Carrot-Pineapple salad with Lime Zest

This is great for a potluck because it's vegan, which means anyone can eat it, yet it's made with very familiar ingredients, so it won't scare anyone off.  Also, it goes with anything and won't get dodgy at room temperature.  This makes enough for 10-15 people as a side dish.  This is pretty quick to make with a food processor to shred the carrots.

10 carrots, peeled and grated
1 ripe pineapple, cut into smallish chunks
3 juicy limes, zested and juiced
2 Tablespoons agave nectar

Put the grated carrot and pineapple chunks in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, mix the lime zest and juice and the agave nectar together.  (To zest the limes, rub the whole limes against a very fine grater just until the green part of the peel comes off.  If you don't have a grater, shave paper-thin pieces off of the lime peel - green only, don't get into the white, which is bitter - with a paring knife and finely mince it with a chef's knife).  You only need to zest one or two of the limes, as the peel is very strongly flavored.  Pour the lime mixture evenly across the carrot and pineapple, and toss it thoroughly.

I don't think this needs salt, but you can certainly toss a pinch or two into it if you think it needs it.

Turkish Meatloaf

This is great served with spinach and mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

2 lbs lean ground beef (8% fat)
1 cup bread crumbs
  (I used brown rice bread since I 
   don't eat wheat)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup raisins, chopped
1 small onion, minced
2 Tablespoons fresh minced herbs:
  may include any combination of
  parsley, mint, and cilantro
1 egg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-3 Tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together the above ingredients, adding the tablespoons of water gradually, just enough to moisten it until it's soft enough to easily form.   Divide the mixture into two parts, and form each half into a log shape on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake until the meatloaves are browned and cooked through, approximately 45 minutes.

Garden Slaw with Shredded Beet

Fresh and simple.  Your food processor will make short work of this.  Use the slicing blade for the cabbage, the shredding blade for the carrot and beet, and chop the parsley and green onion by hand.

1 bag angel-hair shredded cabbage OR
  1/2 green cabbage, very finely shredded
2 green onions, both white and green parts,
  thinly sliced
1 medium-sized beet, peeled and shredded
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
2 Tablespoons minced parsley

1 lemon, juice from
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly-ground black pepper

Toss vegetables together in a bowl with lemon juice, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil (use the amount that suits your taste), add salt and pepper to taste, and toss again thoroughly.  If you let it sit a little while at room temperature, tossing occasionally, before serving, the flavors will combine beautifully.

Tamarind Shrimp with Coconut Milk Spinach

It works best to first prep for both recipes, next prepare the spinach, and last, prepare the shrimp.

For the shrimp:

2 lbs raw, peeled shrimp

1 1/2 Tablespoons ghee or butter
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 Tablespoons minced parsley

2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
  (I used wheat-free tamari)
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons agave nectar
4 dry red hot peppers
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

wedges of lime to serve

Melt the ghee or butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Saute the green onion and parsley briefly, then add the soy sauce or tamari, tamarind concentrate, garam masala, agave nectar, and dried hot peppers.  Saute again briefly until tamarind concentrate is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.  Add shrimp and turn the heat to medium-high.  Stir-fry until the shrimp is just tender.  Add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

For the spinach:

2 large bags pre-washed baby spinach
1 small can coconut milk (NOT light),
  or half of a standard can
Kosher salt

Put a couple of tablespoons of water into the bottom of a large pot with a cover, like a stockpot.  Dump the bags of spinach into the pot, cover, and turn the burner onto medium-high heat.  Every couple of minutes, take the top off the pot and stir the spinach around.  When the spinach is completely wilted, drain out any liquid that remains in the pot, and pour in the coconut milk.   Stir the coconut milk into the spinach and add kosher salt to taste.  Keep covered so it will stay warm while you cook the shrimp.

Serve the shrimp piled on top of the spinach, with lime wedges on the side, to be squeezed over the shrimp.

Picadillo

Some people like to use this as a filling for tacos.  I like it on its own, with sliced tomato and avocado on the side.

