Like everybody else on the face of the earth, I’m ridiculously obsessed with Pinterest. Sure, I could do without the proliferation of twee inspirational quotes in interesting typefaces and living rooms that I’ll never be able to afford, but there is no better website out there right now for random dinner inspiration.

I saw this pin for baked spaghetti, and immediately knew that I wanted to try it. Cooper, like most three-year-olds, loves pasta, so I’m always looking for new recipes. This particular baked spaghetti recipe involves ground beef, which I don’t eat, and canned tomato sauce, which I don’t have. However, the best thing about pasta is that it’s infinitely customizable, so I took the basic idea and just went with it.

Baked Spaghetti

• 8 oz. Spaghetti
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tbs Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups mozzarella
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Cook your spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, quarter your onion and dice it along with the garlic in the food processor. Put diced onion in a large bowl. Put diced tomatoes and italian seasoning in food processor and process until you get most of the chunks out. Add the tomato and spice mixture to the diced onion. Add tomato sauce and mix everything together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked spaghetti to sauce and stir, making sure to coat spaghetti evenly.

Transfer mixture into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle mozzarella on top and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

Kid Tip: Since you’re using a food processor, this is a great opportunity to get some extra veggies into your kid without them noticing. Throw some baby spinach, zucchini, and/or broccoli in the food processor along with the diced tomatoes for some extra nutrition.

Bea’s radish salad with apple, egg, avocado, egg and shaved Manchego is the most delectable combination. With a light honey-mustard vinaigrette, it’s the perfect healthy summer treat.

I love everything about raw fennel in a salad, but you pair it with arugula and you’ve won me over tenfold. Thinly sliced zucchini, honey, pine nuts and feta and I’m swooning.

Celery, apple and fennel slaw might just be the perfect medium for celery … other than potato salad and soups of course. It’s fairly simple but would accompany many main dishes well.

I enjoyed the sugar snap peas from our CSA Farm so much that they didn’t even last long enough to make them into this sugar snap salad (and we had plenty!). It still tempts me, though, with its radishes, feta, mint and sumac (a lemony Middle Eastern spice).

As much as I love Heidi Swanson, I’m just not sure about this raw corn salad. Raw corn and shallots, tossed with a lemonade vinaigrette and fresh oregano and seeds. I just don’t have much more to say beyond I’m not so sure about that. However she more than makes up for the questionable-ness of that one with her to-die-for sounding macaroni salad. You had me at arugula, Heidi, but the apples and parmesan sealed the deal. Add this sesame yogurt pasta salad and Heidi’s back on track!

Every spring/summer I seem to become obsessed with grape tomatoes. I put them in everything, whether they’re called for or not. So naturally, when I see a recipe that actually calls for them, my interest is immediately piqued. So that’s why when friend of CliqueClack and noted vegetarian Wil Wheaton tweeted a recipe for Quinoa-stuffed portobellos and the picture showed delicious grape tomatoes, I immediately hit the grocery store.

In addition to my grape tomato obsession, I’m also always looking for new uses for quinoa. In fact, I took some of the left over cream sauce from last week’s recipe and replaced the pasta with quinoa. It was pretty delightful. I modified this recipe as well, because I do not enjoy fruit in non-fruit or dessert dishes, so putting raisins in this would have really bummed me out. However, if that’s your bag, then follow the original recipe as she has it.

This recipe is both vegan and gluten-free, but I made it non-vegan by adding delicious, delicious cheese. With that said, I do not recommend what I did with the first one, which was add gorgonzola. As much as I love it, it was just too overpowering for this dish. For the second, I added goat cheese and baked that on, which was 100% perfect.

She also says to add either basil, mint or parsley. I chose basil, which again, went wonderfully with the grape tomatoes. I also added more garlic than is called for, but I do that with everything I cook. I also left out the scallions, because they’re gross. With or without the recipe modifications, this is a delicious, light summer dinner.

I don’t remember if it was on Facebook or on Twitter, but I came across The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for pasta with pesto cream sauce and I was inspired. I’m a total brown thumb, but each year I try to convince myself that this year’s the year I’m going to grow something awesome. I bought some basil plants from the farmer’s market a few months ago, and lo and behold: they’re not dead yet. In fact they’re thriving so much, that I need to start using some of it before I’m overwhelmed by a basil forest.

The thing is, I’m also in the middle of a Sons of Anarchy marathon on Netflix Instant, so I didn’t want to go to the grocery store. That meant that actually making her cream sauce was out, since I don’t have heavy cream on hand. So I searched around and after many weird and unappetizing recipes, found this one for a low-fat cream sauce. It’s great because the ingredients are pretty common, but it’s also hilarious because I’m not entirely sure you can count anything that has flour, butter, Parmesan cheese and an egg as “low fat.”

My pesto recipe was similarly ad-hoc. Although it’s close to Deb’s classic pesto recipe, I didn’t actually measure anything. I also added some spinach instead of parsley, which I never really use for anything. The key though, is the lemon. I used an entire half — I love the tang it adds.

I also toasted the pine nuts first, which gave it a delightfully nutty flavor.

