I really tried to make this a recipe test drive of Melissa Clark’s roasted broccoli with shrimp. Forgive me — I just couldn’t help myself and I went and messed with Melissa Clark’s recipe. In the interest of full disclosure, I have no idea who Melissa Clark is. I know that I’m supposed to, and I gather that she’s some big-wig NY Times food writer, but she’s never crossed my radar until I now.

I thank The Wednesday Chef (one of my new faves) for turning me onto this recipe. I thank Melissa Clark for using some of my favorite flavors all in one dish: roasted broccoli, whole cumin and coriander seeds and lots and lots of lemon. And I thank me for making it edible….

OK, I jest, because Clark’s simple dish was quite lovely. But as I said, I just couldn’t help myself. So I took her flavor combinations (which I’ve used many times myself) and added some more goodies to the recipe while keeping it simple and flavorful.

Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli with Chick Peas and Bacon

Ingredients:

• broccoli florets (about 4 medium to large crowns, chopped)
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• chili powder to taste
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• zest from one lemon
• juice from one lemon
• 1 pound shrimp
• 1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 4 slices turkey bacon, cooked
• feta cheese, crumbled

Toss the broccoli with olive oil, cumin and coriander, spread on a baking sheet and season to taste. Roast at 400 convection bake for 20 minutes.

Toss the shrimp with the lemon zest, some olive oil and season. Roast for only 10 minutes.

Toss together with the remaining ingredients and serve.

So that’s what I did. And here’s what I’d do differently next time:

• Add a few cloves of garlic, sliced, to roast up with the broccoli.
• Combine the lemon juice with a tablespoon of olive oil and drizzle the dressing over the whole shebang, instead of just lemon juice. It was tasty, but dry.

Apologies all around, Melissa Clark — for not knowing who you are, for messing with your recipe and for riffing off yours to make an infinitely tastier one. What can I say — I like my cooking.

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Spring may not be in the air yet, but the idea of spring is certainly in the air. Days are growing longer and the bitter icy chill of winter has thawed to a not quite as bitter chill. In any case, I was recently looking to cook something that had the warming, filling effect of winter comfort food without being too heavy. I settled on lentil soup, and surfed around for a recipe to catch my eye. This recipe for lentil soup with italian sausage and escarole caught my attention. It looked easy and delicious, and I figured that the sausage would add a lot of flavor and some meatiness to the soup.

As it turned out, I wasn’t wrong. I stuck mainly to the recipe as published with a few minor exceptions. I added about a couple teaspoons of dried basil and oregano to the lentils as they simmered and doubled the amount of garlic in the soup base. The herbs definitely added some welcome flavor to the soup, and I’m glad I added them. If you aren’t as crazy about garlic as I am, then I wouldn’t recommend adding any additional. The soup turned out quite garlicky with my addition, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The soup was really easy to make and didn’t take very long to come together. Even though I was making this on the weekend, it easily could be a good weeknight meal (depending on how quickly you can chop your vegetables). There were no real tricky steps in the preparation of the soup, it was really straightforward.

I had it for lunch for practically an entire week, and I swear, it got better everyday as the flavors blended more and more. What I really liked is that there was a lot of body to the soup. Between the lentils and the vegetables there was a lot of chunkage going on in there. Because of the tomato paste (and the herbs that I added) the broth was really flavorful. With the escarole and sausage, this was almost trying to be an Italian Wedding soup, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

If I were to change anything the next time I made this (and I will be making it again), I would probably add more escarole. It certainly looked like a lot of greens when I added them to the pot, but they shrank away to practically nothing, as most greens are wont to do. Other than that, this soup was near perfect and went great with some sourdough bread!

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If you read me often, you know that I kinda worship the kitchen that Heidi Swanson cooks in. Her book, Supernatural Cooking, is one of my favorites, and her 101 Cookbooks blog is on my email updates. To date, she’s never let me down. I know I can always count on a good meal when I cook up a Heidi Swanson recipe.

That’s why I’m sitting here, a little broken, by the fact that her recipe for palak daal was just a little bland for my taste. Funny thing is, I think she thought so too. Not only did she add lemon juice (which I also did), looking for more complex flavors than the original recipe offered, but when she heated it up as leftovers, she added coconut milk.

So when I ate the leftovers for lunch today, I tried the coconut milk and a generous shake of cayenne (since I went light last night for Owen) and it definitely was better. However, what I was really craving was that cilantro chutney that you get at Indian restaurants, you know the one — it’s tart and spicy and so cilantro-y … that’s what would have saved this recipe.

There were many things good about it, though, and I grew to appreciate it even more as time went on. My initial thoughts were disappointing, but it was filling and hearty and delightfully not gassy at all, considering it’s chock-full of lentils. Here are some more random thoughts about the recipe:

• My mouth was gloriously happy whenever I got a bite with a toasted cumin seed in it, which was often. I love that flavor.
• This recipe reminds me a bit of my old crock pot standby, curried chick peas and kale, but not as flavorful.
• I’m thinking swirling in a little plain yogurt before serving would add a sourness that will give this dish the complexity it seeks.
• I added much more water than the recipe called for, and for my propane gas stovetop, the cooking time was far too long. I think the two had something to do with each other….

Even though this wasn’t my favorite recipe of all time, it’s got it’s merits and with a little dressing up it becomes a satisfying meal … and leftovers.

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I don’t know where you’re sitting right now, but I’m in the D.C. area, and we are currently under a blizzard warning. This, of course, comes after the 2-3 feet of snow that got dumped on us over the weekend. Suffice it to say, I’ve become intimately acquainted with my home over the past several days.

So what do you do when you have two people off of work and a toddler in the house? You certainly don’t clean, as the state of my living room will attest. Instead, you eat, pray for the baby’s naptime, and eat some more. I’ve used this time to make my vegetable muffaletta, as well as some to-die-for spicy molasses cookies.

My friend Lauren over at Baking, Books and Booze, posted this molasses cookie recipe after the last time she got hit with a snow dump. I had never had them before, and honestly molasses cookies didn’t sound terribly appealing to me, but I had all of the ingredients and clearly nothing better to do, so I went for it.

