therapy/Kitchn Roll. My Brudda', the Pork Master (shout out to his GORGEOUS daughter who has pneumonia), made what he called the best chicken soup of his life in his crockpot this week. Threw pretty much everything in the pot including a whole chicken (Is that right, Pork Chop?) and veges, then let simmer for a day.

Well, the very instant pretty much I got his email about la soup I got a note from the Kitchn about a chicken roasted in coconut milk. The idea is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe for roasting chicken in regular milk, which I haven't attempted yet, but which is on my to-cook list.

Tomorrow I'm going to give this a whirl, only in the crockpot. Not because I've got crockpot crazy, but because I'm curious and thrifty. If I slow cook this with a lot of vegetables--potatoes, onions, sweet potato or butternut squash--not only will I have, I think, a splendid soup, but I'll have enough for Thai burritos with orange rice.

Stay tuned for more:

Coconut milk chicken

Thai burritos (A plug for my own recipe. Shameless.)

Muenster Cheese Souffle

Recovering from cheese-induced swoon. Image via Wikipedia

From a beloved reader--Dr. GreenThumbs Hops--a recipe to induce a swoon and thud on the floor. Read it near your chaise wearing a hoop skirt and corset so as to swoon unharmed and prettily in a most Victorian fashion. Who can resist a recipe that comes with the description:

Sometimes this souffle will appear "runny" or uncooked inside-this is only because of the cheese cubes, if they are not small enough. This dish can sometimes be a mess to serve, but it is always a joy to eat.

Dr. Greenthumbs Hops has a most wonderful palate. I believe her when she says it is a "joy to eat". Dr. Hops suggests serving it with wine and a light salad to feed two adults (or four as a side).

Muenster Cheese Souffle

1 1/4 c whole milk
1 1/2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp cumin

Panko
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup (4 oz.) 1/3" Muenster cheese, rind removed

Bring milk to simmer in small saucepan; remove from heat. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over med. heat. Whisk in flour; cook roux 2 minutes, whisking constantly (do not brown). Gradually whisk in warm milk. Cook until sauce is smooth and thick enough to drop from whisk in thin ribbon, whisking constantly (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat. Mix in cumin and season generously with salt and pepper; transfer to medium bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. This can be made ahead- let stand 2 hours or chill 1 day. Bring to room temp before using.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a souffle dish and coat inside with panko. Whisk egg yolks into souffle base 1 at a time. Stir in cheese cubes. Beat egg whites and pinch of salt in another bowl until stiff but not dry. Folk egg whites into souffle base in 3 additions. Transfer to prepared dish.

Bake souffle until puffed and brown on top, and firm but jiggly to touch, about 30 minutes. Spoon onto 4 plates. Serve with salad and enjoy with copious amounts of white wine. A Sancerre or a white Burgundy are my picks.

Thanks to Dr. Greenthumb Hops. Her recipes are always lovely, and have assumed special places in my files and heart!

How Locro can you go?

From the Boston Globe, a recipe for Locro, a pretty amazing sounding stew from Argentina. I'm thinking this might be a most excellent crockpot recipe, with a few adaptations here and there. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime if you're interested, check out the recipe from the Globe:

Locro

From Slashfood, ah, Dulce de leche. Included was a recipe to make it yourself; I tend to buy it already done for me. It's fabulous. Towards the end off the post is a brief list off things to do with the golden goodness:

Dulce De Leche - An Easy Dessert Enhancer

The thought of the sweetness reminded me of a recipe I clipped ages ago from Saveur for a Ducle de Leche Cake. Strangely, I had just pulled it out this past week. I'd caressed it a few times and toyed with making it. Presto, Slashfood sends a related link to Google Reader. I think it's kizmet.

Dulce de Leche Cake

I asked Lord Google about Dulce de Leche. He suggested this, and oh, Lord, it looks fabulous:

Dulce de Leche Flan, recipe and image via No Special Effects

It's late and I'm tired

and I haven't eaten a thing but junk food and coffee all day long. So imagine how I'm swooning over the following:

Migas in the morning, courtesy of homesick Texan

Pumpkin Pancakes via Joy the Baker and Pancake Maker

Quiche Lorraine via Smitten Kitchen. I mean, she has a NEWBORN! What is she doing with leeks?

And in a very useful "Cooking the Blog" post, Wednesday Chef cooks from the NYTimes and has a thing or two to say about it:

Melissa Clark's Coconut Barley Pilaf

Whatever the outcome, it looks fabulous. Head on over and see for yourselves.

Oh, one last thing. Joy has something to say about buttermilk:

The best buttermilk substitutions

Migas and pumpkin pancakes are definitely on IcedLatte's table this weekend.

What if I used bacon?

Taking a leaf from a Top Chef improvisation substituting bacon for pork belly, how about if I made this with slab bacon--which I conveniently have arriving along with the rest of a cryovac'ed pig--instead of pork belly.

Chashu via norecipe

Just when you thought you were free of eggplant!