The spinach also makes the pesto a little bit milder and obviously gives it the added benefit of all of those spinachy nutrients.

After you’re finished with the pesto, try to restrain yourself from digging out a loaf of bread and eating it all right there. It’ll be hard, because it’s SO GOOD. Instead, boil a pot of water for the pasta. and follow the directions for the cream sauce — I was impressed with how thick it actually got.

While you’re waiting for that to thicken, slice some grape tomatoes in half and saute them. They’ll add a little burst of sweetness to the finished product.

Once the cream sauce is finished, add the tomatoes and the pesto and mix together.

Toss with your choice of pasta. I used ziti because short pasta is easy for a toddler (Cooper loved this, by the way), but if it were just me, I’d use angel hair.

Word of warning: this recipe yields a crapload of cream sauce. Either be prepared to make a lot of pasta, or dust off those math skills and halve the recipe.

(Please … I know that top picture is horrible. Keith took it with his phone because the dish wasn’t all the way cooked until we got to my in-laws. As if we would have thought ahead and brought the camera….)

Every year, we celebrate Easter dinner with Keith’s parents. It’s always a lovely visit: Owen gets to play with his cousins, we all get to chat with Keith’s aunt and grandmother and we linger around the dining room table, wondering when the 37 people will arrive to help us eat the absurd amount of dessert that is crowding us.

This year, I was asked to bring a not-green-beans-or-potatoes-vegetable. It’s really rare that I cook just carrots as a side dish; they are usually part of a stir-fry or medley. But when I asked both Keith and Owen what vegetable they would like me to make, they both said, “Carrots!” So carrots it was. I had some leftover scallions in the fridge, so I immediately thought of using soy sauce in a glaze.

There are about a million soy-glazed carrot recipes floating around the internet. Some have honey, some have ginger, all sound delicious. I wanted mine to be a bit different. I used Rachel Ray’s recipe for honey-soy oven-glazed carrots to help with ratios and cooking times, then I went to town with my scallions, added some garlic for a bite and substituted agave syrup for the honey — all sprinkled with more scallions and some slivered almonds for crunch.

The best part is that these are gluten-free, since we used wheat-free tamari instead of soy sauce, and are very friendly for anyone who has issues with refined sugar. The only sugars that my son can tolerate are raw agave syrup, grade B maple syrup and palm sugar, and even those we use in very strict moderation. These carrots made everyone happy, and got rave reviews even from the folks who will eat anything (I’m looking at you, Rich).

Soy-Agave Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

• about 12 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into chunks
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 scallions, sliced, with green and white parts separated
• sliced or slivered almonds

Whisk together the olive oil, tamari, agave syrup and garlic. Toss with carrots and white parts of scallions. Arrange in an oven-safe pan and cook at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often.

Sprinkle with green parts of scallions and slivered almonds before serving. I think sliced almonds would look prettier, but I didn’t have any in the house. You could also sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro, parsley or basil … any of those herbs would be delicious.

I can’t tell you how delicious this recipe for honeyed prawns and polenta sounds to me. It’s really a mystery to me why I haven’t cooked it yet. The polenta has corn, currants, honey, butter and thyme mixed in. The prawns are marinated in honey, lemon and hot sauce (along with this and that) and then crumbled over the top of everything is feta, capers and fresh parsley. Sometimes the creative combinations in recipes just blows me away, and this is definitely one of those recipes.

Now we move on to simpler, yet still there are capers … must be my mood. Heidi Swanson’s quesadillas use a technique that basically adheres and egg to the tortilla, which she stuffs with cheese and tops with lemoned yogurt. I’m certain I couldn’t make anything with absolutely no vegetables in it, but I’m dying to try that egg thing. It needs some baby spinach or something, though.

Let’s transition to another tortilla dish, this time steak picadillo soft tacos (I’m so impressed with my not-theme theme … just humor me). Someone please make these and tell me how good they are, because with Keith’s aversion to olives, a recipe with not only olives, but the brine from the jar, is asking a bit too much of my husband to bear. I won’t even let mayonnaise in the house, so I’ve got to show a little respect with my olive recipes. But I will say this — olives straight from the jar just aren’t as much fun as when incorporated into a recipe. Almost though. On second thought, forget I said anything.

I’m really not sure what is possessing me to make all of these quinoa recipes lately. Probably because they are easy and I can toss in whatever is sitting in my fridge or freezer which works since I’ve been an extremely lazy grocery shopper lately. Regardless, quinoa is delicious and this latest incarnation got the highest raves from a semi-picky husband, or at least one who is not always forthcoming with his meal compliments.

I served this one with some roasted chicken parts, meaning we really only wanted half of a chicken so Keith wielded his cleaver (so macho) and chopped the sucker into about eight parts and we cooked half. I rubbed them with paprika, onion and garlic powders, sea salt, black pepper and thyme, and roasted them on 350 convection roast, flipping once, until done. Please don’t ask me how long that was because I never time things, I just keep peeking. Somewhere between 30-45 minutes would be my best guess, and we cooked the dark meat a little longer than the white meat.