I basically followed the recipe she posted, except, like her, I kind of kicked up all of the spices a little bit. Plus, I added my new favorite thing for desserts: Chipotle peppers. The funny thing is, is that I always forget how large the holes are in the chipotle peppers bottle, so I kind of dumped more in there than I was planning.

However, the cookies turned out awesome. It’s like cookies and candy got married and made hot, fiery love. These guys are definitely spicy, but are so good that even my 16-month-old doesn’t care about the burning, and has been known to snatch these right out of my hand as I’m eating.

They’re super quick and easy to make (they only bake for 10 minutes), and are so worth the mild effort put into them. So whether you’re stuck in the snow, or just know the value of a good cookie, you should definitely give these bad boys a shot.

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It’s been a while since Keith and I have cooked lamb shanks, but I’m not sure why. They are so easy to make and they are a perfect, hearty winter meal. Even the five-year-old enjoys succulent meat, falling off the bone. So instead of making chili for the Super Bowl meal like everyone else in the country (who probably cares more than I do because I’m a sour-pussed New England fan who doesn’t have much stake in the Superbowl this year) we turned to our lamb shanks for sustenance.

I wanted to try something new, so I presented some recipe choices to Keith. How good does braised lamb shanks with caramelized onions and shallots sound? Yeah, I thought so too, but it didn’t make my husband dance. He was also not even a little bit excited about spiced lamb shanks with blood orange relish, which I find weird because — hello — there’s fennel!

Jamie Oliver’s spiced lamb shanks was the hands-down winner. It’s a recipe we’ve done before, it feels like hundreds of times, but obviously, it’s Keith’s favorite. And to be honest, it really doesn’t get much better than this. Fresh veggies, herbs, a unique blend of spices and slow cooking for hours in the oven … yeah, it was delicious, like always.

I’m not sure we’ve ever made this recipe exactly the same way twice, and that’s partly due to the way Jamie Oliver writes up his recipes. A handful of this or that, try this spice or that one, and toss in this to taste. It makes for a fun time in the kitchen and an excitement to taste the minor changes you’ve made in this batch. I used whole coriander seeds and my mortar and pestle, marjoram and fresh basil this time around.

We served our lamb shanks with Alton Brown’s savory polenta, a recipe I’ve never done before but has become my new favorite polenta recipe. It’s basic, but with onion, garlic and chicken stock, lots of salt and pepper and butter and cheese. It gives polenta that little oomph that I’ve always wanted from basic polenta.

So even though I didn’t get to try a new recipe (I’m not asking next time!) I got to enjoy an old favorite with a new polenta recipe, through the eyes of the five-year-old. Who, incidentally, said the meal was so delicious that he loved it “to the cartoons and back.” I have no idea what that means, but I think it’s good because he had seconds.

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It’s that kind of week, and my crock pot is working overtime. I was getting a little tired of our old recipes, so I’ve branched out and tried a couple of new ones.

In the past, I’ve avoided chicken breasts in the crock pot because of texture issues. I’ve found that they become gross and stringy and immensely unpalatable. So the only reason I attempted this chicken and corn chili recipe was because I had the ingredients and I like chili. That’s not entirely true; I figured since you shredded the chicken once it was cooked that any texture issues would become obsolete.

The texture of the chicken was fine (although I’d definitely try this recipe with ground chicken or turkey too) but what really made the texture special for me was the addition of the corn. The rest of the ingredients were like any good chili: a bit mushy. The corn added a nice pop that broke up the texture of the softer ingredients. I love contrast.

I didn’t change a whole lot of things as I made this recipe. I used my Better Than Bouillon veggie base and water in place of the low sodium chicken broth, and replaced the jalepeno with a tablespoon of fire-roasted chiles. I can say that if at all possible, don’t skip the cornmeal, because it adds a nice heft to the sauce. Who wants watery chili?

This recipe was so easy to make and was a hit with my whole family. I’d make it again, for sure.

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In my quest to improve my diet and eat healthier, I’m trying to expand my cooking skills to new and different ingredients. I’ve spent a lot of time searching for recipes on the internet. Recently while searching for fish recipes, I came across this delicious Mexican orange chicken recipe on allrecipes.com. For me, fried is about the only way I like my chicken so this recipe is one of several I’m trying now that are way outside my comfort zone.I decided that I would take this chicken recipe for a Recipe test drive. My biggest problem when it comes to eating healthy is that I have certain things I like and I stick to those things. I know how to cook them and I know that I will have a satisfying  and filling meal.

When it comes to chicken I defer to my wife. She is the Queen of cooking chicken and I just can’t make chicken taste as good when I cook it. I’m a beef eater and can out-cook her when it comes to anything beef so she was skeptical when I told her I was going to try this new chicken dish. One of the great things about allrecipes.com is that you can enter the number of people you are cooking for and it will modify the ingredients list for the number of servings you requested. This does not change the cooking instructions so you may have to modify that yourself. I always look at cooking times as a suggestion anyways and check my dish often as I cook until it is cooked to my liking. I modified the recipe for two people and followed the ingredients list provided with the revised Mexican orange chicken recipe.

The cooking directions I left as is except that I did shorten the cooking time to 1 1/2 hours.

When the chicken is done, there will still be a lot of juice left in the pan. The recipe does say that this is the way that the dish should turn out. I had decided already to serve the chicken over rice so the extra juice was added to the rice to add the flavor to the rice. This turned out to be a very good idea. The juice added a citrus, bacon flavor to the rice that was amazing.

For the rice, I cooked 1 cup of rice in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp margarine, and a pinch of salt. Whenever I am cooking rice to use in a dish I like to cook it in chicken broth to add a little flavor to the rice.

As we sat down to eat we were both anticipating a tasty treat. The aroma of the chicken was wonderful. The chicken was incredibly juicy and the bacon and citrus flavor was infused throughout the meat. The flavor the juices from the chicken enhanced the rice and really added to the meal. This is one recipe that will be a showing up on our menu again.

