Vegetables

I have a new thing - mushrooms. I've been starting to eat them slowly, usually preferably marinated in some balsamic vinegar or something. They're still slimy and the same Kingdom as the stuff that grows between your toes, but every once in awhile I do like to try something new.
But here is a good roasted veggie recipe for the mushroom, pepper, and onion person in your life.
Ingredients:

1. 1/2 lb mushrooms
2. 2 red peppers
3. 1 sweet onion
4. 2-8 cloves garlic (depending on taste)
5. Garlic powder
   
6. Balsamic vinegar
7. Olive oil

Equipment:

1. Oven at 350
2. Jelly roll pan
3. Cutting board/knife
4. Bowls for marinating
5. Saute pan

Procedure:

1. Wash all vegetables.
2. Chop mushrooms and put them in the bowl.
3. Combine 1/6 (eyeball it) cup olive oil and 1/6 cup balsamic vinegar and pour over the mushrooms. Turn mushrooms to coat and allow to marinate.
4. Chop red peppers. Put in a bowl and coat with a little olive oil. Set aside.
5. Chop onions and garlic.
   
6. Prepare a saute pan and pour in some olive oil.
   
7. Saute onions until fairly tender, but not brown. (Transparent is good.)
   
8. Combine marinated mushrooms (with the marinade), red peppers, and onions in jelly roll pan.
   
9. Spread vegetables to be about one to two vegetables thick.
   
10. Bake in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until tender, delicious and the red peppers have become yellow-orange in color.
    

Salmon

So every once in awhile, I do make myself a piece or two of fish, because it is good for you and it is easier to be a vegetarian who eats fish - I still haven't managed to reconcile the two behaviors, and after four years of being a vegetarian, letting fish back into my life does not feel like too terrible a thing to do, because I do not eat it daily or even weekly. But either way, this delicious recipe from the Food Network's episode of the Paula Dean show - Dean Family Cookoff - comes out perfect every time and is so easy to make.
Ingredients

1. 1 lb piece of salmon (this is not important - if you use more fish, use more seasoning and butter, if you use less fish, use less)
2. lemon or lime juice
3. 6-8 thinly sliced pats of butter
   
4. salt
5. pepper
6. garlic powder
7. 2 tbs Olive oil

Equipment

1. Glass baking dish
2. Oven @350
3. Knife & cutting board

Procedure

1. Slice salmon into approximately 4oz pieces (it is most important that they be equal)
2. Pour olive oil into the bottom of the pan.
   
3. Place salmon skin side down on the pan.
   
4. Drizzle lemon juice over tops of salmon
5. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on salmon to taste.
6. Top off with pats of butter, 2-3 per piece of fish
7. Bake in oven at 350 for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!
Really delicious served over rice or cous-cous.

5 Minute Key Lime Pie

If you're like me, you don't really like key lime pie - I find it a little too sweet and a little too fluffy. Also, I know what's in it, and it will kill you.
So when I found this recipe on the back of a Keebler Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Crust, I decided to give it a shot anyway, because it looked easy and low in fat. It's delicious, and a great thing for any summer party, cuz it tastes like it was twice as hard to make.
Ingredients

1. 1 Reduced Fat Graham Cracker Crust
2. 1 pkg. sugar free jello
3. 12 oz. Light Key Lime Pie flavored yogurt
   
4. 1 8oz. pkg cool whip (thawed)
5. 1/4 cup water
   

Equipment

1. Pyrex measuring cup
2. Mixing Bowl
3. Whisk
4. Spatula
5. Pie-crust in pan
6. Refrigerator
   

Procedure

1. Heat water in measuring cup in microwave (1.5 minutes or until boiling)
2. Add Jell-O and whisk together
3. Add Jell-O to yogurt in a mixing bowl
4. Fold in cool-whip
5. Pour into pie crust
6. Let sit in fridge for 2-4 hours
   

A helpful tip - the plastic container that comes with your pie crust is also a lid - just flip it over!

Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars and I make them all the time - this recipe is easy to do and doesn't actually require a mixer - its just easier with one. I made these when I was living in Rome a few times, because Italian lemons are about twice the size of normal lemons and squeezing out the juice was really easy. Overall, for something made from scratch, these are totally worth the work - brownies are not.

Ingredients:
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c butter or stick margarine, softened
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c granulated sugar
2 tsp grated lemon peel (optional)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
powdered sugar

Equipment:
1 mixer
1 mixing bowl
1 8x8 or 9x9 pan

Procedure:
1) Heat oven to 350F
2) Mix flour, butter, and 1/4 c powdered sugar. Press in ungreased square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches, building up 1/2 inch edges.
3) Bake crust 20 minutes; remove from oven.
4) Beat remaining ingredients except powdered sugar with electric mixer on high speed about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust.
5) Bake 25-30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar. For bars, cut into 5x5 rows.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Spinach and Artichoke Dip is my favorite thing to make for parties. It's easy to make, delicious, and can be served with crackers, tortilla chips, or carrots and other crudites. It's also low in fat, if you want it to be. This recipe doesn't use mayonnaise, because mayonnaise is gross.
I eyeball this when I make it, depending on how many I'm cooking for. You can check out allrecipes.com for more thourough recipes.
Ingredients:

1. Frozen chopped spinach, slightly thawed (use as much as you want)
   
2. Canned artichokes, drained and chopped up (use as much as you want)
3. Garlic
   
4. Approx. 2 tbsp. butter
5. Cream Cheese
6. Sour Cream
7. Salt
8. Pepper
9. Parmesan, mozzarella, moneterey jack or other white cheese.
   