1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil (not extra-virgin)
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced

3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 apple or 1 pear, diced
1/4 green pepper, minced
1/3 cup raisins, chopped
10 green, pimento-stuffed olives, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
couple of shakes of ground cloves

kosher salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

Heat the oil on medium high heat.  Add ground beef, onion, and garlic.  Brown the ground beef, breaking it up into very small pieces with the edge of your spatula (lean ground beef can seem tough if it's not broken up into small enough pieces).  When the ground beef is brown, add the tomatoes, apple or pear, green pepper, raisins, olives, cinnamon and cloves.  Saute this mixture for a couple of minutes and then cover for a few minutes and cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping it up from the bottom of the pan every couple of minutes.  Add kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and crushed red hot pepper flakes to taste if you like it a little spicy.

Once you've put the Picadillo on plates, top it with toasted pine nuts (put pine nuts on a small baking sheet in a 300-degree oven and watch like a hawk until they start to turn golden brown - remove immediately and pour onto a plate to cool).

Garlic Eggplant Stir-Fry with Jalapenos

Don't let the jalapenos scare you off. When left mostly whole, they provide flavor rather than any mega-hotness. I started using these a lot because they were being practically given away at the Athens Farmer's Market last summer! As for any stir-fry, it's important for you to have your ingredients completely prepped and handy, because you won't have time for prep work once the quick cooking process begins.

peanut oil (or any flavorless vegetable oil)

2 medium eggplant, quartered and thinly sliced (or if you are using the long, slender japanese eggplant, 5 or 6 of them, sliced thinly on the diagonal)
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 red onion, sliced into thin wedges
2 jalapeno peppers, split in two lengthwise (or substitute dried whole hot red peppers)

6-7 cloves garlic, minced

sherry
agave nectar
tamari or soy sauce (I use a gluten-free brand of tamari)

kosher salt

Heat enough peanut oil to cover the bottom of your pan (eggplant soaks up a lot of oil, so you will need to use a little more than you might normally use - say 3 tablespoons or so). When your oil is good and hot, add the eggplant, carrot, onion, and jalapenos. Stir-fry these continuously until they start to get a little bit softer. Add the garlic and keep stir-frying. If the garlic looks like it's beginning to stick, add a little more oil and scrape it up from the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat briefly, and drizzle with sherry (go light on this), agave nectar, and tamari or soy sauce. Return to the heat and keep stir-frying. Give it a little taste, and add more sherry, agave nectar, and/or tamari/soy sauce if needed (I am being inexact about amounts because it's really individual how sweet or sherried you might want it). Cover your pan for a minute or two (watching closely, of course) if your vegetables don't seem done enough at this point. Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste, give it a good stir, and enjoy! This is great with brown jasmine rice if you eat grains.

Red Curry Chicken

This is a two-step recipe, but poaching the chicken before joining it with the other ingredients is so worth the effort, because it is extraordinarily tender! I buy a large container of red curry paste and freeze it in a ziploc. It's easy to break off a chunk the size you need for a recipe, and lasts forever! Kaffir lime leaves look sort of like fresh bay leaves with a delightful lime scent. I freeze the whole, fresh leaves in a ziploc, and just take out however many I need for a recipe - they last for years in the freezer. I have seen lime zest (finely grated lime peel, green part only) called for in cookbooks as a substitution, for those who can't find kaffir lime leaves. Ghee is clarified butter, sold in a jar. It has a distinctive, pleasantly nutty flavor, and you can use it to cook at a much higher heat than butter. But butter would work for this recipe.

4 large skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 celery stalk, cut into a few pieces
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

1 Tablespoon ghee or butter
5 green onions, both white and green part, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 red bell peppers, cut into large chunks
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

1 can coconut milk
5 or 6 kaffir lime leaves, sliced crosswise into very thin slivers

kosher salt to taste

Put chicken, onion, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaf into a stockpot and cover generously with water. Bring to a gentle simmer, then immediately turn the heat down to low. You do not want it bubbling, or the chicken will get tough and dry. After awhile, take out a piece of the chicken and cut down into it to see if it's cooked through. If not, return it to the pot. As soon as the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the pot (you can strain the stock and save it to make soup).

When the chicken is cool, remove the skin and bones and cut it into chunks.

Melt ghee/butter in a pan. Add green onions, carrots, and red bell pepper chunks. Saute at medium heat for a couple of minutes, then add the red curry paste, breaking it up with your spatula and mixing it together with the vegetables. Saute for a couple more minutes, then add the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to a simmer. Add chicken chunks, stirring over the heat just long enough to heat the chicken through. Add kosher salt to taste, give it a good stir, and serve. I personally like this all by itself, served in a shallow bowl with a fork and spoon, but it would be superb with jasmine rice too if you eat grains.

