Main Dish

Right around when my second son was born, the Sierra Club magazine ran a recipe that sounded delicious: red lentils cooked with "fire-roasted" tomatoes, wild rice, a bunch of shittake mushrooms, and red wine, cooked until creamy and full of flavor: http://www.food.com/recipe/shiitake-lentil-pressure-cooker-soup-276160 .

The problems with the original recipe were small but numerous, including how it made way more than indicated, and overflowed my cooker!

These are really delicious, and are good left over, too. The sauce becomes a thick, sweet-sour glaze as it cools, so I like to toss the fully-cooked chicken around a bit once it comes out of the oven. This way, the glaze attaches to the meat instead of the pan.

15 drumsticks
Loose cup of fresh herbs - a mixture of thyme, sage, oregano, and savory is nice
Salt and pepper to taste (1-1.5 tsp. salt)
3/4 c. cider vinegar (balsamic is awesome, too)

Cooks Illustrated has more and more recipes that can be adapted to fit "special diets." This one, for simplified Massaman Curry, was absolutely superb. The curry paste was a huge pain in the rear, but I made 4x the recipe and froze leftovers for later. That turned subsequent dinners into (nearly) Fast Food.

In May/June 2014, Cooks Illustrated presented an in-depth article on "Gluten Free Pizza Worth Eating." I was very intrigued...but didn't want to use commercial baking yeast, and wanted to eliminate a couple of other questionable ingredients. Therefore, I created a prototype for a 24-hour-fermented, kefir-risen pizza crust. It was nearly unbelievable - you wouldn't even know it was gluten free unless someone told you, the texture was crispy-on-the-bottom and chewy, you could eat a slice with one hand (just like real pizza!) and I'm gonna keep experimenting...

I love love love saag paneer. And when our friend brought over two pounds of fresh paneer, I just had to find a good recipe. Here it is:

2 T. butter or ghee
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1 T. minced fresh garlic
3 small dried chiles
2 T. curry powder
Salt, to taste
1.5 lbs. spinach, washed well, cut into 1-inch pieces, water still clinging to the leaves
3/4 lb. fresh paneer cheese cubes
1/2 c. yogurt
1.5 c. light or heavy cream, preferably cultured (yogurt cream)
squeeze of lemon

Okay, so Maya and Kristen got me to try eating liver. Again. And finally, I can honestly say: I Like Liver. I LOVE liver! At least when it's prepared like this (based on [this recipe](http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2012/02/chopped-liver-pate/)).

Duck is so fantastic, especially when the fat renders, and the skin is crackly and incredible, and the meat is moist and super delicious. This technique tends to make that happen...

1 duck (2-5 pounds or so), and salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450f.

Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper, and place breast-side up in a Dutch Oven; cover tightly.

This is a tasty way to mix meat and veggies in a form that isn't soup. :) I like to bake these, to make it super easy to prepare a lot (4 lbs of beef makes enough for two large sheet pans' worth). They're also very yummy with tomato sauce.

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup lightly sauteed/steamed cooked veggies (onion, celery, carrots, cauliflower, and/or broccoli, etc.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dry thyme or 1 tsp. fresh
1/2 tsp. dry oregano or 1 tsp. fresh
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425f.

Once upon a time, I loved frittatas, which are impressive-looking yet really simple (and pretty foolproof) egg-based casseroles that are often full of cheese. You can make dairy-free frittatas, like this one: http://www.lifeisapalindrome.com/recipes/really-tasty-rutabaga-and-zucc… . But here is a pretty simple formula for making a tasty, cheesy version, which I don't serve very often but really like a lot. :)

This recipe is based on Starlene's: http://gapsdietjourney.com/2012/04/recipe-review-cauliflower-pizza-crus… . It's amazingly tasty! It's a bit of work, but every so often, for a treat, we have pizza for dinner (one of these pizzas serve two generously, so I double the recipe and rotate the pans in the oven during baking.