cooksimple.com

You will all notice I’ve been absent and not posting much. I have been cooking but haven’t had the time to update the site will full posts (pictures, recipes, etc.). To make up for this I thought I’d share several of the best new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months. In no particular order:

Puree of Chickpea Soup – from the NY Times

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin – from Smitten Kitchen

Whole Wheat Biscotti – I made these into lemon whole wheat biscotti by adding some lemon juice and lots of lemon rind

Granola Bars – from Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – Yummy in a latté. I put the recipe & latté directions in a new post.

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika – A great veggie side dish. I posted the recipe in a new post.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette – from the Joy of Cooking. Quite possibly the best dressing recipe! It is a basic vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar and crumbled blue cheese. I’ll post the recipe once I get home and have access to the book

I made several batches of this for great pumpkin lattés. To make the lattés I combine 2-4 T of the syrup, 1/2 cup steamed milk & 1/2 cup strong coffee in a mug.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp of ground ginger
• 1 tsp of cloves (or allspice)
• 1 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

My parents have an incredibly prolific lemon tree in their yard. Last year it produced over 500 lemons! They squeeze and freeze the lemon juice in the winter so they have it all year round. Lately, they’ve been making lemonade. It’s great and not too sweet or too tart. Best of all it is easy!

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to serve.