Grilled Chicken with Marinara over Zucchini Ribbons

My kids love this! When I say chicken tenders, I am talking about the boneless, skinless, tender little pieces of chicken from the underside of the breast, NOT the breaded freezer kind. Of course, you can also use skinless, boneless chicken breasts, and slice them crosswise after they are grilled.

2 packages chicken "tenders"
Olive oil (not extra-virgin)
Garlic salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil (not extra-virgin), 2-3 Tablespoons
Crushed red pepper flakes, to your taste
4 cloves garlic, minced
Dried mint flakes, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
Dried basil flakes, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
Salt to taste

6-8 zucchini (if they are small, use more)
Olive oil (not extra-virgin)

First make your sauce. Put olive oil in a pan, and add crushed red pepper flakes, minced garlic, dried mint, and dried basil. Turn heat onto medium-low. When garlic starts to sizzle (do not let it brown), add crushed tomatoes. Stir until most of the olive oil is incorporated into the tomato. Partly cover to control the spatter, but don't cover all the way, or your sauce won't thicken properly. Cook sauce for 20-30 minutes, scraping it up from the bottom occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. When it's done, taste it and add salt if necessary (some brands of crushed tomatoes are salty already, and you might not need any).

Put the chicken tenders into a bowl and drizzle them with olive oil, garlic salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir them around a bit to be sure the seasoning gets on all of them. Grill.

Wash your zucchini, cut off the ends, and use a vegetable peeler to peel ribbons off of them (including the green). Rotate the zucchini around a bit as you go, that helps. Saute these at medium-high heat for just a couple of minutes.

Put some zucchini on your plate, top with marinara sauce, and finally with the grilled chicken.

Red Beans with Vegetables and Smoked Sausage (Plus Vegetarian Version)

While not difficult, this takes a while, so it's a good one for a weekend or an afternoon at home. This tastes great days later, and would freeze well, so it would be a good recipe to double. Please note: Don't forget to soak your beans the night before!

1 bag dry red kidney beans

1 tablespoon olive oil (regular, not extra-virgin)
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 green pepper, diced
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package lean turkey smoked sausage, coarsely diced

fresh parsley, a few sprigs, minced
fresh thyme, a few sprigs (if using dried thyme, a good-sized pinch)
fresh whole hot pepper (jalapeno or cayenne), or dried whole red hot pepper, one or more (one will add flavor but not much heat, add more to increase the heat)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

To soak your beans: Rinse them in a colander, picking out any nasty-looking ones, and any foreign objects. Put beans in a pan, cover with several inches of water, put the lid on, and leave out overnight or until you need them the next day.

To cook your beans: Drain off soaking water, run fresh water into pan until it covers beans by about three inches, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. It takes about two hours to get them tender. You'll need to stir them occasionally to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Keep an eye on the water level - if the beans start to become exposed, add enough water just to cover them. In the end, you want tender beans that are moist but not too soupy, so don't add too much water. No salt needed at this stage, it makes them take longer to cook.

After your beans are done, in another pan, over medium heat, saute vegetables, garlic, and crumble in a good-sized pinch of dried thyme if you are using it. When vegetables have gotten a little soft, dump them in the pan with the beans. Then use the pan you just used for the vegetables to slightly brown the diced smoked sausage. Dump this in the pan with the beans and vegetables. To this mixture add the parsley, fresh thyme, and fresh or dried hot pepper(s). Stir this thoroughly and cook over low to medium heat until the vegetables are tender and it thickens nicely, about 30 minutes. Stir it and scrape it up from the bottom of the pan every few minutes so it doesn't burn.

Remove the sprigs of fresh thyme and the whole hot peppers, taste for seasoning, and add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary (most smoked sausage is quite salty, so you may not need the salt).

Serve with brown rice and hot sauce.

Vegetarian version: Omit smoked sausage (duh!) and add 3-5 minced canned chipotle peppers (up to 1/3 of a small can, depending on how much heat you can take) at the end of sauteing the vegetables, then saute for another minute or two before adding to beans. This will add considerable heat, so unless you're really into spicy food, you probably want to omit the regular whole hot pepper(s).