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For better or for worse, pasta is a staple in many vegetarian diets (and that sentence is how I am able to justify this as a “Hold the Meat” post [brilliant!]). A lot of times, I’ll pretend to be healthier about it by buying whole wheat pasta and/or organic noodles. However, sometimes I”ll just throw the $1.00/box stuff in there too.

The other day though, I was reading All & Sundry, and she was talking about how she’s recently been making more food from scratch. This is something I’ve been trying to do as well, especially now that Cooper is a bit older and is eating human food (as opposed to, you know, dog food). So I clicked through to some of the recipes that she’s used, and holy crap! Why the hell didn’t anybody tell me that there are only three ingredients in pasta, and that they’re all things that I have in my house right now?

2 1/4 cups flour, 3 eggs, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. That’s all! It’s super-easy too. You just beat the eggs, and put them into a little flour nest in a large bowl, like so:

Then you mix it all together until it forms a ball of dough. Knead it about five minutes, and then put it in some greased plastic wrap (I just sprayed some cooking spray on it) and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, at which point you can get your sauce on the stove. After that, take about 1/4 of the dough and roll it out.

This part was actually pretty fun for me, because it was the first time I’d actually used a rolling pin (I know, I’m really pathetic).

Roll it out until it gets about as thin as you would want a noodle to be. Then, roll it up like you would a jelly roll and cut it into little wheels:

After that, just unfurl them, and put them aside. Do this for the three remaining quarters of your dough, then boil the pasta for about 5 minutes, until it’s firm but tender. The noodles start to float when they’re done; it doesn’t take long at all. After that, you’ve totally got pasta– without even having to have a pasta machine.

For a first try, I was really impressed with how it came out. Other than the 30 minutes the dough has to rest, it’s actually a pretty quick process. I made it kind of slow, just because I was nervous about it, but in general you can do this pretty quickly. It’s important to note that you don’t really have to roll the dough up– you can just roll it out and cut strips. I’ll probably do that next time, because the noodles ended up being a little thicker than I wanted them to be.

Going forward, I’d like to experiment with filled pasta, as well as different kinds of flour– maybe I’ll even use Debbie’s favorite, spelt flour. But for the first time I wanted to keep it as straightforward as possible, and I’m quite pleased with the results.

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The recipe for Divine Hot Chocolate that Kelly Estes posted looks relatively easy and super delicious, but I’m lazy (hence the feverish devotion to my Keurig). So to that end, I’d like to share a simple way to give any hot chocolate a little kick, whether it be fancy, or made from a powder.

I was over at a friend’s house recently, and she had the Food Network on. They were talking about Jacques Torres Chocolate in New York; specifically the Wicked Hot Chocolate that he makes there. Obviously, it’s made with a crapload of real chocolate, and it also features a dollop of whipped cream so heavy and solid that it looks as though you’re ordering your hot chocolate a la mode. That, however, isn’t what struck me. What struck me is that he used chipotle peppers in it. Maybe I’m naive, but using a ingredient for chili never occurred to me vis a vis hot chocolate.

I’m sure it’s a secret recipe, so they don’t go into the amounts of the spices, but in addition to chipotle and ancho chili peppers, they also use cinnamon and allspice. So while I couldn’t recreate it myself, I knew that 9 out of 10 times I wouldn’t want to bother anyway– so I experimented.

I went into the cabinet, grabbed my cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and my nearly empty bottle of ground chipotle peppers (we like things spicy here). While I’ve long added cinnamon to my coffee and hot chocolate, this was new for me. There’s no real recipe, I just threw in a dash of each spice into my empty mug and placed it under the Keurig. About a minute later, I had a delightful cup of steaming hot chocolate with what looked like dirt floating around in it.

Not one to be overly concerned about such things, I just grabbed the whipped cream out of the fridge and, voila! If you cover it up, it’s totally cool. I took a sip, and I was in heaven. You wouldn’t think that chipotle pepper would be a good idea, but the other flavors mask it, leaving just the spice behind. It’s a lovely drink, and in an instant you can feel all warm and fuzzy. Even though the holidays are over, you can make this and feel like it’s Christmas morning all over again.

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I confess I have a problem with snacks.  I love them.  Don’t you?  Like many people, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to eat better, so my snack routine could snag my newest healthy habit pretty hard.

Enter the butterless biscotti.  I know, I was skeptical too – until I tasted the biscotti.  Besides being absolutely delicious, the crunch from the cornmeal, nutty taste of the chopped almonds and sugar shot from the white chocolate will send your taste buds into Olympic overdrive!  The texture and taste of this Lemon, white chocolate, and almond biscotti will totally satisfy your sweet tooth – at least for a while!

Lemon, white chocolate and almond biscotti

(based on Giada De Laurentis’ Almond and Lemon Biscotti dipped in white chocolate recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons grated lemon zest (from between 3-4 lemons)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped blanched almonds (use regular almonds if you don’t have blanched)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer ’til light yellow, about 3 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract, lemon zest, then the flour, and mix just until blended (sticky dough is normal at this point). Mix in the almonds and white chocolate chips.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough evenly into 2 equal parts, and place on one baking sheet.  Form each dough mound into 2 (9×13) logs. Bake for 35 minutes; biscotti will be lightly browned.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Use a serrated knife to cut the logs crosswise into 3/4-inch thick diagonal slices.  Lay the biscotti cut side down on the baking sheets.  If you use two baking sheets like I did, take the bottom baking sheet out five minutes ahead of the one on top.  Bake until biscotti is golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.  Store in an airtight container.

Serve biscotti with a hot drink such as coffee or tea, and enjoy dipping and eating your biscotti. These won’t last long if you have snackers in your house!

This biscotti recipe is one of the easiest ones I have made.  Let me know what you think.  Do you love biscotti, or another type of snack to munch on in the afternoon?

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What would you do if you were expected at a party with something snacky in 15 minutes, and the cantaloupe you were planning on bringing had molded in your fruit basket? Yeah, I’d make white bean dip too, but someone was already bringing that, so I turned to my fridge — and the internet — for some speedy inspiration.