I regret to inform you that I really didn’t measure the dressing ingredients for the quinoa recipe very well. I’m a drizzle-taste-redrizzle kind of gal, but it’s really all to taste anyway; there’s no exact recipe. I think this would be a wonderful vegetarian main dish with some chick peas added, or even some pan-fried tempeh chunks.

The perfect addition to this would be some crumbled bacon; the next time I make it I will unquestionably add bacon, turkey bacon or crispy prosciutto.

Quinoa with Corn, Spinach and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• 2 good handfuls baby spinach
• 1/4 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
• about 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• about 1.5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• about 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• seas salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring the quinoa, garlic and water to a boil, then lower to a simmer, cover and cook until water is absorbed. This might be about 15 minutes, or you might check a couple of times and never time it, like I do.

Meanwhile, toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant. You can wait until they pop if you like, but there’s plenty of flavor released before that. Do the same for the pine nuts.

When the quinoa is finished cooking, add the corn and pine nuts and cover for a few minutes to let the corn warm. Then add the spinach and cilantro. Next, drizzle the oil, vinegar and lemon juice and taste until you get the ratio you like best. Season and serve.

Writing this column while hungry is not an easy task. Any potential themes get tossed out the window and whatever would satisfy my appetite gets written down. Instead of a lovely brunch menu, which definitely could have happened, I ended up with this mish-mash of recipes … and I’m still hungry.

Believe it or not, our green bean harvest was so good this year that we still have a couple of bags left in the freezer. That’s with about several thousand batches of my minestrone soup too! I’ve been looking for other things to do with the green beans, and I came across this recipe for sweet potato soup with green beans and cilantro. So simple, but a really interesting combination of flavors that I think will taste fabulous with something grilled … I’m thinking sausages or pork tenderloin.

Get a load of the cutest little gluten-free tartelettes in all the world! Zucchini, coriander, leeks and cheese stuff these egg-y babies.

I love frittatas … I love them because I can basically throw whatever I have in my fridge into them and they taste fabulous. This salmon and asparagus frittata sounds like a good one for this time of year, as the asparagus comes into season and is plentiful locally.

Is it weird that this rather unappealing crock pot recipe for a Cantonese dinner makes me want to cook it? There’s nothing special in it and I don’t like how a lot of meats even come out in the slow cooker, so why would I be attracted to this recipe? I’ll try it, though, because the kid loves Chinese food and it sounds easy. My, how my standards have regressed as this column progresses.

Now here’s another curious recipe for me, because I’m trying to stay away from excessive carbs and baked goods, yet scones come across my screen. Better yet, ginger pecan scones, with lots of crystalized ginger and butter … maybe it’s time for a brunch with the frittata and scones. …

It all started with a craving. Keith wanted something “stuffed” for dinner; he wasn’t picky, which actually made it harder, but he finally decided that he wanted stuffed Cornish game hens. Once I talked him out of actually stuffing them (since about a tablespoon of stuffing would fit into that tiny little cavity) then we really had something.

Instead of preparing a traditional bread stuffing, I decided to play with my red quinoa, bought some time ago yet never used. All of my favorite stuffing ingredients went into this inventive side dish: apples, currants, celery, sage, onion and fresh parsley.

I loved everything about this concoction, though Keith and I decided that to make it truly restaurant quality, we’d have to throw in a pat or two of butter to finish it off (which I’ve included in the recipe). What really made it better than average, though, was the red quinoa. I like it so much better than regular quinoa, and I’m so sorry I’ve had it sitting on my pantry shelf for months. It’s hearty and nutty and rich; I’ll definitely be cooking with it more often.

Red Quinoa Stuffing with Apples and Currants

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon chicken Better than Bouillon
• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1-2 apples, chopped
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1 very small onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp each dried sage, rosemary, thyme
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 4 chopped scallions
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup currants
• a tablespoon or two of butter, optional

Add the quinoa, water and chicken bouillon to a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet and turn a bit of olive oil into the pan. Add the celery, apples, garlic and onions and saute until tender. Add the sunflower seeds, currants and dried herbs and saute a few minutes more. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Add the quinoa to the skillet and heat through, then remove from heat and add the parsley, scallions and the butter (if you choose). Season again to taste.

We served this with the Cornish games hens, of course, stuffed with onions, garlic and herbs, with some roasted Brussels sprouts on the side and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc we’d never tried before. A wonderful way to spend a Saturday night.

I haven’t been writing a lot, but I have been cooking … and creating … and baking. Oh, the baking. And when life stops getting in the way of my food blogging, you just may hear about some of the recipes we’ve been enjoying.

For now, I’m sharing the skillet cookie that has basically taken over my life. It’s pretty much Heidi Swanson’s whole wheat chocolate chip skillet cookie with 2 and 1/2 cups of whole spelt flour and 1/2 cup arrowroot instead of the whole wheat flour and about 1 and 2/3 cups of palm sugar instead of the 2 cups brown and white sugars.

This isn’t a skillet cookie like these skillet cookies, which you actually cook on the stove top. It’s called such because you bake one giant cookie in a skillet in the oven, much like you’d do cornbread. And I’ve learned some tricks from making this recipe so many times. …

First, this recipe halves very nicely and fits perfectly into a 9-inch cake pan, if you want a smaller cookie. The full-sized recipe easily serves 12-16 people, so you decide how many leftovers you want.

