Stir-Fried Turnips with Greens

Asian Delight-ful! Despite my LOVE of turnips, this is only the second time I've made this dish, and it has to have been years since I made it the first time. What have I been thinking? This stir-fry is fabulous.

If you have not tried turnips, and if you like Asian flavors, then make this stir-fry your entree (pun not intentional) into Turnip World.

Couple thoughts: Tommie will disagree with me on this, but rather than put 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes in it, I might go with 1/4 the next time. It pushed the envelope in terms of heat for my delicate mouth. The other thing is that I definitely could have added more spinach. It never ceases to amaze me how massive the greens look going in and how small they are once they wilt.

Try this dish. It's really fabulous. We give it 4.5 stars. Delicious. Nutritious. But a lot of prep bowls to clean. Tommie's working on that as I type...

Orecchietti with Spicy Broccoli

If you want an easy pasta dish, this is a great choice. You only have to chop broccoli and garlic, and heat them up with a couple other ingredients while the pasta is cooking.

I thought the flavors were distributed perfectly, but I have a head cold, so there is a distinct possibility that I over-salted. Tommie will be home soon to let me know. My guess is that I did, but as my taste buds are on strike, the salt to everything else ratio seemed good to me.

I'm giving this dish a 4.5. It's surprisingly tasty and extremely easy to make.

Rigatoni with Cauliflower, Curry Powder, and Coconut Milk

Why do I keep eating past the point of being full when I know it's going to make me feel uncomfortable afterward? Oh right. Because the food from this cookbook is so fracking tasty.

This is a nice, different kinda pasta dish. The flavors blend together beautifully: spinach, lime juice, coconut milk, curry powder, garlic, onion, jalapeno, and the ubiquitous salt, all combined with rigatoni.

My only complaint, as I have with most pasta dishes for that matter, is the cleaning factor. Our kitchen is a mess right now. Regardless, this one is worth making.

We're giving tonight's dinner 4.5 stars. It's extremely delicious, but as Tommie says, it's not "magical" like some of the other dishes in the book. Let me know what you think if you make it.

Corn, Tomato, and Lima Bean Stew

Dr. Sanjay Gupta would SO approve. Look at all those colors! I haven't made this dish for ages, and I have no idea why. It's very simple to make, extremely tasty, and highly nutritious.

I took the easy option and went with frozen lima beans, but when it comes to corn, 99% of the time I buy corn in their husks and cut the fresh kernels off the cob. Next summer I'm gonna find out if I can grow corn on our terrace. Talk about an effective privacy screen -- I hear it can grow as high as an elephants eye!

Without Tommie's input I'm going to give this one 4.5 stars. I love it, but it has a bit of half-and-half in it, and Tommie is not such a fan of The Dairy. Really it's only a tiny bit of the cream just to add another layer of flavor to the dish, but my guess is that he gives this one a rating somewhere in the 3-4 star range. To be continued...

Potatoes and Chard with Green Curry Sauce

Yum. This one's a keeper. It's so fracking cold up here, that I chose all my recipes for the next few nights from the Winter section of the book. Jack says he likes this dish on a cold day, and we discovered that we do too!

Some cooking observations: I didn't use enough green curry out of fear that I would make the dish too spicy. Nope. Definitely not too spicy. Tommie had to add some chili flakes to his plate to get the zip he wanted. So, I'm going with two tablespoons next time at bat.

Also, I just cannot get the timing right on my stove. We've lived here one year this week, and I'm still simmering my dishes way too hot. I think I'm done with trying to use the "simmer" indicator on the knob and just lower the heat to med-low or low. I share this story with you, because I definitely overcooked the potatoes. It might have been a blessing though, because some of the potatoes kinda mushed up, and so it made the dish seem even creamier.

Bottom line, even with me under-spicing and over-cooking this dish, we still loved it! Gonna go with 4.5 stars. Maybe if I get it right I'll be able to award this curry the full 5 stars. Oh one last thing: Jack recommends serving this with rice. I didn't do that. Potatoes and rice seems like way too many carbs and overkill. Do you disagree?

Golden Tofu Wrap with Warm Asian Slaw

This meal is standard fare in our non-animal eating home. Not unlike the majority of Jack's recipes in "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen," the ingredients are few: some sauteed tofu cubes, some red cabbage, a little jalapeño, some garlic, a splash of some Asian liquids, and a whole lotta love. (JK.) But as is the norm, the results are delicious.

With this dish I've learned that I like to add a bit more of the seasonings to the cabbage to give it more kick, and I've also learned to not buy Whole Foods' lavash wraps ever again. They taste good, but they're way too flaky and rip too easily. The dish calls for 12" flour tortillas, and Whole Foods never has any big enough. So I tried the lavash this once. Once! Next time, I buy proper tortillas at Harris Teeter. Lesson learned.

As one of our fave dishes, we're giving tonight's meal 4.5 stars. We're not really depressed that we got full, but we're still looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Lentil Saute with Indian Flavors

Continuing with our lentil theme... Tonight's dinner demonstrates that you can have the same protein two days in a row, in this case lentils, but still enjoy very different flavors and textures.

Tommie stepped up to the plate (pardon the pun) and cooked dinner, while I was away playing at the Pilates studio. He cooked it perfect: lentils, onions, garlic, some chocolate mint from the garden, some top-secret spices, and topped off with plain yogurt.

I came home in time to help with the rice and followed Jack Bishop's "Simplest Rice Pilaf" recipe. 99% of the time I make rice this way: a little butter, heat up a cinnamon stick, toast the rice in the pot and then add the water. It's crazy what one cinnamon stick can do to a pot of rice. Out of this world.

We're going with a 4.5 for tonight's meal. It's a perfect "Crap! We have nothing to eat! Oh wait, I always have lentils, garlic, and onions in the pantry... I know what I can make!" meal. If you're a vegetarian, you want to add this one to your repertoire.

Couscous Tagine with Turnips and Dried Apricots

Guest Blogger Tommie tonight. It was my turn to whip up a tasty Jack Bishop recipe. Tonight's was an oldie but a goodie. I've never made it before. A lot of prep time, chopping and measuring out spices, but it cooks easily. The dish has a nice balance of tang, spice and sweetness. An exceptional can of diced tomatoes really helped give this acidity, and it was a little more spice and less sweet than when Tracy has made it.

Turnips are a favorite around here, and this dish is quite healthy--just a hint of olive oil. I will give it 4 1/2 stars, subscribing to Tracy's x-0.5 for lack of protein rating. It was fun stepping into the chef's hat tonight!