Green Rice

This is very good with dal.

Blend in a Nutri-bullet or blender:

a few handfuls of baby spinach
a handful of parsley, stems removed
a knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
half a cup of water

In the Instant Pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 2 cubes of frozen garlic or 2 big minced cloves and stir to release flavour into the oil.

Add 1 1/2 cups of washed basmati into the olive oil and stir.
Add the green mixture of spinach, parsley and ginger and stir.
Add:
 1/2 teaspoon of salt
the juice of a lime
1 cup water

Stir it nicely, put on the top, and set pressure for 6 minutes.
Let sit for a few minutes to release steam. Stir well when you remove the lid.
Serve with freshly grated pepper.
(Good with dal, mango chutney, and plain yoghurt.)

Penne with mixed bell peppers, basil, tomatoes, and olives

Boil salted water and add one pound of penne. Stir often.
Cut in half cherry or grape or tiny heirloom tomatoes and grind a little sea salt on them.
Wash and mince fresh parsley.

Cut three bell peppers (orange, yellow, and red) into short strips.
In a large wok, heat olive oil and saute the peppers.
Clear a space and melt a little butter and add 3 cubes of frozen garlic. Stir the garlic in the butter until it melts and becomes very fragrant.
Add a little more olive oil into the cleared center area of garlic and add about 8 cubes of frozen basil and stir in with garlic until basil is melted.
Mix the garlic/basil into the surrounding peppers and add generous grindings of lemon pepper.

When pasta is al dente, drain and add a little olive oil to it and then pour it into the wok and toss until the pasta is evenly covered with the garlic/basil/peppers mix.

Fold the halved tomatoes into the pasta.

Serve on plates and add fresh minced parsley, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or crumbled Unexpected Cheddar, 4 or 5 olives per serving, and freshly grated pepper and salt to taste.

Thomas' Favourite Apple Crisp

Fill a glass oven pan with cut up apples.

Topping:

mix one stick of room temperature butter (1/4 pound) with rounded 1/2 cup brown sugar

mix 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 or 3 grinds of sea salt  into 1/2 + 1/8 cup flour and add into butter mixture

add in 1/2 cup rolled oats

scatter topping evenly over the apples

Bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Test the apples with a fork to make sure they are soft and cook for a bit more if they are still firm.

Roasted Vegetables with Quinoa

Heat oven to 400. On a baking sheet, arrange areas of different cut up vegetables such as:

carrots (in spears, or use baby carrots)
beets (in chunks)
baby red potatoes (cut in half or bite sized chunks)
red onion (sliced)
red pepper (in chunks)
grape tomatoes, cut in half

Drizzle with olive oil and grate on Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper or sea salt and pepper.
Stir minced fresh rosemary into the potato section.
Place a cube of frozen garlic in the potato section and another in the tomato section and pour a little olive oil right on the cubes.

Bake for about 15 mins. Take out of oven and stir the melted garlic to coat the tomatoes and the rosemary potatoes. Shift vegetables a bit with a spatula but keep them in their own sections.
Bake for about 10 more minutes and then take out and make room for broccoli florets in a middle area. (These will burn if they are put in at the start.) Give them the same olive oil and garlic cube and lemon pepper treatment, coating them with the garlic when it melts).

Cook till everything is nicely roasted, checking and turning now and then. Add a bit more olive oil and lemon pepper as needed. (Total time will be about 45 minutes, depending on size of chunks.)

About half way through the roasting of the vegetables, put 1 1/4 cups of quinoa, 1 1/4 cups of water, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into Instant Pot and set for 2 minutes of pressure cooking. Let it decompress on its own for 15 minutes. (Or cook in a regular pot according to quinoa package directions.)

Brown butter almond and ginger quinoa with apricots

Put in Instant Pot:
1 cup of quinoa
1 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup of chopped dried apricots (I use Trader Joe's frozen semi-dried ones.)

Stir, put on lid, make sure lid is set on closed pressure, and set for 1 minute pressure cooking.
Then let quinoa decompress on its own for 15 minutes.

If you do not have an Instant Pot, cook the quinoa according to the directions in a saucepan (adding the apricots before cooking).

In a frying pan, melt about 1 Tablespoon of butter and let it brown, being careful not to burn it. Add 1/4 cup of slivered almonds and cook on low until they are golden brown and crispy. At the end, add about 1 Tablespoon of minced fresh ginger and cook it all together a little.

Serve the apricot quinoa with the toasted almond and ginger topping. Add freshly grated sea salt and pepper. Eat piping hot.

Healthier Ramen

This is extremely quick and costs about 50 cents if you have the ingredients on hand.

Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add a rounded teaspoon of vegetarian Better Than Bouillon and a squeeze of Ginger Paste and whisk these into the water.
Cut a handful of baby carrots into long matchsticks and add into the broth.
Open a Top Ramen packet and discard the chemicalized seasoning packet. Put the noodle mattress into the boiling broth and cook for about 2 minutes, adding in a generous handful or two of baby spinach right at the end and submerging all the leaves.

Serve in a big bowl with a couple of shakes of seasoned black sesame seeds on top. Use chopsticks and a soup spoon to eat.

One Egg Omelet

Beat with a whisk an egg with a little pink sea salt and fresh pepper in a biggish bowl. A one egg omelet has a much better texture and taste than a 2 or 3 egg omelet.

In one frying pan, sauté a generous handful of frozen mushroom mix from Trader Joe's or fresh mushrooms until they are nice and hot. Add in some halved cherry tomatoes and some baby spinach if desired.

In a separate 8inch frying pan, melt a knob of butter. Then pour in the beaten egg and tilt pan to spread it. Let cook till the top looks almost set and then tip the mushroom mix onto half the egg. Add a few crumbles of Trader Joe's Unexpected Cheddar. Fold the other half over and cook for maybe one more minute or so but be very careful not to overcook.

Serve with more salt and pepper and a side dab of sour cream. Eat very hot.