Ingredient: Salt and pepper

Sweet Potato Latkes

When life — or the season — gives you sweet potatoes, the creativity comes out. It turns out, these great veggies are pretty much in season all year round in Southern California. What I used to think of as a holiday food, served over-sweet and mushy, is now an everyday part of my cooking repertoire.

Thus, yes, allowing me to prove I can serve meals that don’t feature ordinary rice or variations on regular potatoes. Add the obligatory comments about the healthiness and lower calorie count of sweet potatoes here (and those claims are, of course true).

Since I’m not Jewish, latkes are just another way to make potatoes interesting. And since I usually have more sweet potatoes than regular potatoes on hand, well, the connection was obvious. When I searched for basic recipes, I was pleasantly surprised to find a recipe by my friend Sarah topping the search results (see the link in the Notes section). Her recipe was the basis for mine.

Needless to say, I make enough for leftovers during the week. Yummy!

Roasted Carrots

As you might guess, I am a huge proponent of roasting vegetables. Maybe it’s because I’m rebelling against my canned-vegetable youth. Or maybe it’s because roasted veggies are just so, so good. Or, more likely, it’s a bit of both.

Roasting brings out deeper flavors from vegetables, and it’s a year-round preparation. Once grilling season starts, substitute the grill for the oven. And note how the change in cooking method impacts the flavor.

No matter how you do it, roasting veggies, including carrots, requires just a few ingredients. You can, of course, play with flavors (I love my carrots with curry spices or just a dusting of cumin).

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I’m going to guess that you, like me, see the words “Brussels sprouts”, and think “no way”. Chances are your early experiences with this lovely vegetable were of the over-boiled and under-flavored variety. Indifference is the death knell of many a vegetable, and I believe Brussels sprouts have suffered the most.

Despite my bad beginnings with this vegetable, they continued to intrigue me. If everyone hated them, I wondered, how come they were still being sold and consumed in great quantities? Shouldn’t a food that is reviled become, well, extinct? Curious, I began to explore this food.

And I am so glad I did! (And, apparently, so is my husband. I frequently catch him popping them into his mouth like they’re candy.)

Here’s the deal: Brussels sprouts should not be boiled, stewed, or otherwise cooked until mushy. Brussels sprouts must be roasted to bring out their full flavor. They don’t require much in the way of additional seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Serve hot or as part of a roasted vegetable salad.

I’m presenting two cooking options for these fine veggies, oven roasted and pan roasted. Both are equally easy — the method I choose is largely dependent upon what else I’m making that night.

Quinoa and Vegetable Stuffed Bell Peppers

Another weeknight quickie, especially if you’re using leftover quinoa (or rice). It’s a great vegetarian option that is highly flexible when it comes to ingredients. For example, instead of spinach, I’ve used dandelion greens or kale. In fact, you can mix up the ingredients all sorts of ways…to the point where instead of a bell pepper, maybe you’re stuffing an acorn or butternut squash (note: this may increase cooking time!).

Basic Fried Eggs

A good fried egg is one of life’s simple pleasures. And by simple, I mean it takes just a few minutes to get that egg fried. In addition to being tasty on their own, fried eggs are a key part of Huevos Rancheros (or my Quinoa and Black Bean Cakes, prepared like Huevos Rancheros) or Croque-Madames. Fried eggs are also great toppers for burgers or fried rice.

Now to the detailed ingredient list…

Macaroni and Cheese

Years ago during South by Southwest, my husband and I snuck out for a meal by ourselves. We ended up at the Moonshine Grill in downtown Austin. On the menu was an amazing macaroni and cheese with spicy green peppers. The moment we returned home, I started trying to recreate this recipe.

Over time, I stopped trying to make Moonshine’s mac and cheese, focusing instead on making my own. My ever-faithful bookclub has cheerfully (and hungrily) endured my experiments over the years, and there was only one major failure. Note to all: soymilk is not a good substitute for real milk in this instance.

You live, you learn.

From my perspective, the key to good mac and cheese is a mix of cheeses that bring appropriate meltiness and flavor. As a rule, I rely upon good old-fashioned regular milk when making my cheese sauce, but have, once or twice, tried out evaporated milk. The latter does add an interesting creaminess to the sauce…and that weird evaporated milk smell completely disappears in the sauce.

Needless to say, this recipe makes excellent leftovers. I do find that gluten-free pastas tend to absorb a lot of sauce, so I tend to go heavy on the sauce, lighter on the noodles.

Traditional Lasagna

I’m not a huge tomato sauce person, but lasagna is one of my weaknesses. How could I resist? Gooey cheese, layers of meat and noodles, that sauce pulling the whole thing together. And because I couldn’t find gluten-free lasagna noodles ahead of time, I bought 12 boxes from Amazon. That’s a whole lotta lasagna.

The way I figure it, I have enough noodles to last me several years!*

It takes about five minutes of Internet research to discover that everyone has a favorite lasagna recipe, ranging from quick to laborious. Or, there is no wrong way to make a lasagna. Take what works for you and don’t worry too much about doing it “right” — as long as it’s tasty, you’re good.

This recipe involves making your own Bolognese sauce, so it will take some time (think of a terrific sauce simmering on the stove all afternoon, that’s what we’re doing here). Letting the sauce simmer develops a rich flavor — one I find hard to replicate with store-bought sauces (which, of course, I use when time is working against me).

As you will see in the notes, you can skip steps 1 − 6 if you are pressed for time.

* — Okay, truth: those noodles will be gone in no time since I’m testing different lasagna styles.