Characteristic: gluten free

Salads are superb templates. Sometimes all you need is a few greens lightly dressed. But sometimes a slightly more substantial green salad with crunch, a little sweetness, and maybe a little spice is in order.  In the winter you might make this heartier one.   You will need to taste and adjust your version to balance the tart and sweet and crunch as ingredients vary widely. Add a pinch of sugar if your dried fruit is quite tart.... Read more »

This bowl is a template - use different grains like quinoa or farro, add meat or leave it off, or add in different veggies. The sauce is tangy and bright and you might make extra to put on any leftover grains or vegetables, meat, etc.   Serves 2  ... Read more »

This is just a template to assemble a delicious bowl of food. The sauce makes everything taste good. You can use either yogurt or tahini in this sauce or a combination of both. I love all versions! Cook a pot of grains and then let people customize their bowls to suit their taste.  ... Read more »

-Adapted from Dinner Illustrated   Variations Add additional protein like leftover roasted chicken, steak, tofu, or tempeh Substitute another hearty green like kale for the chard Use a different grain such as farro, rice, millet, etc.   Serves 3-4  ... Read more »

  This recipe is a template, so feel free to add in different vegetables or adjust amounts. Some veggies work better than others:   Vegetables to add Mushrooms Leeks Shallots Scallions Tomatoes Celery root Bell peppers   Vegetables to avoid Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy (can be bitter) Starchy vegetables like potatoes or squash (can make broth cloudy or gummy) Vegetables with overpowering flavors like beets or turnips  ... Read more »

This delicious dish is ubiquitous in northern India. I always toss in various vegetables along with the chickpeas. This inauthentic version includes potatoes, kohlrabi and greens but you can add most any vegetable or combination you like.   The ingredient list looks long but if you have the spices on hand it's really quite quick to make. It's one of those dishes that in 35 minutes can taste like it's been simmering for hours. If you have time to toast and grind whole cumin and coriander it will be extra fragrant.... Read more »

I don't have a lot of experience cooking tempeh and have had some failures--too salty, too dry and just a little off tasting--but I particularly liked this dish. It's quick and adaptable and leftovers are tasty. You can reheat for breakfast or lunch with an egg.   You can serve this with rice but since it's not very saucy and quite rich by itself it's good as is or with a simple cucumber salad on the side.... Read more »

Adding fresh berries, strawberries in this case, to a green salad adds sweetness and acidity. Just a handful of ingredients come together into a light, spring salad.... Read more »

I love combining cooked and raw elements in salads and here the warm, crispy mushrooms are a lovely counterpoint to the bright crunchy slaw.   You can use carrots, kohlrabi, celery, bok choi stems, black Spanish radish or even cabbage in any combination you'd like, however, radishes are too strong on their own so be sure to mix with something sweeter like kolrabi or carrots.... Read more »

Quinoa cooks quickly, has a pleasantly nutty taste and is nutritious. If you're in a rush and have random bits of vegetables on hand, even just a carrot and stalk of celery, you can have this on the table in 25 minutes. Round it out with a fried egg or any protein you'd like and/or a salad. You can easily scale this up and the ratio of quinoa to water is one to one and you can use whatever vegetables and/or meats you'd like so it's more of a set of guidelines than a recipe.... Read more »

Whether nothing more than beans, cheese and fresh salsa or loaded up with lots of other toppings, nachos are fun, quick and versatile. When we have them for dinner we often manage to eat more of them than we think possible! [caption id="attachment_19080" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This version included ground beef that had been seasoned with lots of chili powder and cooked with finely chopped onion, chard stems and some chard leaves. It was fantastic![/caption] If you don't have chips on hand but have corn tortillas you can cut them into wedges, fry them in oil until crisp and use them here. They'll be thicker/sturdier than typical chips and very good.   Quantities are intended as guidelines and adjust to suit your taste/needs.... Read more »

This is fantastic! The leftovers are excellent and it's simple to make. Spice it to suit your taste, use fresh or canned tomatoes, add fresh sweet and/or hot peppers, stir in a few mustard greens at the end. Just make it!... Read more »

In Indian cuisines (and other South Asian cuisines) spices are often added to hot oil or ghee (clarified butter) to temper the spices, i.e. release the spices essential oils and flavors. This flavorful oil, called a tadka, makes for a wonderful salad dressing.  ... Read more »

This is so delicious and comes together quickly if you have cooked (or canned beans). It's very good with home-cooked beans because you use some of the bean cooking liquid which makes for a flavorful, light stew.  ... Read more »

  This is inspired by a recipe from Roots (by Diane Morgan) but is substantially different. It takes a while to bake but otherwise it’s very quick to pull together. This makes quite a bit but it makes a great main dish and is excellent the next day so it seems worth making the whole amount but by all means reduce the quantities if you like.  ... Read more »

My mother added raw asparagus to salads every spring when I was growing up. You can take it a step farther and make the asparagus not just an add-on but the main show. If you just have a few spears, add them to most any salad, thinly sliced. Lemon and mint are lovely complements in any case.   Thicker spears work much better in this salad (incidentally I prefer thicker ones for any preparation) than the skinny ones. ... Read more »

These are flavorful, simple and quite light in fact. You can use fire-roasted canned tomatoes or fresh ones you broil. I rarely have queso fresco on hand so top them with a little sharp cheddar--totally inauthentic and very tasty. [caption id="attachment_18350" align="aligncenter" width="660"] In this version I thinned sour cream with a little plain yogurt for a pourable consistency.[/caption]... Read more »

Many of my favorite dishes are created when I'm pressed for time. Creativity--what I sometimes call the Why Not? principle--thrives in these instances. Substitute whatever bits of vegetables you need to use up.   The sauce I used here is my Makhani Curry sauce recipe which makes more than you need for one meal so I often have some in the freezer. It was spectacular on the rice. You could alternatively use any leftover dal thinned out a bit or curry or the simplest tomato sauce or a ragout of some kind. Or use a bottled curry sauce.   The pilaf method of cooking the rice--toasting rice with aromatics, then adding liquid--works particularly well here. And lots of toasty nuts are key!  ... Read more »

This dish was born out of haste and what was on hand. I didn't have time to cook rice but had half a head of savoy cabbage which turned into a lovely bed for this ground-beef stir fry.  ... Read more »

This is a very flexible dish. You can make it with just a few pieces of chicken, bone-in or boneless or with all 8-10 pieces of a whole cut up chicken. Yogurt tenderizes the meat and you only have to let it marinate for 20 minutes but can leave it for up to 24 hours. You can vary the spices too.   You can roast this chicken on a sheet pan instead of cooking on the stove top and finish under the broiler to crisp the skin.   ** It can be tricky to get nicely browned skin so you start with skinless thighs if you don't have a really big, heavy skillet where all the chicken can be easily in one layer.... Read more »