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Warm Black-eyed Peas with Yogurt & Ginger ♥

Today's recipe: A side dish made with black-eyed peas and gentle spices, served warm. It seems a sorry shame that black-eyed peas are relegated to New Year's fare. All the good fortune that black-eyed peas are supposed to deliver during the new year? We could use a little of that year-round, don't we think? What with the Gulf oil spill, the European financial crisis, home foreclosures, the battle forming along the U.S.-Mexico border, the continuing recession ... well, if all it takes is a few black-eyed peas to turn any one of those corners, to put just one behind us, I'm in. This is a great little side dish, familiar ingredients mixed in an unfamiliar way. It's best served slightly warm but can be made ahead of time and then rewarmed, albeit gently. For a vegetarian entrée, I'd serve it with a yogurt sauce on the side, like the cilantro sauce in Veggie Burritos with Cilantro Sauce . If you'd like a black-eyed pea salad, one that can be made in advance a

Lemony Broccoli Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette ♥

You know how some people say a salad can't fill you up, right? Well, for us, this "lemon on lemon" broccoli salad is surprisingly substantial. It starts with broccoli florets briefly cooked in salted water using the technique called "blanching" or "parcooking" and a lovely-lovely creamy lemon vinaigrette, two staples ever-so-useful on their own, not just in this particular combination. Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Extra-Perfect for Light Spring and Summer Meals. Little Effort, Big Taste. Easy Weeknight Salad Supper. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free.

Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie ♥ Two Recipes!

Today's smoothie recipes: Two ways to make smoothies from rhubarb and strawberries, one with raw rhubarb, another with a quick stove-top strawberry-rhubarb sauce. Last week, I went dumpster-diving freezer-diving and spied one last bag of frozen rhubarb. Zip, zip, I worked up a couple of rhubarb smoothies starring one of spring's magical seasonal combinations, strawberries and rhubarb. RAW RHUBARB For Smoothie Numbers One & Two, I used the rhubarb in its raw albeit wet and freezer-softened state. It had a tang, a sourness, that I especially liked, but some of rhubarb's natural stringiness survived the trip through the blender – not everyone would overlook this. COOKED RHUBARB For Smoothie Numbers Three & Four, I cooked the rhubarb and strawberries together, letting their flavors meld, and sweeten, overnight before making the smoothies. The taste here is more like a traditional smoothie, fruity and sweet and well, yes, this is why they're called 'smooth

Homemade Greek Salad Dressing Recipe ♥

How to make Greek salad dressing, a vinaigrette, really, with a short list of pantry ingredients. Super simple and great to keep on hand. So the English chef / food activist / TV personality Jamie Oliver has a crusade, he calls it Jamie's Food Revolution . But I have one too, it just doesn't come with a television show and a marketing budget. But it does fit right in with the Food Revolution's idea of changing one thing, just one thing, in our diets – to the good, by the way! My crusade is to persuade home cooks to never buy salad dressing again . HA – I've actually accidentally written "never MAKE salad dressing again" often enough that I've wondered if there might be a counter crusade mounted by the salad dressing manufacturers. But no, we don't make salad dressing at home because we're too busy, we don't know how, the bottles are convenient (albeit expensive), everyone can have their own favorite, we're not eating salads anyway – a

Tofu-Salad Sandwiches ♥ Recipe for Vegan 'Egg' Salad

Today's vegetable sandwich recipe: A mixture of tofu and the usual suspects for egg salad, mayo, celery and the like. It makes up in just a few minutes and is surprisingly good! Better still, it's eminently variable based on what's on hand. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Low carb and just 1 or 2 points for Weight Watchers. Is this feeling familiar, the feeling that you're just a little bit stuck, a tad bit uninspired, to cook? (Now baking, that I could do every day. But who needs another recipe for something sweet? Our recipe boxes, our waistlines, they're already plenty full of desserts.) So I've been scanning my favorite cookbooks, hoping for inspiration then naysaying one recipe after another. Too fussy. Too expensive. Too many pots. Ingredients I don't have. Ingredients my usual groceries don't have. Too much fat. Too fru-fru. Yesterday I nixed every other recipe in the brand-new issue of Food & Wine (don't worry, it'

Chayote Soup with a Kick ♥ Recipe from the
Seasons of My Heart Cooking School in Oaxaca, Mexico

Today's soup recipe, a bisque, really, a creamy blend of chayote squash, onion, garlic and spinach and for that promised kick, roasted poblano. Serve it at room temperature or better still, chilled. Last week when I published the recipe for my current favorite protein-rich brunch dish, Refried Bean Sauce with Eggs on Top at Kitchen Parade, I teased a little about someone attending the Seasons of My Heart cooking school outside Oaxaca, Mexico. Well, the secret's out: that lucky someone was me ! (Remember those little Mexican jumping beans that used to be sold at dime stores? That was me, so excited about this day.) The school is owned by the lovely Susana Trilling . Readers may know her cookbook, also called Seasons of My Heart and the 1999 PBS series called (menotes a theme here, you too?) Seasons of My Heart. My brain is madly processing the day at Seasons of My Heart, the whole week really, even while my fingers pore through hundreds of photos, picking and cropping, a

How to Roast Potatoes to Perfection ♥
(Maybe) My Grandfather's Recipe for English Roasted Potatoes

A two-step technique for roasting potatoes that produces potatoes crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". So I've been thinking about Chocolate & Zucchini's post for Perfect Roast Potatoes for two months now. Seriously, Clotilde, you stopped me in my tracks three ways. Such is the power of blogging, yes?! THE BIG IDEA First, the idea of mastering, really nailing , the simple recipes you'll make again and again. Until now, my own practice has been all about variety, throwing noodles against the wall to see how each one sticks. That's well and good but what, you know, if you'd just like to roast some really good potatoes? You want to know exactly how to do that. Thank you, Clotilde, this idea has embedded itself in my brain, it won't let go. SIMPLE IS GOOD BUT IT ISN'T ALWAYS BEST Second, Clotilde's recipe for roasted potatoes. Yes, it takes two steps and usually, I'm all about eliminating