I also didn’t have an oven-safe skillet large enough for the full-sized recipe, so I used a 12-inch springform pan and it worked great. The edges still got cookie-crisp and it was thick enough to slice like a cake.

If you substitute with just straight whole spelt flour, it is a bit crumbly, but the arrowroot helps with that and I’m betting you could use tapioca flour with the same results.

You can serve it after it’s had some time to cool but when the chocolate bits are still melty, or it’s also easy to make ahead and reheat in a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes to get the same effect.

However you do it, just make it. It will probably take over your life too.

I may not be writing much lately, but I have been cooking. I’ll get my original recipes posted at some point, but here’s a little taste of some recipes from around the internet I’ve recently tried out.

I mentioned this curried carrot soup in my recent post about souped-up carrot soups, but at that point I hadn’t tried it yet. I loved everything about this recipe. It was the perfect flavor, the perfect texture … the coconut milk, curry powder and fresh ginger was the ultimate combination and my lunches all last week were divine.

This roast pork with garlic and rosemary was incredibly flavorful. We served it for guests with the fig and port sauce I created for roast chicken. This too, is a keeper.

If it’s possible for this fragrant orange chicken to be tastier than the recipe and description implies, then it was. We didn’t even marinate it for 2-4 hours like the recipe calls for and it was still incredibly tasty. It was a huge hit with the 6-year-old too, so we’ll definitely be making this again.

I’ve fallen head over heels for Jamie Oliver’s green chili. It’s different — made with ground pork and sage, with lettuce, scallions and fresh mint. Yes people, it’s a super-healthy chili. Get over it and try it.

Braised beef with carrots is such a simple and delicious recipe … and oh-so-French! I could only think of Julia Child as I kept dumping more wine into the pan. We served this with mashed potatoes and a salad.

And this … this would top off any of these meals to perfection. I had been wanting to try to make a coconut milk flan (or creme brulee, which is next) ever since we discovered La Tartine Gourmande’s recipe for baked lime custards. It was easy and delicious, but next time we’re going to try to spike the caramel with some Chambord and serve it with fresh berries.

My lovely friend Meredith (of Zephaniah Wine) made this amazing black bean and corn salad/dip thing one weekend, and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. It’s super-easy to make, and ridiculously good. Sure, it’s all veggies, with nary a meat or cheese in sight, but I stand by its deliciousness enough to confidently say that you can bring it to a Super Bowl party this weekend and you won’t get thrown out of the building.

Generally canned vegetables freak me out, but it’s winter, so good corn on the cob is going to be hard to come by. Plus, frozen corn really won’t work for this unless you want to put a lot more time in it that is required. This dip should be served room temperature or cold, so you’d have to cook the corn and cool it before you’re ready to put it in — and that’s just crazy talk.

I also didn’t get the recipe from Meredith, I basically recreated it from the dreams I had about this dip every night since she made it. I asked her later, and it turns out I got pretty close. So without further ado. …

Black Bean Corn Salad/Dip

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans (I use the reduced sodium kind)
• 1 can corn (I use the kind without salt. There’s certainly a theme here)
• 1 large avocado
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1/2 red onion
• 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (don’t pack it down or anything ridiculous like that — you don’t need a ton.)
• 2 tbs malt vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

The reason I love this recipe so much is because it’s ridiculously quick and easy. Drain the black beans and the corn and  put them in a large salad bowl. Chop up the avocado and the tomatoes and add them to the bowl. I actually only used 1/4 of the onion because I don’t really like them. I also chopped them as finely as I could, but that’s really dependent on your own personal onion groove.

At this point, you have the base of the dip in place:

Now you’re just bringing it all together. Squeeze your 1/2 lime into the bowl, add the cilantro and the vinegar. You’ll probably have to play around with the vinegar and salt and pepper to get it to the exact taste you want. It also serves as a nice excuse to eat a bunch of it before you relinquish it to your guests. Stir it all up, and you’re ready to go!

Like Nathan Fillion’s bean dip, you’re going to need a sturdy chip for this bad boy. Mission Rounds are good, as are the Archer Farms blue corn tortilla chips that I grabbed from Target.

Let’s just get this out of the way right now — you know you’re going to make chili for the Superbowl, so why fight it? Buffalo wings and nachos, however appealing, will be gone before halftime and you’re going to need something hearty to make it through.

Jamie Oliver’s green chili, made with pork and green peppers and sage has fast become one of our favorites. A couple of unique twists, like fresh mint and chopped lettuce, make this a healthy, crunchy chili with a delicate yet hearty flavor.

Apparently this is the best chili you will ever taste. I’ve got to admit I fell for it, what with the coffee, beer, cocoa and sirloin.

Jeff will tell you that vegetarian chili is really just vegetable soup. The ingredients in this vegetarian chili are pure and wholesome and flavorful — it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s worth eating.

Spicy pork and black bean chili is definitely spicy (what with the chipotle chili powder and all), but served over rice with some sour cream and it’s perfect.

