Spices:
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 Tbsp turmeric
1/2-1 Tbsp cayane pepper
1/2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
3-5 bay leaves
salt to taste

All the other things:
4-6 large cloves garlic (or more to taste)
1 large onion
3/4 cups garbonzo beans
3 small zucchini, cut in large pieces
2-4 carrots, cut in large pieces
8-10 dried (turkish) apricots or prunes
3 large tomatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 whole fryer chicken

In a large pot, sear the chicken with the breast up at first, then flip it over after 3-5 minutes and do the same for the breast side until both sides are slightly browned. Finish with the breast facing up. Add the 3/4 of the onions and most of the garlic–saute them for a few minutes. Stuff the rest of the onions and garlic into the chicken. Add salt, bay leaves and tomatoes.

In a small bowl, mix all the other spices. Sprinkle about half of the spice mix until the chicken breast is covered. Cover the chicken and cook on low for about an hour. The chicken will cook in its own juices. Now add the zucchini, carrots, apricots and beans. Check to see if more salt is needed. Let cook for another half hour or so.

Serve with couscous and lime juice.

**This is also a great/healthy recipe for the crock pot. Just add the chicken, onions, garlic, spices, tomatoes and tomato paste. Let cook on high for 3 hours. Then add the remaining ingredients.

I got this recipe from the blog Pennies on a Platter. The only change I made was using my clean hands instead of a glass to flatten the cookies. Why would I dirty up a glass? I’m too lazy for that.

This recipe makes between three and four DOZEN cookies. You may think that is too many. It is not too many. Everyone in the house will love them and your husband will eat the by the handful and your kid will crave them for breakfast. They taste more like a tiny cake or scones than cookies. SO GOOD.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Dash of allspice

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin puree, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until fully incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liner. Mix the coating ingredients in a small bowl. Scoop equal dough balls and roll into the sugar mixture. Set on cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat drinking glass into water, then into the sugar mixture and use to slightly flatten the dough balls. Smoosh ‘em down with clean hands. They don’t need any more sugar covering! Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough..

Gnocchi with spinach and white beans. Please excuse my terrible photography.

This is my go-to weeknight favorite. It’s pretty easy and fast to put together, and it doesn’t require a bunch of ingredients or dirtying a dozen dishes. The original recipe is from Eatingwell.com.

Ingredients:

1 lb package of shelf-stable gnocchi (I buy mine at Trader Joe’s, and they are pretty good.)

1 – 1/2 bags of baby spinach (about 6 cups)

1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin

15 oz can of white beans (The original recipe says to rinse them, but I never do. I just drain them.)

15 oz can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings (if you get the kind that have garlic added, cut the amount of additional garlic in the recipe by half)

4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup mozzerella cheese (I use low-fat)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, divided

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, add the gnocchi. Cook for 5 – 7 minutes, stirring often, until golden and a little browned. Move to a bowl.

2. Heat remaining teaspoon of oil. Add sliced onions and cook for approximately 2 minutes until translucent. Stir occasionally.

3. Add water and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until onions are soft and slightly brown.

4. Add spinach, and cook for about 2 minutes until wilted.

5. Add tomatoes and beans and stir together. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for a few minutes until it cooks down a bit.

6. Turn off the heat and stir in cheeses.

7. Salt and pepper to taste, then nom away!

(Contributed by Ursula) This is perfect for winter. Lots of root vegetables and starchiness to keep you warm on the coldest nights. It turned out much better than I imagined! (I suggest letting the soup slowly simmer for as long as you can. As with any soup, additional cooking time always improves and deepens the flavor.)

3 turnips, peeled, quartered and sliced ½ inch thick
1 small celery root, peeled, cut into 8 wedges and sliced crosswise ½ inch thick
2 large potatoes, peeled, cut into small chunks ½ inch thick, placed in a bowl of cold water
2 T butter
1 large onion, chopped
5 leeks, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
2 cups of water
2 ½ cups milk
5oz Gruyère, finely grated
Croûtes

1. Melt the butter in a soup pan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Stir in the turnips, celery root and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Press down a piece of aluminum foil down on the vegetables. Reduce heat to low and sweat the vegetables, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
4. Drain the potatoes and stir them into the vegetables. Add the water.
5. Cover the pot and simmer until the vegetables start to get tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Bring milk to almost a boil in a saucepan. Add to the soup.
7. Cover and continue simmering gently (be careful not to curdle the milk) until the vegetables become very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning (don’t by shy, there’s a lot of starch in this soup.)