I found it in this recipe for tahini miso dip. Believe it or not, I managed to follow this four-ingredient recipe fairly closely, somewhat of a miracle for me. Instead of using red miso, though, I just used the brown rice miso I had here at home, and plain old water (I wonder what the carbonated water would do for the recipe? Make it a fluffier dip maybe?).

I dug around the fridge a bit more and found some carrot and celery to slice up into bite-sized sticks and I had myself a bringable snack.

The dip was a big hit, and the salty miso and the nutty tahini blend together so nicely. There were red pepper sticks and sesame crackers at the party that complemented the dip well, and I just know it would be perfect with snap peas.

So there you have it: a new recipe for you that has been tried and tested, and a new go-to for me to bring to parties in a pinch.

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Homemade bread studded with dried currants, golden raisins, blanched almonds, candied citron and orange peel is a delicious German Christmas treat.

Growing up, my mother made stollen every Christmas, but used a non-traditional, more pastry-like recipe.  When I saw the traditional stolen recipe in the December issue of Martha Stewart magazine, I knew I had to make it.

The hard part was kneading the dough.  Just think of it as your arm workout for the day, as you’ll be kneading dough for about 10 minutes!  It’s much easier if you have a helper to sprinkle more flour as needed.  As you push on the dough, make sure to use the heel of your palm, and turn the bread dough a quarter turn each time you knead.  In addition, you must sprinkle in the dried fruit as you push on the dough.  Knowing this, I took all the dried fruit and mixed it up into one big bowl.  That way, I simply put my sticky hands in the bowl and sprinkled the dried fruit into the dough, one handful at a time.

Since you have to let the dough rise two times, about two hours each time, this is a great recipe to do on a lazy afternoon. Despite the lengthy prep time, it’s worth the wait.

Christmas stollen

Based on the recipe in the December 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:

• 5 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface  (I used about 6 ½ cups total.  I did not sift my flour.)
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground mace
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup whole milk, warmed
• 5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon active dry yeast (from two ¼-ounce envelopes), dissolved in ¼ cup warm water
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 7 ½ ounces golden raisins (1 ½ cups), soaked in ¼ cup fresh orange juice (I used orange juice from a carton)
• 5 ounces dried currants (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) soaked in ¼ cup Cognac
• 5 ounces blanched almonds (1 cup), coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces diced candied citron (2/3 cup)
• 2 ounces diced candied orange peel (1/3 cup)
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 lemons (for their juice)
• Vegetable oil, for bowl
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, mace and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Stir in milk and melted butter.  Add dissolved yeast and the eggs.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth.
2. Drain raisins and currants.  Add raisins, currants, almonds, citron, orange peel, and lemon zest to dough, and continue kneading until incorporated, about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with plastic, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.  (Note:  I put the dough in an unheated oven to rise.) Punch down dough, divide into 6 even pieces, and roll each piece into a 15-inch-long log.  Braid 3 logs together, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Repeat with remaining 3 logs. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake stollen until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.  Ice the stollen while it is hot.  Put wax paper underneath the cooling rack holding the stollen.  To ice, beat together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. If icing is too thick, add more lemon juice.  It should be a little thinner than pancake batter, not as thin as maple syrup, but not as thick as waffle batter.

The stollen tastes like delicious homemade sweet bread, reminiscent in texture to challah bread.  It is taken to the next level with the delicious dried fruit and the currants soaked in cognac. Drizzle the baked treat with lemon icing while it is still hot for an unconventional but tasty twist.  The lemon icing will soak into the stollen as it cools.  However, if you prefer the traditional stollen icing, mix up 3 cups 10X sugar with 5 tablespoons milk and drizzle when the stollen is cold.

Your family will love this traditional Christmas bread.  I know mine did!

What are some traditional Christmas treats that you make?

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Spice and tang combine to create a treat that is nearly irresistible.

Though the Ginger-lemon pinwheel cookies are gorgeous and delicious, their preparation tested my patience.  These cookies require a lot of prep work, and test your arm strength.  Intrigued?

When I saw the Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies recipe in Cooking Light’s December 2009 issue, the beauty of the pinwheel cookies in the picture drew me in and compelled me to make the treats. Light on the outside, then gingery brown on the next layer, these cookies will compete to be the star of any cookie tray.

The first taste of these delectable pinwheel cookies will delight you.  The ginger is not very spicy, and blends quite well with the lemon in the cookie.  The molasses sweetens things up, and each bite of the cookie will give you a taste of the ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg contained therein.  The texture of the cookie reminds me of a nice shortbread cookie; definitely not soft, but not hard.  Each bite of this gingery lemon pinwheel treat will crumble into your mouth, and paired with a cup of hot tea, this cookie is one you will savor to the last morsel.

One thing I chortled over were the photos of perfect rectangles of the ginger and lemon doughs in Cooking Light.  The dough was exceedingly hard to work with, much to my frustration.  I did my best to get it rolled into a semblance of a rectangle.  I was unsuccessful with the lemon dough, but I did a little better with the ginger dough.  The good news is that despite the two doughs not meshing together perfectly, when I rolled them together, it was fine.  The ends were a little lacking for lemon dough, but other than a couple inches on both sides, my pinwheel cookies looked like the picture, though not quite as perfectly round!

Because I love ginger, I think next time I’ll double the ground ginger in the recipe to 1 ½ teaspoons.  Other than that, this recipe’s a keeper.  But I’ll only pull it out for Christmas, when I have all afternoon and evening available to dedicate to making cookies.  While absolutely delicious, this cookie recipe requires a lot of chilling.

Do you have any cookie recipes that you love, despite being a bear to make?

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Christmas cookies have never been a real tradition in my family. I think my mother would admit that she’s not a huge fan of baking. She can, and she has some great recipes, but she’s not the type to make fifteen different types of cookies come holiday season. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw her bake a cookie. In any case, last year I was inspired to bake some Christmas cookies. I think it was a snowy, cold day and I didn’t want to leave the house, so I turned on the oven and got to work.