It took me a long time to perfect this crock pot chili recipe, but I’m so glad that I did. I’ve really got quite a love affair going with my slow cooker and most chili recipes before this one were mushy and wet and fairly flavorless. In fact, I’m making this one tonight … no need to wait for the big game!

We’ve made this recipe for chicken and corn chili several times now and it always come out great. It’s another slow cooker recipe, with lots of cumin, white beans and cheesy goodness. Sometimes we sprinkle on fresh cilantro too.

Katie’s almost from scratch chili uses salsa as a base, with diced green chiles and brown sugar … imagine the flavor infused into that chili!

If it’s meat and meat alone that you crave, chili con carne is your answer to the perfect bowl of chili. This recipe has cubed meat (not ground), beer, allspice, cinnamon, cumin and cloves to lend it its unique flair.

Alright, ‘fess up — which chili recipe will you be making?

I love Twitter, because you never know what news you’ll learn, or what celebrity is having a meltdown, or how many people should go to bed instead of being on Twitter. Or, in the case of Nathan Fillion, a sweet vegetarian bean dip recipe.

For you food pleasure, I have gone through his string of tweets and recreated the recipe below:

• Layer 1: Large can of fat-free vegetarian refried beans.

• Layer 2: Mix taco seasoning into low fat sour cream and spread over beans.

• Layer 3: 4 large diced tomatoes (use your judgment for adequate coverage).

• Layer 4: Guacamole. (I use avocados mixed with Herdez mild salsa). Tomatoes will anchor the sour cream layer.

• Layer 5: 1 cute little can of diced green chilies. Suggest wee flinging through fingers for even spreaddage.

I’m not a giant pepper fan, so I just used a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, so this is part of my tomato layer.

• Layer 6: 1 cute little can of black olives. Same technique for spreaddage.

I made this for a family dinner, and my sister hates olives, do I only did half.

• Layer 7: shredded Mexican cheese mix. Or to taste. I use a whole bag.

This is a pretty straightforward 7-layer dip recipe, so just grab a casserole dish and start layering. Fillion does, however, offer a few tips: “[Use] a strong chip like Mission Rounds. Dip is thick- will destroy lesser chips. Maybe stock up on Beano, too.”

He also tweeted that he wants pictures and to hear how it goes, and now I can officially report back that it was a major hit. I usually hate refried beans, but this went really well. Plus, I made my own taco seasoning which gave it an extra kick.

With the Super Bowl coming up, it’s a great vegetarian option for any parties you may be hosting or attending. Plus, Nathan Fillion is hot and charming, and that’s bound to rub off on you, right? I’m pretty sure that’s how that works.

Cooking a special dinner and eating at home is one of our favorite ways to celebrate. One of our New Year’s resolutions is to stop being so selfish about it — it’s time to entertain more and share the wonderful spreads we enjoy creating. Now that Owen’s getting older and most of our friends have kids his age, there’s no excuse.

Last year on New Year’s Eve (which we’re still celebrating just the three of us), Keith and I made rack of lamb with a berry pomegranate balsamic sauce, edamame and fresh basil risotto and roasted Brussels sprouts. This year, we’ve decided to stick with the theme: rack of lamb with lamb sausage crust and fresh grape pan sauce, our favorite drunken risotto, and probably just some mesclun salad or roasted green beans. We’re weird about the rack of lamb. I promise we’ll branch out soon.

The point of this post is actually to give you some ideas of interesting side dishes to serve for your celebrations … I really beat around that bush, didn’t I? Oh, and to give myself a place to remember all of these side dishes I’ve been wanting to try and haven’t yet.

Try the heirloom squash farrotto — yeah, they made risotto with farro … brilliant! With yogurt, chick peas and fresh cilantro, there’s a Middle Eastern vibe combining with the Italian farro and the wholesome squash that is so unique and tempting. This would be the perfect accompaniment to grilled marinated chicken breasts.

It’s easy to class up green beans, and I often do them with shallots, some pancetta or prosciutto and fresh herbs and lemon juice. This recipe for scrumptious green beans has got to be bursting with flavor — ginger, mustard seeds, cumin, fresh cilantro and lemon juice all see to that. I’d love to have these alongside beef tenderloin.

So simple, with only five ingredients, yet so elegant, this roasted beet and feta gratin with fresh mint is spiked with garlic and suggested to be served with lamb. Maybe this recipe should be calling to us lamb-a-philes….

This stuffed pumpkin could really be a vegetarian main dish, as the wild rice, mushrooms, tofu and cubed bread make it hearty. As a side dish, I’m feeling roasted chicken would be the perfect pairing. A bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and you’ve just served a speactacular meal.

These vegetable galettes with millet and tarragon could also be a lovely vegetarian lunch with a mesclun salad, but they’d be wonderful with wild salmon.

I’m really not obsessed with carrot soup. I really love it and it’s easy to make, so win-win. But it’s kind of weird (or maybe it’s the stars aligning….) that more than one recipe for a unique carrot soup — really, not your run-of-the-mill carrot soups — crossed my path recently. We’re currently snowed in — maybe a carrot soup for lunch tomorrow?

