• about 1 pound of heirloom tomatoes, washed, cored and roughly chopped
• about 8 slices of rustic bread (I highly recommend this bakery. Or this one). If the slices are large, I cut them in half.
• 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup torn basil leaves (or more if you like basil)
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking for one reveals things. Are you a messier cook when no one is in the house? Do you use less ingredients? Do you use a plate? Last weekend, my husband went on a camping trip for a few days, and I discovered that I like simplicity when I’m cooking just for myself. One night I had shrimp and cocktail sauce for dinner, along with some sliced cucumber. One night I had a tomato and cheese sandwich, which is actually one of my all-time favorite things to eat in the summer (What is better than the combination of a summer-ripe tomato and cheese on really good bread? Adding a pickle can’t hurt either). And one night, I made this salad. Couscous cooks so fast, and you can do all the chopping/prep work in the time it is ‘resting’. It’s a great salad for the summer, no matter how many people are in your house.

• 1 cup whole wheat couscous (or you can use regular couscous)
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1 small fennel bulb, sliced
• 1/2 a red onion finely chopped
• one small lemon
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the couscous: boil a cup and a half of water (per cup of couscous). Stir in the couscous, cover, and let sit for about 15 minutes. If you are using regular couscous, it only needs to sit for 5-7 minutes. Pour the couscous into a bowl and fluff with a fork. Set aside to cool (you can also quickly stir some ice cubes around in the couscous to help it cool down). Squeeze the lemon into a small bowl, and whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil. A splash of balsamic vinegar is also nice to include. Set aside. Add the tomato, cucumber, fennel and onion to the couscous and stir. Pour the lemon/oil mixture over the salad and sprinkle the cheese, salt and pepper on top. Chill before serving.

Note: I don’t like to add a lot of dressing to this salad because it makes it soggy. However, feel free to experiment, according to how much flavor you like. I suspect that there are many other dressings that would work well. Or maybe just add some fresh herbs and no dressing at all. I kept this vegetarian, but I think it would also be good with  shredded chicken.

Serves 6-8 (as a side dish)

Here’s the thing about asparagus: it’s not in season for very long. So when spring arrives, and the stalks finally appear at market, I feel like I should be eating them all the time. After about the fifth night of steaming it (in the span of two weeks), I decided a change was in order. Wine, butter and onions certainly couldn’t hurt, could they? Of course not.

• 1 pound asparagus
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5-6 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Rinse the asparagus and trim the base off of each stalk. Chop into small pieces, then place in a bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onions and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes over medium heat. Add the wine, and allow it to cook down for a few minutes. Then add one cup of water and the asparagus. Simmer for about 6-7 minutes, until the asparagus is cooked. Drain some of the excess liquid, and top with salt, pepper and the cheese.

I was all set to write up a healthy, spring-time recipe, full of vegetables this past weekend. But then I got a craving for chocolate chip cookies, and that idea quickly dissolved (I love vegetables, but sometimes dessert trumps them).

Cookies were one of the first things I made on my own. I watched, then assisted my mother in the kitchen with baking, and then decided to fly solo. Alone in the kitchen, I carefully leveled out the measuring cups of flour with the back edge of a knife and successfully cracked eggs without dropping any shell into the batter. My mother was on call, in case of oven emergencies or questions about baking procedure, but for the most part I was on my own. I’ve made chocolate chip cookies (and many others) so many times since then, that now a simple thing like cracking an egg seems like second nature – just part of a procedure. But that first time, on my own, it was a new adventure.

I’ve slightly adapted the recipe my mother used growing up, and also used Kim Boyce’s chocolate chip cookie recipe as a reference. I usually half the recipe, or make the whole batch and freeze half the cookies.

• 3 cups flour, half whole wheat, half all purpose
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks of butter, slightly melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar (I used sugar in the raw)
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• about 8 ounces of chocolate chips, or chocolate that’s been roughly chopped
• about 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Either line two baking sheets with parchment paper, grease them, or get out the baking stone. Mix the first four (dry)  ingredients together with a fork. Set aside. In a separate, large mixing bowl, combine the butter and both sugars and mix (it’s a little easier if you use a stand mixer or a hand held beater). Add the eggs, one at a time (mix to incorporate each time), and then add in the vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet, mix, then add the second half and mix again. At the chocolate and walnuts last and mix until they are evenly distributed. Eat a few chocolate chips before you add them to the batter.