I had looked through several recipes before stumbling upon a couple different recipes on Epicurious.com. I noticed that some of these recipes were all based off the same base dough recipe. That simplification of the whole process was too good to pass up.

The base recipe is Gourmet’s Basic Butter Cookie Dough. From this simple dough you can make eight (yes, eight!) different cookies. They are: spritz wreaths, raspberry hazelnut triangles, orange cranberry oatmeal cookies, mocha butter balls, jewel bowl cookies, spiced icebox butter cookies, apricot stars, and almond butter crisps.

I haven’t tried all of the different recipes yet. Last year I made the spiced icebox cookies and the jewel bowl cookies. The base dough is really simple to make, and it makes a ton, so you can whip out a lot of cookies with very little effort. These would be great for a cookie swap. I love spiced cookies, and I thought the the spiced icebox butter cookies turned out really well. To be honest, they didn’t even need the glaze that is called for in the recipe. The jewel bowl cookies were great as well. I used blueberry preserves and I was happy with how they turned out.

The dough is easy and quick to make, but the cookies themselves will take a while. It’s not because there is anything challenging, but the recipes just make so many cookies that you constantly have to be in the kitchen, circulating pans in and out of the oven. On a cold wintry day though, sometimes that the best thing you can do.

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If you’re looking for a new way to spice up plain chicken breasts, look no further! I have a great recipe I want to share with you.

A special on boneless, skinless chicken breasts at my favorite grocery store led me to buy two packs of it, about 4 lbs. of chicken.  I had a recipe in mind, but wanted to change it up a little. I scooped up some cilantro, added a couple of ripe plum tomatoes and a green bell pepper to my cart, and smiled.  I knew the rest of the ingredients were safe at home.

Easy Cheesy Chili Chicken by George Stella is a recipe you’ll want to make time and again.  I tweaked it a little, leaving out the cayenne pepper, which would make it too spicy for my family.

Laying out aluminum foil on my jelly roll pan, I started prepping the ingredients.  While it took me about 15 minutes to wash, chop and cut everything, that’s the hard part right there.  I whisked together into a delightful concoction the following:

• 4 tablespoons EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 5 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1¾ tablespoons chili powder
• 2 mounded tablespoons ground cumin
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I left the cayenne pepper out of the mix. You may add it if you like things spicy.  I took my chicken breasts, placed them in a big plastic bag, and pounded them with a meat mallet until they were all one thickness.  Pounding meat with a mallet is a great way to get out the day’s frustrations. Of course, if you don’t have a meat mallet, simply halve the chicken breasts as the original recipe states.

Taking the pounded chicken breasts, I put them in the bowl and coated all the chicken with the spicy and fresh EVOO mixture.  Using my tongs, I took each chicken breast and laid them all on the jelly roll pan.

What makes this dish really impressive is the heaping pile of julienned vegetables, topped with cheese.  I julienned more green bell pepper, used white onion instead of red, and used a lesser amount (and 2% version) of Colby-Jack cheese.

Top each chicken breast with a portion of the delicious veggie mixture:

• ¾ cup julienned green bell pepper
• 4 tablespoons diced white onion
• 2 plum tomatoes, diced
• 4 oz. shredded 2% Colby-Jack cheese

Bake from 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees (or until done) and voila!  What a beautiful dinner, paired with baked potato.

It’s a story of the ugly duckling turning into a swan.  Plain ol’ chicken breast is given a kicked up twist.  The chicken is a little spicy but not overly so, while the cilantro and the green bell pepper and onion give it an addictive taste.  It’s so good that there will be silence at the table.  You know that kind of silence?  If you strike a home run with a recipe, your family forgets to talk while at the table.  All you hear are the clinks of the forks and knives. Even better are the delicious leftovers the next night.

So, try the recipe, tweak it to suit you and your family, and let me know what you think.  What are some new (or old) recipes you’re trying out when you see a particular meat on sale?

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As a young man living by himself, I tend to accumulate overly ripe bananas quite often. When this happens I usually go to my favorite banana bread recipe: Tyler Florence’s. Recently I was looking for something different to do with my leftover bananas. I scoured Epicurious for a great recipe and one stood out to me: Banana Chocolate Walnut Cake.

It was sort of a no-brainer. With a title like that how could I go wrong? I like bananas. I like chocolate. I like walnuts. Most importantly: I like cake.

So how did it turn out, you ask? It was pretty darned good. I used some really high quality chocolate, which always makes recipes like this particularly delicious. The cinnamon chocolate and walnut on the top and inside of the cake really worked to elevate this from standard banana bread to a high class cake that could be served at any time of day. I’m not really into chocolate in the morning, but if you are, this could absolutely be served at breakfast time. It could also be served as dessert after a nice meal (or let’s face it, even after a hastily prepared week night dinner).

I liked the addition of yogurt in the cake. Like buttermilk, it added a nice zip and kept the cake really moist and dense. The cake itself pretty much tasted like standard banana bread because, well, it was pretty much standard banana bread. There’s nothing wrong with that! Again, with the added touch of the topping, this recipe really becomes something more than just banana bread. I brought leftovers to my office and it was very popular.

I didn’t have the nine inch square baking pan that the recipe called for and I think I spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out what the right pan was to replace it. I ended up choosing my eight inch baking pan, figuring that it was close enough. It turned out fine in the smaller pan, so if you don’t have every size pan, don’t stress over it.

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Kelly’s back Guest-clacking for us again, after sharing her recipe for spicy pork and black bean chili that she made from leftovers.

If you’re a foodie like I am, you look for special recipes that impress family and friends. There are a few upcoming holiday events that we’ll be attending, and I will need to bring an impressive side dish. For me, especially during the month of December, I am a big believer in the K.I.S.S. method. Yes, the food I bring to a get-together or party must be delicious, but it also must be fairly simple to do.

After a quick search of my cookbooks, I knew that I needed to find a new recipe. I like to find recipes that are not too heavy on the fat, but will appeal to a wide variety of palates. I confess I like to eat lighter side dishes because it makes me feel better about indulging my sweet tooth occasionally.