It’s embarrassing to admit that this recipe for creamy carrot soup has been sitting open in a browser window on my laptop for months. I love that it has miso and tahini in it, as well as fresh herbs and garlic.

Spiced carrot apple soup with fresh mint couldn’t appeal to me more right now. The ginger, allspice and nutmeg will balance out perfectly with the fresh mint … what a well-written recipe.

This recipe for curried carrot soup has coconut milk and fresh ginger … oh yeah.

Now who’s going to help me decide which recipe turns into tomorrow’s lunch?

It was the afternoon before Thanksgiving, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, and I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to make for the people who were going to be showing up at my house tomorrow. I wasn’t too stressed about it, since there were only going to be six of us and we were doing a potluck, but I needed to get my act together.

I had half a butternut squash left over from a mildly successful couscous recipe, so one of the things I wanted to make was butternut squash soup. Easy enough, right? Well, I cut into the squash and quickly realized that it had gone bad, so that was out. I still wanted to make soup though, so it came down to what I had in the house already (and those things did not include any sort of cream, which hobbled me substantially).

Luckily, I came across a corn potato chowder recipe on my Big Oven iPhone app. I had some frozen corn in my fridge, onion and potato, so I was pretty much good to go. Best of all, it’s a low-fat recipe, so it called for 1%milk instead of heavy cream.

I modified the recipe slightly from what is shown– I omitted the peppers and added garlic powder instead. I would also recommend reserving some vegetable broth if you decide to add the potatoes so you can control the consistency a little bit more.

What we ended up with was a creamy, hearty mild soup that even my two-year-old ate. It was the perfect Thanksgiving appetizer and held us over quite well until the main event of gluttony began.

Since I’m working from home again, I’m making an effort to find new things to cook and to figure out ways for Cooper to eat vegetables (2-year-olds apparently don’t like to do that. Who knew?). So last week, I made a trip to the grocery store to find new and exciting dishes to make.

Months before, I had downloaded a Simply Organic iPhone app, but hadn’t really used it. Now I have the time, so I decided to see what it had to offer. The first recipe I tested out was this Italian Egg Bake. They can call it whatever they want, but it’s basically a frittata. Regardless of the name, it screamed “EXCUSE TO USE LOTS OF VEGGIES” at me.

The best part about this recipe though is that it’s ridiculously quick to make. Granted, it has to cook for a long time, so it does require some forethought, but all you have to do is mix up a couple of ingredients in a bowl, stick it in a pie pan and put it in the oven. Done.

I had a few issues with the recipe: One is that the only seasoning called for is Italian dressing mix. That sounded kind of gross to me, but I decided to give it a whirl. It was actually pretty good! The other, was that it only called for 1/2 cup of veggies. That seemed to defeat the entire purpose for me, so I changed it to about 1/2 cup of each veggie: tomatoes, mushrooms, and asparagus.

It turned out great, and Cooper eventually ate it. I say eventually because when he first saw the triangle slice on his plate he went, “Pizza! Pizza!” As good as this egg bake was, when you’re a toddler who’s expecting pizza, it’s pretty much the worst thing ever. He had a couple of bites, but when we put a leftover slice in his lunch the next day for school, he ate most of it.

In any case, I certainly call this recipe a success. Plus, it’s a really good dish to make when you end up in a situation (as I so often do) of having leftover veggies that aren’t going to stay fresh much longer. Chop ‘em up and throw them in!

My dad took me out to lunch a few weeks ago, which was awesome because he paid, but also because I had an amazing polenta dish. It was a creamy polenta with mixed wild mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and balsamic vinegar. I could tell that there were only a few ingredients involved, so as soon as I took my first bite, I vowed to recreate it at home.

This also dovetails nicely with my goal of cooking more and finding a larger variety of foods for my toddler to reject (or eat! Which would be awesome!), and I thought polenta may be something he would actually dig. Polenta is also something that I’ve used a few times, but have been wanting to try to incorporate into more dishes. As a vegetarian, it’s really easy to fall into a pasta rut, especially when you’re trying to find something a meat eater will enjoy as well, so polenta seems like a nice alternative.

From what I understand, making polenta is pretty easy, but this was a new recipe as it was, and I was looking for something with very little prep time and dishes. That’s where my tube o’ polenta came in handy. Instead of a creamy polenta dish, I decided that polenta cakes were the way to go.

Polenta Mushroom Cakes

• One tube of original flavor polenta
• 8 0z. package of sliced mushrooms (a mix is good, but I just used baby bellas)
• 4 oz. sliced mozzarella
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• splash of red wine (optional)

Dice the garlic and heat up the olive oil in a saute pan. Add garlic, mushrooms and a splash of red wine if you’re feeling adventurous. Saute ingredients over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft and most of the liquid has cooked down.

While the mushrooms are cooking, slice the polenta tube into rounds. Fry the polenta over medium to medium-high heat, using olive oil or cooking spray. Cook for approximately three minutes on each side.

Place polenta circles on a cookie sheet and cover with the mushroom mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese and put under the broiler for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove, drizzle on some balsamic and enjoy!

It’s pretty hard not to completely love someone who cleans your house for you. My cleaning lady is an awesome person … and I adore her even more since she shared this recipe with me.

