Swiss chard wraps

Are these wraps, tacos or burritos? You decide.

1 head swiss chard, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
sprinkle of dried red pepper flakes
splash of broth
goat cheese, feta cheese, or queso blanco
salsa
tortillas

Saute the onion in bacon fat or olive oil until soft. Throw in the garlic, wait 10 seconds; add the pepper flakes and broth. Add the swiss chard, cover, and let cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and let the broth boil off. Serve on warm tortillas with cheese and salsa.

Sounds weird to have cooked greens with cheese and salsa, but these were a lot better than I thought they would be. You could leave the cheese off and have these as a sort of vegan breakfast burrito, too.

Vote for me!

On a whim, I entered a Recipe Redesign Contest, and it seems I'm one of 22 finalists. Be sure to check it out and vote for me!


I know my hand-drawn picture looks like kindergarten crap next to the other entries. Seriously, I had no idea professional graphic design would be involved. I took "recipe redesign" literally; looks like everyone else concentrated on the "design" part of that statement, rather than the "recipe" part.

Oh well. Vote for me anyway?

21st-century coupon deals

I've recently discovered Groupon and Living Social, and I don't know how I lived this long without them. (There's also Bloomspot.)

If you don't know, these websites offer coupons to vast groups of people, for everything from helicopter lessons to yoga classes to 50% meals at fine restaurants to Amazon.com gift certificates. I myself have scored two adult movie tickets for $9 (total); $10 for $20 of credit at both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble; paintball tickets for $20 each; and museum admissions at 50% off. Best of all, you don't actually have to do anything. You put in your email and city at each site, and they email you the daily deals.

But it gets better!

There's apparently a resale market for these already-purchased deals.

For deals that are about to expire, or for people whose plans have changed and now they can't use them anymore, there are Coup Recoup, DealsGoRound, and Lifesta. These sites list second-market coupons that you can buy for a discount off the already-discounted original price.

For people who eat out more often than I do, this is a great way to score meals out for next to nothing.

Butternut squash and black bean pizza

Looks kinda like a Jackson Pollack painting, doesn't it? Eat your art!

Remember those butternut squash pockets? Well, I had some butternut squash goop left over after making them. I also had some leftover black beans in the refrigerator. So I made a pizza out of them.

pizza crust
butternut squash, roasted and chopped
black beans
sliced peppers
feta cheese

Also would have been good on this pizza:

caramelized onions
goat cheese
parmesan cheese
salsa

Layer as you see fit. Bake at 475 for 15-20 minutes.

Orange sherbet!

I've got spring fever. I'm totally over this winter, but it's not quite springtime yet.

So when I got a bunch of oranges in my CSA box, I decided to make a very spring-y dish: fresh orange sherbet.

1/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of one orange
Pinch of salt
Fresh squeezed orange juice, from 6-7 oranges
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups cold whole milk

Mix everything together except for the milk. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved, about one minute. Whisk in the milk. Cover bowl and chill for 1-2 hours. Pour into your ice cream makes and process until it's the consistency of soft-serve. Put that in a lidded container and freeze until firm, around 3 hours.

So orangey and delicious!

Hummus pizza




If you leave the feta cheese off, you can turn this into a great vegan pizza.

1 pizza crust
Hummus
Possible toppings: sliced peppers, olives, sundried tomatoes, red onion, garlic
Feta cheese
Fresh spinach

On the pizza crust, spread the hummus out. Top with whatever hummus-friendly toppings you prefer (I used sliced peppers and black olives), plus crumbled feta cheese. Bake at 475 for 15 minutes or so. Top with fresh spinach and serve.

Butternut squash pockets

You can use puff pastry or pie crust for this recipe. I tried a pastry crust (made by cutting in cold butter and then binding it with ice water), but was too much effort and butter for what could have been accomplished with a 30-second pie crust.

So. Thaw the puff pastry or make the pie crust. Using a small plate or large bowl, cut out as many circles from the rolled-out dough as you can.

Then mix together:

1 butternut squash, roasted and chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 handful shredded parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts
a small amount of chopped fresh parsley and sage (I used dried sage)
salt and pepper to taste

And in a separate cup, mix together:

1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Brush the egg wash around the edges of the circles. Put a small amount of squash filling in the middle of each circle, and fold the edges together. Crimp with a fork. Cut a slit into the top of each pocket, and brush with more egg wash.

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or so, until browned and done.

One big one, plus a little salad, is a great still-winter-but-ready-for-spring meal.