Apple Guava Chaat

What's sweet and spicy and crunchy and mushy and seasonal and delicious?

When you've had enough of stewing and baking and cooking your apples and you're looking for something with a little bit of a savory crunch to it, take some inspiration from delicious Indian street food and pop your apples into a nice ol' chaat.

Apple Crisp

If you spent this weekend at an orchard engaging in one of the quintessential American Fall pastimes - apple picking - you might be staring at your haul in a bit of horror. How, you might be thinking, does one get through enough apples to feed ten horses? What, you might be saying to yourself, was I thinking? Well, enough of these horror-ful speculations. You know you'd do the same thing if you went back to an orchard next weekend. Who can say no to bountiful apple trees?!

Thankfully, since it's apple season, it's also the season for applie pie and apple sauce and all manner of crisps and crumbles (always to be accompanied with some mulled cider of course).

Indian Curried Green Tomatoes Bhaaji

This is it. This is the one, the only, the whole and sole green tomato recipe you need. Throw away all those fried green tomato recipes. Only ever curry green tomatoes from now on!

KIDDING totally kidding - fried green tomatoes are amazing and if one has 2 green tomatoes one must always fry at least one of them. I'm just saying, curry the other, and you will make yourself doubly happy and you'll get flavors that you would never have thought of with regular ol' frying. In fact, I fried some up too, and I'm going to post that recipe next week!

But no, seriously, don't go frying up all your green tomatoes. If you're looking for a perfect sweet and tart and savory and succulent vegetarian dish, this, friends, is it.

Homemade Ricotta

You know what sounds super crazy difficult and is actually super crazy easy? Making cheese at home. For real! No kidding. Absolutely.

Molasses Roasted Carrots

As a kid I hated carrots. Or at least, deeply despised them. Perhaps it was because everyone constantly said "carrots are good for your eyes" and nodded knowingly. Ugh - to someone who doesn't really remember life without glasses, this was a) meaningless and b) kind of a smack in the face. Like, what, if I had consistently been fed only carrots until the age of five I would never have had to wear glasses? Yea right. Although perhaps I can blame my parents for this - actually that doesn't sound like a bad idea! Blaming parents for all your problems is wonderful! Should'a force fed me carrots, guys - then I wouldn't be contemplating lasik surgery (speaking of - anyone who has had lasik done, please do your best to convince me that it is safe, not deathly terrifying, and won't result in immediate horror and/or reduced night vision).

Minted Spiced Roasted Baby Potatoes

Sometimes dinners are quite involved around these parts. There's something wonderfully calming about making sure to follow each step in a complicated recipe, especially if you have time on hand and either good conversation, good music, or good silence for company. 

Fennel Chicken Soup

This soup is a comforting soup. It is a soup that tells you it's okay to lounge around in pajamas and catch up on your DVR'd shows because after all, it's raining outside. It is a soup that doesn't mind if you shut out the rest of the world for a night. It is a soup that won't judge you for watching unmentionable vampire-themed movies - or maybe the latest Harry Potter marathon. It is a soup that's okay with you throwing in whatever you want to finish off. It's good on it's own, but it can stand a lot of additions. Because this soup is a nice soup. It won't give you a hard time if you just want to be a sloth sometimes. Everyone needs at least one good easy-going soup like this.

Spiced Pancakes

Lazy weekends are the best. Those perfect mornings when the only thing on your agenda is a hot cup of tea and lounging around reading a good book. And sometimes those mornings call for something a little extra, a little different. Begone healthy cereal! Begone healthy granola! Begone oatmeal! Begone begone begone! This is no time for quick and nutritious. This is the time for something just a tad bit special. Something with a hint of spice. Something with a dollop of comfort. Something that doesn't require changing out of pajamas any time soon.

Travel Tuesdays: Molasses and Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Writing about ginger cookies and gingersnaps made me realize I've been deprived of molasses, and I finally went and bought some. And now that I think about it, I've actually seen molasses being made!

It was on a family road trip to Ratnagiri - a fascinating place on the west coast of India, with a history that includes everything from delicious mangoes (I could wax poetic about Alphonso mangoes for days, and would recommend that everyone should brave the Indian summer heat to drown themselves in their deliciousness - even if you melt to death, it will be a sweet sweet way to go) to being the birthplace of Lokmanya Tilak to having been the home of exiled Burmese King Thebaw.

Dahi Bhat

Some days you're feeling kinda sickly (sorry about the paucity of posts this week!). And some days your mom isn't around to make her delicious clear chicken soup that cures all ailments (no really - there is some magic in there!). And some days you just want to tuck into something plain and comforting. For those days there is dahi bhat (quite literally, "yogurt rice"). Soothing, full of good probiotics, and just comfort food at its best.

Spiced Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms and Spinach

This might lose me some friends, but I've been mustering up the courage to say this, and say it I shall: I'm kind of over brunch. Gasp! Sacrilege! I know! But what can I say, after my billionth overpriced omelette and weak bloody mary, after a few too many lackluster pancakes, after that biscuit that just isn't as life changing as it's billed to be, there it is. There's a lot to be said for languorous weekend meals with friends, and I'm all for mimosas, but I find myself missing weekend lunches - where did they disappear?! Then again, perhaps it all comes down to wondering why I need someone else to cook me some eggs when a perfectly good scrambled egg can happen so quickly and easily in my own kitchen.

Let's be honest - I'm probably not giving up on waffles and candied bacon just yet (I mean - candied bacon! Crunchy waffles! Perhaps with seasonal fruit? Real maple syrup? Okay I'm almost talking myself into being a brunch fan again...), but it becomes a little easier to say no to overpriced eggs when you can rustle this up all on your own:

Eggplant, Bok Choy, Hen of the Woods Mushrooms Stir Fry

Mushrooms add such a delicious substantiality to any dish. They can be quite delicate though, so the quick cooking times of stir fries are particularly great for these delicious fungi. Pair them with eggplant, and even the most dedicated meat eaters won't find anything missing in this vegetarian dish.



For this dish I used Hen of the Woods (or Maitake) which don't require (and nor can they really withstand) much cooking. If you used a sturdier mushroom, like a cremini or a portabello, you would need a slightly longer cooking time.