Trolling my favorite recipe sites, I pause. Ina Garten’s Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette sounds divine, but since it has warm vinaigrette on the salad, which must be served immediately, I sigh and move on. Perhaps I’ll serve that salad on Christmas, when I’ll be hosting dinner.

I meander over to Cooking Light, hoping for at least a little inspiration. Looking for a good recipe is a lot like wardrobe shopping; it’s easy to get distracted by the dramatic evening dresses and sexy high heels. The beautiful photos of food make me salivate, but I remind myself to not get distracted. Typing in ‘side dishes,’ and then clicking on Holiday Side Dishes, I come across Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan. Roasted cauliflower sounds delicious. I peruse the recipe, and though it suggests that it be served warm, I think that this could be it. I read the last 10 or so reviews. A few cooks didn’t care for the recipe, another wrote that she liked the roasted cauliflower but would put less lemon juice on the next time, and still more raved about it. Hmmm. Rated by 27 cooks, it had a four out of five star rating, which I think is none too shabby!

A test run of the recipe revealed that the only drawback is that you must turn the cauliflower every 5 minutes, for about 20 minutes. However, that chore is a small price to pay for the absolutely delicious flavor of the roasted cauliflower paired with the fresh parsley, thyme, tarragon, and garlic. I added the full amount of lemon juice called for in the recipe, and it added just the right amount of zip for me. A few tips: Be sure to get all the chopping of herbs done before you put the cauliflower in the oven, or things will get way too hectic in your kitchen! I will also note that I bought a small container of already shredded fresh Parmesan from the grocery store. I simply don’t have time to shred fresh Parmesan right now.

I brought this beautiful side dish to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving, and everyone exclaimed over it. After about 10 minutes in the ‘warming oven,’ the cauliflower was set out with the rest of the feast. My Aunt Beth said, “I don’t even like cauliflower, but this is delicious! I guess you can’t go wrong with garlic and parmesan!”

So, Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan is my new little black dress for the holidays (although Debbie’s recipe for roasted broccoli just might find its way to my table!). The fresh parsley, thyme, tarragon, and minced garlic will certainly spice things up at any table. The grated fresh Parmesan will serve to step up the ordinarily plain cauliflower to a level of grandness. And since it serves eight and takes less than 30 minutes to cook, it’s a winner!

How do you pick out a dish to bring to a holiday shindig, and what is the hardest part about picking a dish for you?

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Oh, how naive I was, thinking that the Food Network could do no wrong. They couldn’t ever let me down, with all the expertise that goes into their recipes, so there’s no way I could choose to make a recipe from Food Network that I’ve never made before and serve it to over 20 people and have it suck. Nope, that could never happen.

It all started very innocently. While perusing through the latest issue of Food Network Magazine (which I absolutely adore, by the way), a recipe for a lightened up hot artichoke-spinach dip caught my eye. Instead of lots of cheese and mayonnaise, it has pureed white beans and a little cheese. Beans = good, so I thought the recipe would be as well. Fresh spinach, fresh basil — and lots of it! — three different kinds of cheese and Worcestershire sauce was surely the recipe for success. I filed it away for later, knowing that I’d serve that recipe at Owen’s birthday party.

And I did. When it came out of the oven all hot and bubbly, I was seriously impressed with myself. I’d never made a hot dip before, mostly because we don’t eat a lot of dairy and I fear the gloppy white stuff you people call mayonnaise like a disease-infested crack house, so this was new territory, and it looked positively gorgeous.

It was far too hot, but I dipped a chip in anyway because I couldn’t wait to try my delectable dip. Yeah, well, perhaps it was just too hot to taste, so I tried it again in a few minutes. Where was that thing called taste? It clearly escaped from this dip during the cooking process, because it had absolutely no zing.

Picture the next scene: me, hauling the gourmet sea salt and Worcestershire sauce out of my cabinet, dousing the dip in front of all of my guests, trying in desperation to give it some flavor — any flavor! It never made it even close to my expectations, and I’m normally a very good recipe reader.

So what have we learned here?

• Food Network is not infallible.
• Tread cautiously when trying a “lightened up” version of anything.
• Don’t test drive a new recipe for a houseful of guests.
• Someone at Food Network Kitchens should be fired, or at least reprimanded in the severest of ways.
• Stick to hummus.

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I suppose for all intents and purposes, this is not a recipe test drive, unless it counts if you’ve driven the recipe around the block several hundred times over the years. Beef stewed in cranberry chutney is a family favorite, or to be more specific, a Keith and Debbie favorite, since it’s a bit too tart and spicy for Owen. “It’s got raisins” doesn’t quite cut it when the cayenne is burning the skin off a five-year-old’s tongue. I promised the men in my life that I’d make it more mild next time.

When the weather starts to get colder, and especially when the holidays roll around, this recipe springs to mind and won’t go away until I make it. Oh, and eat it. Bonus: it’s easy and even unique enough to serve to company, which we’ve also done on occasion.

We almost always serve this dish with brown rice, as was recommended in the original recipe, and believe it or not, I haven’t made too many modifications over the years. I generally leave out the walnuts, since we have nut allergies in the family. I’ll also usually use two stalks of celery rather than one with leaves. And apparently, I get carried away with the 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne, but other than that, I do the recipe as written. With a little chopped parsley for the picture!

Yes, so the stew meat, cranberries, raisins, spices, veggies and garlic all simmer together as intended.

A side salad is a complement both in texture and temperature to this warming dish, and even though it says it serves four, in our experience, with the rice and salad, you can probably serve six.

So if you’re looking for a unique beef stew recipe that’s perfect for the cold seasons and fancy enough to serve to guests, I suggest trying beef stewed in cranberry chutney. We love it.

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The lemonilla cake has become a family favorite, and even though Owen has a lot more choices now, he still chooses this one almost every year (I think we may have ventured out into carrot cake territory last year, but I’m pretty sure that had almost everything to do with the cream cheese frosting). As I was baking it for this year’s five-year-old birthday celebration, I couldn’t help but stop to write about this magical cake, to sing the praises of the delicious combination of lemon and vanilla and to thank the Vegan Chef for her innovative recipe.

