Warm lentil salad with goat cheese
adapted from The NYT

1 pound black or French lentils
1 medium onion, halved and peeled
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
handful of arugula or parsley, minced
4 ounces goat cheese, cut into half moons

For the dressing:
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup cooking liquid from lentils
salt and pepper to taste

Put the lentils, onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaf in a large pot. Add enough water to cover lentils by 1.5 inches. Bring to a boil, add salt, then let simmer for 30 minutes, until lentils are tender by intact. Drain lentils. Discard onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Return cooking liquid to pot and bring to a boil, reducing to 1/4 cup. Place lentils in a baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together dressing ingredients. Toss with lentils. Mix in arugula and top with goat cheese. Heat through for 15 minutes, then serve.

Misoatmeal
adapted from food52

1/2 cup steel-cut oats
2 cups water
1 heaping tablespoon sweet white miso paste
2 teaspoons honey
1 handful walnut halves and pieces

Bring oats and water to a boil in a small pot. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Once the mixture has cooled a bit, spoon 1/4 cup of oats into a small bowl. Mix in miso to bowl. Integrate mixture back into pot. Leave overnight.

In the morning, re-heat the misoatmeal, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the desired consistency (I like my oats quite thick, so this takes 20 or so minutes for me).  Incorporate walnuts and honey, and serve.

Braised fennel with Meyer lemon
adapted from The NYT 

2 fennel bulbs, chopped in 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon fennel fronds
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup vegetable broth
grated rind and juice of one Meyer lemon
sliced gouda

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, arrange fennel in a single layer and cook, until browned (~3 minutes). Flip over and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining fennel (add more oil to the pan if needed). Season with salt and pepper.

Return skillet to medium-high heat. Add broth, lemon rind, juice, and fennel. Bring to a boil and let simmer, covered, until tender (~10 minutes).

Transfer fennel to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Mix in fronds and top with cheese.

When home for Thanksgiving, I had promised a family friend (who is an amazing chef, we’ve done many Thanksgiving dinners at her house) that I’d have her over for dinner. She came over in early January, and I made seven things (with some additional dessert, we served 8 things total). I was nervous, but things came out well.

Many thanks to my mom for helping me hand grate two butternut squash, and to said family friend for arriving early and helping prep, essentially completely making the salad . Photos and, as available, links to recipes follow…

Prep photo: pretty potatoes!

Porcini mushroom soup

Grapefruit, avocado, and pomegranate seed salad (from Eating Well magazine)

Harvest tart, minus olives (duh), plus goat cheese. I’ve been wanting to make this since it was published earlier this fall!

Lentils and carrots with mint (I wouldn’t have tried this if it wasn’t for a recommendation by a well-trusted source. Unexpectedly delightful!)

Garlicky greens (nbd, and an ugly photo, but always tasty and so good for you)

Brown rice pudding, seasoned with saffron and cardamom (mostly inactive, actually very reminiscent of biko!)

And of course, my pumpkin pie (set properly this time!)

Somewhat of a New Year’s resolution: I’ve decided to expand my recipe arsenal and to now aim for at least one new recipe every week. I think it’s doable! I’m off to a running start with two recipes this week, both of which were simple and delicious. Here we go:

Sweet potato chili
adapted from Cookie+Kate

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 in. pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 rounded teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cinammon
salt and pepper to taste
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups vegetable broth
plain greek yogurt, sliced radishes, sliced scallions (all optional, for garnish)

In a large pot, saute onions in olive oil for ~5 minutes on medium heat. Add peppers, garlic, and sweet potato. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and stir in all the spices and canned ingredients. Cover and let cook for 1.5-2 hours, stirring occasionally. When done, the sweet potatoes will be soft and the liquid will have reduced to reach that “hearty chili consistency.”

Garnish your bowl of chili with a dollop of greek yogurt, sliced radishes, and/or sliced scallions.

Parsnip leek soup
adapted from Sassy Radish

5 tablespoons olive oil
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cups vegetable broth or water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (dairy option: grated parmesan)
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more to taste
zest of 1 lemon

In a large pot, saute leeks in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 5-8 minutes, until they are translucent. Don’t let leeks brown. Add garlic. Add remaining olive oil and parsnips. Add vegetable broth, stir in salt and pepper, and bring soup to a boil. Let simmer for 30 minutes, until parsnips are fork-tender. Stir in nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and zest. Adjust seasonings as necessary. Blend soup to desired consistency.

You can garnish your bowl of soup with some parsley and a drizzle of olive oil. I enjoyed my unadorned bowl with some homemade pita (freezer FTW) and sheep’s milk gouda.

Success! This year, I’m thankful for counter space, iPad Thai, and some really awesome (read: compliant) sous chefs/professional dishwashers.

The not-so-skinny (but still relatively healthful, I think!): 8 dishes. I apologize for the sad photos; was trying quickly get shots (in suboptimal lighting) before we started eating!

Roasted eggplant soup, garnished with crumbled goat cheese:

Caramelized onion and goat cheese cornbread. Super moist!

Vibrant tasty green beans. Somewhat surprisingly my favorite of the meal; the leeks made this dish:

Sundried tomato stuffed mushrooms:

Golden-crusted brussel sprouts:

Kale and olive oil mashed potatoes:

And, of course, dessert.