In her subtle way, she inquired why I had bowls of green tomatoes all over my house. We’re talking heirlooms, Romas — both large and small — and cherries. Between our CSA farm harvest and our own plants, our tomato cups runneth over this year, and I was hoping the green ones would ripen up.

She then related to me how she used her green tomatoes — baked with garlic, oregano and olive oil — and I couldn’t wait to try it. It reminded me a bit of Scott Peacock’s slow-baked tomato recipe that we love here, but my cleaning lady said we’d end up with a much different flavor from the green ones, and she was right.

They are savory, slightly tangy and so rich and complex with flavor … very different from the sweet and syrupy slow-baked cherry tomatoes. I souped them up a bit and ended up with a new go-to recipe … as long as we have green tomatoes, that is.

Roasted Green Tomatoes with Garlic and Oregano

Ingredients:

• enough coarsely chopped green tomatoes to fill a 9X13 baking pan in a sort-of single layer (I use a bit more than that)
• about 8 cloves of garlic, sliced or quartered
• about 1/2 cup olive oil
• about 1/5 cup balsamic vinegar
• dried oregano to taste
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Arrange the garlic and chopped tomatoes in the pan, then pour olive oil over them and toss. There should be enough to coat the tomatoes and leave a coating on the bottom of the pan as well. Sprinkle with the oregano, salt and pepper and toss. Finally, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and give everything a final mix.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until tomatoes are smushable. Then smush them so the juices mix with the oil and vinegar … yum.

We like to serve this over polenta with some salad and grilled sausages, but we’ve taken Kona’s suggestion and served it over quinoa with good results too.

I had every intention of making Heidi Swanson’s recipe for a turnip green tart for dinner this week. Wait for it….

OK, not exactly, because I had chard in the house, not turnip greens. The rest was going to be exactly the same. Except….

Heidi’s recipe makes two tarts worth of dough, which I didn’t want to do but I just wasn’t in the mood to figure out how to make half of an egg yolk, so I found another cornmeal tart crust that didn’t have egg in it. And I used all spelt flour and cornmeal, no regular flour. One problem solved. But….

I was too lazy to use two large eggs and one egg yolk, so I just tossed in three extra-large eggs and hoped for the best. You’d think that was all….

There’s just never any cream in our house; heavy, light, half-and-half — nothing. So I used plain goat’s milk yogurt instead.

And I didn’t measure my chard, I just threw in what I had.

And I had no vegetable broth, so I used chicken broth. No Dijon mustard, so whole grain went into my concoction.

Gruyere cheese? Nope. My tart had shredded goat cheddar and pecorino romano.

I guess I used one clove of garlic and herbs de Provence like Heidi did….

The cooler weather reinvigorates my love for cooking. I always love preparing meals: tossing together fresh salads, watching Keith grill (still scared of that big metal beast) and slicing and dicing fresh fruits and cheeses. But now, with the temperatures dropping, I’m thrilled to heat my oven again and stand in front of it, stirring and sauteing and peeking at whatever’s roasting or baking inside. I think I should throw a luncheon sometime soon. This one could be like a buffet, or a pick-at-all-afternoon type of luncheon.

Pasta salad is always good, but when it’s pasta salad with cherry tomatoes and olives, complete with anchovies, capers and fresh mozzarella, the good become amazing. Pick them out, Keith — I’m making this one.

A luncheon is beginning to form … add this root vegetable soup with truffle oil to the above pasta salad, and while you’re at it, make Bea’s kuri squash and pistachio muffins too. They’re gluten-free and perfectly healthy, with the squash, yogurt and eggs … OK, I’d use less sugar, but still.

Why offer only one type of fall muffin when you can offer two — these pumpkin and feta muffins are savory and would compliment any fall soup like the one above.

With all that muffinage, you’d really only need something simple for dessert — how about some Mexican hot chocolate?

I love Brussels sprouts. My favorite way to cook them is roasted in the oven and then drizzled with a touch of aged balsamic or maple syrup. After trying Heidi Swanson’s recipe for shredded Brussels sprouts and apples … roasted is still my favorite way. Really, I adore Brussels sprouts (and Heidi’s recipes too) so much that I’d probably eat them raw with a side of olives, but Heidi’s recipe is not going to convince a Brussels sprout on-the-fencer to join the minority of Brussels sprouts lovers.

I didn’t think sauteing the sprouts made them tender enough or brought out their delicately strong flavor enough. While they paired fine with the other ingredients in the recipe (pine nuts, apples, maple syrup….) I just didn’t find it special enough.

What I would try next time is roasting my Brussels sprouts as I normally do, along with some apple chunks. Then I’d toss with some pine nuts and pecorino romano before drizzling with aged balsamic. I think this would bring together the best parts of my favorite way to serve Brussels sprouts with Heidi’s ideas.

But they do take a great picture, those cabbagesque beauties….

When a chill in the air rears its ugly head, I crave soup. I’m not a big fan of winter, but I adore the fall and I’ll tell you that by the end of summer, I’m getting a little sick of grilled meals … I long for the comfort foods that sustain me through the cold months here in New England.