Another thing I love about the lemonilla cake is that even though it calls for wheat flour, it works great with spelt. A lot of recipes do, but I’ve yet to find a yellow cupcake recipe that I can bake with spelt flour and have it come out moist.

The lemonilla cake — with no eggs and no butter — come out rich and moist and perfect every time. I can switch out the flour, change up the sugars, use whatever oil I have in the house and it works. I love knowing that I can bake this cake right before people come over and not have to worry that it will be a complete flop. I do believe — gasp! — that there are some recipes on the internet that are not tested. I know, say it isn’t so, but it can’t be possible to have tested a recipe that comes out so incredibly bad, as some that I have tried.

Have I convinced you yet of the yummy goodness that is the lemonilla cake? And you can even bake it if you’re out of eggs….

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This is part four in my series of pumpkin dessert recipe roundups. I’ve already looked at cheesecakes, trifles, and bread puddings. And you thought pumpkin pie was the only thing you could serve at Thanksgiving! For this post, I’m turning my attention to pumpkin cakes.

Who doesn’t love cake? It’s really the ultimate dessert, isn’t it? That’s why we serve it at all the important milestones of our lives. You get married, there’s a cake. Baby shower? Cake. Birthday? Cake. You get the picture.

Pumpkin is a great ingredient to use in cakes. I love spicy desserts, full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and other classic flavors of the fall. These cake recipes all include these wonderful flavors that are associated with pumpkin and offer something different for those of you who don’t love custard (which is part of bread pudding, pumpkin pies, and trifles). Plus, just about all of them include cream cheese frosting. Is there anyone who doesn’t like cream cheese frosting?

This recipe for pumpkin raisin bars is what I used last year for Thanksgiving. They turned out to be delicious, but I had some issues with them. For some reason, the center of the cake completely collapsed when I took it out of the oven. I think I was too concerned with making sure that they didn’t overcook, that I undercooked them. Luckily, it made a huge amount of the bars, so I was able to salvage the parts that were cooked, and just slathered even more cream cheese frosting on them. They turned out really well, despite my issues.

Nothing sounds better to me than this pumpkin cake with sage ice cream and pumpkin cherry compote, but come on? Who really has the time to make a compote, bake a cake, and whip up a homemade ice cream during this crazy holiday season? I know I don’t, which is a shame because I love sage and I really want to try it.

If you’re a huge fan of pumpkin pie and apple pie, you may want to try this recipe that combines the best of both: pumpkin-apple streusel cake. It looks delicious and I’m sure that the two flavors mesh really well together. Nothing says fall like apples and pumpkin.

If you’re looking for something a little more traditional, how about this recipe for spiced pumpkin layer cake with cream cheese frosting. It may just look like a basic layer cake, but with coconut, pineapple, and dried currants stuffed into the cake, there’s a lot going on.

With a title like pumpkin gooey butter cakes, is it any wonder that this recipe comes courtesy of Paula Deen? Essentially, she just undercooks the cakes to leave the center a little gooey. Isn’t that I what did last year?

This pumpkin-honey cake recipe caught my attention because the cream cheese frosting has pumpkin in it too. The directions have a whole lot of decorating instructions, though, and that makes me a little nervous. I’m a lot of things, but expert cake decorator is not one of them.

Do any of these recipes have your mouth watering?

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I’m continuing to scour the internet for you, providing all sort of pumpkin dessert recipes for you to consider for your Thanksgiving feast. I’ve already discussed pumpkin cheesecakes and pumpkin bread puddings. In this post I want to discuss an option that may not even be on your Thanksgiving dessert radar: trifle.

I know I, for one, always think of trifle as a summer dessert, with its layers of cake, fruit, and custard. My siblings and I were obsessed with our mother’s trifles when we were growing up, always begging for her to make it. With layers of peaches, berries, pound cake soaked in orange juice (and sometimes liquor, when we got older), and vanilla pudding, they were (and continue to be) truly delicious. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that I never thought about making a pumpkin trifle.

That all changed, however, when I was looking for something different to do for a Thanksgiving dessert a few years ago.  I caught an episode of Paula Deen’s show and she was making a pumpkin gingerbread trifle. She made it look incredibly easy and delicious. I thought it was a perfect recipe to try, and it was a big hit. Indeed, it was very easy to make. Essentially, all you have to do is make some pudding, bake some boxed gingerbread, and then put everything together. As I said, it won a lot of good reviews.

Paula Deen’s is not the only recipe for pumpkin trifle, though. Epicurious has a competing recipe for a pumpkin gingerbread trifle. If you have the time, and want to feel like more of a gourmet, this recipe is probably for you. It includes a recipe for homemade gingerbread to use, as well as a pumpkin mousse to layer it with.

I’ve longingly looked over this recipe for autumn trifle with roasted apples, pears, and pumpkin caramel sauce for years now, but I’ve never had the guts to try it. Guts may not be the right word, because there’s nothing in it that I think would pose a problem, but it looks like it takes a lot of time, which I generally don’t have. Who does? In any case, it looks amazing, with homemade cinnamon pastry cream, pumpkin sauce, and roasted fruit, all layered with lady fingers. This is the type of recipe I would love someone else to cook for me!

Finally, there is this recipe for pumpkin praline trifle. It’s advertised as very similar to a tiramisu, so if you like the famous Italian dessert, you may want to check this out. It definitely sounds great, with the mascarpone cream, pumpkin filling, and ladyfingers.

Have any of these recipes piqued your interest?

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Thanksgiving is coming, and along with the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce it also means pumpkin desserts! Yes, I usually eat so much at the main meal that I swear I won’t have dessert. If we’re being honest here, I’d much rather have another helping of stuffing over dessert, but at the end of the day, if Thanksgiving is about anything, it’s about gluttony (oh, and giving thanks), so there’s always room for dessert.

