Chili Mac

I always think of my maternal grandmother when I make this. She used ground beef, but I prefer a vegetarian version of my own.



1 cup diced onion
2 Tablespoons of oil
1 cup diced red bell pepper (or green if you like)
2 cups tomato sauce (or leftover fresh salsa or chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 Tablespoon ground dried chili spice
2 Tablespoons ground pasilla chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 Tablespoons Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (gluten free) *optional
1 teaspoon up to 1 Tablespoon chipolte sauce (depending on how much heat you like)
4 cups cooked pinto beans, drained
2 cups (dry) Tinkyada macaroni noodles & then prepared according to directions

Saute the onions in the oil until they are golden brown. Add the red bell pepper and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and all the spices. Heat until it bubbles and then add the beans. (Now would be the time to put the macaroni noodles into the boiling water to cook.) Heat through and let the beans thicken the sauce, about 10 minutes. Add the drained noodles to the beans, stir and serve.

Tastes great topped with anything that you like to eat on chili; chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro, etc.

I also leave out the macaroni for just plain chili beans, but the noodles are a favorite addition.

Diana's Veg in the Hole

A vegetarian version of toad in the hole. What is toad in the hole? It's sausages baked into Yorkshire Pudding. An easy and tasty dish, but I've been avoiding sausages of late.

Yorkshire Pudding Batter:
4 oz (125g) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
150 ml milk (1/4 pint = 1/2 cup)
150 ml water (1/4 pint)
pepper to taste

Whisk batter ingredients together and let sit for at least an hour. Best is to whip this together in the morning and then let it sit until afternoon. This is the unspoken secret about Yorkshire pudding. It has to age in order to be fluffy/puffy and crisp. If it worries you to leave it on the counter, feel free to pop it into the fridge.

2 potatoes cut into chunks
2 carrots peeled and cut into chunks
2 parsnips cut into thick slices
2 Tablespoons olive oil
8 shallots
4 large peeled cloves garlic

Put potatoes, carrots & parsnips in a pan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes (a quick parboil, they should only begin to be getting soft). Drain and dry off in pan. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Pour oil into a 10-inch roasting pan and heat in the oven for 5 minutes until hot. Pull the pan out and add all the veggies and toss them to coat them in oil. If you want to add some dried herbs or a garlic salt add it now. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until they are browning. Give the batter one more stir before adding to the pan. Bake for another 30 to 35 minutes until the batter is puffed and crisp. Serve.

Spaghetti Carbonara

2 small or medium eggs
1/3 cup parmesean
1 Tbs butter
1/2 leek (or onion)
1 1/2 cup mushrooms (the ones in the picture are wild harvested Boletes)
4 oz pasta, spaghetti or fettucini

Whisk the eggs with the parmsean and set aside. Saute the leek and mushrooms in the butter. In the meantime, cook the pasta. The saute should be ready to add when the pasta is cooked. When the pasta is cooked, drain and quickly return to the pan. Drizzle the egg mixture into the pasta as it is being tossed. Have a friend help if needed, one pours, one tosses. The idea is to coat the hot noodles so the cheese melts and the egg cooks slightly. When it goes right, it makes a lovely cheesy coat on the noodles. Sometimes it clumps, as the egg cooks too much, but it's just as tasty. Add the saute and toss.

You can add meat, italian sausage, or ham, or prosciutto, but I think it's fine on its own. The original recipe is just onions, but I had ingredients to use up. I also think that whole wheat noodles would have complemented the mushrooms better, but I only had regular spaghetti.

Spinach-Gorgonzola Pasta

I can't believe my good fortune. My favorite bakery posted the recipe for my favorite dish that they make. I've stolen it verbatim from their site at Gayles Bakery just in case they come to their senses and remove it.

Serves 6 to 8

Gorgonzola Sauce:
4 cups of milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
10 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
4 pinches nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound large pasta shells
2 bunches fresh spinach, cleaned and dried, or 1 package frozen
3/4 cup ricotta
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk until hot but not boiling.