Equipment

1. Cutting board
2. Knife
3. Omelet pan or wide bottomed saucepan
4. Stirring Utensil (spatula or wooden spoon)

Procedure

1. Melt butter in saucepan on med-high heat
2. Cook spinach in butter for about 2-3 minutes, until totally thawed and flexible
3. Add garlic and saute for another minute.
   
4. Add chopped artichokes, continue to saute.
   
5. Add cream cheese and sour cream (if you are trying to make a large batch, use 8 ounces of each, or use 4 ounces if not trying to make a large batch).
   
6. Stir constantly until melted, then melt in cheese and season with salt and pepper.
   

Enjoy!

Passover

Judaism, in general, is a food based religion. Okay, so there is some stuff about G-d in there too, but mostly, its about the food - I only know this because I'm not actually Jewish, and when you are friends with a number of reform/liberal/non-practicing Jews you realize that the only thing they really connect with in their faith is the food. The High Holy Days - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippour both involve eating massive amounts of food. Yom Kippour also involves the fast, as it is the day of atonement.
Passover is every Jew I know's least favorite holiday. For more information check out http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm. Passover, which exists mostly to remember the Exodus from Egypt, lasts for approximately a week (again, I'm not actually Jewish), and involves eating nothing with leavening. "This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls." Different denominations of Judaism observe the rules of Passover differently - Reform tends to eat pretty liberally, just not eating breads and things with flour, etc.; some Jews also don't eat rice, corn, peanuts, and legumes (beans) - which includes corn syrup, which is in nearly everything in American pre-prepared foods.
If you're a vegetarian on passover, it can be very difficult, because Matzoh is not a great source of protein, and it is incredibly high in carbohydrates. Meats are still available to those who eat them, and fish for the pescetarians, and for the Vegetarians the options are pretty much down to mushrooms and animal proteins such as eggs and cheese.
I had this at a Seder last night, it's called Matzoh Brie and it is basically scrambled eggs with Matzoh in it. This is a smaller recipe, probably good for the individual on passover who is trying to eat.

Ingredients

• 1 Passover matzo (can be found in most supermarkets)
• 1 egg, beaten
• Butter/Cooking Oil Spray
  
• Salt, to taste
• Syrup, jam, etc. for topping
  

Equipment

• 2 large bowl
• Cold Water
• 1 frying pan/skillet

Procedure

1. Break the matzo into medium-sized pieces.
2. Put them in a small bowl, cover with cold water, and let them soak until soft.
3. Add the pieces of matzo to the beaten egg, stirring once or twice to coat. Season with salt.
4. Grease a small or medium skillet and pour in the egg mixture.
5. Scramble matzoh/egg mixture like scrambled egg (push around in skillet).
   
6. Turn off the heat when the mixture starts to brown.
   
7. Serve with jam, syrup, or a topping of your choice.

To the Seder I, with my Unitarian Universalist upbringing, brought mashed potatoes with garlic and cream cheese. To make these you will need:

Ingredients:

• 3-6 potatoes (I like to use Yukon Gold and leave the skin on)
• 3-12 cloves of garlic (I like garlic)
• 1 tbsp. butter
  
• Cream Cheese (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
  
• Pepper (to taste)

Equipment:

• Vegetable brush
• Cutting board/sharp, heavy knife
• Mixing bowl
  
• Large Pot
• Colander
  
• Stove
• Potato Masher or electric mixer
  

Procedure:

1. Scrub and peel potatoes (leaving the skins on is a matter of personal taste and also largely depends on the type of potatoes - Yukon Gold and Redskin potatoes are good with the skin still on, some other types aren't - its entirely up to you.)
2. Cut potatoes into small chunks - 1 inch cubes or a little bit larger - they will boil much faster.
3. Put potatoes into a pot of water and bring it to a boil.
4. Chop garlic
   
5. When potatoes are soft enough to be smushed against the side of the pot with a fork, empty them into the colander.
   
6. Melt the butter into the pot and cook the garlic for a few moments, then add the garlic and the potatoes to the mixing bowl.
7. Add the cream cheese to the top of the bowl and stir it in, then use potato masher or electric mixer on a low speed.
   

Enjoy!

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

This is another reason to own the Joy of Cooking - twice baked sweet potatoes!
Ingredients:
Sweet Potatoes
Heavy Cream
Butter
Salt
Equipment:
Oven at 400
1 baking dish
1 small bowl
1 large spoon
1 fork/potato masher
Procedure:

1. Pierce potatoes several times with a fork.
   
2. Bake potatoes for 1 hour
3. Slice potatoes in half and scoop out insides with a spoon.
4. In a small bowl, mash potatoes with heavy cream, butter, and salt to taste, then refill potato skins and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.