(Posted by Ranylt on behalf of Ursula.)

(Contributed by Ursula) Ursula’s on a cauliflower bender, and we all profit. I say we round out this trio with another cauliflower masterpiece. Patiently awaiting a hat-trick (c-trick?)… –Ranylt

1 head cauliflower
4 T olive oil, separated
½ t ground nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 t dried thyme
1 T white balsamic vinegar
3 slices French bread, cut into 1” pieces
1 T butter, melted
½ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
Parsley
Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut the cauliflower into florets, place in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper to evenly coat. Place on a baking sheet and roast in the over until brown, about 40 minutes. Cool.
3. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, thyme and vinegar. Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Place the bread pieces in a medium sized bowl, drizzle with butter and fry in a small pan, until golden.
5. Place the cauliflower florets and broth in a blender and purée. Place purée back in the pot and warm, over medium heat until hot.
6. Ladle into bowls, garnish with croutons, hazelnuts, cheese and parsley.

(Posted by Ranylt on behalf of Ursula)

(Contributed by Ursula) So it’s winter, blah blah blah. Here’s a winter recipe to fill your belly on a chilly day. Obviously you have to be a pretty big fan of cauliflower to like this. Or, you can be obsessed with it like me. (I may have eaten cauliflower every single day for the past 2 weeks. Maybe. I’m not telling.)

1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
2 T olive oil
¼ t salt
¼ t pepper
Lemon juice from half a lemon
1 T butter
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 pinch of sugar
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 T thyme, chopped
1 T parsley, chopped
3+ cups of vegetable broth
1 t salt
¼ cup Parmesan, finely grated

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the cauliflower in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, add salt and pepper and toss to coat. Place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool.
3. While the cauliflower is roasting melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and sugar and caramelize. Add garlic, thyme and parsley and cook for 1 more minute. Cool. Leave the pan on the stove, turn the heat down.
4. Cook pasta.
5. Transfer the shallots to a food processor. Add the cauliflower and vegetable broth and purée. (Add more broth to thin out the sauce to your liking.)
6. Return purée to the pan to heat. Add salt and cheese. Stir well to melt the cheese.
7. When pasta is cooked, drain the noodles, place back in the pot and add the sauce. Cook over very low heat for 1 minute. Serve.

(Posted by Ranylt on behalf of Ursula)

These pickles are delicious and SO VERY EASY.

I have recently become very enthusiastic about pickling, but am not yet confident enough to try recipes that require the full-scale canning process. The solution is to make refrigerator pickles, which basically need to have their ingredients combined and then be left alone for a few weeks. I found this recipe on Food In Jars, an amazing site with a lot of tremendous preserving recipes.

Ingredients:

• 6 pickling cucumbers (quartered lenthwise)
• 1/2 a chili pepper (seeds removed — you could use more if  you like things spicy, but I find that half of one–sliced into 2 – 3 pieces–is plenty for me)
• 1 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar (I bought the generic kind from the grocery store and it worked just fine)
• Juice of two limes
• 3 – 4 scallions, chopped (both white and green parts)
• 2 large cloves garlic (sliced thin)
• 4 sprigs fresh mint (sliced thin)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Pack the sliced cucumbers into a clean 1 quart jar.
2. Poke the slices of chili pepper down among the cucumbers.
3. Mix together the vinegar, lime juice, scallions, garlic, mint, and salt.
4. Pour that mixture over the cucumbers, filling the jar. Poke some of the garlic, mint, and scallions down in as much as you can.
5. Put the lid on tight and agitate slowly, trying to distribute the ingredients as much as possible.
6. Place the jar in the fridge and wait.

Although the recipe says they can be eaten after only 24 hours, I find that they reach their true peak of deliciousness after 3 weeks of waiting (before that they tend to be too vinegary for me). I know, it’s really hard to just let something sit untouched in your refrigerator for three weeks, but it’s SO VERY WORTH IT. Every time I’ve served these, people have gone bonkers and demanded the recipe.

Special bonus: Once the cucumbers are gone, you can cut up more and add them into the already made brine. You don’t have to wait quite so long for the second batch, and you can keep doing this until the brine gets cloudy (indicating it needs to be thrown out.)

