Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1.3 lb	Pasta (approx) (I prefer whole wheat fusilli because it holds a lot of salad dressing)
1	head broccoli florets
1/3 lb	salami, cubed
1/3 lb	sharp cheddar, cubed
1/3 lb	sharp monterey jack, cubed
12 oz	italian salad dressing
10	green olives
1	green bell pepper, chopped
15	grape tomatoes, halved
1 bunch	mini pepperoni

Procedure:

Prepare pasta as directed. Stir the broccoli in right away to get a little steam on it; it will still be crunchy but the florets will be greener. Then allow everything to cool (to avoid melting the cheese or wilting the tomatoes). Stir in everything else.

I would not use the mini pepperoni again; they are prone to sticking to the sides of the bowl. I would also recommend red or yellow bell peppers instead of green. It was very sharp. I guess some people liked them, though, so that's up to the cook.

Overall, this is a very tasty and easy recipe. Maybe it's not particularly healthy, with tons of cheese and salami and dressing, but it's not that bad. There are some fresh veggies in here. And it's huge; it'll make lunches for a week.

Adventure Pasta

I haven't got many pictures of this because I didn't plan to write it up -- I was just throwing things in the pan to make a big batch of food for the week. The primary motivation for my ingredient choices was using the last bits of things that were almost gone. That said, it turned out very well. Keep in mind that I was just throwing this together as I went; all quantities are extremely approximate.

Ingredients:

2	half-empty packages spaghetti noodles
1/3 pound	bacon, diced
1/2 pound	sausage (I used chorizo), chunked
1	large red onion, chopped
2 cloves	garlic, minced
1	green bell pepper, chopped
10	kalamata olives, sliced
5	sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 jar	tomato sauce
1 handful	pine nuts, chopped
1 handful	pumpkin seeds, chopped
1 handful	slivered almonds
1 tsp	crushed red pepper
1 tsp	basil
1 tsp	oregano
3 tsp	parmesan cheese, grated

Procedure:
The first thing to do is get some grease. Throw your meat into the pan and stir it around until it's basically done and has given off enough oil to fry the rest of your ingredients. If necessary, supplement your meat oil with olive oil. Once the sausage is mostly done, add all of the ingredients except for the pasta, sauce, and cheese.

Start the pasta in a separate pan. Keep in mind that you'll want to stop cooking it when it's still a little firm; it will finish up in the other pan.

Stir everything around while your pasta cooks, seasoning to taste with whatever's handy. When your pasta is nearly done, add the pasta sauce to your stir fry to warm up. Drain the pasta and add it. Decrease the heat to avoid drying out your sauce while you stir everything together. This makes a lot of food, so it's likely your pan is full to the brim and stirring is difficult. Be patient. As you stir, add the cheese.



This made me lunches for an entire week, as well as a few dinners.

The one ingredient I felt I should have added was wine. We have cooking wine sitting right above the stove. I just didn't think to add it. It ended up a little dry and this would have remedied it. Overall, though, a very tasty and exciting dish.

Sweet Potato Tacos

This recipe is a lot like my potato stew in spirit, though they really don't taste the same at all. I made this out of curiosity and it turned out very well. It's dominated by sweet potatoes but it's got a little bit of spice to it as well. It's probably very good for you. Next time there will be more spice, as well as more spices.

Ingredients:

5 cups	sweet potatoes, diced (about 3 potatoes)
1 lb	ground chorizo or other sausage
2	red onions, chopped
1	green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves	garlic, minced
2	jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
2 tsp	brown sugar
1/4 tsp	cinnamon
1/4 tsp	ginger
	salt and pepper

Procedure
The two parts of this recipe are listed one after the other but can be easily done concurrently, even by only one person. Also, though I won't say it past here, salt and pepper should be added to taste all through the recipe. Just eat a little spoonful to help judge if you need more.



First, boil some water. Add about half of your potatoes. If you're like me, the chunks got larger as you got sick of cutting; if that's the case, boil the larger chunks. Once they are very soft, drain them and mash them. Add brown sugar and cinnamon. This is also where I would add any other spices you're thinking about trying. I threw in some ginger and some chili powder (but not enough of either to taste, I think). I suspect other good ones would be nutmeg and allspice. Basically anything that would be good in a spice cake or pumpkin pie can go in here. Kate also recommended cumin and coriander, which she recently used in squash tacos. I will use those next time. Set this mash aside until you're ready to mix it in to the rest of the recipe.



Start a fire and get your sausage going. Once it starts to give off grease, add your potatoes. Once they start to soften add the peppers, garlic, and onions. Scramble this around until the frying potatoes have basically finished then add the mash. (Once you add the mash you don't want to cook it for very long; it will start to dry out.)



