Ginger dressing (sushi restaurant style)

Whenever I tell people that I like going out for sushi they always give me this weird look until I tell them that I only order veggie rolls (and then I'm told that's not real sushi). Anyway, I really do love it, especially the tempura rolls or anything with eel sauce. Seriously, it's amazing. Aside from the rolls one of the best things is the salad that comes with it. It's usually a simple iceberg lettuce salad but is always topped with this insanely delicious dressing that was a mystery to me until recently. I looked at a few different recipes before concocting my own, so I can't really take full credit for this since it is just a conglomeration of recipes already out there, but who cares? It's incredible.

Ingredients:

1/4 of an onion
2 large carrots
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger
1 rounded tablespoon of miso paste
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 rounded tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Throw the onion, carrot, and ginger into a food processor and process until the pieces become very fine. Add miso, vinegar, sugar, oils, water, and salt and process again for a minute or two or until it becomes liquefied. Scrape down the sides of the food processor and turn it on again until you're sure the dressing is as smooth as it is going to get. Taste it and season according to your tastes. I added a little more salt and a little more sesame oil and will probably thin mine out a little more too.

Peanut noodles

I ordered spicy peanut noodles at a chinese take out place once and fell in love with them. The place I ordered from didn't add any vegetables or anything, which for me made the dish sort of dull so I tried making my own and realized that they are incredibly easy. They are equally good hot or cold as well, so leftovers are not a bad thing. You could really add whatever veggies you'd like to these, but if you add broccoli or something you may want to boil it with the noodles while they cook.

Ingredients:

2 servings of soba noodles (or spaghetti if you want)
1 large carrot, julienned
3 inches (or so) of cucumber, julienned
6-8 strips of green pepper, cut in thirds
1 large handfull of cilantro
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon (plus a little more) of rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 good squirt of sriracha sauce (as spicy as you'd like it)
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Directions:

Boil noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside. In a medium sauce pan melt peanut butter over low heat. Add soy sauce and stir. Slowly add water, whisking the entire time to thin out the peanut butter. Once the water is incorporated and things start to thicken, add the vinegar, garlic powder, sriracha, and sesame oil and stir to combine. Turn the heat off and add the noodles and veggies to the pot and mix to coat everything in the sauce. Toss cilantro in right before serving.

No knead bread (by Mark Bittman/Jim Lahey)

Ok, Jim Lahey is a genius. He came up with this recipe and then shared it with Mark Bittman, who then published it in the New York Times. This might be the best thing the Times has ever published, and that is saying a lot coming from me. I (obviously) did not invent this recipe myself, but I think everyone should try making it at least once. I will also be posting (in the future) variations of this bread and recipes that call for this bread as one of the ingredients, so I thought I'd include it here as well. It really is as easy as everyone says it is, except for my dad who has an inexplicable amount of trouble with it.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup water

Directions:

In a large plastic bowl combine all the ingredients and mix it all up. The dough should be what Mark calls "shaggy" but I have no clue what that means so I took it to mean "wet-ish". It definitely should be a little loose. If you add the 1 3/4 cup water and it looks dry for some reason go ahead and add more, but don't use more than 2 cups. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and keep it on your counter at room temperature for about a day (at least 18 hours). After you've let it rise for 18-24 hours, sprinkle a good handful of flour on your counter top and pour the dough on top. Fold your dough over on itself a few times until you can shape it into a rough ball. Cover it with a clean towel. Let it rest for an hour. After an hour, place an enameled cast iron dutch oven (one with a lid) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Let the dough rest for another hour while the pan heats up in the oven. After the hour is up, transfer the dough into the pan, cover it, and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and cook for an additional 15.

That's it. Homemade, crusty, delicious bread.

Cough drops

It is starting to get cold out, which means that getting sick isn't far behind. I caught a cold early this year and after trying to find a flavor of cough drops at the store that didn't make me cringe I decided to try my own. These aren't medicated at all but if your sore throat isn't bad these will do the trick. The two pictured are vanilla/peppermint and honey/lemon/sage but you could really flavor these however you'd like.

Ingredients:

For vanilla peppermint:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup water
2 drops green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
powder sugar mold (just pour 2 cups powdered sugar in a 9x13" pan and press a measuring spoon in it until little holes remain)

For honey, lemon, sage:

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sage
zest of one lemon
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
juice of one lemon
2 drops yellow food coloring
powder sugar mold (see above)

Directions:

(If making the honey, lemon, sage option: boil 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon sage, and lemon zest together. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain and measure out 1/3 cup) Both versions follow the next steps: Combine water (or sage/lemon water), sugar, and corn syrup (or honey) in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Stop stirring and boil mixture until it reaches 300 degrees*. Remove from heat and add flavorings and coloring. Spoon the syrup into the holes that you created in your powdered sugar and transfer to the refrigerator. After a few minutes remove from the refrigerator and shake the pan so that the powdered sugar coats all the sides. Let them rest until they fully harden.

*you can either use a candy thermometer (which is great if yours is accurate) or you can do what I did and do the cold water test. All you have to do is fill a dish with cold water and spoon a bit of your syrup into it. If it is at 300 degrees it will harden instantly and you can hear a "clink" when it hits the bottom. It will not form a ball and there will be hard strings of candy throughout the water.

Vegetable barley soup

Despite not having a ton of things in it this soup is one that always fills me up quickly. I love the chewy texture of barley too, which makes its longer cooking time more worth it. This soup does need to sit on the stove for longer than most of my other soups, but the prep work is pretty easy so I feel like it all evens out. Somehow the barley turns the broth sort of buttery and silky while it's cooking, which I like because it makes it sort of different from a typical broth-based veggie soup. This recipe makes a lot of soup, like enough for a few servings.