Using two spoons (one to lift out the dough, the other to scrape to dough onto the baking sheet), drop mounds of dough onto the baking sheets. These can range in size, depending on how large you’d like the cookies to be. About one tablespoon makes a fairly small cookie; three tablespoons makes a fairly large cookie. Bake for about 10 minutes, and check. If the cookie size is small they should be close to done (their tops should be brown). If they are larger in size, you may need a total baking time of 16-20 minutes.

Whenever I take the trip across the country to visit family, there are several things I have to eat: Pizza on the boardwalk; My dad’s home made pickles; Turkey sticks from market. And baked oatmeal from a little restaurant that has (sadly) closed. This place had that eclectic, no-coffee-mug-is-the-same kind of charm. The old, solid wood tables were surrounded by chairs that didn’t match, and the owner/cook/server took your order behind a low counter. The menu included homemade muffins, thick slices of banana bread and baked oatmeal. It was served warm, in a bowl, with your own personal small pitcher of milk to pour on top. I’ve been trying to re-create it ever since, and this recipe is the closest I’ve come so far.

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1  1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1  1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 8×8 baking pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, half the walnuts, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Pour 2/3 of the berries into the baking pan. Cover with the dry oat mixture and pour the wet mixture on top. Gently shake the dish so that the milk goes through the oats and everything is combined. Add the renaming 1/3 berries and walnuts on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes and let cool before serving.

Recipe adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Instead of cooking up a storm for the spring holidays this week, I decided to make crackers. I came to this decision partly because I have these really cute animal cookie cutters that I was dying to use, and partly because I’ve never made crackers before. It seems unlikely, but it’s the truth. They just seem like one of those things that I always buy, and don’t think twice about. Sometimes it’s easier to just pluck items off the grocery store shelf and toss them into the cart. However, after a recent visit with my nephew – who loves animal crackers – I started to think about what really goes into making the snack food. I figured that they probably weren’t that hard to make; I was right. And cutting out the animals was a blast. You can even make the animal noises as you do so. Happy spring!

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (you can actually add up to three cups of cheese, or omit it all together)

In a large bowl, mix the first six (dry) ingredients together. In a separate, smaller bowl, beat the egg and olive oil together. Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until it forms a course meal. Add the cheese. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, until you can form a ball with the dough. Divide the dough in half, and wrap both balls in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease two baking sheets (or use a baking stone). On a floured surface, roll out one piece of dough, until it is 1/8 inch thick (mine were a little thicker, but the thinner the dough, the crispier the cracker. I’m definitely making mine thinner next time). Lightly prick the flat dough all over with a fork. If you’d like to add toppings, lightly brush the dough with water and sprinkle with salt, pepper, seeds, etc. Use cookie cutters to form shapes (or just cut out squares, rectangles, etc), and then bake for 8-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cracker (the smaller crackers will take less time to bake). Repeat with the other ball of dough.

Recipe from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.

Deviled eggs are so popular in this country that there are special serving dishes designed for them. Despite this, I managed to somehow forget about them until recently, when I was attending a family get together and someone brought them as a side dish. And the first thing I thought was ‘oh yeah, deviled eggs!’ I quickly devoured several before restraining myself so there were enough remaining for other guests (why must we be polite at parties?).

As children, my siblings and I decorated hard boiled eggs for Easter and then my mother used them in various recipes, including this one (which I slightly revised). It seems appropriate for spring, as we dust off the grill and dig out our picnic blankets.

• 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half length-wise
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (or yellow mustard)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
• paprika to garnish

Remove the yolks from each of the egg halves, and place in a small bowl. Mix in the mayonnaise, mustard, salt pepper, cayenne and any other spices. Stir until combined. Spoon about a tablespoon into each egg half, until the mixture is divided evenly. Sprinkle paprika over each, and cover the eggs with plastic wrap. Chill for a few hours before serving.

