Sushi

Why make your own sushi? It’s much cheaper than going out for sushi, it’s a quick easy dinner you can make after you get home from work, most people like it, and it’s a great way to use up leftover veggies in the fridge. How to make sushi: Start by making rice. You should use …

Spinach ravioli

Not Chef Boyardee There was a time in my life, preparing for qualifying exams in graduate school, when I ate nothing but cold Chef Boyardee canned ravioli straight out of the can for about a month. I am so happy that those days are behind me now, and in middle age I can take an …

Quiche

The one recipe French women can make Most French women can’t really cook – and why should you, when delicious food is right there at the charcuterie? – but they all know how to make chocolate cake and quiche. Quiche, as you might expect from this story, is not that hard to make. Because eggs were in …

Homemade pizza

Pizza before baking “You can get pizza delivered?” Once I was on a long plane flight with the kids, and we were going to get home late for dinner, and the kids were hungry. They wanted to know what I was going to make for dinner, and I said oh, maybe we’d order a pizza …

Paella

Paella any time of year! You could really make paella with any kind of vegetable or meat, and eat it any time of year. But this is paella with peas and mussels, so it belongs to the springtime when peas are in season. But if you use frozen peas, they’re good too, and any time …

Hot and Sour Soup

Chinese soup Half an hour, one pot and a small frying pan, and mostly stuff you already have lying around your kitchen How to make hot and sour soup: Start half an hour before dinner. Put a saucepan half full of water or chicken broth on the stove (enough water to make soup for everyone), …

Chili and cornbread

American Food My teenagers complain that I make hippie food and not American food, so this is an effort to make something their friends will recognize when they decide to stay for dinner. But without any processed foods, sugar, or meat in it. The friends liked it anyway. How to make chili and cornbread: In …

Chawanmushi

Japanese breakfast for dinner? We ate this at Smallwares on Fremont Street in Portland, and it was so delicious I wanted to figure out how to make it at home. It was surprisingly simple and cheap, and delicious too. Also, open to endless variations. How to make Chawanmushi: Put on a pot of beef broth: …

Celery-mushroom soup

Celery Season Celery’s one of the first spring vegetables to come into season, because it’s basically a stem, like rhubarb or chives. It’s so exciting to have a new food after all those root vegetables and apples in the winter! But you can’t just be eating celery sticks all the time, so you need some …

Beans and beef stir-fry

Another use for string beans If you have a lot of string beans in your garden and you’ve already made Greek String Bean Stew and Salade Niçoise, this is another good choice. How to make Beans and Beef Stir-fry: Break the tips off about a quart of string beans. Put a cup and a half of rice in …