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 large carrot, sliced in thin half moons
2 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 mushrooms, cut in half, then sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 bottle of beer*
1/2 cup medium barley
4 cups veggie stock
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper

Directions:

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-low heat and add onions, celery, and carrots and cook for several minutes until they start to soften. Add mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook until the mushrooms have softened and have started to turn brown. At this point there may be some brown bits on the bottom of the pan, which is good. Add your beer and stir up all those brown bits. Add the barley, the veggie stock, the bay leaf, and salt/pepper. Cover the pot and simmer over low-ish heat for about 45 minutes, checking it at 30 minutes to make sure it doesn't need more stock, Stir occasionally during this time to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. When barley is tender and has opened up then the soup is done. Transfer to bowls and enjoy!

*Ok, two things. First: if you only use half a beer then you get to drink the other half. Second: use what you like to drink. I used an amber ale in this one, which was nice because it matched the mushroom flavor. You could also use a pale ale or an IPA. Don't use a fruit beer though, obviously.

Red lentils and rice

I really like indian spiced dhal but I lived with a friend who hated the smell of curry and any indian spices, so I decided to change up the spices in traditional dhal (and made it less labor intensive) so that I could eat them without making the house smell like indian food. I used red lentils here because they don't have the same earthy flavor that brown lentils do and they cook much more quickly.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of rice
1/4 cup red lentils
3/4 cup veggie stock
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 dash crushed red pepper
salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 handful cilantro
diced tomato
minced onion

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions (I used a rice cooker). While the rice is cooking, combine lentils and veggie stock in a small sauce pot and heat over medium heat. Add garlic, cumin, and crushed red pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer about 15 minutes, or until the lentils have broken down and are extremely tender. Check on them a few times to give a stir and to add a little more stock if they are getting dry. Remove from heat and taste. Season with salt if necessary, Add cooked rice to serving bowl and top with a scoop of lentils. Squeeze the lemon juice on top (I usually do about a quarter of a lemon per bowl). Top with a generous amount of cilantro, some diced tomato, and minced onion,

Cheaters' stromboli

Ok, so I say "cheaters" stromboli because I didn't make the dough. I used Pillsbury Crescent Dough. That stuff is amazing!And I'm not even getting paid to say that (hint, hint, Pillsbury!). They now make this product that is a seamless sheet of dough for things like this stromboli, so now you don't have to press several triangles together to get a nice big piece. Anyway, the dough is light and flaky, which I like but you could easily use pizza dough for this too if you want. You'd have to cook it a bit longer though.

Ingredients:

1 crescent roll sheet, cut in thirds
1/4 a small onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
5-6 florets broccoli
1 cup spinach, cut in ribbons
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
dash of garlic powder
dash crushed red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water
tomato sauce for dipping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Place broccoli in a pot with water and boil until it is tender, drain and set aside. In a large sautee pan, cook onions and garlic in oil over medium-low heat for a few minutes, or until onions become soft. Add mushrooms and do not stir pan - just leave them. Cook about 2-3 minutes and then stir the mushrooms. Cut broccoli into small pieces and add to pan. Cook until mushrooms are soft and brown. Add spinach to pan and cook until it turns soft, adding a splash or two of water when it looks like it is drying out. Season with garlic powder, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. On a pan lined with aluminum foil, unroll your dough sheet. Cut off 1/3 of dough and set the rest aside. On the 1/3 in front of you pile a small amount of cheese about an inch from one of the long sides and make a line down the dough. Top this with your cooked veggies. Top with more cheese and the parmesan. Carefully roll the dough around the cheese and veggies and press to seal, making sure to seal up the ends as well. Cut a few slits in the dough. In a small bowl, mix egg and water together and whisk. Brush top of dough with this egg mixture. Transfer to over and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until the dough is fully browned. Cut and serve with tomato sauce for dipping.

Boozy worms and dirt dessert

I am super proud of this one, I have to admit. It combines all the things I love: pudding, gummies, alcohol, and cookies. This is certainly not the version you grew up with as a child and you should definitely be careful while eating this because there is a LOT of vodka in it. If you're not making it for halloween you don't have to decorate it like a graveyard - I just thought it was cute.

Ingredients:

2 packages of chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1 cup whipped cream flavored vodka
1 package cool whip
1 individual size package of oreos, crushed
12 milano cookies, with the bottoms cut off
1 package gummy worms
1 cup vodka

Directions:

Two days before you need the dessert soak gummy worms in vodka and cover. They will absorb it over the next couple days, just make sure to stir every once in a while to prevent them from sticking together. A day before you need the dessert mix the pudding with milk and beat for a few minutes with an electric beater or stand mixer. Mix in the whipped cream (or vanilla, or regular) vodka and beat for another couple minutes. Fold in the cool whip and mix gently until it is combined. Transfer mixture to a 9x13 pan and freeze. It won't freeze solid because of the vodka. The day you need it take it out of the freezer and scoop out spoonfuls of pudding, in the hole you created bury the vodka soaked worms, then place the pudding back on top and smooth out. Do this all over the pan. When all the worms are buried top with the crushed oreos. Place milano cookies in the pudding to look like tombstones. Place in freezer until you're ready to serve. The texture will be sort of mousse like at the beginning but the longer it sits out the more pudding-like it becomes.