I've just been eating this with tortillas. No cheese or salsa or anything. It's very sweet so I'm not sure what would compliment it. This is probably 6 to 8 servings; it's very filling.

Leftover Turkey Stew

This was meant to be based on a recipe I found here. However, there were several hitches along the way. First of all, I actually had a lot more turkey left over than I had thought. Additionally, the turkey is smoked, making it taste more like ham, so the sage seemed like a bad idea. I was similarly unconvinced on the curry powder so I left that out as well.

As I realized this Aaron suggested rosemary as a replacement. It seemed like a good idea, but we were out. Even so this recipe is easy (if time intensive) and very tasty.

Ingredients:

5 cups	small chunks of leftover turkey
5 cups	cubed potatoes
2 cups	chopped carrots
1 cup	chopped celery
2 cups	chopped onion
4 cloves	minced garlic
3 cups	chicken broth
2 cups	vegetable broth
	salt and pepper
	olive oil

Procedure:
Fry the garlic and onions in olive oil until they begin to soften, then add the turkey, potatoes, carrots, celery, and broth. Hold at a boil, testing occasionally to see if the potatoes are done all the way through (if the pieces are as large as mine, this could take half an hour or more). Season to taste with salt and pepper.



I realized during cooking that I had cut my potatoes too large. Not only did they take forever to cook, but they were too big to fit on a spoon with anything else. After the cooking was just about done I hit the whole stew with a potato masher a few times. This broke up the largest potato pieces and also thickened the broth with potato starch (which is something I like).

Almost all of the turkey we had left over was dark meat, which was great. Well, it was a pain to get it off of the bones, but the flavor is much stronger.



Don't be shy about the salt and pepper -- particularly the pepper. This makes something like eight pounds of food so it needs no small amount of seasoning to make an impact.



My guess is that this recipe is pretty robust to changes. If you swap a cup of potatoes for a cup of carrots, it'll be fine. More turkey would be fine, though much less would be a problem. Potatoes, carrots, and celery are all pretty neutral. You'd need a replacement source of defining taste.

Relatedly, I'll say again: if working with smoked turkey or ham, I suggest adding 1 tsp rosemary. If working with ordinary turkey, use 1 tsp sage.

New Year's Eve Appetizer Bonanza!

Sick Man Soup

No, it's not a soup made out of sick people. Feeling a little under the weather? Grandma Charles will fix you up in no time.

Ingredients:

3 cups	broth (I used vegetable but I think chicken would be best)
1 cup	dry rice
2	large carrots, chopped

Procedure:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and boil for about 20 minutes. The rice should be done and the carrots should be soft but it will still be pretty goopy. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Obviously this isn't a polished recipe... but it's very easy to make when you're feeling lousy and you're out of instant chicken noodle soup. For particularly sensitive stomachs, I recommend using half broth and half water. For slightly more robust digestive tracts, peas or small pieces of chicken could be added.

Enjoy with water with a hint of lemon juice.

Chicken Tangine

This is another recipe from Mom (she found it in Healthy Cook by Kate Sherwood in Nutrition Action Healthletter, Sept 2010). I was in a rush so I didn't change it all (well, I used 3 carrots instead of 2, but mine were kinda shrimpy). There were some things I did think about changing, but I'm glad I tried it out as written first.

Ingreduents:

2 lbs	chicken breast, cut into large cubes
3	carrots, chopped
2	zucchini, chopped
1	small onion, chopped
1 tsp	turmeric
1 tsp	ground cumin
1 tsp	paprika
0.25 tsp	ground cayenne pepper
0.25 tsp	cinnamon
6 cups	broth (I used vegetable bullion)
1 can	diced tomatoes
	olive oil

Procedure:
Cook the chicken in some olive oil until it's done on the outside. Add spices and stir for a minute or two. Add all other ingredients. Simmer for about half an hour. Serve with a lot of bread, the crustier the better. Serves 6-8, depending on how much you like bread.

This recipe is great. It's very easy and has a lot of flavor to it. There's a good amount of kick in the broth which does not diminish when reheated days later. The one thing I didn't like is that it's too... soupy. The vegetables seem lonely since there's just so much broth.

I think next time I'll try adding some chickpeas. Alternatively, some brown rice could go in. I would add it dry and then let it soak up the broth instead of making it with water. I thought about potatoes but I think they would gum up the broth. Pasta was another option as well -- probably little spirals -- but that seems weird.


Yeah, I'm not sure. I kinda forgot to take a picture until after we packed up the leftovers.