Simple Italian-Style Meat Sauce

Lately, this is my go-to, easy spaghetti sauce. It comes together quickly with minimal effort, but tastes like its been simmering on the stove all day! Oh, and the sauce gets even better the next day. For an extra veggie punch, you can put 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree in the sauce when adding the tomatoes. Serves 8-10 (feel free to freeze 1/2 of the sauce for later!).

Chicken Saute with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes

Delicious food in 30 minutes with minimal effort is my goal these days with a seven-month-old baby, so I was pleased to discover this recipe today at Central Market in Poulsbo. This has big flavor with in-season ingredients and was a definite crowd-pleaser in my house this evening. Serves 4.

Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

Good Indian food in a slow-cooker? Yep, that's exactly what this is. Also, inexpensive and completely from the pantry? Again, yes, unbelievably. When I want something tasty, inexpensive and done by dinner, this is my new go-to recipe. It's completely hands-free when I make brown rice in my rice cooker. At that point, it's basically take-out because you can eat at any time you'd like. This meal is awesome especially because I've got a new baby in the house!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

First of all, sorry for the lack of a picture. I could take a picture of the empty stockpot, but that would do us no good. Yes, this disappeared as quickly as it was made, if that's any testament to just how good this version of Mexican tortilla soup is. Forget any sorry excuses of this soup you've had in the past—this is where it's at. Serves 6-8

Spaghetti with Bolognese-Style Sauce

The key to this classic dish is "low and slow." Indeed, the sauce takes a whole three hours from start to finish. Is it worth the time? Yes. Yes it is. The flavors are meaty, satisfying, and downright beautiful. With an easy ingredient list, this recipe is great to prepare all-year-round. This recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman and makes about 4 cups of sauce.

French Provençal Dinner Menu

Today, I made a meal that transported me to distant, sun-drenched paradises. There is nothing that makes me think of summer more than veggie-filled mediterranean favorites. Everything seems to be at the height of its tastiness, so I urge you to seize the eggplant!

This dinner consists of: Ratatouille, Lemon Risotto with Broccoli, and, because my family needed a protein, grilled chicken. Serves 6 (or 2 with 4 "TV dinners" going into the freezer for later)

Roasted Beet and Beef Borscht

I have fallen head-over-heels in love with Mark Bittman's cookbooks: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and How to Cook Everything. This recipe comes from his vegetarian cookbook and I modified it to have lovely tender chunks of beef and potatoes. This is health food at its most elegant and tasty. Unfortunately, no photos are available this time due to technical difficulties, but trust me, this soup is a beautiful magenta colour.

Stuffed Zucchini Casserole

At the Farmer's Markets and in the gardens, the zucchinis are getting HUGE. I bought this particular one and decided to tackle the Italian-American favorite, Stuffed Zucchini. I seem to have very little time these days to cook and it seems we eat out more than eating at home. So, I am attempting to write and find recipes that are simple and don't generate a ton of dishes. Casseroles accomplish this quite well, and they become wonderful lunches for the next day.

Vegetarian Chili

Sometimes you just don't want to eat meat or the fat that comes along with it. This chili is great just topped with fat-free yogurt (or fat-free sour cream) and mozzarella cheese or, for a more decadent comfort-food-dish, top a baked potato with this chili. Yum.

However, if you'd like to add some meat to this, brown 1 pound lean ground turkey. Add one tablespoon, or so, Worcestershire sauce to the meat. Add this meat to the chili after the addition of the water. If adding the meat, you can take out the mushrooms and bulgur, if you like.

Roasted Chicken and Root Vegetables

This weekend was the beginning of Farmer's Market season and we stocked up. I took the opportunity to try a few root vegetables I hadn't tried before. In the freezer I had a whole chicken I'd bought quite a while ago and it needed to be cooked. So, in a dutch oven I made a bed of chopped root vegetables for the chicken to cook on. The sweet and spicy, yet savory smell of this cooking is truly mouthwatering and not to be missed. For our dinner, I served some roasted asparagus on the side.