The weather has finally cooled down, so this weekend I made a batch of my Mum’s Italian Stew (otherwise know as “Sausage, peppers, and mushrooms”). It’s hearty and easy to throw together.

This recipe is pretty flexible — what I’ve listed here is the basics, but you could add whatever your heart (or your stomach) desires. (Please excuse the inexact times/temps…this isn’t something I learned to make from a recipe, so I’m not always sure of the times. Plus our stove is not like other stoves, in that other stoves actually work.)

• 1 lb Italian sausage (I used sweet, but you could use spicy too. Links are fine, though loose sausage meat is probably easier to deal with.)
• 2 large Bell peppers (Any color – sliced)
• 1 lb mushrooms (quartered)
• 1 medium onion (sliced)
• 2 24oz jars spaghetti sauce (I prefer Newman’s Own Sockarooni, but you could use whatever you like best)
• 1lb pasta (Rotini or rotelle work best)

1. If you’re using sausage links, cut up them into roughly 1.5 inch pieces. Put a good-sized saute pan over medium-high and add the sausage (if using loose meat, break up into equally sized chunks.) Cook until no longer visibly pink.
2. Remove the sausage from the pan and drain all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat out.
3. Bring the pan up to heat again and add the veggies. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms have shrunk but aren’t too brown.
4. Put both jars of sauce into a pot over medium. Add the veggies and the meat.
5. Bring up to a boil, then turn down to a low simmer, cook for at least half an hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Cook pasta according to the box directions.
7. Add the pasta into the sauce and serve.

You could also cook the sauce down more and put it on sandwiches or (as we used to do when I was a kid) eat it out of bowl with garlic bread for dipping. The sauce will also freeze/reheat well, so you can make it ahead of time for a good weeknight meal.

(Contributed by Ursula) Another winner from Ursula. Lemon zest, pine nuts, greens, olive oil and butter. Nom.

2 tbsp olive oil, separated
2 tbsp butter
1 large bunch of scallions, including half of the greens, thinly sliced
Freshly grated zest of one lemon
1 tbsp thyme, finely chopped
12oz asparagus, ends removed
1 pound linguine
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tsbp chives, chopped
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan, optional

1. Fill a large pot with water and heat.
2. While the water is heating, melt butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over low heat.
3. Add the scallions, lemon zest, thyme and salt to the skillet and cook slowly.
4. Cut asparagus into 3 inch pieces.
5. When the water boils, add salt and add asparagus. Cook for 3 minutes, scoop out and add to scallion mixture.
6. Cook pasta in the asparagus water.
7. Add the pasta and a little of the cooking water to the scallions and asparagus.
8. Stir in pine nuts, parsley, chives and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with pepper to taste.
9. Divide among plates, sprinkle cheese on top, garnish with an herb of your choice and serve.

(Posted by Ranylt on behalf of Ursula)

I suspect I make Polish and Ukrainian grannies spin in their graves whenever I deal with the sacred pieróg. First, I’ve only eaten the North American version, all potato, cheese and/or onion. Second, I prefer to sautee my pierogi in butter, salt, and pepper rather than boil them, which takes a long time but which is totally worth it, especially with a side of caramelized onions, sour cream, and homemade garlic pickles (I can’t get past that lovely browned pot-sticker-y firmness). And third, I’ve thoroughly offended Eastern European sensibilities by recently taking to coating pierogi in sweet sauteed tomatoes. But screw authenticity — it’s a myth anyway! And anyway, at least I boil them now. And anyway! at least the concept of tomato sauce is popular in those parts so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it’s done in the East all the time. Right?

If you don’t mind risking the wrath of the Wawel Dragon, do this: While your pierogi are boiling, heat a generous dollop of olive oil in another pan and throw in a few chopped sweet tomatoes (or canned plum tomatoes minus the extra sauce), add a dash of salt and pepper, and simmer until tomatoes are soft and saucy. When the pierogi are ready, drain and add to pan with tomatoes, and sautee on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until both sides are firm and slightly browned. Enjoy with or without sour cream, and post messages of eternal gratitude below. This method is handy for people who must avoid dairy; use non-cheese pierogi, skip the sour cream, and there you go, happy tummy. Add some dill to the tomato sauce if you want to appease the ghosts a little — I hear they like that.

(Posted by Ranylt)