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This is a great salad for when you've just pulled some beets out of the garden, and have both beets and greens. I've adapted it from here. Ingredients: Salad: 4 or so beets (maybe more if you have small garden beets) The greens from those beets (or 1 bunch beet greens) 2 scallions Optional: Some sort of crunchy nuts or seeds (sunflower, slivered almonds, roast pumpkin seeds) Feta or other pungent tasty cheese (I used shanklish since it keeps more or less forever and I have some in the fridge.) I also grated a carrot on top of the salad. Dressing: 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil (not sure if this is really necessary) 1 tablespoon+ of the beet juice for a bit of sweetness Cook beets until you can poke a fork in them easily. Skin using your fingers once they've cooled. Slice into rounds. Blanch greens for 20-30 seconds in boiling water. I r

These dumplings are a nice addition to stewy meals, especially for example goulash . The way I had them in Prague was sitting in the broth of the goulash in thin(1") slices. The recipe is adapted from here. Note that I've mostly halved the recipe - I left the yeast high, since it'll rise faster. This is a yeast bread, so it needs time to rise - plan ahead! 1 pk yeast (or 2.25 tsp yeast) 1 ts sugar 1/4 c milk; scalded and cooled 1/2 c milk; warm 1 egg 1/2 ts salt 1.5 c flour 1 slices white bread; cubed Mix first three ingredients, let stand 10 minutes. Mix in everything else but bread cubes. Once mixed, add bread cubes, knead like bread. Let rise until doubled. Knead again, divide into equal sized logs (they suggest three in the original recipe - it depends on how wide you want the resulting circles.) Let rise again, for about half an hour. Boil gently for around 15 minutes. Now, when done, what you're supposed to do is use a piece of thread to loop around the resultin

There's a zillion recipes for bolognese sauce, but this one worked well for me. Some people add cream at the end, but I find I don't like that as much. This one's really good if you can find hot pepper paste (usually associated with Hungary, but I have a Peruvian brand that's excellent). You can make it entirely un-spicy if you like, too. 2 large cans whole tomatoes, ideally Red Gold brand (or you can use 1 can puree and 1 can crushed if you don't have a blender) 1 lb ground beef 1 c. red wine 1/2 c. beef broth 1 onion, minced 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. fennel seeds (optional) 3 Tbsp. salt 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. red pepper (or tomato) paste 2 Tbsp. flour 1/2 c. water from boiling pasta 2 cloves garlic, crushed Brown the ground beef and chop it up with your stirring device so that it's finely textured. If you have a pressure cooker, add 1/2 c. red wine and the 1/2 c. beef broth and cook for 15 m

These intimidating chops were actually pretty easy to cook. They're called an "Iowa Chop", and they're just a thick-cut, bone-in, center-cut chop. I've discovered that the secret to juicy pork chops is to start with a cold pan and obsessively checking the temperature . I find they're best just under 160 degrees. Pork Chops 2 1-lb. Iowa Chops 2-3 Tbsp. salt 2 Tbsp. white pepper 2 Tbsp. dried sage 2 Tbsp. Smoked (or regular) paprika 3 Tbsp. oil Sauce (optional): 1/2 c. chicken broth 1/2 c. white wine (I used Pinot Grigio) 2 Tbsp. corn starch 1 tsp. white pepper 2 tsp. Dijon mustard 1/4 c. cold water Preheat the oven to 350. Pat the chops dry with some paper towel. Sprinkle them liberally with the salt and spices and allow them to warm up to room temperature while you start the quinoa and chop the cauliflower. Place the oil in your pan, but do not pre-heat the pan. Add the chops to the pan and place them on the stove. Heat the pan up to medium, turning the chop

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