At the same time, combine flour and butter in another heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat with a wooden spoon or whisk until the mixture has gently bubbled for 2 minutes. Be careful not to brown the flour.

Begin to add the hot milk to the flour mixture a little at a time while whisking vigorously. Continue to add the milk until it is fully incorporated. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring constanly, until the mixture thickens, about 6 to 8 minutes. it will look like heavy cream. Crumble the cheese and add it to the hot béchamel sauce, whisking continuously until smooth. Add the nutmeg and pepper and stir. Remove form heat and let cool.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain and set aside.

If using fresh spinach, blanch it 1 to 2 minutes in a little boiling water. Drain it, let it cool, and squeeze all of the water out several times. if you are using frozen spinach, let it defrost in a sieve over a bowl for at least 3 hours. Squeeze all the water out by hand.

Toss the pasta, Gorgonzola sauce, spinach, ricotta, and garlic in a large bowl until well combined. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
Place in a 12 X 17-inch casserole dish and top with the Parmesan. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cheese browns a little. you may make this a day ahead, and before baking, refrigerate well covered.

Shrimp Ortega

2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced celery
2 tsp olive oil for frying
1 lb cooked and rinsed shrimp
16 oz. prepared salsa (like Safeway's Garlic Lover's salsa)
3/4 cup sour cream

Saute the onion and celery in the oil until soft and onion is slightly golden. Add the shrimp and salsa and cook until it is warmed through. Take the pan off the burner and add the sour cream, mixing thouroughly and serve over rice.

White Beans and Cilantro

2 cups dry white beans*
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
olive oil for saute
2 chopped tomatoes
4 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt & pepper
sour cream or yogurt (optional)

Sort and wash beans. Soak overnight (or do a quick soak by bringing the water to boil for 3 minutes and let stand for an hour). Dump out the water, and put in fresh. Simmer the beans until tender about 1 1/2 hour. Drain. Saute garlic in oil. Don not brown. Add tomatoes and saute a bit more to slightly cook the tomatoes. Combine with the beans; reheat a bit. Add cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. If you wish, add yogurt or sour cream.

*I have, when pressed for time, substituted a package of frozen black eye peas for the white beans. A great time saver.

Zucchini "Latkes"

A great way to use up a zuke bumper crop.

1/2 cup matzoh meal
2 eggs*
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 oz. shredded zucchini or courgette (or other summer squash)
optional - minced fresh tarragon (or other herb of your choice)
1/2 tsp salt (or to your taste)

Some oil for frying

Mix all the ingredients until it is a well combined batter and let "rest" for 15 minutes.

Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet, and spread a spoonful of the batter into the pan and flatten if needed. I get about 3 pancakes in my skillet. Cook until golden brown on each side and serve hot.

* I have successfully used Ener-G egg replacer in this recipe. Use 3 teaspoons egg replacer with 5 Tablespoons of warm water, mixed together. It gives it a more potato-like flavor instead of an eggy flavor.

Served here with diced tomatoes and black beans:

Simple Pasta Sauce

This is what I like to stir up for a batch of cheese raviolis, or some other equally Italian ravioli. Most of the time I let these be store bought, letting the experts do the complicated stuff. But plain noodles are nice too. This is chunky and I like it with large bits of pasta (i.e. wide noodles or penne but not angel hair)


enough oil to saute
1/2 onion diced small (and some garlic if you like a bite)
about 2 cups green beans, snapped to bite size
(or 2 cup of veg from the garden that would be nice - sometimes zukes, sometimes broccoli)
3 Tablespoons vermouth or vodka
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste and a few fresh herbs if you desire


Put oil into frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions (and garlic if you are using it) and saute until just turning golden. Add the green beans. Continue to cook until the green beans are turning bright green about 5-8 minutes. Add the vermouth or vodka and the tomatoes and the herbs if you got them.

(If the raviolis cook in 4 minutes this would be a good time to put them into the boiling water.) Continue to cook until the tomatoes are warmed through and the edges are just about to go mushy. It should also be making a light sauce at this point. Season to taste and pour over the cooked ravioli that are now on a serving plate. Sprinkling with parmesean is optional.