You weren't! Mark Bittman has a recipe for roasted vegetables, Thai style. It looks remarkably like my crockpot ThaiThai vegetable stew, which I cribbed almost completely from a PassUBy KYSO recipe, only I'm lazy and she's not so I throw my stuff in the crockpot. I don't use peanut butter 'cause nuts make Little Latte get very hive-y.

I might try this. Or I might stick with the crockpot version of PassUBy's recipe.

Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style

Oh, God no. Not more eggplant.

Oh, yeah, baby. And from a new mother! I remember when I was a new mother, wandering around my house, scratching my head. It all looked so terribly familiar. So utterly strange, though, to have another warm mouth to feed. And with stuff from me! (That still wigs me out a little.) I felt like I'd had a really good day if I showered.

But Deb, at Smitten Kitchen, is not only hauling her little love bug all over town, but she's posting gorgeous eggplant recipes. STUFFED eggplants, not just "slice it up, throw it on the bbq, mash it with some olive oil and slap it on some pita." I feel quite unnerved by her.

BUT I no longer have to 1. Carry a diaper bag, 2. Worry about running out of diapers, and 3. Buckle 50% of my kids into carseats. I can just jump in the car with a purse, mentally check where a potty at the grocery will be, and help Little Macchiato snap her belt in place while I run to the store to get the ingredients for this:

Lebanese-style stuffed eggplant

My Brudda's Wife: Virtual Birthday Dinner

My Brudda, the Pork Master, is married. His wife, the Pork Mistress, is celebrating her birthday today. They live several states away. The Pork Master appears to be under the weather. He's sutained an injury, perhaps from basting pork.

I've been mulling over all day what I'd make for The Pork Mistress for her birthday, were she in town or were I nearer to her. Here's what I think I'd do:

While I'm throwing together dinner:
Marcona almonds and a gimlet

For dinner:
Vietnamese skirt steak with Vietnamese Chimichurri from the NYTimes food blog
A simple cucumber salad with paper thin slices of cucumber marinated in a little rice wine vinegar and splash of a vegetable oil, just a few lovely grains of cayenne
Simple coconut rice with a bit of finely diced candied ginger and a little retro chunk of pineapple atop

For dessert:
A cook the blog special: The plum crumble from Orangette. I made it this weekend with some prune plums I picked up from the orchard and oh, it is special. Just a hint of ginger from both candied and powdered. Not overly sweet. The crumble is a bit unusual in that the dry ingredients are mixed with an egg, then once spread over the fruit, melted butter is gently spooned atop. Lovely. Stayed crisp even in the fridge. This is definitely a keeper. A splash of cream or warm with ice cream? Heaven.

Happiest Birthday to the Pork Mistress. Many, many, many, many more. Bon appetit.

PS: The cheerful pillow-faced lady is the closest thing to a picture of me you're gonna see!

Cooking the Blog

We've worked our way through a few recipes from Three Squares this week and I thought I'd include my own two cent's worth, now that I've actually cooked the blog.

1. The Serious Eats Leftover Meat Salad
Let me tell you. This was seriously spectacular, and I had it ready, kind of, in 30 minutes. Now, I cheated a bit. I used steak, leftover from last night. I threw some dried dark red kidney beans in my little crockpot last night and let them stew till morning on low. That's right, no presoaking, no salt, no nothing. Well, I used a bay leaf. They were divine. So the steak and the beans were ready when I walked in the door. I had leftover homemade vinaigrette (with a standard 1:3 vinegar to olive oil ratio plus a little mustard) I quickly chopped a red onion in half, then sliced it thin and threw it in some olive oil with a little salt and oh, maybe a teaspoon of brown sugar. Those cooked on medium high for about 25 minutes, till brown. Once that was on, I flipped on my toaster oven, strolled out to my potager and grabbed five tomatoes, all perfectly ripe. They were sliced in half, thrown on a small baking tray, dowsed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted till runny and sunken. Oh, divine, and I HATE tomatoes. The whole thing was thrown together along with some chiffonaded basil and pine nuts. I didn't even bother to toast them. SERIOUSLY spectacular, quite possibly company good, especially with a loaf of crusty bread. Especially if the steak were hot off the grill and sliced thin. Note: I didn't have any rosemary and this was still spectacular.

2. Vegetable tostadas
Not bad. I used leftover black beans (which I threw in the crockpot without presoaking on high for about five hours and they were PERFECT) which I blitzed in the food processor with a little mild salsa. We used prepackaged guacamole from a market. Lettuce I had prepped a few days before. We topped with Greek yogurt and a little cheese. The makings literally took me about 10 minutes to put on the table. The kids helped. We served it all on top of Charros yummy precooked stacks of tostada shells, in a make-your-own fashion. Quite easy and yummy.

3. Hominy and me casserole
I turned this into a not-pretty but quite delicious everyday meal. I didn't have quite enough hominy, so I added some fresh corn and some beans (see item #2). I used a bit less cheese inside the casserole, but did toss in an egg to bind everything together. One big pan made more than enough for two meals. For one it was the main dish; another it was a side with sliced apples and grilled sliced flank steak.