Every year I bring a pumpkin dessert to the festivities, because I know it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without something spicy and pumpkin-y to end the meal. Well, the first part of the meal, anyway, because later in the evening, the first round of sandwiches come out. In any case, I’ve tried to remain somewhat creative in my choices for dessert, avoiding the traditional pumpkin pie, and opting for something a little less obvious. Because of this, I’ve browsed through many recipes, and I want to share some of the ones I’ve tried and some of the ones I’ve wanted to try in a series of posts. This first entry focuses on pumpkin cheesecake!

A great alternative to pumpkin pie is the pumpkin cheesecake. The only drawback is that cheesecake is quite heavy and may not be the best accompaniment to such a huge dinner. It is delicious, though. In the past I’ve tried Emeril Lagasse’s recipe. It turned out really well (even though I skipped the bourbon spiked cream, which I’m sure is delicious). I liked that it was made in a food processor (mostly because I don’t have a standing mixer). However, my food processor at the time didn’t fit the whole cake and I had to do it in batches. This recipe does make an enormous cake, which may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your situation.

If you want some other choices, this recipe for pumpkin cheesecake crumble squares looks interesting. I like that there is some ginger in the filling; I’m sure that adds a great flavor. The topping has sour cream in it, though, and I’m not a big fan of sour cream in my cheesecakes.

Epicurious has a great selection of unique pumpkin cheesecake recipes. There’s a pumpkin-pecan cheescake that includes a caramel praline topping. I’m sure it’s delicious, but it’s a lot of steps, for me, and I’m a little afraid of sugar work.

Epicurious really loves those sour cream toppings. If you dig them too, you should check out these recipes: pumpkin cheesecake with bourbon sour cream topping and pumpkin cheesecake with marshmallow-sour cream topping and gingersnap crust.

If I were going to try one this year, it would definitely be this recipe for pumpkin ginger cheesecake.

Do you have a favorite pumpkin cheesecake recipe? Are you going to be trying one this year?

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Every Friday at work we have a treat day: a different person each week brings in food for the group. This is voluntary and we do have some people that do not participate. For those of us that do, we get something tasty each Friday morning. Sometimes this treat is doughnuts from the grocery store and sometimes it’s homemade cookies or brownies or some other dish. A few weeks ago Jeff Lim brought in a Hawaiian dish that was really good. I asked him for the recipe and thought I would try making Kalua Pig myself.

I am not one that tries new foods all that often. I know what I like and pretty much stick to that. Hell, I never even tried Chinese food until my wife and I got together. Chinese food is a favorite of hers so I agreed to take her to a Chinese restaurant. I don’t mind Chinese food, but I still prefer a cheeseburger.

I have tried different styles of BBQ pulled pork before and have never really been all that impressed, so as I looked at the pot of pulled pork I was not sure I’d really like it. When I tried it I realized that it was not at all like the pulled pork I had tried before.

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

Ingredients:

• 4-5 pound pork butt
• 2½ tablespoons Hawaiian salt (substitute kosher salt)
• 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
• 1 banana leaf (substitute 4-5 whole, unpeeled bananas)
• 4-6 ti leaves (substitute aluminum foil)
• ¼ to ½ a small head of cabbage, shredded
• 1 to 2 cups white rice
• chicken broth, enough to cook the rice

Usually Kalua pig is cooked in the ground over hot lava rocks. I don’t have a large supply of lava rocks or a way to heat them so I used the oven instead.

Trim any excess fat from the roast. Make several shallow long cuts along the roast or pierce liberally with a fork. (This allows the salt and liquid smoke to penetrate the meat.) Rub with salt and liquid smoke. Wrap the roast with banana leaf or place whole bananas on top of meat.

Cut the ribs from the ti leaves and wrap over the banana leaf. Substitute aluminum foil, if ti leaves are not available. (Ti leaves can often be obtained from a local florist). Tie securely with twine.

Roast in a 325-350 degree oven for about 45 minutes per pound. When meat is done, remove ti leaves, banana leaf (or bananas) and shred pork.

I did replace the Hawaiian salt with the kosher salt, the banana leaf with 5 whole bananas, and the Ti leaves with tin foil.

After the roast was cooked and shredded I put a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a frying pan, added the shredded roast and cabbage and fried the mixture until the cabbage was tender. Serve it over the rice cooked in the chicken broth.

My version was very good, but a bit lighter in flavor than what I had tried at work. I suspect that because I used the substitute ingredients the flavor was less. The next time I make this I will increase the liquid smoke and kosher salt rub.

Overall it was a very good recipe and we had 3 good meals out of it. I’ll be making this again soon.

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If you’ve been following along at home, you know that I’ve never made baked ziti before. Part of me knows why I’ve been avoiding it: it’s a lot of steps, and a lot of dishes! But this particular recipe had a hook that convinced me it was time to try it. It makes enough for two casseroles, and one pops right into the freezer. I’ve become a monster when it comes to having easy meals ready, so I thought it would be worth the time and the mess.

What’s the verdict? Was it worth the sink full of dishes and the time spent on the multiple steps to make this casserole?

I’m on the fence with that answer, mostly because I’m a food snob. Baked ziti … wait for it … is a plebeian dish. When I can make a pasta dish that is more innovative than this one, with more unique flavors and less steps and dishes, I’m not sure why I’d choose this sausage and pepper baked ziti recipe.

That said, we couldn’t stop eating it, even though it was in the back of my mind (and yes, it did come out of my mouth too) that this was a meal that would fit in with the all-you-can-eat pasta buffet at the likes of Olive Garden. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but for a food snob, it does become a factor.

In all honesty, it was very delicious and with just a few tweaks it could be pretty amazing:

• I’d add some frozen spinach next time.
• It also needed some spices, so I’d probably just mix in an Italian spice blend or Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. This was in the back of my mind while preparing it, but I wanted to be true to the recipe for a test drive, and I thought maybe I was underestimating the sweet Italian sausage.
• Fresh basil would go a long, long way in this dish.
• As would some feta cheese.
• The vegetables would have more flavor if browned instead of (essentially) steamed.

By the way, I was right — it was a huge mess!

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