You knew Heidi Swanson was going to show up on this list sooner or later, so we might as well get it out of the way with her dried fava bean soup with mint and guajillo chiles. Wow, does this sound unique and hearty and interesting and complex. I’m anxious to try this one.

The opposite of that gorgeous, complex soup above has got to be this gluten-free black bean soup with chorizo. I’m not one to criticize a soup with only five ingredients (anyone smell a lie?), but I just can’t imagine this time-saver is worth my time … though there is that argument that almost anything with chorizo in it is worth eating. What do you think?

Now that I’ve got chorizo on the brain, this sweet potato chorizo soup recipe may be just thing to make me forget about that bizarre recipe above.

Lately, when I think of soup, I admit that my egomaniacal self thinks of my very own minestrone my way. We all love this soup so much in my house that it’s one I make often, and thanks to the glut of veggies from our farm this summer, we’ve got some frozen for those lazy winter days too.

Molly makes her rustic cabbage and white bean soup in a pressure cooker, a tool I lately reserve for cooking corn on the cob. Really, when I used to make complex stews in it, I’m not sure how it got relegated to corn status … maybe it’s time I give this soup a try because I love just about anything with cabbage in it.

Cate says she makes the best vegetable soup you’ll ever have — could she possibly be right? Her recipe is very similar to me minestrone recipe, but I like the way she leaves it open to trying different vegetables in the recipe, and I love the way she includes cabbage — brilliant.

Before my minestrone my way, there was easy lentil and vegetable soup, my go-to recipe. Now I have to go back and forth between the two and it’s always such a hard decision to choose which one to make. This one’s got corn, a big it with the kid….

Cate makes some serious soups and her pasta e fagioli, though she says it’s very nontraditional, is no exception. Pasta, beans and veggies? Yes, please!

This easy vindaloo squash soup has very few ingredients. It’s basically an acorn squash soup highlighted with some vindaloo spices to make it different. Love it!

Bob has made Tyler Florence’s clam chowder several times, and I’ve been the recipient of a bowl or two. He mixes it up a bit my using sweet potatoes and white potatoes, but this is a really great recipe.

How interesting does apple mulligatawny soup with chicken sound? Apples, winter squash, curry, coconut, fresh ginger … I’m all over this, and the fact that I have every ingredient for this soup in my house right now if both exciting and scary at the same time. You totally want to be here when a natural or man-made disaster strikes. We could eat for years.

Something about this very simple broccoli soup appeals to me. I’d definitely use plain yogurt instead of heavy cream, and I’d probably leave out the flour. But I’ve been craving broccoli (not a vegetable we got a lot of from our CSA farm this summer) and this just sounded so perfectly lovely to me.

I’m definitely not into the vegan thing. Eggs are a gift from the food gods not to be squandered. But I will say those feisty vegan bakers and their recipes saved me when my kid was allergic to eggs in the first three years of his life. in fact, almost any recipe by Isa was a big hit in our house with anyone … not just the eggless. And I have a really mean extended family who’s not afraid to tell me when my cooking sucks.

One of our favorites is Isa’a chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have a cousin who has specifically requested these cookies, so that’s very telling. For years, it was revered and I wouldn’t mess with it even a little bit (I’m such a liar … I never use canola oil, so I’d use butter, rice bran oil, or coconut oil). Lately, though, I’ve started messing for a couple of reasons.

I’m sort of off chocolate, in theory. I’ll eat a chocolate dessert now and then, but I’m proud to say I no longer hoarf down a handful of chocolate chips every time I pass the pantry closet. Yeah, I’m prouder than the mom of a round-headed newborn.

I really don’t like the kid to have too much chocolate either since caffeine and the under-6 crowd of bad sleepers really don’t mix. We’ll try anything, even tricking him.

And now we’re back at the messing. A couple of weeks ago, I made Isa’s recipe with half cocoa powder and half carob powder. No one could tell, so I started getting crazy. I added, substituted and made the recipe mine, all mine. And in my house, anyway, we think it’s better.

It’s healthier, super-delicious but still “normal.” I held myself back from adding pureed spinach, but used the most nutritious unrefined sugar I could find, used coconut milk instead of soy milk and some of the oil and this and that until it fit my specs for healthy. Try it and see what you think.

Carob Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut and Cranberries

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice bran oil + 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups palm sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups whole spelt flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened carob powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup fruit-sweetened dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Grind the flax seeds in a blender until they become a powder, then add the 1/2 cup of coconut milk and blend more, until the mixture thickens a bit and gets gooey.

Meanwhile, mix flour, carob powder, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl.

Using a mixer (yes, Isa, I’m willing to lose the punk points), cream together the oil + coconut milk and the palm sugar, then add the flax mixture and vanilla and keep on mixing until mixture is almost fluffy.

Slowly add the dry ingredients while mixer is set to low speed. Blend well then stir in chocolate chips, cranberries and coconut.

Plop onto greased cookie sheets and make semi-pretty circles almost 2 inches around, slightly flattened in the middle. These do rise and expand, so leave at least an inch between cookies.

Bake for 10 minutes, let cool for 10 minutes on the pan and then cool the rest of the way on wire racks.