Note: you can try adding other things into the mixture, such as: chopped chives, garlic, thyme, jalapeños, onion, relish, olives, etc. Also, if you want to be fancy, you can use an icing tube to fill the eggs, so they have a more decorative look.

Makes six deviled eggs

I know gingerbread is always associated with the holiday season, but I love ginger and like to find excuses to eat it throughout the year. So when I was searching for inspiration, I combined a few recipe components, from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain and a recipe from 101cookbooks. These cookies are obviously not cake, but they’re not gingersnaps either. They are small, soft, chewy bites of gingerbread. Good any time of the year.

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1  1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup crystallized ginger, minced
• juice from one small lemon
• optional: a few teaspoons of large grain sugar for the tops of the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease). In a large bowl, mix together the flours, soda, spices and salt. Set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Then add the molasses and sugar. Stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes, then add the egg. Pour this into the dry mixture. Combine, then add the crystallized ginger and lemon juice. Stir to combine all the ingredients. With your hands, roll about a tablespoon of dough into a ball and place on the baking sheet. Repeat until the baking sheet is full. Sprinkle a small amount of large grain sugar on the top of each cookie. Bake for about 8 minutes, until the tops of the cookies start to look cracked.

yield: about two dozen

It’s just starting to feel like spring, but I’m still in the mood for soup. One night last week, I had plans to make lentil soup, but changed my mind at the last minute after reading this recipe. I ended up modifying many of the elements, deciding that one head of broccoli was never going to be enough. Who doesn’t want leftovers? And I like cheddar cheese, but we didn’t have any, so I used Parmesan (which, according to the photo, I really love). We had plenty for dinner, and lunch was covered for the rest of the week.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-5 medium potatoes (I used Yukon gold), peeled and cut into pieces about 1/2 inch thick
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 5 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or 2 1/4 cups broth and 2 1/4 cups water)
• 4 medium-large heads of broccoli, roughly chopped (you can also include part of the stems – it will all get blended together)
• a few tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
• ground black pepper to taste

Pour the olive oil into a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Add the potatoes, cover, and cook for about three minutes, until they have a chance to soften. Stir a few times so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Uncover, stir in the garlic and broth. Bring to a  boil and reduce to a simmer. The potatoes should take a few minutes to completely cook. After the potatoes are tender, stir in the broccoli. Simmer for 2-4 minutes longer, so that the broccoli cooks. Remove the soup from the stove and pour (in batches) into the blender. Note: if you like your soup a little thicker, don’t use all of the broth while blending. If you like it thinner, add more water. Garnish with cheese and pepper.

Makes 6-8 servings

I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately. It’s that time of year: tea is the perfect remedy for the damp, rainy weather, or a comfort if you’ve happened to catch a cold.  My current favorite is a strawberry loose leaf black tea that I bought at my hometown farmers market. Of course, it’s equally nice to have a snack while drinking tea, and one that you can dunk into your mug is a bonus. Biscotti is the perfect blend of cookie and scone – not too sweet, but crunchy. There are numerous ways to change this recipe – try different nuts, citrus, seeds, dried fruit, etc. I made a chocolate and orange zest version last year, which was pretty amazing. Oh, and P.S. -if you’re not a tea person, these also go really nicely with coffee or hot chocolate.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used sugar in the raw)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and the extract, and beat until everything is blended. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine, and then gradually add the dry mixture to the wet. Beat to combine – the dough maybe a little crumbly at this point. Add the chocolate and walnuts, stir, and if the dough is still crumbling, use your hand to combine the last remaining pieces. I use a baking stone, but if you are using a baking sheet, spray it with cooking spray (or coat with butter), and dust with a fine layer of flour. Shape the dough into a 2-inch wide log and place on the baking stone (or sheet). Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the dough is light brown and beginning to crack. Remove the log from the oven, and let cool briefly. Re-set the oven temperature to 250 degrees. After the loaves have cooled slightly, cut diagonal slices about 1/2-inch thick. Place all the slices on the baking stone, and bake for about 15-20 minutes (turning the slices once during that time to ensure even baking). Cool on racks, and store in an air tight container.

makes about 1 to 2 dozen