Chocolate tie (tart-pie). This in a pie crust. Photo:

SC’s hybrid pumpkin pie, that finally, finally set!! Combined the coconut milk tip from here with this recipe. Special thanks to Yuhki and Sophie for patiently straining the filling through a fine mesh strainer, which resulted in the unreal silky smooth texture. Visual:

. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Finishing off summer with a slew of ribboned zucchini/summer squash salads (this was taken on the first day of CS50 2011!):

Asian-style eggplant, recipe courtesy of Yuhki (apologies for the ugly photo; sadly, delicious eggplant does not photograph well):

Kale chips:

White whole wheat Homemade pita (inaugural KitchenAid S(t)ir Mix-A-Lot recipe!):

Finally getting the hang of poached eggs (here with a tomato sauce and sauteed kale, on top of When Pigs Fly curried pumpkin bread):

Homemade applesauce (40 lbs of apples purchased this fall…and counting..):

Some unconventional non-lettuce salads == LOVE. Roasted carrot and avocado salad:

Haricot verts with shallots:

All of the pumpkin. Turned into pumpkin black bean soup (pictured with pizza a bit later), toasted pumpkin seeds (got it right on the second try!), pumpkin/spinach saag, and other assorted pumpkin goodies:

My newest thing: homemade pizza. Started with a 12-person pizza party gathering Halloweekend, now offering the SheilaChristine private pizza party experience (white whole wheat dough and basic instructions). Pizza party (photo by Ryan):

Private pizza party #1. Butternut squash and goat cheese on rosemary-flecked whole wheat dough, topped with mizuna:

Private pizza party #2. Roasted red peppers and broccoli, goat cheese, and spinach on rosemary-flecked whole wheat dough:

And, of course, an assortment of desserts.

Buckwheat cake:

Hazelnut brown butter cake:

Almond meal brownies (gluten-free):

Chocolate toffee cookies:

Vegan treats for a bake sale at Back Bay Yoga (almond butter cookies–based on these, banana-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, banana-oatmeal-raisin cookies, pumpkin muffins):

Coming up: Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving2011.xlsx was created last week, and the most of the groceries are already waiting for me in CA It’s going to be legend-wait for it-…

Yes, I pretty much baked and cooked through Irene. To prep, I visited the Farmers Market in Harvard Square on Friday and picked up ingredients to make Alice Waters’ Ratatouille (Chez Panisse is 40!). Chopped and diced veggies all afternoon before FJY (yoga/dancing to techno/house/pop remixes–yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds), then finished up after class (which, by the way, was particularly fantastic this week). A late dinner of ratatouille, sauteed kale, and quinoa with a dollop of chevre:

Saturday morning, I made a batch of steel cut oats, and then baked a raspberry yogurt cake in preparation for extended family visiting and a goodbye dinner for one of my college roommates. Tweaked this raspberry buttermilk cake a bit, and I’m very happy with the result:

Note: the problem with baking a cake before a hurricane is that your plans might fall through, and then no one can come over and help you eat said cake. Thank goodness for roommates and a working freezer.

Since dinner plans were canceled, I then…baked some more. Two batches of granola (have been experimenting lately, just small changes!), and granola bars:

And finally, today. The wait for Irene’s arrival was over, and it was just time to…well, wait until she left. In all honesty, it was quite nice having an excuse to laze around Sunday morning in my pajamas, and I finally(!) opened Sir Mix-A-Lot (Kitchen Aid stand mixer–still can’t believe it’s mine!) and the upgraded food processor (name still TBD!).  It felt like Christmas morning for a 6-year old . No, I haven’t used either yet; I can only take so much at a time. However, I DID make a simple, tried-and-true banana bread with chocolate chips (no butter no oil!):

It’s chilling in the fridge, and in a bit I’ll slice and stash in the freezer. Lastly, I celebrated the passing of Irene with a tofu scramble, sauteed kale, and diced tomato/avocado. No photo since it kind of looked like a mesh of some of my earlier meals, but it was delicious.

Mmm, cooked and baked out. And now I have food for days, which is great because it’s going to be crazy busy!

Wednesday. Omelette with zucchini, mushroom, and goat cheddar, sliced tomato and avocado, yogurt + new granola (lighter with a hint of vanilla!). Green tea straight from Tokyo. (Oh, also, this was when I seriously cut my finger with the newly sharpened Santoku. All okay now, but ugh, I’m horrifically accident prone for being fairly cautious.)

Thursday. Ribboned some summer squash with a vegetable peeler and tossed with oak leaf lettuce, mushroom, cucumber, tomato, avocado, olive oil/salt/pepper.

Friday (today!). Egg sandwich (easy over egg and goat cheddar on my favorite pan de sal from CA), sauteed kale with Aleppo pepper, and tomato.

I sauteed some kale with mushrooms garlic to accompany lunch today. Olive oil, then garlic and kale stems, then mushrooms, then kale leaves. Seasoned with coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper. So good!! I’m now sad about all the kale stems I’ve discarded in the past.

Side note: how does anyone NOT like kale? I love it. I always wish I could eat more of it.

Also, I really love the summer. And even though late summer is a bit sad, especially here in Boston, it’s when the farmers markets are at their peaks. It’s incredible seeing the variety of local produce available, and so much fun market hopping throughout the week. I have an affinity for buying baby vegetables:

Photographed with my water bottle to display relative size. The baby heirlooms!! Sigh, why can’t it just be summer all the time.