white radish chips

green salad with kumquats and pears

curried quinoa with onions, spicy peppers

sausage

glazed carrots and turnips

yams

baked apples

curried quinoa:

1 Cup Quinoa

1½ Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

½ Onion Diced (about 4 or 5 ozs.)

1 Tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger Root

½ Fresh Green Chile (Finely Chopped)

1 Heaping Tsp. Turmeric

1 Heaping Tsp. Coriander

¼ Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1¾ Cups Water

½ Cup Fresh or Frozen Peas

Why is it called Curried Quinoa when there's no curry in the recipe? Here's a definition of "curried" as it is defined on dictionary.com...

East Indian Cookery. a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.

Rinse quinoa with cold water. Use a fine mesh filter or coffee filter. If you're a klutz like me use the fine mesh filter or a lot of quinoa is going to wind up in the sink!

Quinoa is coated with a natural substance called saponin that protects the grain by repelling insects and birds. Rinsing the quinoa is important to avoid a raw or bitter taste. You can tell if there is saponin by the production of a soapy looking "suds" when the seeds are swished in water.

Good news! If you are using Ancient Harvest Quinoa you can skip this step. It's already rinsed!

Place oil and diced onions in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions on medium high heat for four to five minutes.

Add the ginger root, chile, and quinoa. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

A fine, white spiral appears around the grain as it cooks.

Stir in the turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

Add the water and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in peas. Cover and cook for four or five minutes or until peas are tender and all the water has been absorbed.

Fluff with a fork before serving.

perfect fingerling potatoes

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds kosher or rock salt

2 quarts water

2 pounds small fingerling potatoes, cleaned

4 tablespoons butter, optional

Freshly ground black pepper, optional

1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives, optional

Directions

In a large pot, combine the salt, water, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pot to a cooling rack and let stand for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve as is or with butter, pepper, or chives.

BAKED SLICED APPLES

Serves 4

Provides 1½ fruit servings per person

2 oranges

2 tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut in ½-inch slices

5 tablespoons raisins

¼ cup chopped walnuts, divided

¼ cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Grate the zest of one of the oranges and set aside. Squeeze the juice from both oranges into a small bowl. Stir the honey, cinnamon, cloves, and half the zest into the juice.

2. Lay half the apple slices in a glass baking dish. Scatter the raisins and 2 tablespoons of the walnuts on top. Pour on half the juice mixture and top with the remaining apples and juice.

3. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons walnuts with the orange zest and scatter over the top. Cover lightly with foil and bake 30 minutes or until the apples are soft and the juices, bubbly.

Glazed carrots and turnips

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 pound white turnips (don't use rutabagas, says the inspiring recipe), trimmed, peeled, cut in 3/4" cubes

2 large carrots, trimmed, peeled, the fatter end sliced in half lengthwise, then cut in 1/2-inch thick slices on the diagonal

2/3 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon table salt (I left this out because the broth was salty)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper (I forgot this)

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (I had none)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (don't skip this)

Squeeze of lemon juice (just a teaspoon)

In a large nonstick skillet with a cover, melt the butter on MEDIUM HIGH. When it's melted, swirl to coat. (If you start this while prepping the vegetables like I do, I'd recommend melting the butter on MEDIUM, so you don't brown and then scorch the butter like I did. Turn down the heat til you're ready, then turn to medium high.) Add the turnips and carrots in an even layer, stirring to coat, then let cook undisturbed for 4 minutes. Stir again, let cook another 4 minutes. Add the brown, brown sugar, salt, pepper, thyme and lemon zest (I prepped these while the veggies were cooking) and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to MEDIUM LOW (I left on MEDIUM HIGH) and simmer until vegetables are just tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover and increase heat to HIGH, let cook, stirring frequently until liquid cooks down to a glaze, this took a few minutes. Stir in lemon juice and serve immediately.

Chips de Radis Noir

- 2 large black radishes

- olive oil

- balsamic vinegar

- salt, pepper

- piment d'espelette (optional, substitute red pepper flakes)

(Serves 4.)

Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Grease a baking dish (unless it is non-stick).

Wash and scrub the radishes. Peel them with a vegetable peeler, leaving half of the peel in stripes if desired. Slice the radishes thinly - very thin slices will be more chip-like, slightly thicker slices will be moister - and put the slices in the baking dish.

Pour a little olive oil, a little vinegar, sprinkle salt, pepper and piment d'espelette. Toss with a wooden spoon to coat. Pour and sprinkle more if necessary, until all the slices look comfortably dressed - but not drenched.

Put in the oven to bake for about 40 minutes, until the chips are golden and their edges start to crisp up. Serve warm, as an appetizer or a side.