Supper Tart of Red Onions, Greens, and Grapes, p. 131

E & M were visiting, so we thought we better make something from the book. We decided on this tart. We bought the best little red grapes at Rainbow. We left out the thyme, because I'm too cheap to pay $3 for a sprig of herbs. Our most creative move was to make some extra of the topping - greens, red onion, grapes, garlic, olive oil, etc. and served it as a side salad.

E & M will pitch in with their opinions and a picture of the finished product, but here's my take. I loved the topping - it was nice and fresh tasting, and a slightly unexpected combination. I felt the puff pastry was a bit rich to use as basically a pizza crust - I'd like to try it again on something like regular pizza crust. I'd also say that the topping makes a great little salad.

8/4: Finally got the pictures from E. Pretty, isn't it?

Edamame and Smoked Tofu Succotash, p. 139

I made this for dinner tonight. I was a little concerned that it would be a bit bland when I was putting it together, but it turned out to be really tasty. I used savory tofu from Trader Joe's. This dish was really quick - it was basically done 10 minutes after the time it to me to chop the onion and tomato. Much less than half an hour total. I highly recommend this quick, tasty, and healthy dinner. I'm soy-riffic!

Guest Posting: Ginger Spiked Coconut Macaroons, p. 319

I gave Reva the book for her birthday, and here's her first foray:
"They're very yummy if you're not one of the many people who have an aversion to coconut and/or ginger. The "batter" was a bit messy to work with, and it was hard to get them to be pretty and round, and the sugar juice kind of spread so I probably shouldn't have put them so close together on the cookie sheet. But they're moist and kind of candy-like, and as directed, most of them are in my freezer now."
p.s. from Jody: I love that the cookies are cooling on the washing machine! They look fabulous.

Plumped Ginger-Caramel Shrimp p.227

I've made this dish at least four times at this point and it has never disappointed.

I usually use thawed shrimp so as suggested, I marinate them in the refrigerator.

I've tried fresh-caught shrimp versus farm-raised and I really can't tell the difference.

Sweet Yams in a Ginger-Stick Curry, p. 281 and Dressing-in-a-Bowl Simple Salad, p. 9

I made these two dishes for dinner tonight. I followed the directions almost exactly for both. I bought two huge garnet yams for the curry. It was plenty for both of us for a main dish (I thought we would have leftovers, but Kathy had a second helping--unexpected--and then I finished what was left). We are not sure why it is a "curry" except that it is possible that the savory bits (ginger, garlic, jalapeño, shallots, green onions, basil and lime) may be components of a curry paste. It was pretty hot--you could cut that back with less ginger and less jalapeño, but then it might be boring. Kathy and I like hot food, so it was perfect for us. You could easily cut this in half for one or double for four. 

The salad was a great find. Somehow, I always thought I had to make a dressing, then pour it over the salad. This is an instant salad--done in less than a minute if you use a bag of greens (we did--a mix of baby greens and baby spinach). Put the greens in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle on a little olive oil (I used a lemon olive oil tonight), toss that, then drizzle on a little vinegar (I used a lemon balsamic tonight). Serve and eat immediately! It was so good, I made another serving for myself to finish the meal.

The authors have meal suggestions in the front and back covers of the book. This one is at the bottom of the second page of the front. It suggests to serve mango iced tea with the meal, so I made some of that today, too. But then I found a light and fruity Spanish rosé at Whole Foods. It went well with the meal. 

21st-Century Mac'n'Cheese (p.182) and Smothered Broccoli with Peppers, Onions, and Raisins (p.273)

Jody, Bruce, and Jen G. made these for Saturday night dinner. Yum!

We didn't believe that the directions on the mac'n'cheese were accurate - it said to blend the milk/egg/garlic for 3 seconds (!), then add the cheese/onion/cream cheese and blend for 10 seconds more. Turns out that it was enough time for it to be all blended together. The sauce was thinner than we expected, but when baked it had a great thick consistency.

This is Bruce. The macaroni and cheese was really good. It had egg and cream cheese and got nice and thick. There was a lot of onion in the flavor (it only baked for 25 minutes or so) so it was a bit oniony--perhaps E would not like it. The vegetables were very flavorful. It made me want to eat broccoli--not a small feat.

This is Jen. I even ate the vegetables - onions, red peppers and all! The two dishes were very nice together. (I think there were too many ingredients in the delicious mac & cheese for it to be made in my own kitchen.)

Jody agrees - I was surprised by how well these dishes worked together - the richness of the mac'n'cheese contrasted really well with the healthy crispness of the fresh veggies. The veggies were really healthy - only a little bit of olive oil, and no other "bad stuff". And they were sooooo pretty!

Pasta with Chopping Board Pistachio Pesto

I made this Sunday night. I followed the recipe quite closely, or at least I tried to. When I went shopping at Rainbow, they had NO basil. Not plants, not in packages, not organic, none. So I ended up using the little frozen basil cubes I had from Trader Joe's. Oh, and I put the cheese on top rather than stirring it in.
It didn't take long, about 30 minutes, and tasted quite good. My only comment is that Lynn Rosetto Kasper likes pasta a lot - lots of pasta, very little sauce or other stuff. Which I guess is common for pesto, but with the onions and nuts and all I thought there would be more stuff. I think you could make this recipe and use half a box of pasta instead of the whole box.