Sunchokes (or Jerusalem artichokes), if you have never tried them, are the tuber of a variety of sunflower. The taste is rather like a nutty artichoke and the texture is that of a water chestnut. When boiled, they become mushy like a potato.

Parsnips are pale root vegetables related to carrots. They have a sweet and spicy flavor—perhaps butterscotch-y flavor.

Mustard Marinated Chicken Breast

This is a simple, adaptable recipe that can easily be modified to have different flavor profiles by simply changing the vinegar, mustard, and herb components. If you are making this recipe as is, I highly recommend making the pepper/mushroom topping. 

Chicken with Lemon and Lemon-Rice Pilaf

This recipe is impressive yet quite easy with the oven doing most of the work. The savory, buttery sauce is a delicious complement to the pilaf. The pilaf recipe was adapted from a recipe from Central Market.

Mathew's Cottage Pie

This weekend when I was out of town, my husband shocked the heck out of me by making this cottage pie. Previously, his culinary experience consisted of a blue box of macaroni and a pot of boiling water. He told me how he suffered through the experience, but his suffering made an outstanding dish—most certainly the best shepherd's pie I've ever tasted. This recipe hails from Jane Hornby's What To Cook & How To Cook It. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is not a very confident cook. She has pictures of every single step—perfect for the visual learner!

Penne Alla Vodka

This delicious pasta dish has subtle creamy flavor and richness. In the original recipe by Lidia Bastianich, she uses whole cream, however, a marvelous substitute for cream in sauces such as this is to blend nonfat cottage cheese and a little milk (depending on how thick you want your "cream") in a food processor. When you add the blended cottage cheese to the hot pan, it will separate a bit, but with heat, the cottage cheese should melt into the sauce. This dish is wonderful on its own, but if you wish to make this a complete meal, grill some garlic chicken (recipe to follow) and serve with a side salad.

Chicken Curry (Murgh Kari)

There's nothing better than a pot of hearty, spicy chicken curry to warm the spirit on a gloomy winter day. This amazing recipe is adapted from the Cook's Illustrated book, The Best International Recipe. With this recipe, it is very important to have your ingredients "pot ready"—all prepped and ready to go.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad

Whenever I visit Tacoma, I seem to always end up at Pho 38th. Their rice noodle salad with chicken is simply amazing. It's chock full of vegetables (and flavor!) and yet seems to last and last in your stomach. So, naturally, I find myself needing to recreate this dish at home. The result was so good and so authentic, I urge you to try this for yourself. This recipe serves 1.

Arroz con Pollo

This savory dish is chicken and rice, but even better. A Latin flavor profile with peppers, vinegar, cilantro, and tomato sauce give this dish an interesting bite. It tastes really great topped with extra cilantro, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, and served with a corn tortilla. This dish serves 4–6 people.

Chicken Piccata with Quinoa and Baked Asparagus

The evenings have been so pleasant and warm, a romantic dinner on the balcony seemed obligatory this past weekend. So, I bring you chicken piccata made with a Chateau Ste. Michelle Sauvignon Blanc. Delicious. Oh, and if by some chance, you have missed this winery's lovely selection of local wines, I highly recommend buying a bottle. If my plans to visit Chateau Ste. Michelle this year pan out, I shall be posting pictures.

Farmer's Market Veggie Hashbrowns

This past weekend, we went to the farmer's market and had my favorite breakfast dish—Potatoes O'Jones. Yum. I have vowed to recreate this wonderful dish because it makes such good use of a variety of vegetables.

Thai Chicken Stir Fry

We went to a Thai restaurant a few weeks ago and I had their garlic chicken stir fry. It was so amazing, I have been on the quest to replicate it. The book, World Kitchens: Thai helped me research the ingredients to authentic Thai.